Encouragement

This week has been getting away from me. I can't seem to find my groove and get things to go smoothly, especially with homeschooling. J keeps saying that he doesn't like school and that discourages me... I should be able to make it fun enough so that he loves school right? I'm trying to get him to articulate what it is that he doesn't like so that we can make necessary changes. He says the likes reading and he likes the games we play. My gut tells me that he just doesn't like having to stop playing to "do school". Regardless, it's been a tougher week and I received something via email today that was a gift from God. He reminded me of His presence here in our lives, in our homeschool. I subscribe to the Old Schoolhouse, but honestly haven't read much of anything that comes through my inbox. But today a line caught my eye, it read, "Sarah don't give up!" and here's what followed:

The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine      March 7, 2012 I Want to Give Up (But I Won't)

Dear Sarah,

  

Before you say, "I quit," I want to encourage you to think otherwise. Let me just say that there is probably at least one day a month or more that I want to say, "I quit!" to something in my life, whether it be teaching, cleaning, cooking, transporting, or disciplining a child. We all share the same thoughts and feelings. I think those feelings stem from a lack of peace. Because of the difficult, mundane, or tiring circumstances in our life, we lose our peace and therefore feel that if we quit, we will find that peace. Peace won't magically come in a change of circumstance, but I know just the place to find it! Here is what the living Word of God says:

  

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the LORD forever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength. Isaiah 26:3, 4

1. Our MINDs need to be stayed: focused, kept, continued on HIM. Take your mind off your circumstances and put it on HIM. Magnify Him and not your difficulty.
2. Our minds are able to stay on HIM because we TRUST in HIM. Do not trust in what you see or feel. Trust in your God forever-he is the only unchanging thing in your life!
3. In HIM is everlasting strength! Tired, weary, discouraged? You need strength, and you don't have it in yourself. In the Lord alone is everlasting strength.

Think about and memorize that Scripture in Isaiah; start putting it into practice and you will find peace. Don't put more things into practice until you put this into practice. In other words, don't try to find solutions to your problems until you find peace in HIM. Let me encourage you with 25 reasons not to give up:

1. God's grace is sufficient.
2. God gives us everything we need for life and godliness.
3. God's mercy endures forever.
4. It is God who works in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
5. Our children need godly parent mentors and teachers.
6. Our children need their questions answered from a biblical worldview.
7. Our children need and are permitted room to grow and time for creativity.
8. Our children need and receive godly socialization.
9. Our children learn to be unselfish and to serve others.
10. Our children retain their innocence.
11. Our children will have a lasting legacy of love and commitment.
12. Our children and our children's children will be spared worldly indoctrination.
13. We know where our children are at all times.
14. We know what our children are being taught at all times.
15. We know who our children's friends are and who their parents are.
16. We retain our God-given right to educate our own children.
17. Our children receive a superior education no matter what philosophy or curriculum we use.
18. Homeschooled children receive one-on-one attention and specialized training.
19. Homeschooled children can see and experience the world around them regularly.
20. Homeschooling permits the teaching of important life skills.
21. Homeschooling builds strong character and strong relationships.
22. Our children will not have to walk in the counsel of the ungodly.
23. Our children will not have to stand in the path of sinners.
24. Our delight will be in the law of the Lord, and everything we do will prosper.
25. Our God never gives up, and He gives us His strength to continue the journey.

Still want to quit? Here is an encouraging article called Before You Say, "I Quit!"

Hanging onto my Great God with you,

~Deborah

TOS Senior Editor

 

Thank you Lord for Your perfect encouragement today. Thank you for your love!

The Loosened Tooth

Jonathan lost is first tooth last week! Safe to say it took us both by surprise. It certainly wasn't the typical, oh my tooth is kind of loose, I'll wiggle it for a few days and then it will gradually fall out kind of loose tooth. One day Jonathan was eating an apple (whole) as part of his lunch. He bit into the core and hit a seed. He told me that he bit into a seed and that it really hurt. Then a second later he was screaming and dripping blood out of his mouth, yelling, "Mommy I think my teeth are falling out!" We rush into the bathroom and take a look in the mirror... seeing the blood for himself only made him more upset. I got him to take some deep breaths and got his mouth cleaned up so we could see what the real damage was. Sure enough one of his bottom teeth was loose. We talked about how this was part of growing up and how another tooth would grow in its place. Kris has been talking to the boys about how they will grow up to be men. One of the parts that they like to talk about the most is those early teenage years when Kris told them their voices will get all weird and screechy (aka puberty), Kris does this great impression that makes them giggle uncontrollably. So Kris reminded Jonathan that loosing this tooth is just part of growing up into a man. I wish I could have gotten video of what happened next. Jonathan sucked in a deep breath, puffed out his chest and in true masculine fashion said to me, "It's ok Mommy, I'm just becoming a man now."

Well it took a few more days of Jonathan playing with the loose tooth before it finally came out. Again it was after lunch, during which he had to have sliced apples (because the whole apple would hurt my Loosened Tooth Mommy, he'd say). He reached in his mouth and pulled it out. He calmly and cool-ly as any almost grown up man would say, "I pulled my loosened tooth out Mommy!" We all cheered and I walked into the other room to get the camera. When I came back into the kitchen Jonathan was closing the door to the garbage can. "What are you doing?" I asked him. He innocently replied, "Throwing my tooth away, it's garbage now." Now we weren't planning on doing the tooth fairy, but I did want to save his tooth for his scrapbook! So I ran to the garbage can and realized that he'd tossed his tooth in on top of a bunch of noodles and rice that I'd just cleaned out of the refrigerator. Groan! Honestly I said a little prayer for God's help because I was all about savoring the memory, but I was NOT willing to dig through the garbage to do so. Then I saw the tooth and was able to use a spoon to scoop it up. After discarding the rice and washing the tooth I was able to get the necessary pictures and gave the 1st Loosened Tooth a special home in a ziploc bag.

My tooth-less boy

The rescued tooth

For the Love of PB & J

To say my kids are addicted to Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches wouldn't be an exaggeration. It's been their lunch of choice nearly every day since they strung the three words together. About a few months ago honey entered the love affair and we would alternate, one day having PB and jelly and the next having PB & Honey. The boys couldn't have been happier. Then one day it happened...I'm not sure how, but we ran out of peanut butter! And I dreaded telling the boys! The first day I was able to keep it under wraps by offering grilled cheese sandwiches, which they accepted happily. The next day I had to fess up, there was no getting around it. They were bummed for sure so we had to get creative. We tried fusing the two remaining items together and had jelly and honey sandwiches. The boys said they were ok, but it was nothing like their beloved PB&J. That night while they slept, I made a run to the store and restocked our supply!  I was never so excited to make them lunch the next day. The way their faces lit up at the sight of their sandwiches was almost silly, but I sure felt like I'd regained Best Mom Ever status. (Mom and I also picked up 4 huge containers of peanut butter at Costco that next weekend. So we should be set for a while. Gotta make sure this incident doesn't repeat itself).

Here are the happy children:

Thinking Ahead

The other day while out and about looking at rental houses Jonathan says, "Mommy, I know you are a mommy, and I know you are Daddy's wife. Are you anyone's Aunt?" I explained that I was Cameron's Aunt. This led to a long conversation about family, how I wouldn't be a Grandma until he and Aaron grew up and got married and had kids. Jonathan was all smiles at the thought of getting married and having kids of his own, downright giddy I'd say. Then the next morning he tells me over breakfast: "Mommy, last night I was praying to God that I could grow up and get married and that then I could have a baby girl. And I would name her Peach." I smiled and told him that sounded like a great idea (and made a mental note that this kiddo just might be playing too much MarioKart on the Wii). Peach Jack, kind of has a nice ring to it!