A Sunday afternoon

We've had a spectacular shot of fall this weekend...much cooler, crisp clean air, the stillness that breathes rest into your very bones.  I don't think we're done with summer yet, but it's sure been a treat.

After church today, the loveliness beckoned, so I grabbed my much-neglected nature journaling set and parked myself in the backyard to observe our late-summer flowers.  Several last-minute stragglers still flourished and I had to capture their colors.  I'm learning to work with watercolor pencils and need a lot more practice...but it was satisfying nevertheless to sit still and really observe the incredible artistry of our God.  Have you ever noticed that every flower He made is perfect??

Need some strength today?

I do...lots on my plate right now.  I bet you do, too.  Summer is winding down, fall and a new set of demands face us all.  So here's the "supplement" I'm taking today--encourage yourself with a dose, too!

• "The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace."  Ps. 29:11
• "Your God has commanded your strength; strengthen, O God, what You have done for us."  Ps. 68:28
• "The God of Israel is He who gives strength and power to His people."  Ps. 68:35
• "Let the weak say, 'I am strong.'"  Joel 3:10
• "...the joy of the Lord is your strength."  Neh. 8:10
• "I am anointed with fresh oil."  Ps. 92:10
• "As for God, His way is perfect...It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect."  Ps. 18:30, 32
• "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord."  Ps. 27:14
• "Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them."  Ps. 89:9
• "He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength - causing it to multiply and making it abound...those who wait for the Lord...shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint or become tired."  Is. 40:29, 31 (Amplified)
• "As your day, so shall your strength be."  Deut. 33:25
• "The way of the Lord is strength and a stronghold to the upright."  Pr. 10:29
• "God is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect."  II Sam. 22:33
• "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous hand."  Is. 41:10
• "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped."  Ps. 28:7
• "Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord."  Ps. 31:24
• "...that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."  I Cor. 2:5
• "I have strength for all things in Christ who empowers me--I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength into me [that is, I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency]."  Phil. 4:13 (Amplified)
• "The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like a deer's feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills."  Hab. 3:19

 Have a blessed day in the mighty strength of our God!

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A wonderful week

Wow, VBS week was great!  God blessed us with a good turnout of kids, good weather, a terrific team of volunteers, and the very evident work of the Holy Spirit bringing peace and ordering all the details of a packed schedule. 

I had a wonderful group of 6 & 7-year-olds, fifteen or so absolutely precious little lives.  As a homeschooler, I get so surprised when I'm leading a group like this--most of whom are public-schooled--at how quickly and obediently they line up for any and every reason.  ha!  Great crowd control technique and a blessed surprise when we had to move from station to station quickly and efficiently.  I've heard someone say that organizing a group of homeschoolers at an activity is like herding cats.  I agree.



My class

A large percentage of my class had already asked Jesus into their hearts before this VBS, but on the last day when I put the flannelgraph piece on the board of Jesus being crucified, a gasp went up.  It wasn't a particularly graphic picture but it did show the stripes and nails.  One little boy blurted out, "What did they DO to Him?"  Wow, talk about a teachable moment!  The SAW what it cost Jesus to pay for our sins and, as a group, were very moved.  Then we saw Jesus coming out of the tomb, resurrected and showing us His new and perfect body, what theirs would be like one day if they belonged to Him.  Finally, we saw Jesus on His heavenly throne and talked about the glories of our life to come (a wonderful reminder to me!).  I could sense the Spirit really connecting with their hearts and felt that He had sealed the week with His witness to them.  What a privilege to be part of a life-changing moment in these young lives.

Volleyball!

"He's got the whole world in His hands..."

More fun this week...we're off to our state homeschool conference tomorrow.  Yay!  Fresh inspiration, seeing old friends, fresh fuel for the year to come--I need it all.  SweetPea will be with me this time, a first for her.

Then I think I can safely say that my summer really begins next Monday!!  :-)

Catching up



Summer, yay!  Feels like summer, looks like summer, calendar says it should be summer...I think it is, finally.



A peek into my garden...the "before" picture
(hopefully I'll share a great "after" one in August!)

I'm enjoying the privilege of some time at home after our marathon spring and getting caught up on all sorts of things.   My dearly beloved helped me get my late garden in on Monday--a huge relief that I was able to still squeek in under the proverbial wire.   Lots of home projects to tend to now that the weather is warm and our schedule has relaxed (oh, I love that word!).   Can't wait to set up my sewing machine again, teach SweetPea how to can, work on some landscaping ideas, and read some non-homeschooling novels over iced tea in the shade of the maple tree.  :-)

Most importantly, I'm enjoying the space for reflection and sorting out the cacophony of thoughts whirling in my mind over the past couple of months.  I've been needing quality time with the Lord to gain His perspective on my friend's death and how it has impacted her family, our little church, and myself; analyzing how this first high school year went in our homeschooling and getting God's wisdom on the areas we need to modify or improve; praying over our short and long-term goals for the last three years of SweetPea's home education; revisiting my own personal goals for the summer--in short, I need my cup refilled.  He is so faithful, He will do it.


Sorting flannel graph pieces


Monday starts VBS wherein I get to test-drive my writing efforts with a live class of wiggly 1st and 2nd graders!  SweetPea will be my flannel graph assistant and I have a lovely lady helping me with crowd control.  The sanctuary and main classrooms have been decorated with black plastic "space" with planets hung and the sun, moon, and stars providing the background for "The Power and Majesty of God."  It's going to be a lot of fun--and hopefully, the kids will go home with a new sense of awe and wonder at this mighty God who has called us to be His own.

Thanking God for the meaning and beauty He's brought to my life!



A sad day

"You look so lovely today."

Those were the last words my dear friend Kim spoke to me, last Sunday in church.  She passed away suddenly yesterday morning from a recurrance of cancer, taking us all by shock.  She taught Sunday School and led worship Sunday morning, full of joy and anointing, with not the least hint that by the end of the week, she'd be gone.

My heart is so heavy for the family.  She and her husband have five lovely children whom they've homeschooled from the beginning, the first to graduate next month and the youngest just seven.  Her dad is pastor of our church and I can't imagine how difficult it will be for her folks to carry on the ministry without her very gifted and loving presence.  Ours is a small church, so she leaves a very large hole.

Kim and I hit it off the first time we met years ago in our homeschool support group.  Later, when she left the group, we would run into each other at conferences or fairs, and always it was as though we'd just seen each other just yesterday.  It was at one of those times she invited us to their church.  We did, and from the first day it was 'home' for us.  One of the highlights of these past two years for me has been the reconnect of our friendship and warm fellowship in Jesus.  But more significantly, her spiritual strength, radiant joy, and amazing faith has lifted me time and again when I've been discouraged over the long course of healing from health issues of my own.

I've been privileged to know a truly lovely soul and been blessed by her love and genuine, caring heart.  We will miss her terribly, but the Word promises that all of this is working together for good, and that we sorrow not as those who have no hope.  Thank the Lord, it doesn't end here--she's in our future.

This 'n that

This breathtaking sight greeted us earlier this week, a Colorado spring snow in the morning sunrise.  We dashed out so as not to miss our chance with the cameras, knowing that in just a few hours, it would be melted and gone.  It was.

Just as the ups and downs in our weather, so it seemed to go with other things this week.  My two sweeties were both sick with colds, which made it hard to get anything significant done.  School was choppy, events cancelled, and surfaces disinfected...over and over. Thankfully, the patients are mostly better, and I had the joy of cleaning and setting our life to rights again today.

We've just finished reading To Kill a Mockingbird in our literature study.  Wow, I'd forgotten what a powerful book that is!  It prompted some wonderful discussion, not only the issues of prejudice and injustice and so on, but also Harper Lee's incredible, funny, moving writing. To top it off, we checked the movie out from the library and watched it last night.  That has got to be one of the greatest movies ever made!  SweetPea says, "That's in my top three!"  I think I'd have to agree.

I had the delight of having a little dream come true this week...a netbook!  I've been saving my pennies for a while to get it, and on Wednesday the FedEx truck made my day.  (The estimated delivery time--from China--was 10:30 a.m.  The doorbell rang at 10:16.  I told the delivery lady that they were really good--Shanghai to my door, with 14 minutes to spare!)  I've envisioned how handy this little mini would be for my on-the-go life and writing-when-the-inspiration hits me.  Feels like Christmas.  :-)   

And in case you noticed that very cute mug next to Minnie in the pic, that was my thrift store find this week...a set of four for $1.50.  I have a thing about mugs (especially when they're filled with tea) and I'm sure my family groaned when I eagerly displayed my new wares, but they indulge me and for that I'm grateful. When Momma's happy...

SweetPea's drama production of "Robin Hood" is only a couple of weeks off, so we're adding extra practices and a costuming session to our school week. It's a wonderful group of kids, very focused, attentive, and giving it their all.  And the play is hilarious!  This past week they had the first full run-through and it was a delight.  SP's role is the dim-witted, klutzy daughter of the Sheriff of Nottingham and she has to deliver a number of curtsies that end in a sprawl on the stage.  No easy task to pull off and not color yourself black-and-blue!  She'll look back on this as the highlight of the year, I'm sure.

 

Some thoughts from a high school seminar

We ended a very busy week with a full day yesterday attending a homeschooling-high-school seminar put on by our state organization.  I'm a semester late on it, but c'est la vie.  Better late than never!

Thankfully, I'm not too far off track in what I've been doing for record-keeping, grades, etc.  However, we got a lot of new information about after-high-school options, testing, etc.  Right now I'm overload about all the stuff you have to do for a college degree, but at least we have a lot of choices now as to how to get that done.  I'll cross that bridge a bit later.

In no particular order, these were some of the points about high school I thought noteworthy:

• All the same reasons you chose to homeschool for the elementary years still apply.  Don't give in to fear.
• Don't let 'college' drive your life or your homeschool.
• Don't be driven by the calendar--consider a 'gap' year after high school.
• At Ivy league schools, 1% identify themselves as born-again Christians.  If you send your children to Rome, don't be surprised if they come back Romans.
• Character is pre-eminent!
• Whatever character flaws your child has will come out even more in high school.
• Any tendency to laziness and other character flaws in your child really show up in math.  (Good heads-up.)
• Education is discipleship and all of life is education.  Do as many field trips as you can.
• Don't spoon-feed them.  Make them take responsibility for their own education, help make them to be a self-motivated problem solver.
• In public schools, they cover only about 80% of the math textbooks--so don't feel you have to complete a book in a year.
• There's a huge dearth in America of students headed for STEM--S=sciences, T=technology, E=engineering, and M=mathematics.
• Enrollment of students in military service academies who were homeschooled is 5-10%.
• Attach the Word of God to everything we teach.
• To quote Vodie Baucham, "If you need to go to college, do it fast, cheap, and close to home."
• We need to teach our children how work; we need to change our definition.  When you work, you bless someone and bring glory to God.
• CLEP test scores are good for 20 years.
• Kids will rise to high standards if you set them high.
• Colleges look for students to have had American, British, and World Literature.  Always teach literature in the context of history.
• Outlining, timed essays, and research papers are important to learn.  Homeschooled students are typically not good at taking notes--make 'em learn!
• Engross your children in the book of Proverbs.
• In a study, millionaires said their reasons for success were 1.) honesty, 2.) supportive spouse, 3.) self-control, 4.) hard-working, and 5.) gets along with people.  Having a college degree was #16 on the list.

Well, there was lots more.  I came away filled with thankfulness once again that we have had the privilege of homeschooling, and with a renewed sense of 'God is with us'!  I don't have to do this in my own wisdom.

Onward and upward!

Jesus' secret

For the longest time I've pondered a question about the incredible way Jesus had with people--how did He do it?  What was His secret?

Obviously, He healed them.  When you're hurting, sick, and desperate, that would drive you to someone with a reputation for 100% success, whether or not you understood His mission or message.

And He delivered them.  He tackled the root causes of devilish oppression, spoke the word of authority and command, and people were set free, totally and permanently.  Fear and torment melted in His presence, destructions were halted cold, and hope sprang to life in the wake of instant restorations.  Yes, I'd join the crowd, too, running.

I think the most compelling quality we'd all say He had, though, was His love.  Somehow, they knew He loved them.  Many's the time I've tried to picture the scene:  His smiles and glad welcome, an open-armed approachableness that made each one in the crowd feel they were special, that it was them He loved.  He must have exuded patience and an unflappable peace that made them feel He had all the time in the world to meet every need.

I've known a few people who love like that.  I'm drawn to them, I want to be with them, because--yes, I'll admit to the selfishness of this--they love me.  They welcome me with unfeigned approachableness, I don't feel like I'm wasting their time with my stuff (even if I am).  I just know that they care.  I want to be like that.

But this morning in church, on a teaching about love, I saw another profound aspect that I think answers my question about Jesus.  Yes, it was Love that drew people.  But a fundamental expression of that Love was no condemnation.  "For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him."  (Jn. 3:17)

To condemn means to pronounce guilty, to declare wrong, to be weighed in the balances and found wanting.  Yes, I was guilty and wrong and lost in that, but Jesus, in giving me the gift of no condemnation, showed me what Love really looks like.  No longer are my failures and shortcomings the issue--it's that He wants me.  He loves me.  He has time for me.  He wants to give me everything He has, to meet every need.

The hang-up seems to be really believing that.  I still don't let myself off the hook that easily; I feel guilty over things real and imagined, I blame myself for whatever, and can just hardly accept that God (or a person) isn't holding up a measuring rod over everything I do.  And I know I have an enemy whose purpose is to bring accusation against me in any and every way.  BUT...when I can operate from a position of God's total acceptance and love, I can turn and love others like Jesus did.

What does that look like?  Not condemning...not being judgmental (my way or no way), not being critical (how far below my exacting standards do they fall?), not blaming (then I don't have to change--it's their fault).  It means I can offer forgiveness with no strings attached, no manipulation or retaliation in mind, no effort to control, because I have no agenda other than their best interests and their highest good.

Seems impossible to just live like that, every day, in every encounter.  But I can see that this is what will win the world, one person at a time.  Just letting them know, 'I hold nothing against you, I don't blame you and neither does God.'  That's how they'll see the heart of the Father and be free to come running to Him. 

A pair of mini-miracles

When God does something really BIG in your life, you're awestruck at His power and faithfulness and mercy.  A breakthrough, a healing, an answer to a long-term prayer, they're the memorable milestones of walking with our incredible Lord.

But I find I'm just melted by His love when He does something little.  Something that isn't important in the grand scheme of things, but that means something to only me.  Personal.  Loving.  Oh, my, it's those times I'm overwhelmed to realize how much He cares about me, about every detail of my life.

I had two of those this week, and of all the crazy things, they were about earrings.

A couple of months ago I lost one of a pair of my favorite earrings, french earwires with dainty round pieces of abalone shell.  They went with so many of my favorite outfits.  Not a clue, just gone.  Chagrined, I asked the Lord to help me find it, but after all this time, I was thinking I'd try to get stuff from the craft store to make a new one.

Then a few weeks ago, I received a gorgeous pair of turquoise-and-silver danglies as a gift from a dear friend.  Again, they were instant favorites.  I wore them two weeks ago on a shopping outing--and alas, I didn't realize I'd lost one while trying on clothes in a store until an hour after we'd left.  We drove back and retraced my steps, looked in the fitting room, asked at the service desk, but nothing.  I felt sick at heart to have lost part of a loving gift, and so frustrated to have this happen a second time.  It seemed almost too much to believe it could be found, but I asked the Lord to please find it.

Well, miracle #1...while shoving my sofa across the room this week in my fit of rearranging--there was my abalone earring right on the floor where the sofa had been!  It hadn't been a good day so far, and you can't imagine my joy over finding that silly earring.

Miracle #2, today!  We were out shopping again today, and on an impulse I grabbed the lonely turquoise-and-silver earring and stuck it in my pocket as we left.  Back at that store once more, I showed it to the clerk at the service desk.  She remembered me, said no, it hadn't been turned in.  As I turned to go, she mumbled something and rummaged around in a bin on the back counter.  "Wait!" she cried in surprise, and held up my missing earring!  Incredible.

He didn't have to do it, but He did because it meant something to me.  And I feel so loved!  Just at a time I really needed it, He reminded me that if He can take care of the teeny stuff with such perfection, how can I doubt that He's got the answer for everything else I need?

My keeper!

We are in such an incredible place as children of the King, every day, every minute, in every situation.  I was so blessed to be reminded this morning...

"My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to slip or to be moved;

He Who keeps you will neither slumber or sleep.

The Lord is your keeper...

The Lord will keep you from all evil;

He will keep your life.

The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in

from this time forth and forevermore."

~ from Psalm 121

Amen!