a recovering home-schooler?

disclaimer #1: i am preaching to myself as well in this post
disclaimer #2: we are seriously considering home-schooling our kids
disclaimer #3: maybe i'm writing this post before my thoughts are cohesive enough, but the kids are sleeping so i want to jump on the chance

a dear sweet blogging and real life friend posted this the other day and it has got me thinking a little bit about a whole string of things. hang with me if you like.

i was home-schooled until i reached high school and then we were sent to public high school. my mom did that with all four of us. it was great. my mom loved to teach and learn with us and public high school and college (though shocking in some ways) ended up being a really good next step for us. i loved school and may still go back one day...i think that love of learning is largely due to my mom's enjoyment of it as well. anyway, lest i lose my train of thought (disclaimer #4: my skull houses a somewhat scattered and occasionally frazzled mommy-brain). in the home-schooling world, we ran across all types of people...some were so weird, disconnected from society, judgemental, joyless, isolated, hurtful and i remember a lot of jabs, especially as we went on to public education. thinking back on it now, the thing that caused some of these relationships to be so painful was the fact that these families would take up causes that were not essential to Christianity and make them law, offering no grace to those who did things differently. since that time, i have developed a sensitivity to gracelessness.

i know i have opinions that i sometimes express too strongly too, but i think offering grace to others on the non-essentials is Biblical. graciousness only comes from true humility. pride is the opposite and looks like thinking and expressing that your way of doing something is the right way for every family. true humility comes from knowing the depth of your/my broken-ness and the greatness of our Savior...knowing that the amount of grace that has been and is offered is unfathomable. ok, so if someone does not know Jesus, there is not a framework of grace there...surely these people make decisions and judgements as best as they can, but they are not held to the same standard as someone who professes to know and love Jesus. "and this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us." 1john 3:23. ok, so if loving Jesus and calling ourselves one of His means we are to love one another...what does that look like? "patient and kind, does not envy or boast; is not arrogant or rude. it does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong-doing, but rejoices with the truth. love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." i corinthians 13:4-7 familiar passage?

what is my point? not exactly sure, but i want to be gracious like Jesus has been to me. i want to teach my kids to know truth and to offer grace. i long for them to love Jesus and for a genuine love of others to burn out of their lives because of that Christ-love. i want them to know what is going on in our culture and to strive for redemption in their little spheres of life. this friend is homeschooling and i have the privilege of watching her, dialoguing with her, tagging along on some field trips (and i must say that i was thrilled to meet other wonderful, grace-offering, Jesus-loving families in her little group). this lady has also helped me to think about these things as well. so i might home-school, but please offer me grace if i don't do it the way you would or if i don't do it at all. i promise, we are already praying about this and most other family decisions and we hope to do what God desires for our family.

one more thought...before i reached motherhood, i was unprepared for the unsolicited advice i would receive on nearly everything. new moms are particularly vulnerable to feelings of inadequacy as their heads get muddled with all the different ways to do things. in reality, each child and family is so different and there are lots of "right" and "good" ways to do things. mommy friends, let's be gracious with one another. if we can't depend on one another for this, who can we depend on? none of us has a perfect life...

this and that

i have been such a terrible blogger lately. there has been a lot to do and think about, but some of it by nature is just not great blogging material. or, i've already said it or something. anyway, i remembered that i mentioned on here that i was training for a half-marathon (which was really just an excuse to get in good running shape again post baby 1 and 2 and to hang out with my sweet friend tara a little extra). i used your picture tara...

well we did it together in just under two hours and it was so fun because we chattered the entire way, thanks to me drinking STRONG coffee beforehand. i was sore for a good 3-4 days afterwards and now i feel bewildered about my running purposes. goals really help me:).

the day before we celebrated graham's birthday with a couple of his sweet friends at a little neighborhood party. it was Halloween, so the kiddos dressed up like animals. it was out of control cuteness for sure.



i have not talked much on here about what has been going on in our neighborhood lately. ask me in person if you like, but we covet your prayers for our sweet little urban community. there is opportunity for the Gospel and God is working. He always has the last word, remember? if you pray, pray that God would do His redemptive work as only He can and save a remnant for Himself to further His kingdom.

we are 9 days into another 90ish hrs/week month, but thus far God has been gracious (His grace surprises me all the time) to provide time for our family to be together. and adam has been really intentional about not falling asleep in the middle of our conversations...or if he does he recovers well somehow:).

local peeps, the kids and i have LOTS of free time to hang out, so don't hesitate to ask us to the park or wherever. we like to be busy while adam is working so much. maybe we should take a road trip or paint the living room or something? we definitely need to get ready for BOTH of our families to descend cheerfully upon our house for thanksgiving. it is going to be the absolute best kind of chaos and i need to learn how to cook a turkey!

to the mountains we went

we held hands, hiked, rested, ate (i froze casseroles to take so i wouldn't have to spend much time in the kitchen). dr honey bunny and i hung out in the hot tub while kids slept. we enjoyed each other, bought a new car battery, left our camera at wendys (thankfully someone turned it in), made up skits for old-fashioned entertainment. we enjoyed silence and God's creation (especially the leaves!) and we played. it was wonderful...

so thankful

for this little fellow! he turned one on wednesday and we smile at the wisdom and care of our Heavenly Father seen even in this one's small life. we were shocked to find out i was pregnant with graham in the first place. we spent the last month of pregnancy in and out of the hospital on strict bedrest, but he made it to term just barely and he was 8.5lbs! we returned to the hospital at 2 weeks with viral meningitis. he weaned himself cold-turkey a couple weeks ago ( maybe he will potty-train himself too?). he keeps us on our toes:)

we are so thankful for him and the joys he has brought to our little family...we call him our "little scalawag." here are a few photos of his life thus far. the only gift we got him is this nice fuzzy fleece and we will celebrate with our neighbors next week.

we had graham's ortho appointment yesterday. all our children will likely be followed for their first year to make sure they don't have hip dysplasia since Marit's was so severe. anyway, our wonderful orthopedist took one look at graham's beautiful x-ray and said with a grin "that's all i need to see. he doesn't need me until he breaks his arm." though this is what we expected, we do not want to take this wonderful grace for granted. we are so thankful that graham has healthy femoral heads and acetabulums and we praise God for it. isn't he just precious?

sleeping woes

today is monday and i am thankful. really i am. we are extravagantly loved by our heavenly Father. last weekend we traveled for a quick family reunion to meet my cousin's beautiful new wife and to see other cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters etc. it was fun, but resulted in serious sleep deprivation for the munchkins. since our return, graham has completely weaned himself and now sleeps all night. this is wonderful, truly. however, marit has really been struggling with her sleep. she has always been a great sleeper and does really well with bedtime ritual going to sleep on her own for TWELVE hours a night and usually a 2-3 hr nap. until last weekend. she has suddenly begun to scream hysterically before going to sleep. we thought she was afraid of the dark, so we put up globe chain lights. we frequently return to her (every 20ish minutes) to remind her of how much she is loved by us and by Jesus and to lay her back down. she is so tired. she frequently falls asleep if we drive for any length of time and her voice is hoarse. we struggle to know if she is manipulating us (we have been through those phases too) or if she is really afraid of something. the other night, she was finally quiet and we found her sound asleep like this:


isn't that so sad? pray for us to have wisdom to extend the love of Jesus to our dear daughter and to help her get the sleep she needs...

driscoll on idolatry