Oh Yes I Did!

Last week, Rich went out of town for a few days. I had some errands that I had to run, so we were out all afternoon before we had to go to our church small group that night. I told the children that I would take them somewhere for supper and that it would be the silliest supper they have ever had. I told them that it was so silly that they were going to want to take my temperature when we got there.

I took them to SweetFrog Yogurt shop and we had frozen yogurt for supper. Yes. I did that. Crazy. I know! Sometimes you just gotta have dessert for supper. So, we did.

We are having a fun summer.

Not ready for it to end.

Spring Band Concert

Martin performed with the beginning band at the Spring Band Concert in May. I was incredibly impressed with the amazing performance that the beginning band gave! At the beginning of the school year the children had hardly even held their instrument before and by the end they were playing some very impressive music! I love Capital Christian Homeschool Bands! The instructors are outstanding musicians and educators. I am so thankful that homeschooled children have opportunities such as this one!  Martin had a great year and is looking forward to being a member of the Concert Band next school year!

At this concert, the Concert Choir made their debut performance. I began teaching the Concert Choir in February. I am excited to say that it was a wonderful experience. I am so thankful to be working with the CCHBands as their Choral Director. After many years of not teaching and conducting choral groups, I am so excited to be doing it again! When we started in February, the organization was running it as a pilot program to see if it would be successful. I am happy to say that I will be teaching it again this coming school year. 

Women's Retreat

Last month, I was able to go to my church's Women's Retreat  that was held in Blowing Rock, NC. It was such a good time studying God's Word and developing relationships and deepening friendships. This is my second year going to the women's retreat and it was such a blessing! We stayed at the Blowing Rock Conference Center. We were also able to spend some time shopping in downtown Blowing Rock. (and eating crazy GOOD ice cream!)

I'm so thankful for good friends who speak truth into my life - so thankful for the spirit of the women at North Wake and the desire to nurture their relationships with Christ.

I enjoy the mountains so very much and look forward to going again next year!

I am surrounded by wonderful women who help me to focus on what is true and right.


While I was gone ... Rich spoiled the kiddos and had good quality father/children time!
He took them out to eat and out for ICE CREAM!

I am so thankful that Rich held the fort down, so that I could get away for a short time. I missed them all like crazy, but it was good for my spirit and my heart to spend some focused time in God's Word!

God's Faithfulness Part 2

The very same week that I went through the screening process to be on the worship team at our church, I was also approached by the board of Martin's band association to think about being the choral director for their organization.

Martin started playing trumpet this year with the CCHBands. This is a homeschool organization that has been in existence for about 20 years or more. Right now they offer Beginner Band, Concert Band, Jazz Band, and Wind Ensemble.

At the time no one was really sure about the logistics. So, the board members discussed how to proceed with adding a choir to the band program without having the choir take over completely. They wanted the choir to supplement the band - not take from it.

I had always hoped that I would be able to return to choral conducting again one day. I didn't intend to return to the public or private schools because I didn't want to do anything that would draw me away from the children. Our intention is to homeschool our children all the way up to graduation. 

I did hope that one day I would be able to serve the homeschool community in some way to offer choral studies. Logistically, I never knew how that would work out. It's a lot of work to run a community program of any kind. So, this opportunity, pretty much fell right into my lap. I wasn't seeking after it. It sought me. In the same way, I wasn't seeking after singing in church again - my husband somehow knew without me saying it.

I see all of these things as God's faithfulness in my life. I give praise and glory to the One whom deserves it. It is not my my own merits that I am doing the things I am doing it is by His.

Last week, I held auditions for the CCHbands Concert Choir. I have a choir of about 18-19 voices that will be rehearsing every Monday and Thursday during the hour that Martin takes beginning band.

Yesterday, I held the first rehearsal for the Concert Choir.

I am back in the game. I have the best of both worlds. I get to be with my children 24/7, teach them at home, and also teach and train young voices to sing. My heart is soaring.

His faithfulness is beyond what I can even find words to express. He cares about the small details. He has brought me out of a long and hard, but also joyful season of babies, diapers, sleepless nights, long days, seminary, and homeschooling for the past 7 of those years, and then blessed my socks off by giving me back everything that I had given up.

Only He could do something like that. It is my prayer now that all of these things that He has given back to me will be used for His glory. 

God's Faithfulness - Part 1

11 years ago, I told the principal of the high school where I worked that I would not be returning the following year. It was both hard and not hard. For me, it was a no brainer that when I had children I would be the caretaker. It's not something that I spent time trying to figure out. I knew that is how I wanted it to be. So, in that way, it wasn't hard. The way it was hard is that I loved my job. I was the choral director for an Arts Magnet High School. I worked with some pretty amazing students and it was such an honor and privilege to work with those students! Most days my office was full of students eating their lunch with me and talking about important issues in life. I developed relationships with the students that caused them to want to speak to me freely about hard things that they were going through. 

We also made some pretty great music! I had 5 choirs. Die Meistersingers was the advanced Chamber choir that was mainly an acapella group, Jazz Company - all jazz music, Select Women's Ensemble, Treble Chorus, and Men's Chorus. We did about 4 major concerts each year as well as the extra performances that we did throughout the community all through the year, and in the Spring a Musical on top of everything else that I had to do! It required about 50-60 hours per week. Not too hard to complete a work week like that when you don't have little ones at home.

I wrestled a little bit with the amount of time and money that I spent to train to do the type of work that I was doing - and how when I stopped working to stay at home with my child - would I have just wasted all of that time and money spent? I knew the answer to that was "No!", but I had to talk myself into it a little bit! 

Not only did I say goodbye to my job of spending 6 hours a day behind a piano training young voices, I also said goodbye to singing in worship at church.

I tried to keep that up for a little while, but it became complicated after a while, since at the time my husband was the pastor of the church. We had decided that we always wanted our little ones to be in worship with us - we prayed about it and felt as though God was leading us in this somewhat difficult direction. In order to follow my husband's lead on this (and my own heart as well), there were sacrifices that needed to be made. For me, it was not being as involved in the music at church. 

I have never spent a single second regretting the decisions that we made as our new baby joined our family and as 3 more joined our family throughout the years. While keeping the children with us in worship has been challenging and exhausting at times, I've also seen the fruit that it has produced that spills out over so many areas of our lives. 

When I traveled to Nashville, TN a little over a year ago. I was able to go to a concert that was being presented by a former choral conductor of mine from college with many performers that I knew from my college days. Because my children were acquainted with sitting quietly and especially having the trained self control to do so, I was able to go to this concert with my 4 children(ages 2-9) and sit through a very long performance of Handel's Messiah. It was a total blessing to me that I could sit through this wonderful performance, but how much more it was a blessing that I could do it with my 4 children! 

So, saying goodbye to my well-loved job and even singing or playing the piano at church was both hard and not hard. 

However, in the past year to year and a half there has been a stirring in me. I really missed singing. I have spent the last almost 11 years singing to my sweet children, but I was longing for a little bit more than that.

Thankfully, I never even had to tell my husband. He already knew. In fact, he's the one that brought up the fact that he thought it was time for me to start singing again! All of our children had gotten to the point where it only required one of us to be sitting with them. So after we went through the new membership process at our new church I plugged in with the worship team. I'm so thankful to be singing again!

And if that wasn't enough...

Thankful

Lighting is poor ... quality is not the best ... but oh how I love these two pictures.  I was in the kitchen washing dishes and the rest of my family was snuggling in together on the couch. I had to stop what I was doing to capture the moment. Daddy had been gone all day long and the children just wanted to be with him. Nothing else mattered. 

I am so thankful for these 5 amazing people. What a joy it is to be in this family. I hope they grow up knowing that I love being the wife and Mommy of this family more than anything in the world. My heart is full.
My days are busy, full, and loud. I have moments that I want to run for the cover of silence. I don't want to paint an unrealistic picture of my life. I just want to pause and have a heart of thankfulness. I want to be thankful in all of my moments.  I want to live my faith in front of my children.
What are you thankful for today?

Busy-ness

Martin is taking band - learning the trumpet  - 2 days each week. (an hour each time)

I'm teaching Kindergarten, 3rd grade and 5th grade. (The picture above is a history project that Martin was working on last week) I get up at 6 AM every morning and start school with Martin and then we break for breakfast and I school the other 2 boys while Martin is working on his independent work.  School makes every day busy! I've been having a tough time figuring out how to get all the routine house work done with all the time I spend schooling ... and now the other time we spend going to band and baseball. Blogging just hasn't been happening lately! 

Eye appointments for the 2 middle boys. It's that time of year to check the eyes and pick out new glasses. My boys LOVE going to see Dr. Bailey!  They also love that they get to pick out new glasses!

Lots of baseball going on ... practices and games. Aaron LOVES baseball! He's having such a great time learning the game. I am so glad we signed him up! He got a home run on his 2nd game. Oh, yes... that boy was very happy!
I almost forgot to mention AWANA! We have AWANA every Wednesday. Rich was concerned (rightly so) that I would be so overwhelmed by the schedule that I would be a basket case ... and there fore not so much fun to live with this fall. I have accepted the challenge to not get overwhelmed ... and enjoy this busy-ness and do my best to stay on top of everything. So far so good. Rich is also very busy this fall.
Even though we are busy, we are still gathering together each night to eat a family meal together, and having great conversations. The questions I have been getting from Martin and Aaron are pretty amazing. We are having deep spiritual conversations and they are asking questions that I would have never known to ask at their age. I hope and pray that this line of open communication that I have with my children will remain as they get older. It's pretty fantastic!

Abiding in Christ

This is a topic I have been spending a lot of time thinking about.

John 15:1-4

15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away;^[a]and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.


This passage is incredibly inspiring to me. I have been reading this passage, meditating on it, and thinking about how it looks in my own life. At first glance, I am amazed that I have a Father that is the vinedresser! He takes away the branches that do not bear fruit. He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so that it may bear more! He loves me, He wants me to bear fruit, and is personally involved in my life! He has made me clean! So, what is my responsibility in all of this? It's simple, right? Abide in Me. 


What does that look like in my life? What does it look like to Abide in Him? For me, abiding in Christ is spending time in His Word and specifically praying the Scriptures. I have found that when I am not spending time in His Word, that I am clearly not bearing fruit. I am impatient, forever frustrated, lacking gentleness, faithfulness and self control. (and so on and so on)
When I am spending intentional time with the Lord, I am equipped to handle whatever comes my way. My children are far more likely to accept loving correction from me when I am bearing fruit. There is no question that my life is rich and rewarding, peaceful and joyful when I am abiding in Him. More importantly, though, my children have a living testimony in me of how to live a rich and rewarding, peaceful and joyful life.
It's so easy to allow life to become an overwhelming mess that is so out of control that there is little hope left. The answer to that is to abide in Him. It may seem overwhelming even to get back to that place of abiding if you've not been there in awhile.  God has made that easy for us by giving us the Bible, so that we have a clear life manuel to follow. We have the complete and perfect Word of God that gives us clear life instructions.

I recently asked my 7 year old and almost 10 year old an important question.
"In what area do you struggle with sin?"
Martin said, "self control!" (without hesitation)
Aaron said, "contentment!" (again without hesitation)
I was amazed at how quickly they were able to identify areas of struggle ... without any leading and suggesting from me!
So, I was able to give them specific scriptures to pray so that they can overcome that sin in their life and giving them instruction on how to abide in Christ. (so they know that the answers to any area of struggle is in Christ)

We will always be in a state of overcoming sin in our lives. Spending time with the Lord, praying, having true fellowship and accountability with other believers is what helps in the lifelong pursuit of abiding in Christ. (yes, telling other believers  about sin in your own life...telling others that you do not lead a perfect life ... that there are areas in your life that you need help with and prayer for) We need each other. My children need me to disciple them, teach them what it looks like to abide in Christ, and I need fellow believers to pray for, love, disciple, and experience community with on this journey of abiding in Christ.

In what areas do you struggle? How can I pray for you?

Working around the house

This is a picture of our house before we moved in in Oct. 2010.

This is a close up of the house right before I put down new mulch. While I was away in Virginia, our bermuda grass grew aggressively into the flower bed until the flower bed actually looked like it needed to be mowed. I am not exaggerating. Thanks to the help of my wonderful neighbor ... I dug into the flowerbed area and pulled all the grass out by it's root. The above picture is the after picture of all the weed and grass pulling. Strange as it may sound ... I really enjoyed it.

I let a week or so go by and waited to see the areas that I would need to do more pulling, and I spent some more time out there pulling up more weeds and grass. What a job! (Notice the house in back of us now ... it used to just be field and forest!)

In the picture above ... do you notice anything that is missing? A tree perhaps?
Rich cut down the tree that was in front of our house. While we liked the tree, it was obvious that the tree was dying. So, it had to come down. With the help of our wonderful neighbor, the tree came down. We plan to have the stump ground out in the spring, and then let the grass grow in the area where the mulch was ... and then we will just have a small circle of mulch around the remaining tree. (notice the house now beside us?)

This past weekend, Rich brought home some new mulch! I never thought new mulch would bring me so much joy. I spent another couple hours pulling up more roots of weeds and grass, and then got busy spreading the mulch. What a difference it makes!

Rosalie is potty learned!!

I have no other choice but to call it potty learned as opposed to potty trained. I've gone through this process now with 4 children. With each child, it felt as though it was the first time I'd ever done it. I always thought that once I went through it with one child ... it would be easier with the next ... since I had experience under my belt. It never really worked out that way for me. Each time, I felt as though it was my first time. With the boys, I had a plan mapped out, a process to follow ... and for the most part the plan went well. Rosalie was an entirely different experience. I knew that it was time to train ... but had no plan in place.

I had just come home from Virginia, and was still trying to adjust to a normal routine, and the only thing I knew for certain ... was that ... while I wanted her to be done with diapers ... I didn't want to spend too much time caring about it.
So, my plan quickly came together. The plan was ... (drum roll) to have no plan. Those of you who know me, have to know that not having a plan is extremely uncharacteristic of me. Amazingly enough, it was the perfect plan for Rosalie. On my end, it didn't really matter to me what she did. If she had successes on the potty ... we threw big parties about it! If she had accidents, we said ... "hey, that's okay, we'll get it next time!" If we needed to go somewhere, I'd put her in a diaper or pull-up, and if she stayed dry, I made a big deal about, if she didn't stay dry ... no big deal! It was amazing to me what I saw happening! She did it all on her own. She started telling me when she needed to go ... I would not make a big deal about it ... I'd just say, "Okay, go on, I'll be right there!" When I had a free minute, I'd go see how she was doing. Within a couple of days, she was going on the potty every single time, staying dry anytime we went anywhere, and staying dry for naps and night time.
I am convinced that the key to success on Rosalie's part was how relaxed and calm her mother was.
The most exciting thing I have to report today about Rosalie is that she is DONE with diapers! Woohoo!!
The most exciting thing I have to report today about me is that I am DONE with diapers after 9 1/2 years of diaper changing! Before you get too excited for me folks ... keep in mind ... it's a little bittersweet! Certainly, it is sweet to be done with diapers. My baby girl is growing up, though...I want to bottle her and all her Rosalie-isms up! She keeps us all smiling! We are blessed!

Shish Kebob

We have been having so much fun with our grill! I marinated some stew meat(venison) last week and made shish kebobs for dinner. We all loved how they turned out! Martin said, "There is a party going on in my stomach!"

We're a team!

Conversation:
Me: We're the girlies!
Rosalie: (moving her head up and down with wide eyes) We're a Team!

I have no idea how she came up with that - but it is certainly true - she and I have to stick together in this house full of boys! She is such a funny girl!

Rest Time

What do you do when most of your home-schooled (never away from you ... always within arms reach of you ... would follow you to the bathroom if you let them) children aren't napping anymore?
REST TIME
That's right. During the school year, we spend the entire morning doing chores, doing school work, and trying to keep the little ones occupied. Lunch time comes and along with it 4 hungry children and at least 1 hungry adult - usually 2 hungry adults. So, lunch is quickly made and passed out and eaten ... and off the littlest one goes to her bed to nap. I send each of the other boys to a room where they are required to spend at least 1 hour (more if I can manage it) by themselves to spend in quiet. They can just lay there, play with a quiet toy, or read. Usually they read. Jonathan will look at books or play with toys.
The three rules are:
1. They have to be quiet
2. They have to be alone
3. They have to stay there until I come and release them

Ahhh ... it is just the breather that I need after a busy morning. You may have guessed by now that quiet time is not as much for the children as it is for me. I really need an hour each day without someone needing something from me or (quite frankly) without someone talking to me. Peace and quiet is one of those things that I absolutely cherish - and because of this season of my life - don't get very much. So, rest time is my friend. I look forward to it each day. I even try to spend it doing something that I like to do - and not something that I need to do. It's refreshing to my soul - and gives me a much better attitude toward my children for the second half of the day.

Tools for making whole foods meals

We rarely to never eat out. If we do eat out, it's almost always because someone has given us a gift card, or my mom and dad are treating us! It's quite common for me to pack us a lunch if we have to be out running errands. We also make as much as we can from scratch to ensure that we have the most control over the ingredients that we consume as possible. I have been making all of our whole grain bread products (loaves, pizza crust, buns, rolls, tortillas, muffins, and other baked goods) for about 4 1/2 years now. We make grain purchases once or twice a year - usually about 150-300 pounds at a time.

The question that I get often is:
How do you do it?
I have some tools to share with you that I have picked up over the years to make it manageable.

1. Plan ahead - this one is huge!
In order to make all meals at home and not have eating out as a safety net, I have to have a plan in place. I plan out a menu 2-4 weeks in advance. This keeps me on task for buying the ingredients that I need to make the meals. It also keeps me from spending each afternoon fretting over what I will be making that evening.
2. Weekly repeats.
Almost every Saturday, I make the same meal. It's a favorite for everyone, so no one minds the repeat. Every Sunday we eat leftovers after church. (I plan the week out in order to ensure that we will have leftovers in the fridge for Sunday afternoon) Every Sunday evening, we have all fruit smoothies and organic popcorn.
Every Wednesday, I make homemade pizza.
With those repeats, it helps to menu plan knowing that those days are already planned out.
3. Keep it simple.
I have learned over the years that meals do not have to be complicated. There are some meals that I make that are very time consuming - the only reason that I keep them in the rotation is because every one loves it so much! You can even find shortcuts for those meals, however. (pre-chopping the veggies and throwing it in the freezer) I am working on getting better at that.
4. Work it into the routine.
I've also learned over the years that if you want it badly enough, you'll make the effort required to make it happen. Nutrition is very important to me, so of course, I am going to make it happen! Making our bread is just as natural as making my bed or running the vacuum, it's just something I worked into the routine.

Raising children is hard!

It's hard to believe that he's 9! I've learned a lot about Martin and who he is becoming in this past year. There are times that I look at him and think, "wow, you are becoming a wonderful young man!" Then there are other times when I look at him and think, "who are you...and what have you done with my Martin?" Those of you who have been in this stage with your children must know exactly what I mean. He is a wonderful big brother. He is a huge help to me and always have been.
Then we have days when it seems as though he has completely forgotten what being kind looks like and I start wondering where in the world I went wrong? Do you ever have any days like that? Sometimes, depending on my mood, it gets me downright depressed.
Sometimes I forget that no matter how much I pour into my children, train my children, love my children, and teach them about God's word, they still are human beings. Just as I fail everyday to be perfect, they will fail too.

So, if you ever have one of those days that you feel like you've ruined your child ... and your child will be lucky to survive being raised by you ... just remember this: (I'm preaching to myself as well!) The best place you can go in those moments is on your knees. Find a quiet solitary place for each of your children and require them to stay there while you regroup. Go find your quiet place and get down on your knees. If there is something that you are doing that you need to fix ... ask God to reveal it to you. Cry out to the Only One who can calm you and give you peace. Raising children is the hardest thing I've ever done.
Leave me a message if you need me to pray for you. I'd be honored.
Time Warp Wife

This is why ...

I thought that in honor of Mother's Day it was worth revisiting this post. Since I became a mother, each year on Mother's Day, I have the urge to go out and buy each of my children a gift because it is such an honor to be their mother. Being a mom is the best thing I've ever done ... and I am so blessed to have these 4 children in my life! Happy Mother's Day to all - to everyone who is a mom and has a mom! :)
This is why ...


This is why my home is also a classroom.

This is why my heart is more full of joy than I could have ever imagined.

This is why my life will never be the same.

This is why I am more exhausted than I ever thought possible.

This is why my reality is greater than my dreams could have ever been.

This is why my ministry is far different than I expected it to be.

This is why my respect and love for my husband has grown even deeper.

This is why.

Help me, Lord, to remember "why" on the difficult days too!

Holy is what You are ... Holiness is my desire ...

I had several errands to run this morning, so off we went to a couple of stores to do some necessary shopping. I am a very routinized person ... so changing up the school routine always makes me a little crazy. I keep trying to tell myself that one of the perks of homeschooling is that we can make our own schedule ... and don't have to be slaves to an already existing schedule. So, today has officially become a no-school day for us. That is not, however, the reason that I am writing this post.
On the way back home from those errands, I turned on one of my favorite CD's. It has become the favorite of my children as well. I turned it to track 8 and turned it up nice and loud. You may not be surprised to find out that I like to sing in the car. So, I am always singing along! I started singing along right away just as I usually do ... and as the chorus approaches I am still just minding my own business singing along ... when what seemed like out of nowhere 4 voices erupted into song all at once as the chorus began! Yes ... I did say 4 voices. Even my little Rosalie was singing along as loud as she could ... and getting most of the words right.

"Holy is what you are. Holiness is my desire."

"I lift my eyes up to the sky, I lift my eyes up to the heaven, I lift my eyes up to the sky where the Holy One dwells."

Holiness is most definitely my desire. I hope and pray that it will become the desire of their hearts too.

The CD is by Three Strand.

I could hardly stop smiling. It was so fun to be singing along with my children! I was wishing I that I could have been filming them instead of driving. What a fun thing it would be to have on video!

It's that time of year ...

Every February I start planning out our next school year. I spend hours upon hours pouring over websites that sell books. It takes me several months to do it...and almost all my online time is spent on it. I narrow down the three websites where I can purchase the books and make a spreadsheet that includes the price of each book from each website. I make decisions on what curriculum to use for each child. The main curriculum always stays the same, but sometimes I change things up in the early years with phonics, math, and handwriting. On my older boys, I spend most of time just trying to find the best deals on books, since we have already fully established curriculum for each subject. I absolutely adore the curriculum that we use. It gets better each subsequent year. I am already to the point where I am benefiting financially on using a literature based Charlotte Mason curriculum ... one in which we re-use for each child. The only thing I have to purchase for Aaron and Jonathan this coming year is the reusable math and phonics workbooks. I already have everything else that I need.
For the 2011-2012 school year, I will be teaching 3 grades. It seems unthinkable that I am already to the stage where I will be schooling 3 of my 4 children.
I have gone back and forth the past several months on what I should do with Jonathan this coming year. I finally decided to go ahead and do K with him on the condition that he is able to show me over the next several months immediate obedience. Jonathan is a strong-willed child. I see glimpses of glory when it comes to his strong-will. However, we still battle it out from time to time. He desperately wants to start K. I have told him that in order to start K, he will need to show me that he can obey me immediately ... with a cheerful heart ... and no complaining. Easy, right? He is entirely motivated, however ... and is slowly proving to me that he is ready! As far as Jonathan's curriculum goes for K ... I am piecing it together, but will follow the tradition of Charlotte Mason with lots of read a louds and hands on activities.
Aaron will be doing 2nd grade with this curriculum. I used this with Martin when he did 2nd grade ... and I LOVED it. I am so excited to take Aaron through it. I am adding 2nd grade English(Rod and Staff) to it, though because I did the grammar that is included in this guide already this year while Aaron was doing 1st grade.
Martin will be doing 4th grade with this curriculum. He will be doing the Math 4a and 4b, along with English 4. (Rod and Staff) We are choosing to do the History read a loud option to go along with the History that we will be studying this year. He will also be doing the independent history readers. This is the year that he will doing more and more on his own ... it should be exciting and interesting.
So, if I haven't been keeping up with you lately ... or commenting on your blog as much ... or keeping up with my own blog... I have been working on searching for books, finding good prices, and planning out next year. It's one of my favorite things to do!

Mom Heart Conference

This past weekend I had the privilege of going to the Sally Clarkson Mom Heart Conference in Durham. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to go. It was such an encouraging time for me. I am so thankful that Rich was able to take care of things at home for me so that I could go and soak in so many wonderful truths and be encouraged by other homeschooling mom's who have been doing it a lot longer than me. It was great to laugh and share the joy of being a mom with other women.
I was humbled. I was convicted. I was thankful. I was reminded. I was inspired. Being a mom is the best thing I've ever done. I don't want to waste a single minute of it. We have such a short time to be the main influence in the lives of our children.
Since last August, I have been wanting to start a mom's group in my home. It's no secret that mom's need special encouragement in their lives. My soul was revived this weekend and I want to give encouragement to other mom's who are striving to raise their children to love the Lord.
We may have different ways of accomplishing our goals, we may have different methods of raising our children ... but our mission is the thread that binds us together. I don't have the logistics worked out yet, but I think I am ready to stop thinking about it and start taking action.
My plan is to read through Seasons of a Mother's Heart by Sally Clarkson. She gives special encouragement to homeschooling moms. However, I want to emphasize that you do NOT have to be a homeschooling mom to go through this book with me! Figuring out how to speak truth into the lives of your children ... and how to affect your children's heart for eternity is not something that is unique to homeschooling moms. It is a goal that anyone who loves Jesus has for their children!
If you are interested in joining with me in a Mom Heart group here at my home, send me a message on FB, or leave me a comment here. My plan is to start with Seasons of a Mother's Heart. I want to make it as easy as possible since we all have very busy lives. My plan is to not require any homework whatsoever. We are actually going to read it together out loud and discuss as we read it.
The main issue that I am trying to work out is getting a babysitter to take care of all the children while we meet.(Yes - plan on bringing your children!) I am praying about it and trying to figure out exactly what to do. I am not able to meet at night because the evenings are my time with Rich. My plan for now is to meet on Tuesday or Thursday mornings.(every other week) If this is something that you think that would be encouraging to your mom heart, if you need other women to speak truth into your life in a loving an non-threatening way, and if you just long for fellowship with other mom's who are in the trenches and understand exactly where you are ... please let me know. I long to encourage your heart the way my heart has been encouraged.
If you aren't able to meet on a regular basis, but just need encouragement, let me know that as well - and I would love to pray for you.

A Special Gift

A very special person, whom I have never met sent this flute to me last week. She lives in California and has 2 precious children. She read the blog posts that I made about Aaron and Martin and how I was teaching them to play instruments and sent me an email telling me about this flute. She told me that she used to play the flute - and has had the flute sitting around her house being used as a doorstop. She asked me if I could get any use out of it. I don't think she even knew that I was a flute player. Holly - if you read this - please correct me if I am wrong. I am so thankful for this flute! I still have my flute - but it needs to have some maintenance work done to it, and I have just not made it a priority to do so.
This flute is amazing. It is the exact same brand as my flute - and has the same "feel" to it. So, it feels completely comfortable in my hands. I am so excited and thankful for this flute. Now, I will be able to teach Rosalie to play the flute. Thank you, Holly for being so generous and sending me this flute!