Isaiah 40:27-31

Why would you ever complain, O Jacob,
   or, whine, Israel, saying,
“God has lost track of me.
   He doesn’t care what happens to me”?
Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening?
God doesn’t come and go. God lasts.
   He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath.
   And he knows everything, inside and out.
He energizes those who get tired,
   gives fresh strength to dropouts.
For even young people tire and drop out,
   young folk in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
   They spread their wings and soar like eagles,
They run and don’t get tired,
   they walk and don’t lag behind.

For there are no words.

http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/inmemoryofmaria/

Wow!  It’s already Wednesday night!  I cannot believe how quickly this week has gone by.  Monday was Damara’s first birthday, and I unfortunately did NOT get a post written for her.  All I can say is, like this week, this past year, though it held more trials and challenges than some years do, has passed us by way too fast.  I am soooo thankful for that darling girl of mine.  She is a pure joy, and a precious gift.

This weekend is the annual homeschool conference, which I have been unable to attend for several years.  We’re planning to go this year.  We were hoping to stay down for a couple nights, as Friday is a pretty big day for us.  Our TENTH anniversary!!!  However, money’s a tad tight right now, so we may be postponing our ten year celebration until the end of school.  Greg doesn’t work nearly as much through the summer, so we might take a couple of days then.  I’m trying to not be too disappointed.  It does help to know we’ll likely make an attempt to do something next month.  I take our anniversary celebrating rather seriously…..

The rest of the week threatens to be a busy combination of events and obligations and bag-packing (a couple of the kids are going to Grandma and Grandpa’s for the weekend).  So I may not be around until Monday.  Happy week-ending!

I missed this yesterday….so much for consistency! 

Again from Psalms.  Again from The Message.

Psalm 16

A David Song

 1-2 Keep me safe, O God, I’ve run for dear life to you.
   I say to God, “Be my Lord!”
      Without you, nothing makes sense.

 3 And these God-chosen lives all around—
      what splendid friends they make!

 4 Don’t just go shopping for a god.
      Gods are not for sale.
   I swear I’ll never treat god-names
      like brand-names.

 5-6 My choice is you, God, first and only.
      And now I find I’m your choice!
   You set me up with a house and yard.
      And then you made me your heir!

 7-8 The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake
      is confirmed by my sleeping heart.
   Day and night I’ll stick with God;
      I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go.

 9-10 I’m happy from the inside out,
      and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed.
   You canceled my ticket to hell—
      that’s not my destination!

 11 Now you’ve got my feet on the life path,
      all radiant from the shining of your face.
   Ever since you took my hand,
      I’m on the right way.

Thanks for the comments, ladies.  I’m ok.  Just had a conversation with someone earlier this week that reminded me how much on “display” I often feel.  I guess more than anything, I’d like to know if everyone else has as much interference, unsolicited “advice”, and just plain crappy circumstances constantly bombarding them.  Or am I just extra special??? 

On average, my babies weigh 9&1/2lbs.  No, I did not “overeat” during pregnancy.

As infants, my babies do not gain weight fast.  By one year, they are rarely double their birthweight, so forget about the triple birthweight benchmark.  No, I don’t “starve” my babies.

I have had late walkers, late talkers/speech impediments, and autism with some of my children.  No, I am not intentionally “stunting” their development.

Only two of my children have attended any kind of “school” setting outside of home.  My two oldest were in part-time preschool.  I will not likely send any of my others.  No, I am not “over-protecting” my children.

I have had two stay in pull-ups (so far) at night beyond four years, and one of those was seven before he stopped night-wetting.  No, I am not “too lazy” to get up with them at night.

My children will be taught that Creationism is the truth.  They will learn that abstinence before marriage is the ONLY safe s*x.  They will grow up with the knowledge that GOD condemned homos*xuality.  No, I will not teach them to “hate” evolutionists, those in pre- or extra-marital s*xual relationships, or homos*xuals.

All of these things and more, are either how we choose to live our lives, or the result of our beliefs and methods.  We do not exist in fear and worry.  I’ve seen too many people crippled – and I mean physically – by fear and worry, that I have had to choose to not go down that road.  I have had lots of opportunity to indulge; but each time fear and worry stared me straight in the eye, I’ve had to ask my Heavenly Father for the grace and courage to stare right back, and keep on walking. 

I am not a bad mom.  In fact, I don’t even think I’m an average mom.  I think, in spite of the mistakes that I do make, that I’m a great mom.  I do not live my life to gain credit or praise.  I am not trying to set records, to get my name in the Guinness Book.  I do not spend my days trying to figure out ways to irritate you with my mothering methods.  I am not trying to make you look bad.  I am no martyr.  I make my share of mistakes, wrestle with my own wants and selfish tendencies, and struggle with my carnal nature every day.  But I love my kids.  Don’t you dare kid yourselves into thinking you care more.  My kids are my life.  I am walking this road to please One Person only, and you’re not it.  I’m not living my life to prove anything to you or to anyone so wholey unconnected to me or MY family. 

So if I’m not measuring up to what you think is the standard that I need to achieve, then I suggest you look elsewhere for a hero.  My best will never be good enough for you. 

I haven’t done anything formal for Science this year.  I had my ambitious list of topics, subjects and curricula that I was going to tackle this year.  Then I had my baby.  Via c-section.  And kidney stones.  And surgery.  And kidney infection.  And….bottom line, something had to give.  Several school subjects won the draw for first out of the line-up.  So this year’s science lesson(s) will be brought to you by: the garden.  Greg got the tiller from his folks on Thursday, and I CAN’T WAIT until that earth is moved!  I haven’t done my own garden ever.  Last time I did a garden I was still living on Dad’s farm.  This year it’s all MINE!!!  And the kids are just as excited.  Helping me choose which seeds to plant.  This week I will be heading to Hartland area to check out some cedar posts (Andrea!  Can I stop by???) to make a fence around my garden.  Which is HUGE, by the way.  It’s approximately 62′x29′.  That’s closing in on twice the length of my house, and about the same width!  Sooo, I’m thinking we’ll reduce the size a bit…or a lot.  That’s too much for my first year.   I do want to plant berries, and we already have a rhubarb patch, so in hopes that the pooch realizes that raspberry canes aren’t great to dig up, we’ll be planting our berries, and possible grapes, on the other side of the fence, next to the rhubarb.  He’s actually a pretty good, smart dog, so even if he does it once, if we catch him and scold him right away, he’ll probably get it, and never do it again.  Anyway, all this rambling to say, I’m excited.  Kids are excited.  Even my “city-boy” husband is excited.  And that, in and of itself, is enough to make me excited.  Oh the excitement to be had at Headpond Central! 

Soooo, what “science lessons” are you tackling this summer? 

Today is a day to celebrate mothers, mothering, motherhood.  It is a wonderful occupation, a never-ending pull on your heart, and a connection with humanity that will last for eternity.  I LOVE being a mom.  I love my baby.  My two year old.  My four and six year olds.  My eight year old.  Each stage is challenging, enlightening, exhausting and exhilarating.  To all mothers; I applaud you, stand shoulder to shoulder with you in this daunting and fulfilling task, learn from you, and encourage you.  When you compare your mothering to others as though you are less, you discredit yourselves (as I am prone to do.)  When you allow pride to seep into your heart because your kids aren’t providing you with as many moments to exercise patience and grace, you discredit others.  For God to trust the privilege of begetting life to me, as a woman, I am truly, humbly awestruck.  Though our society and time in history does more to belittle the role of mother than it does to promote it, I will believe, all the days I walk this planet, that I have been given a divine gift.  I cherish the title with which I am bestowed afresh each day:  Mama.  I don’t think I personally would be so challenged and pruned in any other occupation.  To me, such would be impossible. 

For those who have not yet had children, prepare to be changed.  Physically of course, but the change, you will discover, will run much deeper and bring to you so much growth, in depths and in ways unexpected.  You will NEVER be the same.  For those unable to have children, I wish you a special peace and the ability to find a place into which to pour all of your mothering capabilities, intuitions, and emotions.  Those qualities are in you for a reason.  You are not forgotten.  For those who have lost children, with you I grieve.  Your heartache must run so very deeply.  For those not sure how they are going to get through the day, not sure they are able to properly mother the children in their homes, don’t despair.  Rest assured that He Who began a good work will not fail, and when you do, He grants you the beautiful gift of grace and mercy.  For those who have lost their own mothers, rejoice in the happy memories you hold dear now.  Shed a tear, smile at the clouds, breath in air and life, and don’t ever forget.  For those in strained or estranged relationships with a mother, don’t lose hope.  As long as you both have breath, healing can happen.  Trust God to make straight paths on the journey to restoration. 

We tend to say words around holidays and special days with a certain degree of flippancy.  But to all the beautiful women in my life, I truly wish you, in all the beauty of it’s definition…

Happy Mother’s Day.

If one has been a user of the internet for some time, you’ve likely discovered some favourite websites.  I do have listed a few of my favourites on my sidebar, but I’m not limited to those ones only.  I know that Overstock.com WOULD be a favourite….if they shipped to Canada.  *sigh*  ANYWAY….

I recently have “discovered” two great sites which I’m sure you’ve all heard about.  I had heard about both sometime ago, but never bothered checking them out.  Kijiji is a great FREE site for posting and perusing classifieds of all kinds.  Freecycle is just that – recycling things you no longer want, but for free.  We just picked up a dresser and a little cabinet for free!  They aren’t amazing pieces of furniture, but we are a family of seven with a total of five clothes closets and three dressers between us.  Can we say desperate?  I’m usually a stickler for solid wood only.  I really have developed quite a lot of animosity for all things that impersonate wood.  So Greg was a bit surprised that I wanted this pressed-wood dresser.  The boys need it, in their closet.  So it doesn’t matter what it looks like.  Needs help on one of the drawers and it will be fine.  I wouldn’t likely have paid money for it, but for free?  It will help solve some of the “floordrobe” problem we have right now.  And eventually we’ll hopefully have not only more dressers and closets, but also bedrooms. 

So, tell me some of your favourites….

For all my homeschooling friends, I need help with a learning to read program.  I have used ACE (School of Tomorrow) with much success with Cole.  It was quick and painless.  Due to Cole’s learning style, I think ANY program would work.  This program will not work for Luke.  We’ve tried a bit.  In fact, while Cole was going through it last year, Luke learned all of the songs that go along with each letter, and could say the corresponding animals, letters and sounds (ie: Ape reads a, A reads a).  But he’s still struggling in the area of receptive language, and so even though he’s able to tell me the letter and sound, most of the rest of the lesson is over his head.  He doesn’t get the stories, can’t answer the questions, and has difficulty identifying, in a word list, the words that contain that day’s letter/sound.  I am a huge supporter of phonics-based reading, so I would prefer something like that, but realize that there definitely needs to be some degree of sight-reading as well.  I have looked into several of the other main-stream curriculum publishers, but I need to actually have something in hand to really know what I’m working with.  And I don’t want to order something from everyone just to figure out what will work.  Luke is definitely a visual learner.  He LOVES workbooks and pages and the like.  He is always asking us about the content of signs, lables on bottles, titles on books, etc.  Ideas anyone?

I hope Saturday is a good day for all. 

I have observed many ways to fill in days when you are needing inspiration for your blog.  Things like Tackel Me Tuesday, Works for Me Wednesday, and Thankful Thursday are great ideas to help both blogger’s block and staying on track with goals, whether practical or for personal growth.  I’m actually trying to do better with my Bible reading.  I have found my days go much better when I’m meditating on such things.  So I am going to attempt to do a post each Friday with a Bible verse or passage that has really been ministering to me through the week.  I particularly appreciate The Message, so I will be quoting from this version.  Here is what I’m thinking on today.

Psalm 19:7-9

“The revelation of God is whole
      and pulls our lives together.
   The signposts of God are clear
      and point out the right road.
   The life-maps of God are right,
      showing the way to joy.
   The directions of God are plain
      and easy on the eyes.
   God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold,
      with a lifetime guarantee.
   The decisions of God are accurate
      down to the nth degree.”