Of late, I’ve been entertained by my 3.5 year old son who says the most heart-warming and funniest things.

Heart Warming:

Andrew woke up crying in the middle of the night again. The next morning I asked him why he was crying and he said, “I was crying for you, Mama. I want you.”

One Track Mind:

While I was in the middle of making dinner, Andrew said, “Mommy, I want to go to sushi.” He meant he wanted to go to a sushi restaurant. I told him no and that I was cooking this evening. He replied, “Mommy, can we go to sushi after you cook?”

Homeschooling:

While I was snuggling with Andrew I asked him:

“Andrew, do you want to do school with Mama?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I want to play.”

“Well, school is like playing.”

“No, school is work.”

Now, I want to know where he learned that!!! Nevertheless, it was cute and the conversation cracked me up.

When I browse through magazines or read the news, it is commonplace to read articles telling women that you can do it all — which is another way of saying you can have it all.  After all, who wants to “do everything?”  It’s really about having everything: reputation, meaningful employment, money, cars, family, house, vacations, etc.

The common wisdom espoused by our broader culture tells women: you can have a full-time job outside of the home, be a faithful mother, be a desirable wife, and enjoy all the possible blessings thereof (including happy well-adjusted children).  What most of these sources neglect to address, however, is that even though most women can do it all, the vast majority cannot do it “all” well. In order to do something well (for example, your job at the office) you need to devote time and energy to the job.  In order to raise children and do it well, you need to devote even more time and energy.  When women are split between two full-time commitments, it is nearly impossible to do ithem all well.  Something’s gotta give! The same could be said of men, though it is usually the role of mothers to stay at home.  When both parents are working, it is often the case that both parents are not necessarily able to pull everything off well.

The corollary to this typical thinking, by the way, is that far too often, stay-at-home moms are looked down upon by our culture for “giving up” (a fair use of the word) the opportunity to be in the workforce for the sake of their children.

But I believe this is akin to criticizing an athlete for the opportunity to relax on a couch, instead exerting himself to train and be best in class.  Despite what we hear all around us, some jobs — especially the job of being a parent — cannot be scheduled, outsourced or juggled without losing something along the way.  Of course, I am primarily thinking of those who have a choice, not those such as single parents or the like.

What then? We Christians need to examine our lifestyle choices and make choices according to the Scriptures.  We need to realize that what is eternal (for example, the souls of our children) is far more important than what is temporal (material comforts).  We need to weigh carefully under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and His Word whether we’ve sought the whole world only to lose our souls.

I think most Christians believe that having a daily devotion is a valuable time communing with God, and it is also beneficial for our spiritual lives. However, when it comes to real life application of this belief, most of us fall short. It is usually not for lack of desire but lack of discipline or organized planning. There are many reasons why we don’t have consistent personal devotion, and whatever the reason is, we should stop making excuses and start doing it, but not without a plan AND a back-up plan.

I believe having a personal devotion early in the morning is the best plan for me. For the past several weeks I’ve been getting up one hour earlier than the rest of the family to do my devotion. Believe me, I’m not a morning person and getting up early is not an easy thing for me. What I discovered was that the first week or two was hard BUT my body eventually adjusted to the earlier schedule. I find myself waking up before the alarm clock goes off. The key to waking up early is going to bed early the night before.

As much as I want to have my morning devotion time stay on track, it’s not possible all the time. Things happen such as going to bed later than planned, needing to get up in the middle of the night to care for a child, illness, etc. When I’m not able to meet the Lord first thing in the morning, I have my devotion in the afternoon when the kids are napping. This is my back-up plan. Just because I’m unable to stay on track in the morning, it doesn’t mean I should skip it altogether. If for some reason I can’t meet the Lord in the afternoon, I do my devotion in the evening after the children are in bed. This is my second back-up plan.

I think it is helpful to have a plan AND a back-up plan. In the past I’d beat myself up, figuratively speaking, for missing personal devotional time in the morning. Now with two back-up plans I know I won’t be skipping it again. Let us start or continue to meet with our Lord and Savior faithfully.

Kendra at Preschoolers and Peace challenged me to a duel! Well, not really. I was very blessed to be at her house this weekend for a Homeschooling Encouragement Day that’s held twice a year by her church. During the break I noted to her how clean, organized, and visually pleasing her house was. Everything there was neat and beautiful. She chuckled and said I should really see her house on normal days because it’s not as clean and organized. We both agree that whenever we read other people’s blogs, we tend to think that other people have it all together and we’re the only ones with a messy house. So, with that, Kendra said she’ll post pictures of her house if I would agree to post some of mine. I thought she was just saying it, but I was wrong. Since I got myself involved in this challenge, I’ll let you into my house, virtually, and see our regular life.

Here are the children playing in the family room/homeschool room. Notice the mess on the rug? Just in case you don’t think this is too bad, check out the next picture.

Here’s what the other side of the room looks like. Yup, five laundry baskets on the floor and on the train table. Sad to say that these baskets have been sitting there for about a week now, waiting for me to fold and put them away. My oldest saw this picture and asked why I even took the picture. As much as he contributes to the mess in this house, he has a clean gene in his body which alerts him that this is not a pleasing picture.

This is our school table. Oh. . . did you notice another laundry basket next to the student desk? That makes six laundry baskets in the room.

(Yes, we’ve occasionally increased our inventory of laundry baskets to keep up with the backup of washed but not-yet-folded clothes!)

So, here you go, this is the reality of this homeschooling family. I’m just glad that Kendra didn’t ask me to take pictures of myself!

I’ve recently felt like I am frequently making mistakes (sinning) around my children, such as being impatient, unkind, easily angered, and irritable. I noted to my husband that at the same time I’ve observed that children are very forgiving. Even though I act ungraciously toward them, they still love me and don’t dwell on the wrongs I have done onto them. I am comforted by this and it encourages me to be more patient and loving.If you feel like you’re constantly fouling up with your children, take comfort in that children are very forgiving. Of course this does not mean that we simply continue in our folly, which would exasperate them, but rather it should lead us to repentance. We should also ask for their forgiveness when we wrong them and continue to extend our love to them. What’s important is that we need to keep their hearts and demonstrate to them that we care and love them, even when we mess up.  The heart of gospel-saturated parenting is not perfect parenting, but grace-filled parenting.  And there is scarcely a better way to demonstrate that grace by being quick to confess sin and to seek forgiveness (from our children as well as from God).  The worst thing we can do is to attempt to hide our mistakes (as if our children don’t see them).But again, I thank God for my forgiving children. 

When I became a first time mom our lives got turned upside down. Our first baby had colic and refused to sleep for more than 30 minutes at a stretch. The first year of his life was such an exhausting time for us that the thought of having another baby in the future paralyzed us. We eventually overcame this paralysis as we have four children now. During that most difficult period I often wondered why I was given such a difficult baby. Seemed like most of my friends had easy babies and some just didn’t understand why we were roughing it.

I now see why I was given a difficult child. The most important reason was for my sanctification. God saw fit to use my baby to mold and shape me. This baby is now five years old and God is still using him to sanctify me. In the recent years I have discovered another reason why I was given a difficult baby. It seemed my trials enabled me to understand and better help others who are struggling with being a first-time mom. I have received emails and phone calls from those who are struggling.

It is not the most comforting thing to know that one of the purposes behind my difficult trials is to benefit others, especially when I’m in the midst of it. As we trudge through our trials, we may feel that we can hardly breathe or rest or even know how to muddle through it all, and the last thing we want to think about is how we may help others in light of our own experience. Having gone through various circumstances with our children, I can say that the trials were very sanctifying and that I am encouraged to know that they were beneficial to some people. I believe that we can better handle our trials knowing that there are meaningful purposes behind them.

I am reminded of William Cowper’s hymn “God Moves In A Mysterious Way” and how God is behind all our trials, even when we don’t think He is. I love the very last line where Cowper noted that “God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain.” How comforting it is to know that our life trials are not meaningless nor purposeless. God is behind them all.

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

We made crayon hearts as a craft project for Valentine’s Day. We stick the hearts on our window as sun catchers.

Matthew shaving the crayon:

Hearts hanging on our patio window which was arranged by Matthew:

I got a box of Disney Cars character cards, stickers, and tattoos, and the children absolutely loved having all sorts of tattoos on themselves.