Wordless Wednesday

Another Snow Day!

One Day at A Time, Sweet Jesus…

That’s all I’m asking from you. Lord help me today, show me the way, one day at a time.

I hate getting caught up in myself. Do you know what I mean? As a mom there are the children to keep to a schedule, as a homemaker there are chores that have to get done, as a wife there are duties. Getting all wrapped up in the label of what we are tends to make us forget who we are. 

In fall of 2009, we felt the call for me to go back to school. Big step. At that time the kids were in pre-K, 1^st, 2^nd, 6^th, 7^th, and 9^th. One of the factors weighing into the decision (aside that both of us felt it was God’s will) was that B3 was almost five and the doctors had told us that he would most likely have to have valve replacement surgery when he was around ten.  Financial aid fell into place and God provided all that we needed to fund my emersion into the life of a non-traditional college student.

With starting my fourth semester a couple weeks ago, my schedule went crazy. Things have gotten quite chaotic.  See, I have mom guilt. Last semester and this semester require me to be on campus 45 minutes away from home five days a week. For simplicity one could say it’s like I am an outside the home working mom. The difference is I have homework. 

My point in all of this is that, I don’t know just how I will get everything done. I do know that the Lord will show me the way. Instead of worrying about tomorrow, I need to focus on one day at a time.

My 16yo wants her learner's permit...

It seems to me that teens get their permits and driver's licenses so much earlier now. I know it's not the case really, different situation kind of thing. I am not really against teens driving, just against carelessness and recklessness.

Must have been about two years ago when we started talking about if we would let the kids get their permits and then their license. At that point we decided that the individual would have to have good grades (requirement by the state), show maturity and be responsible.

The oldest turned 16 in November. She has neither a permit nor a license.

G1 has become resigned to the fact that she probably will not be getting it anytime soon either. The responsibility to get her school work done is not there, so how can we expect her to be responsible enough to drive a car? This bias comes from myself being a good student and still doing stupid things once I got my license a month before my 18th birthday.

Her protests made me rethink as to just why I stuck to my guns. Then it hit me. Driving is a privilege. Even for adults, driving is a privilege. There is no requirement saying that we have to let our kids get their license. So I am sticking to my guns, even if I am a 'meany'.

Return to Academia!

I am starting my fourth semester of college today. I am not worried about the classes to much. I know I have to buckle down and study now, life knowledge is not going to cut it anymore.

I am excited to be around my college friends again. Getting away from the stress of mom helps me.

I am NOT a super mom or a wonder woman. Academics actually relaxes me for the most part. (You know, minus finals.)

This semester I am taking some interesting classes.

• Intro to Ethics
• Physical Geology & Lab
• Intro to the Internet (required for my major, haha)
• Latin 2
• Intro to Sociology

Latin is just a continuation from last semester and I am going to have to REALLY study a lot. I understand that Ethics can be difficult too. The other classes will be like a surprise, I will discover as the classes get underway! Hubby did laugh about the Intro to Internet, and I probably could have gotten out of it I just didn't want to.

So, if you do not see me on Twitter as much, or my postings here get few and far between, you will know why. I am hoping to be diligent about my schedule and including posting.

Snow vs. Teens

We have three teen aged girls. They are 16, nearly 14, and 13. We live in the country. We are essentially iced in this week.

It is humorous to me that the girls are moody. They want to go to school. Why? Not for academic endeavors. It's because texting and being on facebook is not enough to keep in touch. They are bored.

I had not realized how non-active my girls have gotten until now. In their defense though, it is cold.

Last month we had four snow days before winter break going back just for the half day. Then we had the two weeks off around Christmas and New Years. They went to school last week and took exams. So far they have missed this week, and given that it is snowing now and we are still more or less iced in, it does not look promising for tomorrow and Friday.

How do we keep these girls happy? They have been watching movies (while texting) and complaining of being bored. Do not misunderstand, they have chores. Chores just aren't fun and interesting. The good thing is the homework that they brought home is done.

So the mantra from the girls? "Snow, Snow, go away... I want to see my friends, so we can play."

Back to the Basics Week 2

Do you find that when you try to get your family on a new routine that chaos tends to find you? We completed week 1 with little problem, had to catch up on one day; but I think that is acceptable when there are 6 kids with different schedules.

Last week was to get us thinking about how Jesus differs from us. The fact that He is God incarnate would be the reason. We traveled from the prophecy of His birth, to is birth, to the arrival of the magi, to Jesus in the synagogue, to the reveal of who He was.

For me one of the biggest realizations was how those that saws Jesus grow up did not accept that He was the Messiah or even that He would have knowledge in the Word. The people mocked him and practically ran Him out of town. I knew this before, but reading the passage reminded me.

This weeks scripture is:

Week 2 : A Power to Be Reckoned With 

1. John 11:1-46
2. Mark 2:1-12
3. Matthew 8:2-4; Mark 1:40-45; 5:12-13
4. Matthew 14:22-23; Mark 6:45-52
5. Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10
6. Matthew 12:9-13; Mark 3:1-5; Luke 6:6-11
7. Matthew 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25 

We are staying with the same memory verse this week...

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” John 1:1 (NIV)

Getting Back to the Basics, Focusing on HIM

As change has been forced upon us, we are looking to the positive. One of these positives is that we need to really center our family on God.   As parents, it is our responsibility to “train up a child the way he should go (Pr 22:6)”.  This ‘training’ includes teaching and instilling God’s Word into the hearts of our children. 

Our decision is to return to the basics and go back to family devotions that we strayed away from. We know that there may be evenings when we might not be able to get them done or not all of the children will be home when we do them. That is okay. The important thing is that we get the routine going so that every evening there is scripture being read and the Word of the Lord being placed in our hearts.

In addition to the family devotions, we are also doing a weekly memory verse.  This way we can “teach them to your children and to the children after them (Deut 4:9)” be teaching the scripture of the Lord.

For our family devotions we are using the reading schedule that I found in an old Bible of mine, The Everyday Bible.  For the first week the following schedule is listed:

Week 1: His Life … My Life                      

1.       Proverbs 8:23-31; Isaiah 7:14; 53:1-12; John 1:1-18
2.       Micah 5:2; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 2:1-38
3.       Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2
4.       Psalm 110:1-7; Luke 2:39-51
5.       Matthew 3:1-4:17; Luke 3:1-4:13
6.       Luke 4:14-5:11
7.       John 2

Our chosen memory verse for the week is John 1:1

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” John 1:1 (NIV)

If you care to join us we would be honored. Our discussions about the devotions will use the hash tag of #backtobasics on Twitter and the discussion about the memory verse will have the hash tag of #memoryverse on Twitter.

The New Year Ushers In Change -- whether we like it or not.

"Thus says the Lord, 'Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. ..." Jeremiah 6:16

We have been struggling spiritually for months, if not a couple years due to obstacles that have fallen into our walk with God. The struggle was not in our belief of God but how those around us that we thought were godly let us down by their actions or even inaction. Specifically in the last 3 months, as a couple, we have realized that we were looking in the wrong place. While we do need fellowship with other believers and we do need accountability, our focus should be on the Lord. This change has brought on a maturity that neither me or the mister had before.

We now know that this maturity was grown for such a time as this. In our lives, due to actions of others, things are changing. I am grateful to say that instead of having a knee-jerk reaction we are focusing on God and praying. We may not like the change, but we can not help but believe that "all things will work together for good to those who love God. (Romans 8:28)"

Now is a time of praying and focusing on God. Now is the time to immerse ourselves in the Word of the Lord and put or faith in God, not man. Now is the time to make sure we are being faithful to our commitment with God.