"yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him." I Cor. 8:6

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Writing with P

I. love. homeschooling. Is it hard work? Yes. Is it tiring? Of course. Does it make me want to pull all my hair out and senselessly beat my head against the schoolroom wall? Well yeah, sometimes (I'm half kidding here, of course.) 

In all seriousness, it does take a lot of work but I love to watch my kids learn. And I feel like I get an inside peek into their minds that I may not experience if someone else were teaching them. Take for example a recent journal entry by our sweet P. 

The assignment was for her to pick her favorite color and write several sentences relating to things of that color which she likes. Now, in my head I'm thinking the typical response from a little girl would be "pink" or "purple" because "they're pretty". But not our P. It's no secret around here that P's favorite color is brown. And why, you ask, is P's favorite color brown? Because it's the color of most horses, of course. 

So, I knew at least two of the sentences she was going to write, but I was very interested to see what other 'brown' things she came up with that she liked. What she wrote was definitely unexpected.



I love the coler brown.
I love horses.
I have a brown sister.
I also like chocolate.






You love the color brown...mmhmm...definitely knew that.  You love horses...yep....expected that. You like chocolate...okay, good...so do I. You have a brown sist...wait, what?!? You have a what?!? My sweet P being the sensitive type I held back my laughter and calmly said "Oh, you have a brown sister. Can you tell me more about that?" She went on to explain that she and Bubs were "white-skinned" (truth) while Squid was "brown-skinned" (let me clarify, here.....while Squid definitely carries a more golden undertone than her siblings she is by no means "brown-skinned". I assure you all three kids came from the same gene pool!). 

I loved this on so many levels. I loved that P ranked her sister right up there with horses and chocolate. I loved her tender honesty. Most of all, I loved the fact that it started a very important conversation about how not everyone may look like us (yes, even our own siblings) but we are all still fearfully and wonderfully made in God's image. We are to love others not based on how we feel, but based on the truth that they are God's creation and precious in His sight. :-)

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

What? She blogs?!?

Yes, yes, I know. It's been nearly three years since I last blogged. I could run off a whole long list of why I haven't had time or taken time to blog faithfully. But let's be honest...it's not really important and it's probably nothing you haven't heard already :-)

Today is our sweet Squid's fifth birthday. I started the day on somewhat of an emotional roller coaster because I just couldn't really figure out where the last 5 years with this precious girl went. It seems like just yesterday we were welcoming her into the world...and yet it feels like ages ago. She adds a special dimension to our home and I can't imagine a family dinner without one of Squid's random quotes of the day (stay tuned to future posts about these...there are just too many to list here!)She is funny, outgoing, adventurous and we love her to pieces.

We had a couple of things on the agenda to help celebrate the big birthday, but as the day wore on it just became one of THOSE days. I don't really know how to explain it, but I do know that anyone who has been a mom to young children knows what I'm talking about. I just felt beat up and emotionally drained by the end of the day. I was at my most vulnerable point, sitting on the bedroom floor, crying and praying for wisdom and comfort when in walks my sweet little boy. This sweet little boy who, might I add, had been a large source of my frustration for the day. He walks in and immediately says "Mommy. Why you crying? I love you." And then he grabs his beloved blankie and ever so gently wipes my cheek with it to catch the tears. Ahhhh....this is what it's about. The love between a mom and her child supercedes every tear, every fit, every sleepless night. Yes, it can be frustrating. But in the end, isn't it all worth it?