Oh had quickly that clean slate gets dirty!!

All the encouragement I had in my spirit yesterday, and even this morning, as I headed into the new quarter of homeschool…well, it was deeply challenged today. We actually got off to a great start, I had a good plan and the kids were ready to get the wokr knocked out. We had a good time of Bible reading and discussion and prayer. We had time to jump on the new trampoline and have snacks and even sneak in an errand.

That is the good stuff.

The rest, well it felt like a Messy Monday.  The coffee pot overflowed when I brewed the first pot. Yes, first…it was a two pot day. The garbage bag leaked.

When the kids went to play on the trampoline three of them stepped in dog poop.

The dog stepped in dog poop…and he is faster than the kids when he tracks it in!

Maddie, who is generally the easiest baby on the planet, was not easy. She was mad. Mad as spit. All day. No matter what we offered her or did.

The worst part was that one of the boys just was in that mood, you know the mood where nothing is going to go right. It came right after we ran our errand, and lasted right up to fifteen minutes ago when I sent his hiney up to bed. He dragged out every assignment, he wrote painfully slowly in our joint work, and he literally dragged his feet throughout the afternoon. We pulled him out of the mood during dinner and we had laughs and good times during dinner, but in the last hour of finishing up school work that had not been completed, he melted down again. When he began scribbling in his Bible I called it quits.

The day had been prepped for, the day had been approached with prayer and hope. The day stunk in many ways.  I was frustrated and am tired.  And yet, I am not surprised.

The fact is January 2nd is real life…it is all the hopes and expectations and wonder and excitement of the clean slate of January 1st, but with the eraser marks and smudges of having real life interrupt. I’m still excited about 2013, but I’m a little more realistic. I know that the kids will not jump out of bed in the morning and be shiny faced and excited to plunge into school work. I know that I will not either.  And yet…the slate is clean again tonight. It is for the boy who had an attitude all day, and it is for me.

God’s mercies are new every morning.

Hope is hope because it does not rest in me and my abilities. Hope is founded on One Who is surer than I and therefore I can rest and know that the hope will be fulfilled.  Not a hope that all my neat plans will come together in the way I have imagined…but the hope that the God who hears is listening and the God who created continues to create and to work in those who seek Him.  The hope that He will not leave me alone in the desires that He has stirred in my heart.

January 2nd.  Messy Mondays. Life.

God the creative, redeeming savior.
Clean slate and hope in tact.

Hello, January 1st!!!

I have a stack of books and notebooks ready to load into my backpack to make a short trek to a local coffee shop where I can think and imagine what to do in homeschool this coming quarter. Two quarters are under our belt and I find myself getting more excited about possibilities, more excited about what homeschool can mean for my kids.

One of the things homeschool can be is a place that fosters imagination and wonder. I know that there are many ‘real’ schools that are able to do this as well, but for the moment our kitchen table is our classroom. I have three very bright boys, but they are boys and they are not thrilled about school. My goal is to create some type of excitement of learning. They are progressing in their like…not quite love yet…of reading.  That is worth celebrating, and it is a start.  The next goal is getting them excited about “meeting” new people through their reading and the studies.

Being exposed to people who will challenge and encourage and inspire.  Because they are everywhere.

One of my favorite authors, and one who has challenged me immensely in the area of imagination and wonder is Madeleine L’Engle.  The other day I came across a blog post that was wonderful, and is part of what I am hoping to keep before the boys. The truth that those who have done amazing things are often those who were ignored when they were younger…check out the full blog post. The point of her short article is that L’Engle faced a number of obstacles and her childhood was far from what might be imagined as ideal for creating a writer. Those obstacles, those struggles, however, are exactly what created such an imaginative mind.

Not sitting in front of the television or the computer or the iPod or the XBox.  The boys like their “screens” and it is easy to let them veg and enjoy those things…but I am so aware of their need to get their minds engaged.

New Year’s Day.  Clean Slate. Lots of ideas floating around in my mind of what to put in place to engage the imagination and wonder and to challenge the ability to think well….excited to go make a plan!  There is something amazing about the New Year. We can start fresh at ay time, but there is something about starting a new calendar year that lifts hopes and spurs us a little more to try new things. The start of a New Year reminds us of the things we have gotten lazy about and gives us the reason to start again with discipline and enthusiasm.

Clean Slate. Spiritually as well. His mercies are new every morning…and sometimes that is easier to embrace on a whole New Year. There are so many things I have done lazily or without enthusiasm when it comes to my spiritual life this last year. This year, I hope to put things into place again to inspire the imagination and the wonder and the ability to think well spiritually.

Fresh and clean….and full of promise. I don’t know how long that feeling will last, I know in my frail human ability it will fade. While it is present, though, I hope to get the most out of this boost of a New Year!!! May 2013 be filled with wonder and imagination and thinking well!!!