Just wanted to share a great giveaway with those of you that follow my blog. :)
http://thekindlecrew.com/2012/05/movie-review-and-giveaway/
Great movie for a fun family night!

It is NEVER too late to homeschool!

I have started to write this a few times and every time I caught myself stating reasons why we pulled our girls out of public school (catch the word reasons). But the Holy Spirit pricked my heart, reminding me that the ONLY REASON we decided to homeschool our beautiful princesses was, and still is, because the Lord told us to and we wanted to be obedient.

What I really really really really really really really really (okay, do I have your attention yet?) REALLY want you to know is.........

IT IS NEVER TOO LATE!!!!!!!!

Our first year of homeschooling was overwhelming to me.

This was one of my typical prayers: 

"Lord, did you really tell me to do this?

Did you forget that I don't have a degree in ANYTHING!

You know that I am already not a good homemaker or cook.

And you definitely know that I don't keep my house clean.

There is no way I can do this.

 I am so unorganized.

That alone tells me that you must be mistaken.

Did you relay your message to the wrong address?

Maybe it was for the mom down the street?"

All kidding aside though. I found myself on many days desperate, crying, and almost giving up. One of the main reasons was because I chose to believe a lie!

I let myself be convinced that it was too late! It would have been okay if I would have started homeschooling my girls when they were younger. What was I going to do with a 3rd grader and a 6th grader?

At times when you are so wound up in your own misery and desperation sometimes you forget that the Lord knows what he is doing.

He had brought 4 homeschooling families in to our lives, over a period of 3 years, BEFORE we started homeschooling.

 I bet your thinking, wow I bet she let these mom's help her and she was homeschooling like a champ by the end of that first year!

NOPE!

I let this play a part in my misery too! Instead of realizing these wonderful woman were placed in my life to help me. What ended up happening was that I would compare my children to their children, I would compare my curriculum, or lack of, with theirs, I would compare everything about my life to everything about their life. They have a school room and we do school on the kitchen table, on the floor on the couches and in the yard. (Which by the way we have learned to LOVE) And in some sick sordid way, I used it to show that I had a reason to be miserable and give up.

Okay, I know, you are thinking, this woman is CRAZY! I thought she was suppose to be helping me in some sort of way!

Bare with me.

I am not crazy. I promise you. I have talked to so many mommies that homeschool and have read so many blogs written by homeschooling mommies and there are A LOT OF US that catch ourselves doing this. We play the comparing game. The problem is...no one ever wins!

That's what is CRAZY!

The Lord never intended us to compare ourselves, let alone our children and everything else.

He made us uniquely us! That means all of us are different. All of our children are different. All of our homes are different. And the Lord wants it that way. Please do not fall in to that trap.

You can't expect your kids to be anything other than what God created them to be! This doesn't just apply to them either, it applies to you too. Be who God created you to be, don't try to be like someone else.

I also had to learn my kids hearts, their likes and dislikes, learn their love language. I had to find the things that make them feel special. It does take time and some effort, but it will pay off BIG TIME! When you start to figure it out it will help you teach them too. They all learn differently. That's why homeschooling is so great. You can teach your kiddos in a way they learn best. For example, my younger is a multi-sensory learner, so I have the time to help her learn new concepts.

I love the theme from Sally's Mom Heart Conference this past weekend...

The Heartshaping Mother

How to Open, Fill and Hold Your Child's Heart

If you have never gone to one of Sally's conferences, you need to make plans to go next year!

 

The next thing I want to share is what we did the first year of homeschooling.

We un-schooled our girls.

Sounds strange doesn't it. Well, the Lord asked us to homeschool our girls, but for our family he wanted it to look different than just implementing the public school system in to our home. He wanted it to be a lifestyle. Everything that we did and do is a learning opportunity for them.

When we started that first year we realized that our girls didn't like to read, let me rephrase that, THEY HATED TO READ!

So, we decided to really focus on trying to help them learn to enjoy reading. When we started and were with them (8 and 11 years old at the time) 24 hours a day 7 days a week, we realized we had some character issues to deal with too. So that was another thing we worked on that first year.

We didn't have a math, history or science curriculum.

We read out loud to them. My husband and I both read out loud to them. It is amazing how much kids like their dads to read to them.

I made a big deal out of going to the library every week. I set up a system of  how many "fun" books they could pick and how many "learning" books they had to choose. This way they were actually still learning. They didn't realize that they were still learning science and art, geography and history. :) 

Now, in our third year of homeschooling...

MY GIRLS FINALLY LOVE TO READ!

This morning after our trip to the library.

Reading together in our hammock!

It makes this mommy's heart smile!

Reading is just one example though.

We started out doing science in our back yard and at the local parks. We made cute little nature books with stickers and scrapbook paper. Then we would take a picnic lunch and our Texas Wildlife book and off we went for a few hours to explore.

Now they love science.

Math was the same. The first year we did math in the grocery store or when they were helping their daddy make bunny hutches. So they were able to see why and how they would use math in their lives.

Now they tolerate math. LOL!

We are still on this journey of homeschooling.

Praise the Lord I didn't give up.

It isn't easy but it is SO WORTH IT!

One of the big things that I have learned, I MUST pray for guidance in EVERYTHING, from picking out curriculum to schedules, from joining co-ops to music lessons, and some days just for the Lord to help me get through the day without strangling someone!

The other thing is, I had to learn to lean on all these great homeschool mom's the Lord has put in my life. I had to humble myself to be able to ask for help, guidance and prayer. The Lord created us for community, not to be lone ranger Christians or lonely homeschoolers! We need each other!

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) says,

 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Hold on to this verse, and be obedient!

You can do it and remember...

IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO HOMESCHOOL YOUR KIDS!

Blessings!

I Found Myself

The Lord has been speaking to me a lot lately.

Or maybe I have been listening more.

But it seems He is speaking to me about so MANY things.

At times I catch myself feeling overwhelmed.

So, I am led here. To actually start writing about "My Journey and the Many Blessings Along the Way".

..............

I was reminded of this blog I started last year. I created it to upload pictures for my out of town family and didn't intend to use it as a traditional "blog".

 I know this may seem silly, but I saw the title "My Journey & The Many Blessings Along the Way" under a friends list of blogs she follows (not realizing that it was my own) and thought to myself, "Hmm, I wonder who's blog that is? The title sounds interesting." I clicked on it and up popped a blog with a picture of myself and my family!

Yes, I am a natural blond!

But, on a more serious note, these are the times in my life when the enemy slips in there and starts saying things like

"You are crazy. Look, you didn't even remember this was the name of your own blog. How are you ever going to be able to educate your girls at home. They are going to grow up uneducated and everyone, especially your family, is going to look at you and say I told you so!"

or he might throw something like this at me,

"You are so dumb and forgetful and unorganized (blah blah blah) how can you home school your children. They are going to grow up a mess!"

Now...I know that these are lies!

Straight from the father of all liars.

John 10:10 says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy..." He (satan) wants me to stop homeschooling, he wants my marriage to fall apart, he wants my children led astray, he wants me to give up and fall for the lies and be depressed and overwhelmed!

I refuse to listen and accept his lies!

 What I have been focusing on has everything to do with the second part of this verse...

"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

First, "I have come..."

Jesus has come...

for you...

for me...

for every human that has ever been born and ever will be born.

So that we may have life, and have it to the full!

It doesn't say he came to give life to certain people. 

He came FOR ALL!

It is up to us whether we accept Him as our Lord and Savior.

He wishes for not one to perish.

The question that I have been asking myself is why haven't I been experiencing life to the full.

Why?

I know that worry, anxiousness, laziness, complacency, anger...the list goes on...are not what I would consider LIFE and definitely not LIFE TO THE FULL.

So, what's going on?

Well, it was one of those, Ah Ha! moments.

"So that's why prayer has been coming up so often lately."

Duh! I know.

I am so incredibly blessed to have a patient Savior.

The funny thing is, it feels like I've been here before.

Wait... I have...
two or three or maybe fifty times.

 Sometimes we think that once we have the Ah Ha moment we're good. Okay, I've got this one. No more problems in this area.

Ha! Wrongo!

But the great thing is, that this may be the fiftieth time that I've been here, but God had been speaking to me about prayer in every way imaginable for the past few weeks. Books, devotions, conversations, sermons, you name it. EVERYTHING seemed to be about prayer.

So...even though I strayed away...yet again...from praying the way I should be, the Lord was calling me back to him. He was calling me back to fellowship with Him. He was calling me back to spend time with Him, to listen to me, to speak to me, to hold me in his arms, to give me comfort, to...forgive me. 

This one thing effects everything else in my life.

Today, when I started to get overwhelmed, I remembered...I need to focus on this ONE thing right now. 

Prayer.

It is where we develop the relationship. It is where we find forgiveness, grace, mercy, peace and rest. It is where we seek comfort, wisdom and guidance. It is a time of thankfulness and humbleness. It is where all the other things either get worked out or start getting worked out in us. It is where we get filled up, so that our Spiritman is filled with Him and not filled with what our flesh wants or needs or what the World says it needs. This is where the "many things I need to work on", start falling away. 

IT IS A NECESSITY OF LIFE as a Christian, a home school mom, a wife, a friend, a daughter, a sister...

I love the King James version,

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.

I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." (I added the italic and underline for emphasis)

This is Jesus talking. He is not just promising us life if we follow him, he is promising us MORE ABUNDANT life! Not just abundant life but

MORE ABUNDANT LIFE!

Are you experiencing MORE ABUNDANT life today?

Blessings,

Amy