Thursday, April 24, 2008

New look, same great flavour...

Yes, I played around with Blogger a bit today and managed to get that beautiful cup of coffee on there for everyone to see. Yes, that's a real photo and that's a very real mocha that I enjoyed at a tiny little coffee shop and roastery on a recent trip to Edmonton. I was also playing with photo settings during that trip and was surprised by a few gems when I uploaded my photos to the computer. Good times. Good coffee.

Busy day spent prepping our home to host care group tonight. Gary leads a weekly small group Bible study, has for several years, and we've been hosting for the last few months. I'm making it sound like work, and it is, but it's good work. These people are our FAMILY. We delight in knowing them and sharing part of our week with them. While it sometimes, like today, means an abbreviated seat-work day for homeschooling, we all work together to get the house ready. Olivia folded laundry, Noah vacuumed the carpeted areas, I dusted and baked a cake. If you haven't yet been introduced to the pioneer woman, you have to check this gal out! Tonight I served her chocolate sheet cake and it was scrumptious. A great way to spend the afternoon.

It's the eve of Sophie's birthday and I always feel a bit melancholy before one of my children's birthdays. I am hoping that we can make tomorrow a special day for her. Friday mornings are our mornings out for music lessons at the conservatory, errand running, lunch out (it will be Sophie's choice this week), library pit stop, and a couple of homeschooling co-op classes in the afternoon. We're having some of Sophie's "adult friends" over for dessert: her music teacher, a lovely lady from our care group, and a young woman who sometimes babysits for us. I hope they feel special to be singled out in this way, each has an important role in this little life.

Off to bed...before midnight! Hope your Friday is a great one!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

When Life Gets in the Way

I've found myself begrudging many of the tasks that have crowded my schedule, my desk, my mind over the last several months. True, it's been a season of increased activity for our home. You know what, though? Life has a way of, well, just getting in the way. I'm beginning to realize (yes, count me among the slow learner camp in this area) that no matter how refined my schedule, how organized my calendar, how "on top" of things I feel, I'm not the only factor in this equation. Years ago I shared part of my life story in a church service and started this way: "I would be the perfect wife and mother if it wasn't for my husband and children." Ain't that the truth?

There's more to it than that, though. In all of this falling short of my goals and ideals, and certainly falling short of the mark God has set for me, I'm learning some pretty valuable lessons. The biggest one, of course, is that God is using my insufficiencies to show He is beyond sufficient. I'm embracing the value of this calling called homemaking and chucking out some of the long-held but incorrect notions I have of what this all means. That motherhood, teaching, cooking, cleaning, and managing our home is one of the roles God values highly. That all these times of missing the mark can result in fertile teaching ground. And I do need to be taught. Desperately.

We started homeschooling our children 5 years ago. Starting out, I thought that we could really offer them a strong academic foundation in a time–efficient way. What I've grown to understand is that academics are such a small part of what we do in a day. All this character stuff is way more important. And I'm not talking about the children.

Since my recent track record on posting isn't exactly stellar and it's statistically improbable that I'll blog again before Friday, I'll leave you with a pic of my soon-to-be-7-year-old girl. I'd tell you how time flies and all that good stuff, but I suspect you're likely aware of that already.