Tag: hope

Why I’m Coming Back to Homeschooling

Leave a comment

I want to start off today by saying thank you for reading about my journey through grief that I shared last week. When I decided to write every day in October, I wasn’t planning on sharing all of that. But as I sat behind the computer, that is what the Lord put on my heart. So now you know more of what it means when I say “life turned upside down for me.” Let’s get back to the home-school journey, shall we?

By spring break, I began praying about next school. It’ just a habit of mine. That’s always the time I begin preparing for the next school year, so it just happened naturally.

I was praying about whether this public school thing was a new season for us or if this semester was just a time to let the dust settle and we would return to home-schooling again next year.

We decided to go on our first family ski trip over spring break, which felt so official since the kids were in school. When you home-school, you can take spring break any week or month March through May, but this year this was the week!

I had already made up the school decision in my head, but on the drive to New Mexico I realized I hadn’t exactly poured over it in prayer.

I was impressed with how things were going in public school. I was able to have some segments to life and not just have everything mixing with everything else all the time. I had healthy boundaries, space to myself and the ability to go to lunch with my husband if I wanted to. Plus the kids were learning!

Continue reading →

Where My Hope Rests

1 Comment

Psalm 62:1-8

“My soul finds rest in God alone,

my salvation comes from Him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation;

He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

How long will you assault a man?

Would all of you throw Him down –

this leaning wall, this tottering fence?

They fully intend to topple him from his lofty place;

they take delight in lies.

With their mouths they bless,

but in their hearts they curse.

Find rest, O my soul in God alone;

my hope comes from Him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation;

He is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

My salvation and my honor depend on God;

He is my mighty rock, my refuge.

Trust in Him at all time,

O people; pour out your hearts to Him,

for God is our refuge.”

David said that God is his fortress. When do you need a fortress? You need a fortress during war – when you’re afraid because the enemy is attacking you. A fortress is a safe place. David states that God is that place for Him.

I love how in verse one, David declares rest in God alone and then in verse 5 he reminds himself of this truth. He says, “I will never be shaken – though war break out.” This fortress that he’s entrusting himself to, won’t even shake when the bombs are bursting all around him. His hope is in God.

What’s going on in your life that’s troubling you? Does it seem like war has broke out around you? Pour out your heart to the Lord. He can handle all of it. Tell Him your doubts, aches, fears, frustrations, confusions and in that process your relationship with God is strengthened. He becomes your most trusted friend and advisor – your refuge, your hope, your fortress.

This post is apart of a series called 31 stories of hope for every homeschooler. To see the entire series, click HERE.

31-stories-of-hope-for-every-homeschooler-1

Songs of Hope

Leave a comment

Today I want to share with you two songs that have meant a lot to me this year. The first I mentioned 2 days ago in The High Tide of Grief . It’s Danny Gokey’s song Tell Your Heart to Beat Again. I was going to re-tell you the story behind this song, but I can’t do it nearly as powerful as Danny did on this interview. Please click over to this site and hear the story for yourself and then hear the song live. He says, “I want you to begin to hope again. God wants you to believe again. He wants you to trust Him…” Don’t miss this story!

http://http://www.air1.com/music/news/2016/03/02/danny-gokey-tell-your-heart-to-beat-again-behind-the-music.aspx

As if that wasn’t enough, I want to share one more song with you. This one is by Steven Curtis Chapman and it’s called Something Beautiful. In his behind the music story, he shares how he believes “God will take the most broken things, the ugliest to look at right now…and those will be the places where the greatest beauty and glory will come from . It’s the paradox of in our weakness He is strong. ” So here is the song –

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv6foJHaxLg

Grace has just begun my friend!

This post is apart of a series called 31 stories of hope for every homeschooler. To see the entire series, click HERE.

31-stories-of-hope-for-every-homeschooler-1

Lessons From My Favorite Artist

1 Comment

Growing up I did a lot of projects. My parents, grandparents and even my Aunt made things we called miniatures. They were just little wooden replicas of some of our favorite American nick-nacks like bluebell ice cream, old fashion school desks, pencil holders, stumps with a tiny hatchet through the middle with the words gone hunting glued across it.

My family was always painting one of these little jewels for a wholesaler who would then sell them to stores like Hobby Lobby or Michael’s. Wax paper would be laid out in sheets across every table in the house with 12 dozen “pencils” drying before being glued to their “holder”.

So I would often set up my own desk and make my own miniatures with whatever paint and supplies I had.

Continue reading →

The High Tide of Grief

Leave a comment

Grief.

I’ve tried to pinpoint the triggers. Sometimes I can, sometimes I can’t. My mind wanders into open doorways of memories way too easily. It seems to come over me in waves like a high tide. If I’m observant, there are signs the water is rising, but there comes a moment when the waves crash over me, and I’m pulled into an underwater current going farther and farther from the surface.

I can’t breathe.

Even in the middle of the day, my world is gray, my movements slow, the sounds around me muttered, and my brain disengaged.

The days of extreme grief strung together for weeks at a time. I wondered if I’d ever come up for air again. I longed to see the land and shed my water logged clothing for sanity and stability. I longed to see the sun and run on the sand, holding hands with my kids.

Continue reading →

What I Miss Most

2 Comments

While Papa was settling in at the assisted living place, my mom and I were left with the question of what to do with his house, and all the things in his house.

My parents moved to Arkansas right after Caleb, my oldest was born. My mom says it’s my fault… I got married and moved out of the house at 18, leaving my parents early empty-nesters.

To combat the empty void, my mom decided to pursue her doctorate degree at North Texas. I’m pretty sure she also re-modeled her bathroom, redecorated and painted a few rooms all in one summer too!

So 4 years later, Ph.D in hand, she’s ready to teach at a University but there was not a position for her in Tyler or Dallas. She began putting out resumes right as my pregnancy test turned positive. At the time I hated to tell her to stay, because we didn’t have deep roots in East Texas yet. Adam and I both grew up there but we didn’t have jobs that we wanted to be at for the rest of our life. We had thought of moving too. I thought it’d be our luck, that I would convince my parents to stay close and then we’d be the ones moving. For all we knew, we might join them in Arkansas.

Continue reading →

What if I Want to Die?

1 Comment

My whole childhood is filled with memories of Papa taking care of other people.  If someone wanted a custom table or cabinet built, they called my Papa. If their washing machine was overflowing or weed eater stopped working, they called my Papa. If someone needed a partner in a tennis match or a ride into town, he was the man. He could do, fix or make anything. 

Here are some examples just in my house.

When he landed in the hospital a year ago, he doted on every nurse that came in. “Is there anything I can do for you?” he would ask.

He was amazed at how they came in hourly to check on him and help him get comfortable. (Those of us staying with him weren’t that gracious with all the interruptions, however!) He insisted they didn’t need to keep checking on him. He was fine.

Right, because you go the hospital and get 6 units of blood when you’re fine, I thought.

Continue reading →

Hearts, Hiking and Healing

Leave a comment

Before we go any further in this 31 day journey and before I share more about what home-schooling looks like for us now, I want to share with you how important my grandfather is to me so that you can gain a better perspective of why this time was so hard for me.

To do that, I want to take you to my favorite chapter (chapter 6) of my book that I released in May of this year.  The chapter title is called Keys, Tea and Herons, and here is a glimpse of the relationship I had with my grandfather and also a beautiful example of how God prepared me for this difficult time.

Continue reading →

A Time for Everything

2 Comments

 

Seeing my grandfather digress so rapidly left us all a little numb. One day I read Ecclesiastes 3, and saw so much of my life described in those words that I decided to pen my own version…

A Time For Everything In My Own Words

There’s a time to be born and a time to be adopted.

There’s a time to start a garden

and a time to buy from the local produce stand.

There’s a time when you want to kill someone,

and a time to accept their apology.

There’s a time to end a failing business,

and a time to start a new one.

There’s a time to hide under the covers and cry,

and a time to get up and get dressed.

There’s a time to throw rocks in the pond with your grandfather,

and a time to hold his hand in the nursing home.

There’s a time to gather more materials,

and a time to make the best with what you have.

There’s a time to scrapbook,

and a time for a digital slideshow.

There’s a time to keep newborn onesies,

and a time to pass them onto a friend.

There’s a time when life smothers you speechless,

and a time to share your testimony.

There’s a time you don’t want the day to end,

and a time to welcome the dawn of a new morning.

There’s a time to struggle against yourself,

and a time to rest in God’s sufficiency.

There’s a time to say, Yes I can do that,

and a time to say, Help, it’s too much!

There’s a time to say, Yes Lord, I’ll follow you to Kenya,

and a time to say, What, write a book?!

There’s a time to remodel the house,

and a time to let the dust settle.

There’s a time to teach multiplication and subtraction,

and a time to let someone else.

And through it all, God is faithful. There is a time for everything, and everything in its time. There’s nothing new under the sun and God is Sovereign over it all, through out every season of life. Thank you Lord for that hope!

Heavenly Father, 

I pray for my friend reading this. I pray she know that whatever season of life she’s in you are there. The winter season will pass and turn to spring. The summer to fall and the fall to winter. You are Lord over it all and provide exactly what is needed for each season. Thank you for being faithful. In Jesus name, Amen.

This post is apart of a series called 31 stories of hope for every homeschooler. To see the entire series, click HERE

31-stories-of-hope-for-every-homeschooler-1.

Footprints in the Sand

Leave a comment

Speaking of the way God ordains our circumstances, (read yesterday’s post if you’re confused) I forgot about this story…

So my two younger kids went to public school in January of 2016. Two months before, in October, a friend of mine invited us to a Fall Festival at the school they would later attend. We didn’t know all that would happen in two months, but I thought it would be fun and said yes to her invitation.

Ironically, she was unable to go due to a family emergency, but we still decided to go. I knew no one there and Adam and I awkwardly stood in the halls while our kids ran from classroom to classroom doing silly tricks and collecting bucketfuls of candy.

All of a sudden I saw a lady pass by that looked familiar. I mean she just passed by the hallway where I stood people watching and instantly I remembered her from, are you ready…4th grade! I’m serious! I don’t think I’ve seen her since then, but I was sure that was her.

Continue reading →