Homeschool Checklist: Switching Priorities

Dear New Homeschool Parent,

As a homeschool parent for almost 10 years, I really worried about putting my kids in public school this last fall.  I wondered if I had taught them enough or if they would be academically or socially behind.  I worried that my teaching methods had been too lax and that the structure of school would overwhelm my kids.

My common response to the question of how school was going was that I was behind.  I hadn't checked all the boxes or done enough in my estimation.  One day a grandfather at my son's baseball game asked me if my kids were learning because he must have sensed my hesitation.  His daughter was a homeschool mom and had surely shared some of her own struggles with her dad. I had to stop and evaluate my week based on this simple standard.

Yes, my kids were learning.

Actually, they love to learn.

From that day on I started looking at my homeschool adventure with new priorities and a new checklist.

• Spend meaningful time with my kids

• Did my kids learn something new today

• What character/values did we work on

• Read together

During this unprecedented season, there are things beyond the ABCs that only you can teach your children.  There are life lessons, experiences, and gifts that only you can impart to your children.  Don't miss this opportunity to teach what only you can teach them in this season.

With love,

Ruthie

PS.  My kids did great in school this year.  Turns out this simple approach works!

A Word From God to Encourage

I sat at my table studying and praying knowing deep in my heart I needed to do more listening than requesting.  Some days my conversations with God can be a little one sided on the wrong side.  What I really needed today was for me to be quite and to hear from Him so I prayed, "Set my heart right.  Forgive me for my selfishness and my constant asking.  Teach me to be still before you."

Always be prepared for the download you will receive when you honestly ask God to pour into you.  He eagerly desires to bless you and me with a fresh word straight from His heart. What I have learned from reading about the Holy Spirit and how God speaks to us is that it may sound like your voice in your thoughts, but we both know that if it were just your thoughts the words would be a lot more negative.  I am not saying I have never heard God tell me something difficult, but that His voice is not condemning, rather it is right and true and full of grace.  Like me maybe you need a word of encouragement.  Maybe you need to hear God say to you it will be ok.  Be still and lean in.  Receive a fresh word from Him today.  Breath it in deep.  Be refreshed and renewed.

[Daughter you are loved.  You are whole.  You are no longer broken.  I have put you back together to demonstrate my love and power.  Stand strong under the pressures of this world and continue to seek after what will be in the world to come.  Daughter you are loved. Daughter you are enough.  Cherish the moments you have with your family.  Love them deeply.  Do not fear the days to come.  Trust me.  I hold your future and theirs in my hands.  I carefully plan it out and guide your steps.  Be obedient to me and walk in my ways.  Love my way.  Give my way.  Teach my way.  Serve my way.  Worship me with your whole heart and surrender your plans to my leading.  Be thankful and rejoice.  You have been given much.  Others need to hear your story.  Share it openly with all who will listen.  Tell of my name.  Reflect me in all you do.  Never forget who's you are.]

With love,

Valentine's Note

It has come again as it did last year.  A day of warmth in the midst of winter when Cupid’s arrow lets loose and affections fly.  A day for young love, and old love that still burns young. A day for poems and sweets… and other treats.  A day for glowing stares and longing glares, young love is in the air.

But when does young love stop being… young?  When it’s owners have passed the age or when the love itself begins to grown?  Have we passed the days my dear, my love, that we must succumb to the world’s design and proclaim an elder love?  No, I say, not yet, not now, not in my time, not in yours!

You see my dear, my love, maturity in life, as grand as it may be, cannot hold a candle to young loves naivety. Young love stretches the heart like never before, it pulls and strengthens and burns inside. It can be seen from a distance far, beaming and signalling all, like a lighthouse upon the sea. It intoxicates the owner, the holder, of that young love. It clouds the mind with honeyed thoughts and times yet to come.

  Young love, my dear, my love, it’s what I have... it’s what I give.  Twenty plus years has not grown more than a day in the eyes of that young love.  While we may grow mature in thought and deed, compassion and age, let our love never grow beyond that young stage.  That stage of love that cries out to be embraced, sought wholly and never fulfilled completely.

It’s a place, young love, where everyday trials can disappear, swept away and replaced.  Replaced with a joy, with a hope, with a song in the heart that drowns out the noise of the world.  So stay with me here, my dear, my love, in this state of young love, far away from the age that so many hearts endure.

Let them keep their “mature” love, with it’s oft dampened soul,  with its lackluster looks and days that grow old. Rail with me here, turn against the mundane.  We’ll stay lost in young love long after our bodies have aged...

Happy Valentine’s Day, my dear, my love,

- C

Finding Freedom

We are on a new journey with a new group of people on an adventure called small groups.  They are a marvelous and scary thing.  New faces learning new things, building relationships with strangers talking about Jesus and how our lives collide with His in the radical story of the Gospel.  All in an effort to figure out how to live this crazy life for His glory and not our own.

I was doing my homework this morning for our group, yes sometimes we even have homework, and it struck me that I have a lot to learn.  **News Flash**  Ruth does not know everything!  This is much more of a shocker to me than it is to you of course.  I have long struggled with the idea that I don't know everything.  My dad used to call me Ruth Knows All Tells All.  It is not that I actually thought I knew everything, it was that what I did know, or thought I knew, I was pretty vocal about sharing it and I suppose not much has changed.  I tend to share what is on my mind and enjoy discussing thoughts and ideas in an attempt to learn more.  I love to know stuff and I abhor not knowing, it actually drives me crazy to not know.  So I can strongly relate to Eve wanting to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and her desire to know stuff like God knows stuff.  Information is power and knowledge is strength and knowing stuff is good........right?  Well as it turns out for both Adam and Eve that much knowledge was not so good and they felt ashamed for knowing so much.  They now knew there was evil in the world.  They now knew they were naked.  They now knew enough to be ashamed of disobeying God.  He gave them the command not to eat from that tree and yet their desire to know stuff overpowered their will to trust God to know more than them.  Rather than find freedom in that knowledge they found chains and these chains bound them to all sorts of trouble.  This trouble has been following us since then and instead of breaking free from it we live in this fog of shame being held back by it in our own pursuit of knowledge, or at least I have. 

You might be thinking that as a believer I have already been set free from condemnation and that I have been made right before God and you would be right.  I have accepted Jesus as my savior, I admit that I don't live a perfect life and I need rescuing.  I know for certain I am part of God's family and that He has made a way for me to know Him.  But that does not mean I have been set free from all of the troubles that weigh me down. 

For me this pursuit of knowledge has been about comfort.  If I know stuff it brings some level of peace.  If I know what will come I can prepare.  If I know what to do I can be confident.  If I know stuff then I don't need help.  If I know the right thing then I can avoid the shame of being wrong. If I......and that is what it is all about.  I can rely on myself.   I got God for my salvation, but everything else in between I seem to need a back up plan for that involves me.  This is a revelation to me.  I did not know that I operated this way.  I thought I was pretty trusting.  I thought I was pretty free. As it turns out ....

I'm waking up from a fog

the fog of doubt and debt

the fog of insecurity and worry

the fog of holding back and holding on

the fog of measuring up and comparison

the fog of I'm right and you're wrong

the fog of this is the only way church is done

the fog of poor me or look at me

Wake me from my foggy sleep 

to days of clarity and true sight.

Give me a heart to see the truth of you and me.

Give me strength to live in purpose and in action

for your glory and not my own.

Make me free to live for you alone.

Amen!

With love,

 

So Many Things To Do

"Alpha and Omega" original painting by Ruthie Robbins

I was looking forward to my summer break. As a homeschool mom I am like many teachers who count the days down to summer, day dreaming of all the ways I am going to spend my leisure time. I have plans to paint and read and catch up on time with my friends, maybe even try a new recipe or two. Can any of you relate to this? And then BAM! Your plans get blown up or you simply remember that your schedule is not really yours alone and that your kids still need you because as mom you don't really get a vacation and not all things are on hold just because it is summer.

Last year some time I committed to being a director for my church's VBS and with that came a two year commitment. I am one and a half years into it and my mind is not totally there. I want to spend my time my way checking items off my summer bucket list, but I committed to do this and when I vow to do something I do it will all my heart. I am an all or nothing kinda girl. If I'm just not into it I just say no!  And Vacation Bible School is one of those things that is really important to my kids, an outreach and discipleship tool for my church and teaching and leading others is a passion of mine. With that however comes WAY more time than my heart is willing to give. I have spent the last few hours pouring over the Bible lessons, not because I am teaching them, but because I am overseeing that area and thereby responsible to support those teachers and help gather needed materials and be available for questions. That is only one part of my duties and as a worrier by nature my mind has been flooded with concerns over what we have yet to get done and VBS is only weeks away. I am freaking out a bit.

This is not a burden I bear alone. Three other brave women stand with me in this adventure and together with a team of volunteers we will attempt to live out the Gospel through our teaching, our conversations and our actions. If you have ever attended or lead a VBS you know first hand that it is a beautifully orchestrated chaotic circus of fun, noise and good news!  Anytime you put that many children in one place it is a recipe for either glorious fun or complete disaster and as I said earlier I am a worrier and sometimes a pessimist. I like to say that I am simply a realist, but because I suffer from depression and anxiety the truth is that I struggle to not see the negative side of most everything, sometimes, often, but not always.

Rather than see how much we have not gotten done or envisioning how things could go wrong I could focus on what I am not enjoying on MY LIST while I prepare and attend planning meetings for above stated VBS. Somehow I don't think that is what God would have me focus on either. You see He has used this rather monumental task of pulling off a successful VBS to reveal in me a deep seated selfishness. I want things my way, on my time, and they must only be fun enjoyable activities that I have been notified of ahead of time. Ok so I am not this difficult in real life, but only in my head and heart and from what I have read in the Bible that is an area God is very much concerned about. 1Samuel 16:7 says," But the LORD said to Samuel, "Don't judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.""

So you might be asking yourself what all this rambling is about. Is is about VBS and how it will all go or me not getting what I want or a rant from a crazy lady?  It is my confession and my agreement with God that I have heart issues and that my selfishness gets in the way of His plans.  And He uses these plans of his to root out in me that which is undesirable and fills me with what is good.  He fills me with Himself.  I pray what David did in Psalm 139:23 "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts."

I hope that you will pray the same prayer with me and ask God to reveal to you what it is He is trying to say to you during this season of your life.

With love,

Play in the Rain

"Suess" original art by Ruthie Robbins

    Let’s go hiking she said.  Yeah!, was the enthusiastic response. She, my wife, was kidding of course, we were in the middle of a torrential downpour.  Yeah!, that would be insane they said. Of course, in their world insane often equals awesome. That’s raising boys for you, the land of the insane, crazy fun that says traipsing through the woods isn’t good enough, it should be done in the middle of a deluge of rain and wind.   We didn’t go out that time, but I have to admit, it did kind of sound like fun.

"Be the Exception" original art by Ruthie Robbins

 

The sound of taking a path less taken is something that either drives us forward or causes us to step back out of fear.  The fear of the unknown. If I go down that path, what will come? What awaits me at the end? In our modern times here in suburbia the question usually sounds more like... is this the best, wisest, most cost effective path to take?  Is this the one that gets me the farthest in life, the one that makes me the most money? Now, don’t get me wrong here, I’m not advocating for stupid decisions. I think enough of those get made on a minute by minute basis. What I am saying is that I think our “sensibilities” often get in the way.

I started this little thought with my sons because they very often remind me to take things as they come, simply and without a mountain of deep thought.  You know, like a child. I think I have heard that saying somewhere, in a book I don’t pick up often enough… hmmm. In case you're confused I’m talking about the Bible and Matthew 18:3, which is that verse about becoming little children in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  It’s one of those passages that I always go back to, one of the few that have stuck with me over the years.

Now, I’m not going to dissect the passage, there are smarter wordsmiths out there that have already done so, go check them out.  What I have to say is simpler than that. My words for the day are to go take that hike in the middle of the torrent. Try out that “insane” (awesome) idea that your children have.  Adopt that weird pet, take that trip… have that conversation. Take the time to do something with your children that they will remember for the rest of their days, because the number of those days they have in your home are fewer than you realize.  Make them count.

The next time your sensibilities say don’t, do.  Instead of worrying over what you have to lose, wonder about the memories that you have to gain.  The time you spend with your children now will have long lasting effects on their lives, for better or worse.  Now, I also have to remind you that this is an extrapolation of Matthew 18:3, and not what the verse is actually talking about.  Like I said, go look it up, along with a good explanation. You may learn something new, or gain a little different perspective on things.  And lastly, go do something insane, in the rain, in the wind, with the ones you love.  Do it now, do it often.


-C

A Rarely Used Word

      Define juxtaposition: “the act of driving down I95 while listening to christian music.”  Well that’s my definition anyway. Now, if you aren’t familiar with Interstate 95 between Washington D.C. and Richmond, Virginia I applaud you for your good fortune.  For the rest of us that are intimately aware of it’s painful nature you may have a bit better insight into my description of the rarely used word juxtaposition. Just to clear things up, the real definition is “the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.” At least that’s what Google says and hey, if Google says it… well anyway.

Back to my definition.  I came up with it just today while navigating thick holiday traffic.  Great music was booming out of my speakers and the name of Jesus was prevalent, and all was well.  On the inside of the car anyway. On the outside was a hoard of individuals looking to get somewhere, and doing so without a care about anyone else around them.  And that is where the juxtaposition begins. The sharp contrast of Jesus music setting the background to my myriad of epithets hurled toward those all around me. That’s right, don’t try and tell me you haven’t been there before, cursing anyone who drives faster than you as a maniac and anyone slower a fool.  Let’s be honest, we have all been there.

But there is another great use of the word juxtaposition, an honest definition.  It goes something like this; placing the glory of God against the everyday actions of… me, or you, or that guy next to you in traffic… fill in the blank with whatever you like.  I have to say, when that thought hit me in the car it was a bit unsettling. It didn’t come as some huge put me in my place moment in regards to my relationship to God, but it did remind me of how hard it is to be on this side of a fallen world.  I can’t even drive down the road without messing things up for crying out loud.

It’s also a great reminder that I don’t have to drive down that road in worry of messing things up. God knows I’m going to fail over and over again, and that’s ok because I know Him… and I know of His grace.  It’s only because of that knowledge I can comfortably say “I messed up, again, and I’m sorry.”  I can give up whatever that ailing feeling is, whether it’s something as simple as cursing to myself about the driver next to me or something far larger.  I can give it all up, I can give it to the Lord above; the one that surrounds us and loves us as we are. I can do it right then and there with no special pomp or circumstance needed.  Talk about comforting.

So the next time you take a drive on I95, or whatever road near you has selfish drivers on it (don’t they all), take a moment and breath.  Relax and remember that we have all failed and we have all fallen short. We don’t have to be blaring christian music to appreciate that fact of life, although I do recommend it.  Take an extra moment and perhaps let that too fast driver pass you by without reincarnating George Carlin in your car. Lastly, but most importantly, praise God for the grace He has shown you, and me, and remember what a juxtaposition life really is on this side of the fall.


-C