Totally Tuckered out Tuesday

Don't look for a button... TToT is a thought I had as I sit here with my blog window in front me... and actually, it isn't entirely true.  I am not totally tuckered out... but I will sleep good tonight!

As part of our calling to serve as missionaries God put on our hearts to give our car back to our lender.  He first began putting this message on our hearts last September but we felt a peace about waiting.

Once the move was complete and we were re-settled, He BOMBARDED me with messages that the time had come to let go.

I would be lying if I said it was easy... if any of the steps we took to be where we are now were easy.  It is a strange thing being raised in a culture that covets privacy, space, and things.  We have sacrificed ALL of this to HIS glory and while some days I still shed a few tears to what is gone, I detest the idea of going the way of Lot's wife and choose to focus on my blessings and the way He has carried me through it all.

Enter TToT.

We walk.  I need to walk.  The number on my bathroom scale screams WALK every time I step on it.  I love to walk, always have.  In our old home we lived on the side of a mountain and walking was not an option, hiking was a better description of the trek required for physical exertion outside my front door!  After my last two children and the surgeries and problems that transpired, hiking was out of the question.

But here we are on the valley floor = flat, no hiking required!

Today we hitched a ride to an A-beka book showing, took the city bus (small town city bus!) to the thrift store where we scored a $4.50 like-brand-new-pair of pink and brown converse for my 12 year old who desperately needed tennies, took the bus to the library where we hung out before the 25 minute stroll home.

Waiting for the bus on the first leg of our trip

Hanging out at another bus stop and enjoying FREE suckers from the thrift store!

It isn't just the walking I love.  Why?

It's the people!

Someone asked me recently, "Do you find it hard to talk to other people [through my ministry]".  I didn't hesitate when I replied, "Yes!"  I am not a 'people person' by nature.  I just don't have that flare where I can walk into a room and walk out with 10 friends! Rather, I get quite nervous at the prospect of approaching strangers.  But I remind myself... it isn't about me!  It is totally about HIM and reflecting His love in all I do and say.

Joyfully embracing God's call, allowing myself some tears but not allowing myself remorse, has opened up other blessings.  God has given me strength to become more bold.  He has opened my eyes to sights previously unseen from behind a steering wheel.

Walking home today with the youngest three I happened upon an elderly woman.  We shared a wonderful conversation and I found myself wanting to take that same route at the same time every week so I might have the opportunity to chat with her more!  (this is the second time I have run into her and this time I learned she goes for a before-dinner stroll every evening).  These encounters lighten my heart and bring me joy because I know I have shared a piece of Him on my journey.  I wouldn't know this joy had I not submitted to this call on my life!

With gas prices going up, up, up, I challenge you to slip on a good pair of walking shoes, park your car, pocket your keys and some change for a bus ride and don a smile and ready eye to see God's people and make a difference... even if all you say is "hello" or all you do is lend a listening ear.  It could be the only hello or ready heart that person encounters all day!

May you respond to God's call in your life today and experience His pure Joy!





(Post note 5/27/11, I thought I would hitch a ride on the Homeschool Post's "Fantastic Foto Field Trips" meme because it sounds like FUN!  I totally classify this post as "field trip" material even if we didn't go visit some fantastic museum or scale a climbing wall.  Our field trip was to visit our community and transit system and just see people and interact with them.  You have to admit, there isn't enough of that going on these days!  We all get soo busy sometimes and we don't take time to slow down and just BE.  I guess that is the lesson here... Just BEing!  I hope you have enjoyed this article :-)  Check out others at The Homeschool Post!)

Seeking Glory Through Home Education

I have 262 messages in my email in-box and felt it was about time I went through them!! The yard sale made me do it!

I am currently an hour into checking out links through TOS's 2009 Homeschool Freebie Directory and I came across a website called Soli Deo Gloria Resources. The author explains the name as Latin for, "To God Alone The Glory". Amen to that.

As I am skimming through this website I came across this:

Why do we educate our children?

• If we educate our children so that they will be intelligent and successful - we may be seeking THEIR glory.
• If we educate our children so that they will impress our family, friends and neighbors - we may be seeing OUR OWN glory.
• If we educate our children so that they can pour forth facts and figures accurately - we may be seeking the glory of KNOWLEDGE (and knowledge puffs up).
• But if we educate our children so that they have a big view of God, are aware of their individuals giftings and seek to use them for the advancement of God's Kingdom around the world and in eternity - then we are seeking GOD's glory.

Wow. Do I feel humbled at His feet now.

When I first started homeschooling, my oldest was in 8th grade (as some of you already know, he still isn't homeschooled like his younger 3 siblings for complex reasons). If you factor in Kindergarten and preschool and all of the volunteer work I did through the years in district, that is over 9 years of publicly educated influences on my ideals of what school should be. Add to that a close and dear friend who is a retired elementary school teacher and the influences on my "teaching" techniques in home educating has been riddled with faulty indoctrination.

Among this indoctrination is the idea that children should be trained to recite, perform, and exhibit a general knowledge of facts based on local and federal mandates of what education looks like. Hmmm... this doesn't sound or look like a way to train up children for the Glory of God.

I spent 6 months out of the last 2 years unschooling my children. I had read early on that the best thing to do when you pull your children out of public school is nothing at all! Sound counter-productive? I thought so too. But it is like starting a good diet/eating habit. Sometimes you have to purge your system of all the toxins and chemicals that have polluted your body and created a cycle of unhealthy habits.

Children who have been in the public system first have been polluted with the unhealthy habits of what makes you "popular" in "normal" society. All of these habits have nothing to do with Glorifying our Heavenly Father.

As I gathered together our daily schedule and unit studies for this year I considered the necessity of keeping our focus on Him. Yes I want my kids to know their history, math, science, and language arts. They need those to function later in life and obtain degrees, jobs, and support families. But first and foremost, I want them to know the God that blesses these routes when we pursue all goals through His guidance and His grace.

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" Matthew 6:33

We must seek to glorify God through all that we teach our children. After all, children are God's gift to us. They are not ours, but His. What better "thank you" can we express than to train them up...

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6