A small rant

When I told my friend that I was going to start a blog, she commented that she thought it would be interesting because of my opinionated nature. Well, so far I haven't really had any reason to be opinionated about anything ... until now.

Tonight, I am going to share with you one of my pet peeves. It involves sports and priorities.

My son, JW, plays coach-pitch baseball. Tonight, as we huddled under the shed while the rain ended the play for the night, our coach announced that the team has an opportunity to play in a tournament in a couple of weeks. The tournament would begin on Friday night and end sometime Sunday.

How do you explain to the coach that as much as we want JW to enjoy his experience playing baseball, Sundays are off limits.

In our very small church (we average about 60 in worship on Sundays) I know of 4 families that have had to deal with this issue. For one family it meant that the Dad had to miss at least one service on most Sundays during the summer because his job required him to work the tournaments, but for the other three, it was simply a matter of choice. It is so sad to me that families have to choose between their children participating in sports and worshiping together on Sunday. And it is even more sad that Christian families head out in droves on Sunday mornings to "support" their children/grandchildren rather than teaching them that the day set aside to worship God is more important than whatever sport they happen to be playing at the moment.

I realize that I am treading on thin ice here, but I can't help but wonder what would happen to the current situation if even half of the Christian families just said no, we will not participate in any way on Sundays because that day belongs to God. Something tells me that things would change. Sports are too big of a business to lose the money contributed by Christian families.

So, how did we handle it? Well, for this time it was easy. We will be out of town on the weekend in question so that is all that Ronnie told the coach. If it comes up again, I am sure that it won't be so easy. We want our children to be able to participate in (limited and carefully selected)secular activities and we want them to excel at the things that they do, but I am not sure that these goals can co-exist with our responsibility to teach them that some things cannot be compromised.

Snooze and some thoughts about today

No one likes to oversleep. It is okay to sleep late if it is planned, but I hate that rushed feeling when I realize that I have hit the snooze button one too many times.

So, I am wondering how my neighbors must have felt when they woke up this morning. You see, I like to walk between 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning and this morning, while walking by one of the last houses on my street I could hear a strange buzzing sound. I had to take off my headphones to be sure of what I was hearing, but sure enough, it was some one's alarm clock going off. And it continued to go off for the duration of my walk, which was at least 30 minutes.

I am betting someone was late for work this morning, but since I don't have a clue who lives there, chances are I'll never know.

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Today is a big day for our little school. At least it is for me ... not so much for the kids.

First, our new math curriculum should arrive today. This is huge for me since my daughter has been struggling with math for quite some time now. I have been feeling her struggle very personally since I believe that the root of her struggle lies in my own weak background in math. I chose this new math program based on the fact that I think I will be able to teach it better, thus helping her to learn better. We will begin this new math this summer, as soon as we get home from our vacation. We have never had school in the summer before, but I really want to see her get caught up in math, so I think it is worth the effort.

Second, I will take the kids to sign up for co-op classes with our homeschool group today. For the last 2 years LB has taken classes and I have taught high school lit/writing courses. For next year, LB and JW will both be taking classes, but I won't be teaching. I am looking forward to the break, but I will miss teaching. I enjoy working with the high school students; I had even planned to teach high school as a career before God changed my direction and called me to stay home and school my own children. One nice thing about next year's co-op is that I will have a few hours on a regular basis to spend alone with my little hurricane. We don't get that very often. Another positive is how much JW is looking forward to joining his big sister in the "real" classes. I think that it is going to be a good year.

For now, I must get busy finishing the devotion I will lead in our ladies' prayer time at church tonight. I have been working on this for several weeks now and am feeling a little nervous about it. I will probably post more about it later, but for now, if you are curious, the scripture I will focus on is Acts 17:6. I would appreciate any prayers offered on my behalf today ... I truly believe that God laid this devotion on my heart and I want to do His will in sharing it tonight.

This week's daybook

For Today ...
Monday, April 27, 2009

Outside my window ...

lovely spring weather for now, but the humidity is on the rise and before long we'll be feeling more like summer here in the deep south.

I am thinking ...

about lots of things, but mostly getting ready for our vacation and trying to keep the kids focused on school work for the next couple of weeks.

From the learning rooms ...

I am hoping to finish our Tennessee lapbook this week. We will be starting our summer reading list this week and hopefully our new math curriculum will arrive.

I am thankful for ...

my church. I had to miss church yesterday since our little hurricane has croup and I was reminded of how much I crave being a part of our church services. I know that I can and should worship God daily in everything I do, but I think that the coming together with other believers helps to prepare me to do just that. Personal and corporate worship are linked together in a way I cannot fully explain ... my personal worship improves my corporate worship and my corporate worship improves my personal worship.

From the kitchen ...

Toasted English muffins for breakfast (at least for the adults)

Leftover roast beef for lunch

Baked chicken with macaroni and cheese and veggies for supper

I am wearing ...

navy shorts and a gray t-shirt ~ my uniform for the summer months

I am reading ...

nothing new ~ just continuing with the books I've already started.

I am hoping ...

that D's croup goes away soon and that the other kids don't get it.

I am going ...

NOWHERE!!!!! Sorry, but that makes me soooo happy!

I am creating ...

our summer reading list and a wish list for next year's curriculum.

I am hearing ...

the tv from the front of the house ... no one is up there watching it and I have been wishing that I had thought to turn it off before coming back here.

One of my favorite things ...

watching the sun come up as I walk in the mornings.

A few plans for the rest of the week ...

school, baseball, gardening, and getting ready for vacation!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you ...

the new bulletin board I made for LB's room ...

she loves it and now her Daddy has to get it hung.

Visit HERE for more daybook fun.

Just for the pleasure of reading ...

Anne of Green Gables ~ Anne of Avonlea ~ Anne's House of Dreams
Author ~ Lucy Maud Montgomery

My original plan was just to read the first book of this trilogy, but since I enjoyed it so much and I already owned all three, I decided to read them all. So I guess I'll review them all at the same time.

The basic facts about the books are very simple. A young orphan girl, adopted by an elderly brother and sister, neither of whom had ever married or had much contact with children. Anne (with an "e") provides a breath of fresh air for Matthew and Marilla and they give her a stable home and love, two things that she had never truly experienced before. The first two books tell about her growing up years and the adventures she creates for herself and her playmates. The third book is about her marriage and the first few years after she moves away from Avonlea.

These books appeal to me because they are from a much simpler era. I always wanted to live like those men and women who lived simplistic lives without all the "things" that take up so much of our time today. I enjoyed reading about children who could roam the town and countryside of Prince Edward Island in Canada without anyone worrying about them unless they didn't come home for supper. As a young girl, I dreamed of times just like these, being free to enjoy the simple things of life without the demands or fears of modern society.

I loved these books. I had read bits and pieces of them before, but never all in one sitting, so to speak. I have seen all of the movies, and best I can remember, the first two movies were pretty close to the books, but the third was totally different and I think it even had a different name. Anyway, back to the books. There is one simple reason I loved these books: I can totally relate to Anne. No, I am not an orphan and I wasn't the child always getting into "scrapes" but I was the child who read all the time and could spend hours daydreaming and creating elaborate stories about people and places that didn't exist. Even as an adult, I still enjoy an occasional escape from reality.

I cannot say that these books were life changing, but they provided exactly what I was looking for at the moment. Well written, pleasant reading that would not leave me angry or questioning the world around me. Sometimes, it is okay to read good literature just for the pleasure of reading. Now that I have finished reading the books, I am looking forward to reading them with my daughter, who is definitely a kindred spirit in the realm of daydreaming.

Home

Tonight, after JW's baseball game (which his team won! so far they are undefeated ~ go Knights!) we took the kids to a local pizza place for supper. They begged to sit outside and since the weather was pleasant, we agreed. As I sat there, watching the sun set behind the trees I realized something ... I really like living in the place where I grew up. Every now and then I find myself feeling a little jealous of those who have moved away from home and experienced something totally different from their childhood. When I married a minister almost 12 years ago, I expected to be experiencing just that, something different from my childhood. I didn't really expect God to call us back to my home town. My husband is from another part of our state, and we were willing to go anywhere that God called us. While I am sure that I would be able to call home any town that God called our family to, I am thankful that He has allowed me to raise my children just about 5 minutes from the place my family has called home for the past 26 years.

Tonight, God reminded me of the blessings in the small things: home and family being the two that I take for granted most often. I am thankful, but it helps to be reminded every once in a while that I need to say thank you for these and the many other blessings I experience every day.

a random look at the week

I have been wanting to post all week and just haven't been able to find the time to do it. So today I thought I would just go a little random in looking at the week. It has been a good one, not nearly as busy as the last two, but still not as "normal" as I would like.

Bright and early Monday morning I took the kids to sing "Back at the Creekbank" with their home school group at a local assisted living home. I met one of the residents there who taught school for 40 years, first in the public school system and then in private schools. I'll be honest, I was a little nervous because former educators are not always accepting of home schoolers, but I was pleasantly surprised by her reaction to our group. She was very complimentary of what the children had presented and very positive about homeschooling in general. She also asked me some questions about what and how I teach. She was particularly interested in whether or not I am teaching my kids to put their own ideas down on paper and I told her that we have struggled in that area and asked if she had any ideas on how to get them to write. She did, of course, and I really like the way she did it in her classroom and plan to try it with the kids. I think that once we get a story written I will try and send the lady a copy of it.

The other side of this story is that my children are typically terrified of dogs and I had to take them to a place where the residents are allowed to bring their pets with them. I had to speak very carefully when I told them where we were going and that they must go in and they couldn't do anything crazy like climbing furniture (or me) to get away from the dogs, they would just have to be calm and know that they wouldn't have dogs there that would hurt children. I was amazed by the kids ... they didn't go berserk and they actually petted some of the dogs ... I think we have made a real breakthrough here.

I have had two very interesting meetings this week. The first was our local home school group mom's meeting. One of our members spoke about dyslexia. Both of her younger sons are dyslexic and it is the reason she is homeschooling them. The information she shared about learning styles and the importance of understanding how your child learns was great even though I don't have children with this particular challenge.

Last night, I met with our local "area team" for Operation Christmas Child. If you aren't familiar with what this is, it is a project of Samaritan's Purse (which is Franklin Graham's international relief organization). One of these days I will do a post dedicated to OCC. This is the mission project that I do all year long and absolutely have no doubt that God has called me to be a part of. Our group last night talked about goals for the year and ways to involve more people in the project and we listened to two people who were able to go and actually participate in shoebox distributions in the last year. It is amazing to hear these stories of how God uses simple shoe boxes to touch the lives of children and to impact their families and communities. Anyway, I am looking forward to the coming months and being more involved this year. *If you aren't familiar with this project and would like more information, just ask, I will be glad to talk about it!

Okay, now to my final bit of randomness for the week ...

What I learned in the garden yesterday ...

1. I learned that I wish I had my Granny's knack for using a hoe. She made it look like an extension of her arm; I look like my 4 year old using a farm implement much too big for him.
2. I learned that it is hard to tell the difference between weeds and cucumber plants.
3. I learned that my 9 year old daughter really likes playing in the mud much more than she likes planting tomatoes and while she is pretty good with the latter, she is even better at the former. I really wish I had taken my camera to the garden to capture her hands covered in mud almost halfway up to her elbow ... so ladylike!
4. I learned that my sons would much rather watch their uncle build a storage shed than help their Mama plant tomatoes. (Okay, so there is no big surprise there, which would you choose as a little boy, playing with a hammer or helping in the garden? That's what I thought!)
5. Last, but not least, I learned that the morning after you spend 2 1/2 hours hoeing and planting 78 tomato plants, it is best to get out of bed slowly!

Another Daybook

The Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today ...

Monday, April 20, 2009

Outside my window ... a lovely spring evening, with a freshly cut yard and children playing for a few more minutes before they have to come in for the evening.

I am thinking ... about how nice it is that we get to stay home this evening.

From the learning rooms ... we will begin our state study of Tennessee tomorrow in preparation for our upcoming vacation.

I am thankful for ... the opportunity for my kids to share the musical our home school group has been working on with a local retirement home this morning. We were supposed to be there to bless the residents, and I feel sure that the children accomplished that, but I found myself blessed just by being there, and especially by one lady who shared a small amount of the wisdom she gained as an educator for 40 years. At least one of her suggestions will be put into action this week.

From the kitchen ... Lentils, rice and green salad for dinner tonight ... we will be eating late since I decided to mow the yard when I would normally have been cooking supper ... it was worth it though.

I am wearing ... the shorts and t-shirt I mowed in ... yuck!

I am reading ... Anne's House of Dreams ... I enjoyed Anne of Green Gables so much that I decided to finish the trilogy. I really need to get back to my reading list for the Spring Reading Thing if I am going to have any chance to finish everything I had planned.

I am hoping ... for a return to "normal" this week and that this will inject some calm into what has been a chaotic couple of weeks.

I am going ... to take a shower and put on my jammies as soon as I finish this post!

I am creating ... a plan for our family page for the yearbook our home school group does. It is due tomorrow night, so I had better get busy!

I am hearing ... one of my absolute favorite songs ... When God Ran by Phillips, Craig and Dean.

Around the house ... lots of straightening up to do from the busy weekend and, of course, laundry.

One of my favorite things ... freshly mowed grass and a clean carport.

A few plans for the rest of the week ... the usuals of baseball and dance and, since the nice weather is supposed to continue, the kids and I will be helping my Daddy set out about 200 tomato plants!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you ...

JW's first baseball game ... he is so proud of his number!

Don't forget to visit Peggy for more daybook fun.