7 Days

On Day 1 of creation, I am sure that I was being thought of by You, God, 
when I awoke this morning to a Southern sky so beautiful and blue.

( That's not dirt on your screen, I need the maid to clean the window). (P.S. I'm the maid.)

Memories of trips to the oceans You've invented, compel me to praise You for days 2 and 3!

(Edisto Island Beach, South Carolina. June 15th, 2009, Sunrise: 6:48 A.M.)

Lord, when You also made the plants and vegetation on Day 3, 

were You thinking of me and how I'd love flowers?

(And did You make cacao trees because You knew I'd love chocolate?)

(Gifts of love from my daughter, Miss A, for my birthday yesterday, June 15th.)

Sunshine to grow my garden by and the moon to walk in the light of with my sweetie:
I am positive that You anticipated that I'd love the effort You made to design Day 4.

(1994 Watercolor titled: "The Moon and Sun Come Out at One" by Miss S, daughter #1.)


I know You remember that Spring day when my girls and I spotted a baby robin 
getting flying lessons!





And I know You recall the May day that we watched the tiny, praying mantis babies 
hatching on my front porch planter's finial.

 Your creativity and imagination stopped me in the aisle at Wal-Mart,
and I had to bring Buster the Betta home.

(When the sun set on Day 5, you were quite pleased with Yourself, weren't You?
You were sure that I'd be pleased with Your gifts for me.)


Each day, I receive so much joy and emit much laughter with these two ferret fuzzies
as entertainment. Okay, Miss A entertains me, too.
Even though she is a teenager.
And even though she's not fuzzy.

When You decided to fashion humans on Day 6, You knew that someday I would need friends.
Were You making sure that I would learn, through them, the definition of love?

They not only extend love to me, they cheer my heart as I journey here.

(My kitchen "Cherish" board.)

When You decided to fashion humans on Day 6, You knew that someday I would need my family.

Were You making sure that I would learn, through them, the definition of grace?

(Outtake. Christmas Eve 2010.)

(A note from my amusing mother (yes, she writes backwards!)

When You manufactured everything we'd need for food, You must have figured
I'd be delighted!

(Abundance from the Farmer's Market, delivered by my sisters Ana and Amy.)

On Day 7, You rested. I don't blame you.

All the wonder and design and ingenuity and intelligence You supplied 

must have taken some effort.

I wonder, if on Day 7, You sat there thinking about all the ways 

that Your achievements would inspire and impress me?

I wonder, if on Day 7, You sat there anticipating my arrival, 

and couldn't wait to see the wonder in my eyes as I discovered each new miracle?

I wonder, if on Day 7, You sat there hoping I would one day understand 

the care You have shown me through Your provision for me?

Well, I am inspired, impressed, and I understand all You've done for me.

And I am ever so grateful for those 7 Days.

I am at Amada's for her Weekend Bloggy Reading Link-Up Partay! Go HERE.

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Less vs. More

Today, I strive for:


Less complaining, more compassion.


Less internet, more interaction.


Less hypocrisy, more holiness.


Less passivity, more prayer.


Less TV, more talking.


Less blame, more blessing.


Less phone, more throne.


Less stress, more simplicity.


Less judgment, more joy.


~






If you haven't yet, please enter my Vintage-Inspired Cottage Giveaway 
through this Sunday (5/29) night.

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What I Want for Mother's Day

Every year, about a week before the blessed event of the second Sunday in May,

I get asked a question by my 2 daughters.

"What do you want for Mother's Day?"

I usually tell them that I don't need a gift, I already have all I need: them.

They then tell me: "Sure, you SAY you don't want a gift, but you really do."

And they could be right.

Past tokens of affection have included breakfast in bed including freshly squeezed orange juice,

a rose bush, 
cards made with folded construction paper and markers declaring love and devotion,

kisses, hugs, cleaning, lunches at Mimi's Cafe'.
Today, my college girl begged me stop so she could buy me some lilies 
from the back of a roadside vendor's pickup truck.
 And truthfully, each year, though I expect nothing; 
the day usually holds a sweet surprise or two.

But this year, as I ponder the blossoming of my daughters into young adults,
it isn't that I don't appreciate their past offerings,
it isn't that I want to diminish their heart-felt gratitude.


No, I adore each scribble, sticker and bit of yarn bookbinding.
Precious, is each spoken and unspoken expression of their fondness of me.

However, this year, as it becomes more evident that these baby bundles 
have become beautiful young ladies, I now solicit more enduring offerings, 
and hope to be presented with more valuable and recurrent souvenirs of their respect.
I really do want a gift that is indeed, simply and truly them.


And I petition this gift from them every day. Not just today.


I desire them to give their whole lives, as offerings in submission to the Lord,
I long for my daughters to extend their hands to dispense service to those in lack, 
and I expect my young ladies to administer compassion to souls that anguish.
I wish for a lineage that puts others first and offers grace.




This is what I want for Mother's Day.

Listen with respect to the father who raised you,
   and when your mother grows old, don't neglect her.
Get truth—don't sell it for love or money;
   buy wisdom, buy education, buy insight.
Parents rejoice when their children turn out well;
   wise children become proud parents.
So make your father happy!
   Make your mother proud!


Proverbs 23: 22-25 (The Message)

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What DOES a Mom do when She's not Homeschooling Anymore?

I have been teaching my two daughters readin', writin' and 'rithmetic

for a combined time of 12 years, now.

We started homeschooling because Miss S (now a Sophomore at Furman University)
was several grades more advanced than her peers.
In Kindergarten! (This girl started READING when she was 2 1/2!)

CAUTION: I LOVE PICTURES, 
SO I AM COMPELLED TO FORCE THEM ON SHARE THEM WITH OTHERS.
(This post has a lot of pictures!)

Me and Miss S. She is sounding words-she is 2.

Miss S, 3 years old, caught in the act of reading by herself.

So, we brought her home.
At home, she got to go at her own pace, bypassing some lessons that she already knew,
and studying other issues until she grasped the concepts.

Miss A came along when Miss S was 4.
Miss A (all 9 lbs. 15 oz. of her) is inside of me, here.

When we tried to send Miss A to Kindergarten 5 years later,
 she hid under a table in the classroom all day.
(She only emerged to eat, play or nap or have her picture taken-see below).
Discipline failed to change that behavior, and so, she came home, too.

Miss A, on the left with two of her Kindergarten friends.
She is happy because it is the last day of Kindergartenl!

I wish I could say it was for some "religious" reason that we homeschooled our girls.

If by religious, we mean that we wanted them to have godly moral character, yes,

then it was partly because of religious reasons.

But, what really happened is that our girls, 
for this time in their lives needed to be taught by me,
in their own individual manners of learning.

Proverbs 22:6
Start children off on the way they should go,
   and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

In the early years, our days were full of worksheets and songs and prayers and playing.
If we wanted to stop "class" work and chase butterflies or dance, we did.
If we wanted to wake up at 9 A.M., we did.
We often did our "school" in pajamas.


Miss S (on the left) and Miss A's 1st day of 1st Grade at home.
At my desk, each with an apple for the teacher!

In their high school years, we joined a co-op because I cannot teach
Chemistry or Biology or Physics. I can and did teach English and History!


I carpooled and helped in the co-op, 
co-ordinated the graduation and reception
of all 12 graduates 
in 2009 
for Miss S' class.

So proud of our Miss S!

Fall of '09, Miss S went off to the University across town,

with scholarships,

and Miss A and I started 9th grade, alone.
Instead of co-opping again,
we chose an online charter school 
(again, remember, I don't DO Chemistry, Geometry or Spanish).


But, by her next semester, because of 
the lack of interaction/feedback with an available teacher,
visual and tactile stimuli, 
and healthy challenges of peer interaction, 
Miss A's grades became poor.
I tried to help her and support her, 
but it just was frustrating to the both of us.


Then, Mark and I, through a series of interventions by God,
after praying and after having peace about it, were led
to enroll her (with her approval) at a Middle College a few miles away.

Miss A started High School as a Sophomore
on January 14th, 2011,
after the week of Southern Snow.
And will graduate from there in 2013.
(She LOVES it!)


~


My weekday hours from 8:00-3:00 are now my own.
Or are they?


I have much more free time.
Or do I?


I am trying to make a new schedule with my time, trying to prioritize.


Just like before.


What matters to me?
What DO I do now that I am not homeschooling anymore?
What does my schedule look like?


Here is what my day looks like, sorta in order:


Get up at 7:00, have coffee. Wake up.
(In that order).
Put shoes on 
(still in pajamas-I hope I never have an accident on the way to school). 
Start car at 7:40, drive Miss A to school.

On the way to school, we talk about many things:
life, boys, heaven, school, food, God, homework, 
hip-hop (she dances in a Christian troupe), braces, hair, make-up, music.


I ask her if she needs me to do anything for her that day.
She lets me kiss her goodbye when I drop her off in FRONT of the school.


I arrive back home at 8:06 A.M. and spend time with my heavenly Father
while Mark is getting ready for work.

I putz around the kitchen and have breakfast.
At 8:50, I bid Mark farewell with a kiss and a hug and a prayer.




WHEN THE HOUSE IS EMPTY, THEN WHAT?????


I partay!! 


WooHoo!




I start a load of laundry or 2 or 3 or 4 or more, 
play with the Little Sisters,

Take some pictures of this or that, 
blog about something or other,
or add some things to the donation pile,
Go to lunch with my hubby or a friend.
Every other Wednesday I co-teach this study:
 JONAH Navigating a Life Interrupted (yep, basically).


I go to the YMCA:
Monday and Wednesday (the elliptikiller and nautilus machines), 
Fridays it's Zumba.
I wash dishes, call a friend, FaceBook a few peeps.

Go grocery shopping.
Sometimes, I sew, hot glue, ship at the USPS, paint, and iron things.
etc...
etc...
etc...
You know, homemakerish stuff.

Then at 2:50, I leave to get Miss A from school.
I find her in the lower parking lot chatting with her friends,
several of whom she has known for years, and laughing and smiling.
She hops in the car, declares that she's hungry and on the drive home, 

we talk about
life, boys, heaven, school, food, God, homework, hip-hop, 
braces, hair, make-up, music.

We get home at 3:15 P.M.
and she dumps her stuff right in the middle of the floor,
raids the pantry and plops in a chair.
Later, she starts her homework and I start dinner.


We sit down together, around 7:00 P.M., the three of us: 
me, Miss A and Mark.
We talk some more about
life, boys, heaven, school, food, God, homework, hip-hop, 
braces, hair, make-up, music.


Deuteronomy 6:6-7
Write these commandments that I've given you today on your hearts. 
Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. 
Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; 
talk about them from the time you get up in the morning 
to when you fall into bed at night.

After dinner, perhaps we watch a movie, 
or have to go to her hip-hop class
or to Praise Band practice, 
or Youth Group 
or up to Furman to get Miss S for the weekend.

~

I think I thought I would be bored or without purpose.


I think I thought my day would be spend twiddling my thumbs, 
thinking up things to do.


I think I thought that if I wasn't homeschooling, 
that I was no longer "mothering".


I think I thought I'd lose our close relationship, 
forged through years of all-day-long togetherness.


Through this transition, 
I've shed some tears of gratitude for the time I did have,
and 
I've shed some tears of loss, for not "finishing what we started".


I sure do miss her.


But, those times each day, to and from her campus are precious.
We share in ways we didn't before.
She still needs me.
She still wants to know what I think.
She still wants to make sure I love her.


And, God-willing, we still have weekends and holidays and summer.


So, what DOES this mom do now that I'm not homeschooling anymore?
The same things as before.


However, I have come to realize, that ultimately, 
my heart 
and 
how I live my life
will always be 
my daughters' school room.

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Lest We Forget

Hi sweet friends!!

I do so appreciate the advice and help with the headboard in the last post.

It was unanimoose!

The scrolly headboard WON!

Can you believe I found that on the side of the road!?!?!

It was outside an apartment complex, on the lawn,

between the parking lot and the road I was driving on,

when I first spied it.

Of course, as usual, my daughters were with me and they rolled their eyes

because they KNEW what was about to happen.

U-TURN!

I have already listed the oak headboard on Craigslist!

And, I have already purchased the spray paint, Heirloom White.

Today seems like a good day to sniff some paint fumes!

I have got a lot of work to do in that room!

My younger daughter loves to paint as much as I do,

so I am going to pay her, hourly, to paint walls, trim, etc, with me.

What do you think a fair amount per hour would be to pay a 16 year old?

Scratching my head.

(THE MOTHER. For the Royal Path of Life ~The Graphics Fairy)

Here's another topic, entirely:

I was thumbing through the Journal that I have had for years, and read something
that I wrote in it many years ago, when I was a younger wife and mother.

Thought you might like it.

LEST WE FORGET

She came tonight as I sat alone, the girl I used to be

and she gazed at me with her earnest eye

and questioned reproachfully:

"Have you forgotten the many plans and hopes I had for you?

The great career, the splendid fame, all the wonderful things to do?

Where is the mansion of stately height with all its gardens rare?

The silken robes that I dreamed for you and the jewels in your hair?"

As she spoke I was very sad

for I wanted her pleased with me,

this slender girl from the shadowy past,

the girl that I used to be.

So, gently rising, I took her hand

and guided her up the stair.

Where peacefully sleeping, my babies lay,

innocent, sweet and fair.

I told her that these are my only gems

and precious they are to me.

That silken robe is my motherhood of costly simplicity.

My mansion of stately height is love,

and the only career I know is serving each day in these sheltered walls

for the dear ones who come and go.

And as I spoke to my shadowy guest, she smiled through her tears at me.

And I saw the woman that I am now

pleased the girl that I used to be.

~Author Unknown

(The Graphics Fairy)

P.S. My kitchen WILL BE DONE 
FINALLY!
(Wait till you hear what happened in there!)
and posted TOMORROW!!