Perfect

That's not how I usually see myself. That's not how most of us usually see ourselves. But I was reminded recently that perfect is exactly how God sees me. How humbling.

I have a devotion book by Charles Swindoll that I love. It was actually a gift to Kearsdad from one of our pastors. It's called Wisdom for the Way and it is truly chock full of wisdom. The devotion I read the other day said this:

Our past is like an art gallery. Walking down those corridors of our memory is like walking through an art gallery. On the walls are all of yesterday's pictures: our childhood, our parents, our rearing, the heartaches, the difficulties, the joys and triumphs as well as the abuses and the inequities of our life. Since Jesus Christ our Lord is the same yesterday and today and forever, then we can take the Christ of today and walk with Him into our yesterday and ask Him to remove the pictures that bring bad or defeating memories. In other words, the Christian can let Jesus invade yesterday and deal with those years of affliction...and remove those scenes from the corridors of our lives.

I was reminded that God doesn't want me to live in a state of self-recrimination. He wants me to live in victory. This isn't a new idea for me...I know it. I've learned it over and over, but it never seems to stick. But oh how I want it to. I want to live in victory. I want to live in the security that I am perfect in His sight. He doesn't want me to walk around defeated, beating myself up over this or that failure, this or that memory. Can I do it? You can be sure I am going to try.

18 Years Ago Today

Ummm....yes, those children are actually Kearsdad and me. 18 years ago today. I can't believe I am actually posting this picture. But in honor of the anniversary of the best day of my life (just behind the day of my salvation, and just ahead of the birth of my two sweet girls) I am sharing this memory with you. Look how young (and skinny) we look!

The last 18 years have been incredible. Not always easy. But always good. God has blessed us beyond anything I could have imagined. I have a wonderful husband and I love him very much!

Happy Anniversary!

Creative Writing

Banana style. Banana had a list of spelling words this week. All her words have endings that mean "small". Words such as rivulet, ringlet, floweret, statuette, gosling, fledgling, and darling. Today, her assignment was to write sentences with said spelling words. Bear in mind, earlier assignments this week involved word meanings. Here is a sampling of Anna's sentences. Spelling words are in bold. Notice her use of girls' names in her sentences.

The dead man got put in a casket. ewww....

"Lou Lou" saw a fledgling.

"Kat" and I saw an eaglet at the zoo.

Brittany saw a darling come out of the bush. Huh? I had to ask about this one. She informed me that her spelling book said that darling is "a little dear". It had not occurred to me that she would misinterpret "dear" for "deer".

"Banana's" spelling word is ringlet. Um, yeah, that's real creative don't you think?

There were more, but these are just a few. In case you are wondering, she had to redo those last two. Those just didn't cut it. Dad said she would have to come up with something more creative. I thought she was pretty creative already. For what it's worth, I quizzed her tonight and she spelled them all correctly.

End of Summer...sigh...

Like it or not...it's that time again. The end of summer-as-we-know-it. Unfortunately, the Mississippi weather won't get that memo for at least 6 more weeks. (Although, I must admit, I have really enjoyed these last couple of rainy, coolER, days.) Most kids have gone back to school, regular activities are gearing back up. Banana goes back to dance this week, so there goes my free time! (Yea, Andrea! Here we come!)

I've been slowly making my way through the school books and new lesson plans, and I'm actually beginning to get excited. See, I have nothing against starting school...it's just the ending of summer I hate. But I love school...love the books and all the supplies and the anticipation of what will be learned this year. Adding to my excitement is the shipment of new books that is on its way. It should be here later this week.

Just for fun, I thought I'd list some of what the girls will be studying this year. People often ask me where I get my school stuff from, if I use a "curriculum" per se. Actually, I use a hodge podge of things...

Banana:
6th grade math-Alpha Omega publishers, LifePac
Grammar-Daily Grams 6 plus supplements from Easy Grammar
Spelling-Christian Liberty Press, Building Spelling Skills
Reading-various books accompanied by study guides from Progeny Press
History-Heritage Studies from Bob Jones University Press
Science-Bob Jones University Press

Kat:
PreAlgebra-Alpha Omega, LifePac
Grammar-Daily Grams 8 plus supplements form Easy Grammar
Vocabulary/Pre-Latin-Vocabulary From Classical Roots
Literature-various books, poetry, classics accompanied by study guides from PP
History-World Studies from Bob Jones University Press
Civics/Government-The Land of Fair Play from Christian Liberty Press
Science-Life Science-Bob Jones University Press

Those are just the basics...but it gives you an idea of what a homeschool study schedule might look like...We start Monday the 18th. I'm going to enjoy these last few days of summer.

The End of An Era-Part Two

It's a sad day for baseball. A few months ago, I posted this: The End of an Era. Today is the end of another era. Skip Carey died late yesterday. Skip was the voice of the Braves. Watching the Braves in the 80's and 90's meant listening to Skip and Pete and Ernie. Half the fun of watching the game was laughing at their antics. He was an icon, like his father before him. Harry and Skip...

Farewell Skip. We will miss you.

Rainy Day Thoughts

I woke this morning to the sound of rain outside my window, and the sound of distant thunder. Once I was awake enough to put two coherent thoughts together, I got up to let the dog out while the rain was still light. I was just in time. Shortly after he came back in, the light rain became heavier and the thunder got closer and closer. It was obvious we were in for a rainy day.

Had my day started like this any other time in recent weeks, I would have been quite unhappy. But today, I welcomed the rain and the excuse to hibernate in my house with my kids. I had nothing pressing to do, and nowhere to go. No one was expecting me. The girls didn't have anywhere to go. The girls stayed in their pj's till almost noon. I washed my hair and took my time getting dressed. Sammy stayed happily in his "room" (aka in his open kennel in the laundry room). I Swiffered the floors and dusted the den and my bedroom.

At some point in my cleaning, I was thinking about how an occasional rainy day is so good for me. A built in excuse to get off the merry-go-round of life and take care of business closer to home. If it had been a bright, sunny day, I would have felt pressured to go, to do. Somewhere. Something. But in the heavy rain and thunder, I felt perfectly content and relaxed with staying in. And as a result, I got some much needed work done.

It was at that point that God tapped me on the shoulder and reminded me of something. Sometimes we need spiritual rainy days. Sometimes God brings the unexpected into our lives that causes us to stop in our routine and be still. It is in those times He is able to accomplish much needed cleaning in our lives. I have had a couple of spiritual rainy days lately as well. I needed those days to reevaluate how I relate to God and to others. I needed to remember that my trust is in HIM.

So I am thankful today for rainy days. And as I look out my window and see the sun peeking though I am thankful that God washes me clean and then shines into my life.