‘Snow’ much FUN!
‘Snow’ much FUN!
{title by my son}
I haven’t written in a while, though mentally I have MANY posts in the pipeline. I feel so scatterbrained; my thoughts all over the place on so many different topics with no real direction or one theme I want to write about. It depends on what’s going on in life. Which feels less adventurous when it’s more laundry, more dishes, less travel, more routine, instilling value line by line, precept upon precept {Isaiah 28:10 ESV}, over and over again, some the same lessons, some progress seen. So let’s find the beautiful in the boring! 
This motherhood thing? It’s hard. It stretches us beyond what we think we can handle, so that we’re forced to rely on God for the grace, energy and strength for each day. Some days it feels like we’re killing it – when we’ve stayed on top of the dishes, made it out of the house (on time!!!), we invested in a friendship through that phone call, and the kids are cooperating. #Winning at life!
Yet just as quickly, our emotions can be a rollercoaster, plunging into the depths of despair because of our certain failure demonstrated by the mountain of laundry we’re buried under, with not enough self-discipline or motivation to get off social media (and the couch), and still in our pajamas at noon.
And all those things? Are based around what we DO or don’t do. Performance. It’s too much pressure. Here’s to a December living for an audience of One. Focused on who we want to BE, in Christ, for our families, for others. Daughter of the King, servant, not caught in the trap of comparison or consumerism; it’s about attitude, choosing that the life we want is the life we are living, joy, thankfulness, making time for the important but not urgent things, giving hugs, sharing smiles and making memories.
It’s been pounding in my head since the beginning of this year:
EMBRACE the life you have.
*okay, stepping down from my little soap box now* I didn’t even know I had that many thoughts on that.
One of my favorite things in this season – and oh, how I’m loving this season! They can all feed themselves, they’re (mostly) sleeping through the night, two not in diapers, two can completely dress themselves on their own to play in the snow… oh, what a beautiful stage of life with 5, 3, and 1 year olds! – my favorite thing, is being their teacher! <3 This home educating thing? We’re having a BLAST! It’s nice starting young as it feels like we’ve got a couple years to get the hang of it as Kindergarten and Preschool are pretty “light” requirement-wise. We do mostly interest-led learning/life schooling. My goal is to teach them each subject/topic through all 5 senses as much as possible. It’s me constantly trying to learn how they learn, and teach them in a way that they will fall in love with learning for their whole lives. It’s a lot of experimentation, trial and error and figuring out what works for us {for now – it may change}… and it’s SO. MUCH. FUN.
Today was stacking cups (toddler), doing puzzles (preschool), and sorting the arts and craft box which has subsequently turned into adding to it (kindergarten). I folded a load of laundry, loaded the dishwasher, got us breakfast and lunch, and had some God-time in between complimenting and reminiscing over each and every drawing, helping give tips on the puzzles, and just letting her get out all the paper cups because it was keeping her occupied (mom). Yesterday we played with toy boats with weights and motors in the bathtub (sensory play, STEM), and yes, I know it was Sunday. Learning doesn’t follow the traditional 5 “school” days or any certain hours {Deut. 6:7, 11:19}. We’re eating our way through geography {literally – coloring in countries on the map as find out where our food is sourced!} because second to traveling there, how else does one get a real taste for the climate and culture?! By reviewing our Awana verse each meal time, we’re feeding our hearts and minds as well as our physical body, and we easily have it memorized in a week. We’re also doing The Shepherd on the Search this December. The kids are LOVING looking for him each morning, and we light a candle to read our Advent devotional. {I just realized that the advent book is different from the ‘recipe cards’ and I guess we haven’t even been touching the tip of the iceberg for what we could get out of this.} They’re learning their letters {but not in order!} and learning to read, but don’t know the ABC song. I’m cool with that. Different can be okay. 🙂 Our mini unit studies have been on Thanksgiving, geography, 1800’s history (prairie days/going west) and currently on the calendar. And though it’s quite a chore, we try to make it outside for some fresh air and getting out energy, and we’re coming up with a system for boots and hanging wet things in the basement afterwards. Legos, Playmobile, and dress up are the hot activities these days. I told them we’d probably switch their chores this month and I also hope to rotate toys one of these days. And their bunkbed needs to be finalized being put together so we can finish setting up their room! Which is super exciting!!! And that will move Havilah out of her pack’n’play into a big girl bed, which is one big transition in the future for her, and the next will be potty training… *sigh*
You know, I think I’ll stop overwhelming myself and call it enough for today. Happy Monday!
