Week one--check!

Look at me, finding time to blog! :)
I've been trying to find a way to evaluate our first week of school. I could say we had good days and bad days, but it would be more accurate to say we had good moments and bad moments. Poor Mike and Rebecca, having to live with two adolescent girls and one pre-menopausal woman! Let's just say they put up with a little moodiness. There were moments when I was filled with gratitude at being allowed to home school my beloved children...and moments when I wanted to drop them off at the nearest school. Times when I loved our curriculum and thought "what a good job we're all doing!" ...and times when I thought  the biggest mistake I ever made was when I decided to home school and ruin their lives forever..
My mood may have been affected by the loss of a friend. Mike Holton was minster of education and then administration at the church I went to in Fort Worth--where Mike and I met. I was single for 4 of my years there, and he took our singles group on mission trips to California and to West Virginia, and one of my roommates was his secretary personal assistant. He was a really good man, and a lot of fun, and I'm sad for his family.
Another part of my own personal moodiness stems from the fact that I was trained as an early childhood educator. I taught kindergarten through 2nd grade. I am now teaching 3rd, 7th, and 9th...and they don't always respond to some of my ideas with the enthusiasm of a 5- or 6-year-old! I just have to remember that, and cater my plans and ideas to a little more mature tastes.
When I look at the week rationally and objectively, I see how good it was. How good my children are. We really are loving our new math and writing curricula, working hard, and having fun. And definitely staying busy! Here's a picture of our first day fun:

On Tuesday Rebecca went to Walmart with me, and saw a big, beautiful pink bouncy ball which she begged  to have. I was happy to buy it for her, and that night after supper we had a family kickball game in the back yard!  We are having an amazingly mild August, by South Arkansas standards, and I've been loving my time outside. The next day we used it to play four-square.

And then it got a leak. Oh well!
On Wednesday the college students started to come back! We had the leadership team over for lasagna and games. Thursday night we swam with them at our friends' house and had pork BBQ. Friday night we had some family time, watching a movie. On Saturday I planted some chrysanthemums and picked some carrots and cucumbers from our garden! And ironed. But the outside stuff was much more fun. :)
This morning we had an on-campus worship service for the freshmen who arrived yesterday. Both of our local supporting churches provided lunch and introduced themselves, our new worship team led worship, and Mike preached full of the Spirit. We had over 100 people there, probably 80 of which were students. It is one of my favorite days of the year!
Now Jessica and Mikayla are at the church--it is Mikayla's first time in the signing/creative movement group and in the student choir. It's amazing how they're growing up! And that's a good thing.

New Beginnings

Tomorrow is the first day of school! Jessica will be in 9th grade (She keeps saying that now when new college students ask what year she is, she can say she's a freshman. Grr.), Mikayla will be in 7th, and Rebecca will be in 3rd. They groan and say they're not ready, but when we passed out supplies on Friday, I think they got a little excited. I feel the same way!
To make it more fun for everyone, this year I chose a theme for the year: Sandusky Super Stars! And our key verse is Philippians 4:14-16: Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”  Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. When they get up in the morning they will be surprised by star decorations and welcome-back posters, "sparkle muffins" (actual name in BH & G cookbook is French Breakfast Puffs) and canteloupe stars, and little gift buckets with frivolous "school supplies." I got that last idea from this blog, which which had me literally laughing out loud. I gave my girls giant erasers (Tinkerbell, Mario, and Perry the Platypus), Winnie the Pooh character glow pens, and fancy memo pads. Oh, and Barbie dressed like a teacher by a mini-white board. (Mikayla and I have a running hide-the-Barbie joke going on.) I also bought a few things at the Dollar Tree to pull out later, like a star-shaped glow wand and--my favorite--glowing star headbands I'm going to call their thinking caps. :D
The bad news is...with school starting AND college ministry starting, I'm going to be busier, and the blog is not going to be at the top of my priority list. So if my posts and comments are few and far between, you'll know the reason why. It's not personal; it's business.
Have a great school year!!

Thoughts from Glorieta

This past week I have been overwhelmed with change. I remember when I was younger I thought that once I graduated from college/got a real job/got married, then things would settle down and I’d never have to face change again.
Ha.
I’ve already told you about my friend who is preparing to meet the Lord face to face.

We had a friend visit us from the Northwest last month. We did collegiate ministry together for 12 years. After we left, there were major changes in that region, making collegiate ministry more difficult/challenging than ever. When I think of all the lives and resources invested in a ministry that thrived and is now struggling to survive, it breaks my heart.

I’m writing this sitting on the deck of the house we are renting at Glorieta Conference Center in New Mexico, surrounded by mountains and trees and blue sky. Just down the road are 2,200 college students who are passionately devoted to Jesus Christ, here to learn more about Him and how to follow Him, worship Him, and make Him known. I love this place! So many lives changed and memories made. And it’s for sale. I believe there is a contingency that will be written in stating that Collegiate Week must be allowed to meet here for the next 5 years…but what about after that? Will Collegiate Week just…end? If I could only give you a picture of those students meeting for worship--it is an awesome thing. I can’t imagine letting it slip away.

Jessica starts high school this year. Or she would if we lived somewhere where high school started in 9^th grade; in Magnolia 9^th graders go to the junior high but credits start for graduation. Of course I’m home schooling right now, but our plan is to send her to the public high school next year--BIG change! And she really wants us to let her skip a grade so she will be in school with her friends and start college with her friends, and she could probably pull it off. Which would mean I’d only have 3 years left with her! Gulp.
So because I haven’t slept well the last few days and I drove our van for 15+ hours to get here, my eyes kept filling with tears every time I thought about any of these changes. (Sleep deprivation makes me cry. You should have seen me when Jessica was a newborn!)

Then I went to our first worship service here at Glorieta, and the first song we sang was “One Thing Remains.” Click here for the lyrics video. Things change, people die, marriages you thought would last forever end, you face mountains and challenges, BUT HIS LOVE REMAINS! I opened my hands and gave it all to Him, then stood crying and singing “Forever Reign (Running to Your Arms)” Oh, He’s so good--and He will never change.

"...weeks to live."

That's what her status said.

"I have been to four doctors in the past month--all the way from Seattle to Houston--and they all said the same thing: there is nothing they can do for me."

I met my friend Sonia in Idaho, and I'm pretty sure she made me laugh in every conversation we had. We did talk about serious things as well, but even in sharing the difficulties she'd faced in life, she did it with her dry, quirky wit.

"My cancer is terminal. They said the cancer is moving very quickly and I have weeks to live."

Her son James is the same age as my Jessica. He was in my Sunday School class for a while--at that time he was the one we were worried about. He had been born premature and was still dealing with things connected to that--had to wear a heart monitor, which made me nervous. But he's healthy now.

"Please pray for my husband and children".

Her son Jason turned 8 today, the same as as my Rebecca. They were nursery buddies. One Halloween she dressed as a bee and he was a honey pot. :)

" I thank you all for your love and encouragement, I couldn't have made it this far without the help of my dear friends, you are all so precious to me. I love you all!"

How can this be real? That's what I kept asking myself when I read this message. I'd been praying for Sonia since she first went to the doctor to check on some unusual symptoms...and then when they said it might be cancer...and that it was, and she had six months to live. That was not too long ago, and now it's weeks?

When my brain (or heart) is having trouble accepting something, I go into avoidance mode. Don't think about it, ignore it, and it's not real. Like when my dad died of a heart attack, and we were living in Idaho and had to fly to Arkansas the next day. I knew I needed to pack suitcases for myself and my girls, but I couldn't seem to make myself do it, because that would mean admitting it had really happened.  That's what I thought of when I got Sonia's news. I managed to avoid it sinking in until I took a shower that night and actually started praying for her and her husband Brian and their 2 boys. I cried more than prayed, because I didn't know what to say. What do you pray? Keep praying for healing? For comfort? I'm so thankful the Holy Spirit prays for us when we don't know what to pray, because I'm still not sure.
God sent me a message the next morning, though, when the following verses "just happened" to be in my verses I use to guide my prayers:

1 Corinthians 13:12 Now I see dimly, as in a mirror, but then I shall see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

1 Corinthians 1:8-9 He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Corinthians 2:9 No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.

Psalm 39:4 Lord, make me to know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life.

Psalm 103:14-18 You know how I am formed; You remember that I am dust. People's days are like grass; people flourish like flowers of the field. The wind passes over them and they are gone and their place remembers them no more. But Your lovingkindness is from everlasting to everlasting to those who fear You, and Your righteousness with their children's children, to those who keep Your covenant and remember to obey Your precepts.

I don't know what's the "right" way to pray, and I don't know why this is happening or even how it could. But I do know God loves Sonia and Brian and James and Jason more than I can even comprehend, and I can trust Him with them. Please join me in praying for them.