What was I thinking!?!

Ok!  So as I am sharing that we will be a homeschooling family next school year I am getting a lot of funny looks and "well bless your heart"s.  For those that have the guts...I get "what are you thinking"  followed by a friendly "I'm not kidding, what are you thinking" laugh.  So I thought that I would share just what I am thinking!

1.  Giving my kids the gift of a strong faith based foundation!
My children will not only get an education but they will be learning what God's word has to say to us about living life the way God intended us to.  Parents, remember...those kids running around our houses are just ours for a while and they really do not belong to us anyway...yes we are responsible for them.  I mean, "someone" has to drive them everywhere and sign their permission slips and make sure they don't eat Hershey's kisses for breakfast lunch and dinner.  Our children belong to God!  It is our job to teach them to respect us but they have to answer to God...He is the ultimate authority.

2.  I will get to pray with my kids at school! Can I get an AMEN!
When my kids are struggling with school work or if they get hurt during the day or even having trouble getting along with others...I want to be able to help them turn to God for help.  No...I will not be praying with them every single second of the day.  I have the desire to make their prayer life a second nature...and to teach them that God is the ultimate authority.  You can't depend on anyone of the flesh...not even yourself sometimes.
It makes me so sad that the people (talking about those that are believers) that desire to teach children can not pray with them when they know they need prayer.

3.  I will get to open the door of opportunity for my children to learn by experience!
You can read about stuff until you are blue in the face.  By actually seeing and experiencing things you will remember doing what you learned.  Nuff said!  Who wants to sit behind a desk with their nose in a book all day long and then come home to do it again for homework?  Not me!  This homeschooling momma does not plan on being home very much.  There is so much more to learn outside of our home...

4.  My kids will not have to compete for the teacher's attention.
While helping Mason with his homework I noticed he was struggling a little on a certain problem.  When I asked if his teacher helped him while at school with it he said "she was helping another friend and I did not want to interrupt".  The issue was half "having respect for his teacher and friend" and half "just not wanting to worry with it".  In that moment I was thankful that I took the time to help him...but then I thought of the other children that may not have that support at home and I could just see the snowball affect of low-self esteem and low expectations.  Maybe by me keeping my kids at home...another child will have more attention from their teachers...one less student for them to worry about.  On a side note...Mason's teachers are wonderful and if they knew that one of their students needed help they would be happy to help.  But they just can't be everywhere all the time...especially with 21 students.

5.  I don't have to get up early if I don't want to!  Praise the Lord!
With Mason having allergy issues we are not always promised a good-night's rest...for him or for his loving parents.  On the days that I knew Mason did not get good rest...I was so sad to send him off to school.  I would be keeping him home at least once a week if not more just for not sleeping well.  So I would pray that God would help him stay focused and not fall asleep in class!

6.  I don't feel like it's the government's responsibility to teach my children...it's mine!
God blessed me with Mason and Annie and therefore I feel that my responsibility is to teach them...at home and at school.  I don't 100% trust the same people that the school district does to help teach my children.  We as sinners all struggle from time to time...when I am dealing with something I am able to talk to my children and ask them to join me in praying for the struggle and I can be open and honest for them to understand why I may not be myself.  That does not happen very often but it is always nice to have an explanation instead of my kids just thinking "mom is acting a little odd today".  If one of their teachers is having a bad day...they are more likely to take it out on their students or fellow teachers and I'm not willing to put my kids in that line fire.  Not to mention that the public school is what "man" thinks is best for our children and has no Biblical reasoning or background.

7.  I think of the future!


8.  Missionaries in the making!
I think of how much we will be able to serve others in the name of the Lord!  Even a simple trip to the grocery store or lunch date can have an impact of getting my children to love others.  A missionary's job is also to love without judging.  I am so excited to teach my kids that God uses every walk of our lives to use for His glory as long as we seek to please Him.  Even when you are in a "bad" season of your walk with the Lord...you are creating your testimony and faith story everyday and the bad will be just as important as the good...if not even more effective for God's kingdom!  Most non-believers would rather you hear a story of having some "junk" in your life instead of being born in the church and never leaving.  It more of a "God really saved me" story.  If you are follower of Jesus...you are a missionary!  You don't have to go to a different country to be on a mission from God.

9.  I will be blessed!
I can't wait to be there when the light bulb comes on and they get something that was once a struggle.  I am so excited about teaching them!  Not for bragging rights but for the simple fact that I will get to watch them grow.  Even just this year with Mason being in kindergarten I have dropped him off at school and when I picked him up I swanney he grew in to a boy instead of a "little boy".  I remember one day that I really noticed he was different...I could not hold back the tears thinking of how many days I would have like this from now until his senior year.  And it scared me that I could one day not even know my own children because someone else was forming their spirits and molding them to be what they thought was best for them.  So scary!

10.  One big happy family
Ok, so I am not oblivious to the fact that there will be days where I will want to pull my hair out and run down the street screaming to the point of ending up in a padded room...BUT...that is why God enjoys us praying to him to let HIM worry about all of our issues so that we can focus on our desires and goals.  Thank you God for taking our worries and our burdens!  And I am sure that I will be praying a lot for my spirit to not grow weary and for my focus to stay on the end goal and prize...to hear "well done good and faithful servant...oh, and what is this?  An extra star by your name for homeschooling".  I am So just kidding about the extra star part but wasn't that funny!  I'm still laughing!
Any who...my sweet, wonderful, loving, hard-working husband travels a good bit with his work.  I have to brag on him a bit because I am just so proud of him and all that he does for his company's reputation and for his own personal reputation.  I prayed for Matt for 3 years and God delivered him perfectly to me in the most perfect timing!  I could not have ordered him better from a catalog!  He's just what I needed and wanted...and he still is to this day.  Anyways...let me get back from dreamland (my husband has that affect on me). Me and the kids will get to travel with him!!!  We will get to enjoy family time while he travels!  And oh the places we will see!  Plus, I am so thankful for a husband that actually wants us to be with him when he travels.  I hear of some husbands that look forward to getting away from their wives and children and it breaks my heart.
I am looking forward to not being home very much with this new adventure and for spending more time making sweet family memories.  It will be so nice to not have to explain to the school why Mason missed a day here and there because we wanted to be together as a family while my husband traveled.


I do think about a lot of other stuff to like meeting other moms that are just as crazy as I am to home school their sweet little blessings.  Or my kids having friends that have a strong faith-based foundation and will be able to hold them accountable as they grow up. And yes, I do go in to panic mode every once in a while and think "OH MY WORD!  WHAT AM I THINKING"?  But then I remember that something this extreme can only be a true calling and so with that being said...I say...Bring it on!  God, I am all yours and I want to do only your will!  Thank you for using me and hiring me for this amazing job of raising children up to glorify your name in all that they do!  Thanks be to God!

Doxology

I don't know the people in this video but when I went to www.youtube.com to search for the Doxology to listen to as a part of my personal worship time...I came across this video and LOVED it!  Enjoy!

A homeschooling mom in the making...

"These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."  Deuteronomy 6:6-7


"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
Proverbs 1:7


"Parents, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."
Ephesians 6:4

Two years ago I started to pray for the day that Mason (my then 4 year old) would start public school as a kindergartner.  I prayed for his future teachers that they would be fellow Christians and would use their walks of faith to teach my son.  I also prayed that I would be more excited than emotional when his first day of school approached to show Mason that I am his biggest cheerleader!  While I was dedicated to praying for our school experience to start...I was feeling as if I was praying for the wrong thing.  I would often start praying for the school year and then I would end up asking God what my role was in my children's education.  I then started to feel it..."God, are you REALLY telling me that you want ME to home school?  Because, um, God...I really don't want to be responsible for my children's education"!   It was happening...I was being called to be a homeschooling momma....and my husband was being called to be a husband of a homeschooling wife!  AHHH!

It came time to register Mason for school and I was pretending that God was asking me to home school but maybe in the future...you know, after I have had the time to fully research it and find my special place in the homeschooling world.  I went to the school to register...but, I could not even get out of the car!!!  I felt as if God was holding his finger on my chest and saying "Don't you go in there and promise to take the son I gave to you to a school that refuses to speak my name and will teach things that will battle the truth of my existence!"  I went to the school 3 more times to register Mason and I felt this same felling each time!  I prayed about it and knew what I was suppose to do...but I relied on the opinions of my friends and even family to tell me what to do.  I started to feel that maybe I was just being selfish and just wanted to Mason home all to myself!  But the same feeling kept coming up...I needed to home school to provide a strong foundation for Mason and Annie...I was going to be the only one that would know what they needed and could give them the attention that they desired.  So...even with all of these strong feelings...I finally, with tears in my eyes, registered Mason for school.

He has been a part of a public school kindergarten this school year and has done very well...even being in the top percentage of his class!  But...we, as parents have already had to explain cultural things that we had not expected to discuss till later in his little life.  Like...what does "being drunk" mean, mom?  Or...what are drugs?  The list goes on!  We have taken care of these questions as they have come up and each time I have thought "his foundation is not strong enough to have to deal with this stuff".  Around Christmas break...I finally decided...NEXT YEAR...WE WILL BE A HOMESCHOOLING FAMILY!!!  AMEN!  I decided to let Mason finish out his school year and I am spending the time from now till school ends to prepare, pray and plan for our school year at home!  YAY!  What a relief!!!  

I am still completely confused by which curriculum to use and which support group and accountability group to be a part of but I know that God will open the doors all in good timing!  But one thing is for sure...I am confident that I am doing the right thing!

The above Bible verses have made me feel that I am the one that is suppose to teach my children!  God gave my children to ME to raise and by sending them off to school I feel that I would be dumping my precious responsibility off on some other person...another person that could care less about the word of God.  I take my life very seriously...I take my family very seriously...and I feel that God blessed Matt and I with children so that we could raise them up to follow Him and to be fellow sisters and brothers in Christ.

I am very excited about our new adventure!  I can't wait to see what God has in store for us as a family through homeschooling!  I am one excited momma!!!

Luke 6:40 says "A student is not above his teacher, but everyone that is fully trained with become just like their teacher."

"In Christ Alone"

I love to pull up youtube and just worship before my prayer time!  It gets me in the mood to just praise the name of Jesus and to not only be thankful for my many blessings but it helps me to understand any struggles that I many have.  When I think of my Jesus on the cross for little o' me...my eyes fill with tears and I remember that I am here on earth for a reason!  I'm here to be a light for Him...to tell all nations near and far about the love that was nailed to the cross.  When I think of the cross...it makes all my worries go away...it makes me feel like any complaints that I have are nothing to complain about at all.  When I worship before I pray...it puts everything in to perspective! 

Through worship...I am reminded of the one that has my days numbered...I am reminded of who hold the future...I am reminded of who I am living for and who has called on me to live only to share His good news. 

Here's the idea...

When I was a little girl, I always dreamed of being a wife and a mom one day.  Well, here I am...married to the most perfect man for me and we have 2 precious children.  After our 1st child was born I had absolutely NO desire to work ever again.  All I wanted to do was to love on our son and to provide for him by offering myself as a cheerleader, counselor, friend, teacher, coach and in any other way I could to make his confidence beam and his foundation strong.  At that same time, I also had the desire to care for our home...you know, to be the president of our "business" by making sure that our home was kept up and dinner was prepared and bills were paid.  So...I put in my 2 week notice and made my family and home my main priority.

Our son, Mason, is now 6 and our daughter, Annie is 4 and I just love every minute of my time with them!  So much so...that I feel called to homeschool next school year!  So stay tuned for that adventure too!

As I pray for my family, I can't help but to think of other moms that may have this same desire.  That thought got me thinking...what if I were to host a blog that included videos of encouraging words for moms!  Mom-it-Forward has been about a year in the making!  I am so excited to share what God lays on my heart to share with other moms or those that are not moms yet but still want to be encouraged!

Mom-it-Forward will be a way for moms to borrow ideas for their many roles as wife, mom, sister, daughter, friend, co-worker, church family, etc.  All of this is to honor and glorify God and to share life together as sisters in Christ.