Love Brightly

Demi Moore confessed in the latest issue of Harper's BAZAAR magazine, "I would say that what scares me is that I’m gong to ultimately find out at the end of my life that I’m really not lovable, that I’m not worthy of being loved, that there’s something fundamentally wrong with me.” Demi has been the target for public scrutiny these last few months. Check any entertainment news website, and you'll find a plethora of heated comments about her divorce from Ashton Kutcher, her hospitalization and convulsions due to "exhaustion", her weight loss, plastic surgery, etc. What you won't find is a lot of grace. Demi has the courage to admit to the stone-throwing public her fears and insecurities (probably identifiable to the stone-throwers themselves). When I read Demi's words, my heart ached with compassion for her. Not pity. Not judgement. But compassion for a woman who longs to be loved unconditionally and fears that she is not worthy of such love. If I cou...

" Made it home ," I texted Karl after driving the kids back from my parents house. " Check your email when you get the chance. Love. " He texted back. I gasped and felt like my stomach just fell out. I texted back: " Oh my goodness I left my laptop at my parents house. Just realized when you said that. Crap. " (my very strong and rarely used expletive.) " Well bummer ," he replied, knowing the implications--I don't have a smart-phone. He does, but he was out of town and would be for another several days. My laptop is my only computer. So now I'm home alone without access to the internet. It felt equivalent to losing electricity and having to function by candle-light. This feeling was magnified by the fact that I had just spent several days at my parents house--with no wireless internet for my computer--while he was gone. I had set my email to give an out-of-office response, letting people know, "Really, I won't be checking t...

We start our days with a devotion around the breakfast table. For the past year, we've been going through the book of Proverbs one/two verses at a time. We have a poster that my girls colored. As you can see, it has 2 columns--the Wise Person, and the Foolish Person, and as we read a verse, we write in the column the characteristics and outcomes of these two people. Proverbs is a book of wisdom, so pretty much everything can be divided into one of these 2 categories. I got this idea from Shepherding a Child's Heart , where Tedd Trip instructed his 8 yr old son to read some verses in Proverbs and asked him to examine his disobedient behavior as wise or foolish. I loved this idea, but wanted to make it on the level for my (then) pre-schooler. Instead of merely showing her these Biblical principles when she disobeyed, I wanted it to be on-going, "shepherding her heart" day-to-day. We've made it through several chapters, and are on our second poster now. Little siste...

This semester has been full and fun! The first 6 weeks of our home school adventure extended me to my max. Because we hadn't planned on this schooling avenue, I had not prepared. This left me spending my evenings researching curriculum, planning the next days activities, as well as looking long-term ahead in the year to make sure all the state requirements for Kindergarten were included. I have a handful of close friends who homeschool and who span a variety of styles and curriculum. I wasn't drawn to the "boxed sets" of curriculum for this year. For one thing, we were already several weeks into the school year when we began, I didn't want to have to "catch-up" or recover ground she'd already learned. Already established in a daily Bible lesson and application activity, I didn't want to abandon that to go along with a boxed set nor add another lesson to our day. Plus, I figured Kindergarten is a good year to experiment. She had already mastered a...

"Circle Time" is the first pillar in our daily home school structure. I got the idea from the Counting Coconuts homeschool blog , and I pretty much copied her daily calendar. The structure of the time, and visibility of it excited me and made me feel capable to pull off this home education thing. :) My kindergartner should master the concepts of the passage of time during this year. We begin our "Circle Time" by moving the keychain to today's date and having her recite it. We examine the days of the week--the pockets below help show what day just occurred and what is coming up next. We have cute little songs to help memorize the days in order as well as the months of the year. All 3 kids participate in Circle Time. When I announce it's time, they come running, "Yeah!!!" They love it! Even Bubba, who just turned 2, knows the songs and sings along. Together the 3 of them examine the weather through our back room windows. Then they sit down again. ...

So yep, we ripped off the Pottery Barn Kids idea, and made our own Thanksgiving tree. I had intended to write "Attitude of Gratitude" on the trunk and a scripture about giving thanks, but my current reality is that I plan a lot more things than I actually have time to execute, so once the girls hung the tree up, we called it a victory. We incorporated this activity into our daily "Circle Time" for home school. I categorized each day to help the kids pinpoint different things, otherwise it would be "Mommy, Daddy and my stuffed Kitty" every day. Not sure how much Bubba comprehended the activity, as you'll get a chuckle from some of his answers. Taste Big Sister = candy Little sister = apples Bubba = acorns Sound Big sister = a friend's voice Little sister = "Shhhh" because she likes to go to sleep Bubba = cars Smell Big Sister = brownies Little Sister = bananas Bubba = bananas Sight Big Sister = Bubba's face when he...

Today my baby boy turns 2! After two girls, these last two years with a boy have been different to say the least. I find myself chuckling at how different God made boys and girls, and today, while celebrating my sweet boy, I want to celebrate the many new surprises that life with a boy has brought. Until I Had a Boy, I Never Said: --Don’t put dirt on your sisters. --Get out of the fireplace. --Get out of the dishwasher. --Don’t pound on your sister’s head with a car. --Did you dump dirt on your head? --Don’t put your fork in your eye. --Once a toy has been in poop, you don’t get it back. Until I Had a Boy, I Never Heard: --I wanna ball. --I wanna football. --I wanna dunk. --I wanna climb. --Mommy, I’m tough! --Mommy, go long! --{after falling and scraping his knee} Me: Aww, do you want sugar (kisses)? Bubba: “Nooo” Me: Do you want lovin’(hugs)? Bubba: “Noooo” Me: What do you want then? Bubba: “I wanna go back outside!” -- {With the same affectionate tone as his siste...