These past couple weeks have me questioning what is normal. I'm finding that normalcy is a highly subjective thing. What may be normal for one person is not the norm for another. What may be normal for one family will probably not be normal for another family. What may be normal for a one Country, will not be normal for another. Take for instance the freedoms we have here in the USA that we are squandering left and right in the name of safety or tolerance. You can go to church without worrying about getting blown up, unlike the churches in Nigeria right now. Or maybe the fact that in this country, we are allowed to have guns, where in other countries, this is not possible. These are rights we are giving away at a maddening pace to keep up with what the "world " says should be the norm.
I have come to the conclusion that "normal" should be based on what the Bible and God have said it should be and not what our society says it should be. We all have our own ideas of what normal looks like.
For Instance, in my family we listen to Christian rock music, loudly, we like the sound of a race car motor, and would like to be able to go the the drag-strip and watch the cars zoom down the lane, we have loud arguments and debates, we deal with struggles differently. The true question then should be, are your activities and the way you run your life glorifying to God or not? There is nothing that makes my family better than or less "righteous" than someone elses family. Other families don't have a corner on "this is Godly" just because they don't listen to Christian rock music, or would never even consider going to a drag race. Families are different and I'm pretty sure that's how God wants it.
As far as individual people go, wow you know God had to have a sense of humor. There are no two people alike. We all seemed bent to look at things through our own experiences be them good or bad. I grew up in a highly dysfunctional family, Im surprised I actually survived my childhood, and teenage years. While I was growing up I assumed my life was normal, and that every-ones family was similar. When I became a Christian I found out, through the Bible, that my life was anything but normal, based purely on biblical principles. Does that make me better or worse than say, a child who grew up in a Christian home with none of the same issues we had? I dont think so, as a matter of fact I believe my past experiences have put me in a unique position to be able to witness to people who may have had similar upbringings as my own, the same as someone who grew up in a Christian home has a unique ministry. I submit that I would much rather talk to someone I can identify with, then someone who would judge me because my experiences are not their own.
Unfortunately, alot of good Christians think theirs is the only way, there is no room for anything outside their "norm". You couldn't possibly be "used by God" or "righteous enough" because you don't do things a certain way or behave or listen to the correct music or whatever it may be that makes them think they have an edge. All I have to say is, where is that in the Bible? Maybe I'm being harsh, and according to the "Christian norm" women are supposed to be all soft and sweet and nurturing and a dozen other things I dont seem to be able to get a grasp on. Im weary with trying to be like some other peoples idea simply because they seem to be so "normal" or more "Godly". God created me for a purpose, it isnt going to be the same as someone elses purpose, he put my family together the way he wanted, we have struggles that make us grow or fall and have to pick ourselves back up again with Gods help. Quite frankly, how in the world do Christians expect to grow if everything is Sunshine and rainbows? There is no growth without struggles. Look at the plants, the have to push through the dirt to the sun, they get snowed on, froze, dug up, but they just keep growing through all the struggles and set backs.
In the end, I'm glad my family isn't perfect, then I would have nothing to look forward to when Jesus comes back. I mean why look to Heaven if life is perfect here? We aren't supposed to achieve heaven on earth, we are supposed to look forward to our Savior coming back and making things perfect.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Winding Down...
We are fast approaching the end of another school year, and I have to say, I think this has been one of the better ones. Usually, by this time, we have all but given up on any type of "formal" lessons and have slowly spiraled into laziness and apathy. This year we have kept on going and although we have dropped a few things since the beginning, we are still plugging along on the basics. For instance, when we started I had EVERYTHING you could have imagined, planned and slotted for specific times and days, but as of right now, we get through Math, Vocabulary and Bible reading and maybe just maybe some little "extra" thing like a History Video or some sort of Science project. Im not sure why we dropped off the planet. I think it might have something to do with life. Life happens. There are holidays and Birthdays, dad might get a day off during the week, someone or several someones are sick, maybe a unexpected invitation to spend the night somewhere or a snowstorm that makes it necessary to send kids to Grandmas house to help with snow removal. Whatever it is, this is called life. This is why I love homeschooling. You can have the bumps and holes and still survive. You can take a day off or a couple days off and not get behind. You can say yes to that sudden sleep over, and not worry that your child will miss something, because hey if one is gone we all wait for them to get home!
Every families home school is unique. One family might have 8 subjects per day and another might have 1 or 2 per day. There are really no hard fast rules to this, which is very appealing to me. For instance, I was sick on Monday, I told my hubby he had to do school with the kids because my head was going to explode and I was going to go back to bed, and then I left the room. Im sure I had put him on the spot and usually it would just be a day off, but I thought it would be good for them. Anyway, a couple hours later I come out of my room and they are all watching a movie. Im like, um, this doesn't look like school work to me, and then the comment came...." I told them if they watched this movie they didn't have to do math today", and my youngest daughter pipes up with " yeah, we like Daddies school!", to which my response was, "you would". Granted, it was a Christian movie, but what happened to all the worksheets and vocabulary and stuff I'm supposed to do??? Since I was sick, I did not see how this was in the least bit fair, and my grumpiness showed through. Looking back on it though, now that Im feeling better, I'm so glad my husband and kids were able to spend some time together without frustration over a math worksheet or vocabulary words and spelling. With my hubby working in a log truck, they only see him a couple hours a day, maybe, so instead of being resentful because I have to do all the hard stuff and he gets to be easy on them, I should just be happy he had time to be with them at all.
So, did they get any school work done, no, did they get to spend a little time with daddy reading the Bible and watching a movie, YES!! This is our life, imperfect though it may be, and I'm happy with it. This is why we home school, not so we can be lazy and do nothing, but so we don't miss opportunities to be with our kids. They grow up so quickly, I dont want to miss to much, I want them to get their ideals from me and the Bible , not the world, and not some liberal teacher in the public school system who doesn't care about them.
So, with this school year winding down and coming to a close, I want to take some time and think about what worked and didnt work this year, and maybe even make a list, oh wait, that would be way to organized for me, maybe I will just skip the list and jump off the edge and go for it!
Every families home school is unique. One family might have 8 subjects per day and another might have 1 or 2 per day. There are really no hard fast rules to this, which is very appealing to me. For instance, I was sick on Monday, I told my hubby he had to do school with the kids because my head was going to explode and I was going to go back to bed, and then I left the room. Im sure I had put him on the spot and usually it would just be a day off, but I thought it would be good for them. Anyway, a couple hours later I come out of my room and they are all watching a movie. Im like, um, this doesn't look like school work to me, and then the comment came...." I told them if they watched this movie they didn't have to do math today", and my youngest daughter pipes up with " yeah, we like Daddies school!", to which my response was, "you would". Granted, it was a Christian movie, but what happened to all the worksheets and vocabulary and stuff I'm supposed to do??? Since I was sick, I did not see how this was in the least bit fair, and my grumpiness showed through. Looking back on it though, now that Im feeling better, I'm so glad my husband and kids were able to spend some time together without frustration over a math worksheet or vocabulary words and spelling. With my hubby working in a log truck, they only see him a couple hours a day, maybe, so instead of being resentful because I have to do all the hard stuff and he gets to be easy on them, I should just be happy he had time to be with them at all.
So, did they get any school work done, no, did they get to spend a little time with daddy reading the Bible and watching a movie, YES!! This is our life, imperfect though it may be, and I'm happy with it. This is why we home school, not so we can be lazy and do nothing, but so we don't miss opportunities to be with our kids. They grow up so quickly, I dont want to miss to much, I want them to get their ideals from me and the Bible , not the world, and not some liberal teacher in the public school system who doesn't care about them.
So, with this school year winding down and coming to a close, I want to take some time and think about what worked and didnt work this year, and maybe even make a list, oh wait, that would be way to organized for me, maybe I will just skip the list and jump off the edge and go for it!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
People are like......Crazy Quilts
So this week I decided to start an old project I have had laying around for about 10 years, that I periodically get obsessed with finishing. About 10 years ago, I got this wild idea, to start a crazy quilt. The directions looked simple enough, the results are beautiful; and I enjoy doing embroidery, so this seemed like a perfect project for me. Had I known it would take what seems to be forever, Im not sure if I would have started it at all. I find that I do this with alot of things. Anything that seems like it will be to much effort or take to long, I just put it off for later or go on to something easier or start and stop several times over the years. This is where I am finding myself right now with this project. Since my eyesight seems to be getting worse, all those tiny stitches give me headaches and make my hands cramp up, I figured pretty soon it could be much worse and I better get in gear and complete it.
Over the years, I have managed to collect large amounts of material and embroidery threads and ribbons for the above said project. I have organized and re-organized. I have taken 3 weeks to finish one block of embroidery and given up countless times. I have bought book after book with the same stitches and ideas in each one. I have put it down and started another project and not come back to this one for a whole year at a time. So here I am, with all my "stuff" ready to try and tackle it again. This is not a sudden decision, I have been working myself into this for a couple months now. With the onset of Winter, I seem to get this sudden urge to start sewing again, so I drag everything out and try to remember where I left off, before something else grabs my attention.
After gathering all my assorted books and embroidery paraphernalia, I proceeded to actually get 4 whole seams done with a minimal of effort and only one mishap. Yes, I somehow managed to embroider the quilt block to the table cloth. Silly I know, and took an extra ten minutes to get it undone and had to cut out all the stitches. Sometimes that happens, you do a bunch of work only to find out you have to tear it out and start all over again.
So here it comes, are you ready?
We are all alot like crazy quilt blocks. God pieces us together on the foundation of Jesus his son. We are put together piece by piece, a little at a time. Sometimes things happen quickly in our walk with God, sometimes everything just stops and we look at it up on the shelf and say, One day I will get back to that. When things seem to get to hard, we walk away and take the easy path. We get distracted easily by the world or even by seemingly Godly ideas that are heavy to bear and have no real purpose other than to steal away our affection from God. Here comes the painful part, every once in a while, stitches have to ripped or cut out, and although this seems to be a terrible thing at first, as with embroidery, when you go back and do it again, the results are always better than they were before.
Im not trying to sound hyper spiritual, Im not even close to that, but like my quilt project, I am a work in progress, and one day I will be complete, through all the starts and stops and do overs. One day I will be finished, and just like a quilt block, I will be beautiful
Over the years, I have managed to collect large amounts of material and embroidery threads and ribbons for the above said project. I have organized and re-organized. I have taken 3 weeks to finish one block of embroidery and given up countless times. I have bought book after book with the same stitches and ideas in each one. I have put it down and started another project and not come back to this one for a whole year at a time. So here I am, with all my "stuff" ready to try and tackle it again. This is not a sudden decision, I have been working myself into this for a couple months now. With the onset of Winter, I seem to get this sudden urge to start sewing again, so I drag everything out and try to remember where I left off, before something else grabs my attention.
After gathering all my assorted books and embroidery paraphernalia, I proceeded to actually get 4 whole seams done with a minimal of effort and only one mishap. Yes, I somehow managed to embroider the quilt block to the table cloth. Silly I know, and took an extra ten minutes to get it undone and had to cut out all the stitches. Sometimes that happens, you do a bunch of work only to find out you have to tear it out and start all over again.
So here it comes, are you ready?
We are all alot like crazy quilt blocks. God pieces us together on the foundation of Jesus his son. We are put together piece by piece, a little at a time. Sometimes things happen quickly in our walk with God, sometimes everything just stops and we look at it up on the shelf and say, One day I will get back to that. When things seem to get to hard, we walk away and take the easy path. We get distracted easily by the world or even by seemingly Godly ideas that are heavy to bear and have no real purpose other than to steal away our affection from God. Here comes the painful part, every once in a while, stitches have to ripped or cut out, and although this seems to be a terrible thing at first, as with embroidery, when you go back and do it again, the results are always better than they were before.
Im not trying to sound hyper spiritual, Im not even close to that, but like my quilt project, I am a work in progress, and one day I will be complete, through all the starts and stops and do overs. One day I will be finished, and just like a quilt block, I will be beautiful
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Happy New Years! Its "Do Over time!!!"
So I have been thinking alot about all this resolution stuff I hear going around, and I for one have never really made any solid commitments one way or another on New Years day for doing or not doing anything in particular.. Did you catch that? I hope you did because I think I just confused myself! Basically what this means is I am to chicken to say or commit to something I may regret or break later, so I decided to commit to not making any resolutions I don't think I can keep. Does this mean I will make any resolutions? No, I will not, because as sure as I am that the sun will rise I am sure that as soon as I say I will or wont do something I'm gonna do or not do it. You may be lost by now, if so go back and read it again. I had to read it twice just to make sure I am making some sort of sense. If you are not lost, good for you please take a moment an explain it to us.
In lue of making "resolutions" per say, I have decided that I am going to call this my "Do Over List". Please feel free to use this term as your own. Here are some things I would like to "Do Over" this year:
Decluttering My House:
This is a very big one for me as I am a consummate collector of all things, which results in massive amounts of clutter. I tried some "decluttering" techniques last year and some of it went well, and some of it wasnt so great, therefore decluttering will be on my "Do Over List". I have huge amounts of "stuff" to go through and will depend on the Lord to help me be brutal with clutter.
Organizing my desk area:
This is a constant battle and no matter how many times I say Im going to clean it up it never gets done very well. I suppose I could blame it on the kids and the husband, but that wont fix the problem. Being totally un-organized is a sure sign of insanity, and insanity defined is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. With this in mind I will attempt a new organizational plan..not sure what it is yet, but will give whatever it happens to be a shot.
Husband Attention Time:
This is something I have had alot of trouble with recently, like say for the past couple years. It seems as though I always have time for everything BUT my husband, which should not be. Since I am homeschooling, a good part of the day consists of dealing with the inevitable " Mom, what do I do here?" questions, which is probably the bulk of the time I spend going from child to child. The other thing that tends to take my time and sap my energy is cleaning the house, or coercing the kids to do it, whatever the case may be. My husband needs to have my undivided, non-resentful attention occasionally so this is something I will be "doing Over" during the day. Pray for me.
Servant Hearted:
I really need to work on this, as I am learning I am not as Servant Hearted as I had originally thought I was. Oh I have no problem giving things, but try and volunteer me for something, watch it, your going to get hurt. This year I would like to try to serve my family and friends a bit better than I have, and not be so...so...mean, for lack of a better word, when my husband or a friend "accidentally" volunteers me for something I don't really want to do. Please pray for me..again.
I am sure if I sat and thought about it I could come up with some more things to "Do Over" this year, but I wouldn't want to overwhelm myself, or you with all the prayer requests I would be needing. By the way, I started up my Craft Business again, which without the help and prodding of my daughter, would not have gotten done, so if you don't mind, you can pray about that also:)
Happy New Years!
In lue of making "resolutions" per say, I have decided that I am going to call this my "Do Over List". Please feel free to use this term as your own. Here are some things I would like to "Do Over" this year:
Decluttering My House:
This is a very big one for me as I am a consummate collector of all things, which results in massive amounts of clutter. I tried some "decluttering" techniques last year and some of it went well, and some of it wasnt so great, therefore decluttering will be on my "Do Over List". I have huge amounts of "stuff" to go through and will depend on the Lord to help me be brutal with clutter.
Organizing my desk area:
This is a constant battle and no matter how many times I say Im going to clean it up it never gets done very well. I suppose I could blame it on the kids and the husband, but that wont fix the problem. Being totally un-organized is a sure sign of insanity, and insanity defined is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. With this in mind I will attempt a new organizational plan..not sure what it is yet, but will give whatever it happens to be a shot.
Husband Attention Time:
This is something I have had alot of trouble with recently, like say for the past couple years. It seems as though I always have time for everything BUT my husband, which should not be. Since I am homeschooling, a good part of the day consists of dealing with the inevitable " Mom, what do I do here?" questions, which is probably the bulk of the time I spend going from child to child. The other thing that tends to take my time and sap my energy is cleaning the house, or coercing the kids to do it, whatever the case may be. My husband needs to have my undivided, non-resentful attention occasionally so this is something I will be "doing Over" during the day. Pray for me.
Servant Hearted:
I really need to work on this, as I am learning I am not as Servant Hearted as I had originally thought I was. Oh I have no problem giving things, but try and volunteer me for something, watch it, your going to get hurt. This year I would like to try to serve my family and friends a bit better than I have, and not be so...so...mean, for lack of a better word, when my husband or a friend "accidentally" volunteers me for something I don't really want to do. Please pray for me..again.
I am sure if I sat and thought about it I could come up with some more things to "Do Over" this year, but I wouldn't want to overwhelm myself, or you with all the prayer requests I would be needing. By the way, I started up my Craft Business again, which without the help and prodding of my daughter, would not have gotten done, so if you don't mind, you can pray about that also:)
Happy New Years!
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