Remembering Narnia

Recently, my kids and I watched the first Chronicles of Narnia movie for their first time. I was hesitant to show it to them because of the violence, but I decided that the good message far outweighed the bad. I'm so glad I did. My almost five year old daughter glued herself to the television. She fell in love with Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy along with Aslan, the lion king. She asked a million questions throughout the movie, and it sparked some teachable moments. I didn't expect, however, for the experience to convict me of my own sin--my sin of forgetting the impact of the cross and resurrection.

When my precious daughter broke down watching Aslan being killed by the White Witch, she looked at me with alligator tears streaming down her face, pleading with me to tell her that everything was going to be okay. She exclaimed, "He is good! He did nothing wrong! Why is he dying for Edmund?" Then, when Aslan was resurrected, the pure joy she had seeing that he had defeated death brought tears to my eyes. No matter how many times I told her that everything was going to be okay and that this was a happy movie, she didn't believe me until Aslan came back to life. God hit me where it hurt during these moments. How many times do I take the cross for granted? How many times do I overlook that it was for me, the one who turned (and still turns) my back on Him? How many times do I forget how innocent His blood was? How many times do I flippantly think or talk about the resurrection without rejoicing in my soul? Too many to count, I'm afraid. 

Forgive me, Lord. Forgive us all for forgetting. 

"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice!" Philippians 4:4 (ESV)

The Best Plans

Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
    but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
Proverbs 19:21 (ESV)

My husband, Justin, is a planner. Every night, we discuss our schedule for the following day. Every. Single. Night. This used to perturb me. I used to be more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of girl. Then, I married the planner.

His ways have influenced our children. They want to know what we are doing "in the morning" which simply means all day tomorrow. After they are given the plans, they usually respond with "That's our day!" as if the plans will go simply and smoothly. Yeah, right!

We try to stick to our plans because we know our kids love routine, but the unexpected happens more than my family likes. I often find that my relationship with God follows suite. There are times I have what I believe are the best laid plans for my life, and then He changes them in, oh, about a minute, sometimes less. Even though God's new purpose for me might ruffle my feathers a bit (now that I have the planning disease Justin gave me), I usually discover in time that God's purposes make my plans look juvenile. He always has a better way even if it's the most painful way at times. 

I'm so thankful for my two planners--my earthly planner, Justin, who keeps me on task from day to day and my heavenly planner who guides my family in the direction He chooses.  

Why We Homeschool

"What are you doing for your kids' social skills?"
"What about extracurricular activities?"
"You don't need to make your kids too weird. You already don't do Santa!"
"If you move to a better school district, you'll put your kids in public school, right?"
"Are you trying to turn your house into a version of Little House on the Prairie?

The above are just a few of the comments and criticisms Justin and I have heard since we started to homeschool our oldest child this year. It's frustrating at times because it seems like the world is against us. I feel awkward for my daughter when a well-meaning stranger asks her where she goes to school, and she looks to me for an answer. Then, when she or I say, "We homeschool," we brace ourselves for the comments or strange looks.

I could cite study after study of the benefits of homeschooling. I could recommend book after book to persuade you to homeschool, but maybe another day. Justin and I discussed homeschooling long before our children were children and long before I knew of those studies and read those books. Even though he and I are fine products of the public school system, we did everything everybody else did, and we turned out well academically, we were still intrigued by homeschooling. So why would we mess with what worked for us? (At least, that's what people ask me.) We choose to homeschool; it's not because the public or private schools aren't good enough where we live. They are great, actually.

We homeschool because we want to love our children by showing them servant leadership.
We homeschool because we want our children to learn before our eyes, not someone else's.
We homeschool because we want to know our children's strengths and weaknesses.
We homeschool because we want to be the primary influences in their lives.
We homeschool because we don't have to be like everyone else, no matter what the world may say.
We homeschool. You don't have to.

This year, we homeschool. I don't know what will happen in the future, but right now, Justin and I are making the best decision for our family. I pray you won't find me saying anything negative about other parents' children and where they attend school. Ultimately, we all homeschool in some capacity if we are being godly parents no matter where we choose to educate our children.

This & That

How true is this? I long for real community. It's hard to find.

My husband posted that on our Facebook page. It's definitely a good read, and it convicts our self-righteous, prideful selves when we realize we are all the lesbian caller.