Z is for Zoos!

Can you believe it? We are finishing the alphabet this week with the letter Z!

Z can remind you of a lot of things, but for us, it always comes back to the Zoos! Ever since the girls were itty bitty, like 2 and newborn, we have been taking them to the zoo. When they were tiny and we lived in Indianapolis, my parents always bought us a zoo membership for their birthday present. It is still one of our favorite zoos to visit, and we try to go with my Mom at least once a year, sometimes more.

Indianapolis is not our only zoo though, we also like to visit the Cincinnati Zoo, and we have been to the Pittsburgh Zoo as well. Each of these three major zoos has its own unique experience, and some special features that set it apart as a destination (and a really cool road trip!)

Sometimes we have just gone to look at the animals, sometimes it was to learn more about a specific animal we had been reading about, and sometimes... it is just fun to go to the zoo. 

Have you ever heard the song Going to the Zoo by Peter, Paul and Mary? Kurt has been singing this song to the girls for as long as I can remember. Even now at the ages of 19 & 17 hearing this song makes us all want to go to the zoo. If you've never heard it, here is the song on YouTube. If you start singing it to either girl today, they will want to take another trip to the zoo!

The Indianapolis Zoo is the youngest of the three zoos mentioned above. It moved to its current location in 1988. It has changed a lot in those years since, mostly for the better! It has a great Oceans building, which hosts fun interactive exhibits like petting dog sharks and some small water critters (think touch tank from Finding Dory, but smaller!) There is also a Humongous  Dolphin pavilion to watch the shows, and an underwater viewing dome - so cool!

The Pittsburgh Zoo is older, but well kept. While some of the animal exhibit areas seem a little on the small side, the real star of the show for us was the PPG Aquarium. This was so amazing, we could have spent all day just in the aquarium! If you have ever watch the River Monsters TV show...they have live arapaima fish in one of the tanks! The girls had watched that episode of River Monsters with Kurt, and we had read the book Made in Heaven: Man's Indiscriminate Stealing of God's Amazing Design, so Emily especially was all excited about learning about this Amazonian fish. Then we walked into that part of the PPG aquarium and they had more than one! She literally sat on the floor and stared at the tank for several minutes - then she came and got me - Mom, you HAVE to take some pictures!

The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens is a masterpiece! It has been around since 1875! Seriously, 1875! That makes it the second oldest zoo in the US. Every exhibit here invites you to come learn about and appreciate the animals. Each one has its own unique flavor, and the layout of the zoo on the rolling hills of Cincinnati offers some wonderful viewing opportunities. If you have never been here and you are wondering if it is worth the admission price - oh yes! A dozen times yes. Plan to come as soon as the gates open in the morning and stay all day. You still won't have time to see everything well, but you'll love what you do see!

Why the zoo? What makes it one of our favorite places to go? You can go to have fun, you can go to learn about animals, or flowers, or to ride the zoo train. You can have a picnic lunch, or buy food there. The zoo is a place to make lasting memories. 

What is your favorite animal to see at the zoo? Do you have a favorite zoo we should add to our next road trip? Leave a comment and share your favorite zoo story!


Linking up with Annette and Amanda:

Years

Can you believe we are almost to the end of this Blogging through the Alphabet series? 

The letter for this week is Y. 

Y is for Years

The days are long, but the years are short. 

Have you heard that phrase before? I can attest it is true, each day can seem so long, especially if someone is potty training or struggling with long division. Mama, I am here to remind you that the years of homeschooling are short. From where I sit, with 14 years of homeschooling behind me, and only about a year left in front of us, it seems quite short indeed.

Finding joy along this journey has been so much easier when I remember to look for the blessings in the everyday activities of life. Some days it might seem like the only thing to be thankful for is that your children brushed their teeth before bed. If it is: still be thankful for it! 

There will be tough days.

There will be days when you doubt if you have made the right choice for your family. Go to God and ask Him to remind you about WHY you started on this homeschooling journey.  Get back to focusing on your why. So what if it takes your child longer to learn their multiplication tables? You are in this to be their parent until they are old enough to not need you anymore, which pretty much means forever, or at least 25! LOL! So if it takes them longer to learn multiplication, how to read, or how to do long division, remember, you still have a few years left to help them.

The picture above is from around 2010. Not really that long ago for me, but for our children, a huge chunk of their lifetime ago! The pictures below are from 2016. What a difference just a handful of years can make.

There will be better days ahead

Stop trying to do it all by yourself. God is able to meet all your needs. When you focus on how able God is to provide, and stop focusing on trying to do everything yourself, you should find more joy, and less stress. We can all use more joy! More joy for Mom means better days for everyone!

As a Mama who has always needed to work while homeschooling, I will tell you that over time you won’t remember the lack of sleep, but you will remember their joy when your children master something new. You will remember when they smile and tell you they love you! 

Make the most of each day, and remember to enjoy the years too!

Linking up with Annette and Amanda

Xerox...and what it has led to :)

This week's letter of the alphabet is X. Ever since I first made notes about this blogging through the alphabet series when Amanda and Annette suggested it, I have had X filled in - with Xerox. Many of you today have a printer at home for your computer, and most of today's printers can also make copies. Hearken back a few decades to when I was a child. Computers were not in homes, they were at Universities, in large businesses, and some schools were just starting to get TRS80's to teach their students about this new computer age.

If you wanted a copy made, and you were attending a small school like mine, your teacher might use the mimeograph machine. They would write on a paper that turned into a stencil,  and then it would go around and around the drum of the machine and stick the colored ink, usually purple or green, to the papers for us to use in class. The problem? The chemicals stank and the pages would come out wet. Not to mention you could only copy the things that someone could write or draw.

BUT, there was this wonderful machine at the library, called a XEROX. It made actual copies in black of whatever page or picture you put in it. It was magical! :)

The very first xerographic image was made in 1938. Xerox released its first commercially available copier (the 914) in 1959. If you would like to read the history, Xerox has a lovely PDF you can access here.

What does all of this mean to me, and why am I so happy for the work Xerox has done over the years? Because today I can make a copy whenever I want, from the comfort of my home, on a small printer/ copier that I purchased for around $100. For a homeschooling Mama, Xerox (or its current competitor) is  lifesaver, and a timesaver. Our local library still has a copier that you can use, for 10 cents a page. While that is fairly inexpensive, having one at home is even better! Some day soon I will need a new printer. We've had this one for about 3 or 4 years, and with having used it for two high schooler students, plus numerous 4-H projects and blogging activities, it is showing its age.

Why the picture of the fish? Because I liked it! A little side note: just like I always had to go to the library to make xerox copies, you had to send away film to be processed. Today, we make copies of pages at home, and we can print our own photos from our digital cameras at home with the right kind of printer! Cool huh?! Sometimes, I really like technology. :)

Almost every home educating family I know has a copier at home. While the brands vary widely from Cannon to HP and others, one thing we can agree on is that they work. Thanks to the hard work of Xerox corporation, they work!  They make our lives easier, and that is truly a reason to be thankful!

Vacation and Wonder

As we are nearing the end of this round of Blogging Through the alphabet, we are at letter W. I'm also including V from last week, as life simply did not allow enough time to type that one out last week. :)

V is for Vacation
W is for Wonder... as in let your children experience the wonder of new things at their own speed.

As a family where both parents work, we have had to be intentional about a lot of things that it seems others just do naturally. Maybe they have to be intentional as well, but they might have a little more time to plan than we do.

We love to go on vacations 

While it has often taken some creative budgeting to get there, we have been blessed to be able to take quite a few memorable vacations over these past 14 years of home education. Some only lasted 36 hours, a couple of them each lasted a week.

One of our favorite vacations was in 2013 when we travelled to Oklahoma. We were staying with our dear friends Mike and Ella for the week. They had invited us to visit them and attend the Delaware Nation Pow-wow with them. While there we also did a lot of sight-seeing, including seeing wild mustangs. Yes, there is a fence... on the side towards the state highway to keep the mustangs safe.

On that vacation we also stopped at this adorable rest stop near Conway, Missouri. All of the picnic tables were enclosed in little Route 66 buildings. It is on I-44 at mile marker 111 Eastbound.

Vacations can be a chance to visit friends, see new places, and get away from the ordinary routine of your life. Whether your vacation is two days or two weeks, we encourage you to go somewhere and make memories with your children.

W is for Wonder 

As in cultivate the wonder you see in your children's eyes. Let them explore something new. Let them meet new experiences at their own pace. This requires us Moms to slow down, as we often like to keep a schedule and check boxes.

Wonder does not come from checking boxes.

Wonder comes from watching ants, playing in the sand, catching fireflies, camping in the woods, mixing paints. All of those great (mostly outdoors) activities I grew up with in the 1970's that so many parents today think are too full of germs.

Germs, schmerms. Let your children get dirty. Let them have fun. Just last week our 17 year old paused what she was doing and sat for five whole minutes as she watched a spider wrap its prey up in a silk cocoon. "Mama, that was cool!"

Do you still find wonder in the things of nature around you? Are you still amazed by the birth of a new baby, whether it be a tiny human or a little calf? 

How long has it been since you sat and contemplated how the Creator of this vast Universe has given you the ability to create something yourself? Have you created recently? That creativity comes more readily when we cultivate our sense of wonder. Maybe it is time for you to create: a picture, a meal, a garden filled with flowers, or maybe it is time to make a pillow or a birdhouse with your children.

Take time to plan a vacation, however short, where you can make memories. In the time between now and whenever that vacation happens, cultivate the wonder!

Until next week :)

Linking up with Annette and Amanda...

Travel & Unique

Here is another two for one in our Blogging the Alphabet series: Travel & Unique

One of the biggest blessings in our home education journey has been the ability to make our own schedule. Not being tied to the local school district's calendar has allowed us a multitude of fun opportunities to travel, both within our state and across the US. By being available to travel when other students are in school, we've been able to visit many places in the just-off-peak seasons and save a lot of money. 

Another fun part of homeschooling is deciding to make a road trip fun and educational. I think our girls have been glad that I'm not the "write a report about it" kind of mom. We go, we have fun, learn something along the way, and chalk it up to history, science, art ... whatever fits where we were that day.

Our girls' education has been unique - tailored to them as individuals, and tailored to what fits our family's budget and life. Some years we've gotten by with used books and $25 in school supplies, and other years we've had more available funds and spent a lot of time during the year on field trips. 

We love when we get to travel, near or far. Speaking of far ...

looking at the pictures above, starting at the top left and going clockwise: 

Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and Lake Michigan, IN

St. Louis Arch, St. Louis, MO

Wilson's Creek battlefield, Springfield, MI

Delaware Nation Pow-wow, Copan, OK

Route 66, Baxter Springs, KA

Other fun places we've gone?

Clearwater, FL to see the beach ... and Winter from Dolphin Tale

Nashville, TN ... where we saw Peter Furler

Alton, IL ... site of one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates

Canton, OH ... Pro Football Hall of Fame

Chicago, IL ... on a holiday weekend - yes, we're a little crazy!

So be unique, be yourselves, and have fun. If you get a chance to travel - take it! You'll be making memories that far outlast those math books!

Come back next week and see what we come up with for V.

Until then, go check out the other Blogging through the alphabet posts!

Rest and Sleep

I know, I know, I'm behind in this blogging through the alphabet journey with my friends Annette and Amanda. Here is the reason why: I took my own advice! What advice? That's what I'm going to share with you today. :)

The letters R and S are for rest and sleep. Those are two entirely different things, but when you're a working and homeschooling Mama, you often feel like you're lacking in both!

Sleep is the obvious one.

We need sleep. Sleep is when our bodies repair themselves, when our digestion finishes, and when our mind goes into REM sleep and we have weird dreams. If you're not dreaming, then you're probably not sleeping well! If you cannot remember the last time you had a vivid dream, then I would suggest you talk to your healthcare practitioner and ask them if you might be diffident in magnesium. I speak from experience. Once I started taking magnesium and overcame my deficiency, I started having wild dreams, and then vidid dreams, and now I just dream a lot. I do not always remember them, but I can remember that I had a dream, and I awake feeling much more refreshed.

The other word is harder for us Mamas to comprehend. 

It is rest.

When I started on this trip through the alphabet with you, I told you I was going to talk about the blessings to be found for a working and homeschooling Mama. Rest is so vital, but so overlooked in our society. When your brain hurts, when it seems like you are always in a fog, when you're spinning too many plates and none of them well - you need rest! When you cannot find time to read your Bible, when you get cranky with your children, or your spouse, for the little things they do that are just a part of their personalities  - you need rest! When you cannot remember what it is like to relax and breathe deeply - you need rest!

Here is the kicker - you have to choose to rest!

Rest does not come naturally to Mothers. We see things that should be done: the laundry, the weeding, the math book, and we have this inner drive to accomplish all of it - today! 

I'm going to let you in on a little secret: YOU CANNOT DO IT ALL, SO STOP TRYING!

Maybe I was yelling that secret, maybe just raising my voice a bit, but it is still truth: you cannot do it all. 

What is this ALL you are trying to do anyway? Are you trying to live a Pinterest perfect life? No one really does and still loves like Christ loves. 

Are you trying to do ALL that you see your neighbor doing? Stop, just stop, because they are not living YOUR life - you are! 

Are you trying to do ALL that your In-Laws suggest, ALL that your child's scout leader recommended, ALL that you see in a scope and sequence chart? 

The only ALL you need to be doing is surrendering it ALL to Christ! 

To be able to choose to rest, you, as a Mom, wife, person, have to choose to put your day, your year, and your life in the very capable hands of our Heavenly Father. You have to choose to rest in His presence. You must choose that time with God is more important than any other thing: even over a clean kitchen or eating your lunch!

Rest comes from God. 

When you choose to surrender to God's plans, you choose to rest, When you choose to trust His hand is guiding you, you choose to spend time in His Word, in prayer, and in fellowship with other believers.

See the koala in the tree above? He is resting. Are you resting? He might also be asleep, but he is resting, trusting the tree to hold him, and the zookeeper to bring him food. Are you trusting God to hold you, are you trusting that He will provide your daily bread? You should be.

Today there are 100 things I could be doing. But what should I be doing? I cannot know that unless I rest in God and ask Him for guidance, for His wisdom, which He gives generously. 

Today, I challenge you to choose to rest. Choose time with God over everything else. Find a peace and rest that can only come from Him. He will direct your paths, and He will teach you how to rest, how to love like Christ, and how to live a life that is eternal.

Quality Time

This week’s letter is Q, and it stands for quality time. As a working and homeschooling Mama, I do not often have a quantity of time to spend with the girls. I have often wished for more time, but like many other things I have asked God about, He keeps reminding me that His grace is sufficient, and made (shown) perfect in my weakness. I do not have a quantity of time to spend, but I can make that time count!

Quality time means being present and paying attention. Tell me I’m not the only Mom guilty of not always paying attention to everything my children talk about. Now that they are young adults, I have to make a conscious effort to set aside whatever else I might be doing, and focus on what they are saying… not just with words, but with their actions and attitudes.

Quality time means putting them first, ok, putting them third, and putting myself fourth. Jesus first. My husband second. My children third. Myself, fourth or later. 

There are a lot of joys to be found in motherhood. We just need to know where to find them. Quality time is time well-spent. Time spent teaching our children about the love of Christ. Time spent showing them how to be a friends to others. It also means helping them when they struggle, whether that is with their math problems, with their siblings, or in mastering a skill in the kitchen.

Every once in a while your children let you know that you are getting it right. A couple weeks ago, Emily (18) came by my desk while I was paying bills and said “Mom, look at me. NO, look right into my eyes, I have something important to tell you.” She proceeded to tell me “It is hard being an adult, but you do it well. Thank you for showing me how to live this tough life with grace.” 

That was better than any Mother’s Day card!

Stop back by next week for the letter R. In the meantime, check out the other letter Q posts! 

Potatoes

The letter for this week is: P

While I was originally going to talk about the blessings of having supportive parents while you are homeschooling, I felt a burden to share this post about potatoes instead. There have been so many times we have been blessed by our parents while on this journey, so if you have supportive parents - thank them! 

Now, about potatoes...

See these little girls?

In just a few weeks they will turn 19 & 17. This picture is from a very long time ago, I think it was from when we celebrated their 6th & 4th Birthdays. How does this relate to potatoes? Just keep reading ok?

When our children are young and we are just starting our home education journey, it is like planting a seed. We spend time getting the ground ready, we plan how to care for them, and we pray a lot. A lot! Some of you may have seen the 2006 movie Faith Like Potatoes. In it, the main character has to learn to trust God for the results that he cannot see on the outside. He decides to grow potatoes, and the more he learns about the process, the more he learns that it takes a lot of faith, because if you dig up the potatoes too early, you could ruin them. That is why this week's post is about potatoes. 

See, those little girls in the picture were just beginning to homeschool, like planting seed potatoes. Now one has graduated and the other is a high school Junior. We are part of the way through the harvest, and God has done an amazing thing!

For all of you out there just starting your potatoes (your children's education,) or those of you who are partway through who are wondering if the effort is worth it... look to the harvest, and trust God for the results!

I've only grown actual potatoes once. we planted small potatoes and got...several more small potatoes. The whole time they were growing I was wondering, is it really this simple? Should I be doing more? How can I help them grow? In the end, the bigger potatoes were not on the bushiest plant like I had expected, but there were potatoes. I had to trust.

Homeschooling is like that. I've had to learn to trust God for the results. I've often wondered those same things: should I do more, can it be this simple, and how can I help them? Sometimes God gives us an answer to those questions, and sometime sHe just whispers: Trust Me.

Your little potatoes need your love. They need a Mommy and a Daddy who read to them, who take them outside, and who play with them. Your potatoes might grow up liking trucks, or sewing, they might like art or sports. Along the way, you'll get some math and English in there too, but mostly, you'll learn as a family how to trust God for the harvest.

See you again next week for Q.

Outdoors

When was the last time you took your children outdoors? Not just on the way to the to the car to go to the store or to church, but OUTDOORS!?!

Our families need to spend time out of doors, out in nature, out in God's creation. 

It took me all week long to get this tiny little post typed, because there were much more important things to do... outdoors. :)

We weeded part of the strawberry patch, we mowed the yard, we enjoyed time on the porch swing, and we watched the clouds roll in before the thunderstorms arrived.

Make it a point to get outdoors everyday with your children. Go on a walk, weed the flowerbeds, draw with sidewalk chalk, pick up trash...whatever you do, spend some time out in God's creation.

Go outdoors, and enjoy it!


Linking up with these wonderful ladies for more blogging through the alphabet fun!

Mama Time!

Can you believe we are halfway through the alphabet already?!?

This week's letter is M, and as I alluded to in last week's post, this week I'll talk about the blessing of Mama Time!

I used to think selfies were only taken by vain teenagers and movie stars. LOL! Over time I've realized that they can be a spur of the moment reminder of an amazing event, or just a fun time with family and friends. 

Because I'm such a landscape photographer by nature, and Arlene tends to take detailed shots because of her love of black and white photography, we seldom have pictures of our family together. We are together, we just tend to forget to take pictures of it! One time a few years ago, when we returned from a family vacation, as Kurt was showing the pictures to his Mom, she commented "Didn't Carol go with you?" To which Kurt replied "Who do you think took all these pictures?" Since then we've made it a point to include everyone in at least some of the pictures when we go on our adventures. One of the things the girls and I have started doing is taking an occasional selfie when we're doing something fun, and if Kurt has to miss it because he is at work, we'll text it to him.

That leads me into this week's topic of Mama Time.

Dear Mama, your children need you. They love you. And sometimes... they need you to stop being so darn responsible and cut loose and have some fun!

The collage above was made from pictures on my phone taken over the past year. Starting middle left and going clockwise:

Arlene and I hiding out in the Statehouse library for a couple minutes of quiet during a very busy Homeschool Day at the Capital in January.

Emily and I last summer at an outdoor concert by Michael Cavanaugh featuring the music of Billy Joel.

Arlene and I last November seeing the Bison. Kurt and Em were down on the path and missed the picture. Brr it was cold that day!

My Mom, niece and nephew, the girls, and I at the Zoo last summer during their Lego sculpture exhibit. Cool animals and Lego. Everyone had fun and I texted the picture to my Brother& SIL. Shouldn't everyone get to join in when the cousins come to visit?

The girls and I being goofballs after our shift was over during one of the various Symphony on the Prairie concerts last summer.

So what do these pictures tell me?

They show me reminders of how good it is to spend time one on one, or together with our girls, mostly outdoors, and away from the everyday of schooling. If I was a mean Mama, I could have turned any one of these experiences into a report-worthy event to add to their portfolio...but I didn't! We just went to have fun. 

While the girls and I may be always learning, I don't have to be always recording what they learn in my record book, and I definitely do not want to dampen their enthusiasm for field trips by making them write reports. Memories are much more important than grades!

Mama Time should be second nature to us. We started out reading books and playing toys with our children, but somewhere along the way we get sidetracked. We get caught up in a shiny new curriculum, or worried over whether or not we have enough days' worth of math lessons completed, or someone gets sick and we feel like we should try to catch up. Those are all myths Mama, come back to reality with Eternity in mind! The reality is that we should be talking with our children daily about God and His creation. We should be telling them about our Savior, Jesus Christ, and all He has done for us. Our responsibility as Mamas is to love our children like God the Father loves us. With grace, with correction when necessary, but always with forgiveness and love.

Would not you rather be teaching a botany lesson about Spring flowers at the park than working another worksheet on parts of speech? I'm not saying chuck it all and forget about your children's education entirely.  I'm simply suggesting that you loosen up, relax, and remember that God is the one Who holds their futures. Trust Him. Love Him. Love your children. Do something out of the ordinary this week, and make a memory with your children.

Mama, Spring is here again, what are you going to do about it? Will you choose to make memories with your children, and maybe even throw in a few goofy selfies, or will you choose to trudge on through those books, to the detriment of your relationship with those precious children God has entrusted to your care?

On Sunday we will lift our voices together in worship to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Don't wait until Sunday to experience that joy. Mamas need joy, and so do their children!

Start today, start with joyful Mama time, and some fun with your children. And if you can grab him, throw Dad in the mix of fun - after a long day at work - he needs it too!



Linking up with Annette & Amanda and a bunch of other friends for blogging through the alphabet 

Blogging the Alphabet ~ Love

On this trip through the alphabet with our friends, I've chosen to try to always focus on the blessings that can be found through home education. Often, these are specifically tied to working and homeschooling because let's face it - this life can be tough, and Mamas who have to work need all the encouragement they can get! 

In God's ideal plan, we would all still be living in the Garden of Eden, but because of sin, we are not. In many Christians' minds, there is this never-to-be-crossed line that says wives must always stay at home, and the husband must earn enough to provide all that the family needs ... recently I've found some not-very-loving posts around the internet that state if the wife is working outside of the home that she is a Feminist and not very Godly. I am not a Feminist, far, far from it! God created us as husbands and wives to be different, and yet equal in His sight, as dearly-loved children. Let's not get caught up in the bad habit of saying what God told you to do in your family must be done in every other family for them to be Godly. This is along the lines of what Christ reprimanded the Jewish leaders of His day for because they were telling other people how to interpret God's Word, instead of letting God speak to each person's heart. Today as Believers, we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit - please let the Spirit, and God's Holy Word, be what guides your choices, and not the opinions of other people!

I want today's post to lovingly remind us all that we DO NOT live in an ideal world, that our world is full of sin, and sometimes, even when they want to stay home, God calls some wives to work outside of the home. So if you've had the misfortune to be looked down upon because of your work, or have seen any of those posts roaming the web that make you feel like you are lacking as a family because God has provided for your family through Mom's job alongside Dad's job, let me remind you that we serve a Loving Father that wants our lives to give Him glory and lead us to be more Christ-like.

Now that I've gotten that out, let's move on to the letter for this week: L

L is for Love. 

Maybe you're old enough to remember DC Talk and their song Luv Is A Verb.

While we often think of love as an emotion, in reality, love is an action - a verb - a choice that we make. Love is Christ choosing to come to this earth to free us from our bondage to sin and death. Love is us choosing to do good to and for others, even when we are tired, they are grumpy, or it would be more convenient to do something else.

The opportunity to love our children has come up so many times during this homeschooling journey. I use the term homeschooling because it is broadly known, but I want to tell you why I often (mostly) use the words Home Education instead. We are not trying to re-create a school setting here in our family, we are working to educate our daughters in whatever way God leads us to best fit their learning styles, our family life, and our budget. 

We love (emotion) to take field trips. Life is a field trip and is best lived through experiences, not through textbooks. Yes, we still use a few textbooks, but our primary goal is to prepare our girls for life, not a job as a research librarian, or an index compiler. Whenever feasible, and affordable, we have chosen to offer them hands-on activities or experiences to take what they are learning and make it personal and real. This takes a story and makes it their story. Like history? So do we. Our daughters have lived out history through their positions as youth volunteers at a local living history museum. We also try to fit in visits to state and national historic sites whenever we travel. We go to historic reenactments often, and we also are involved in making today's history by being involved and knowing what is happening in our local and state government. Kurt and I have often chosen to love (verb) our girls by giving up what other parents do for fun and instead take those funds and invest them in an experience for the girls. It is no longer a sacrifice when you see the joy on their faces!

Time is short, our oldest has already graduated High School. The other only has a couple more years at most. We choose to love (verb) them, and do good to and for them, even when they are not being very lovable. Parenting requires patience, and correction. When they steer off of course, or forget to do their chores, there are consequences. Just as God guides us back to where we need to be with Him, we need as parents to lovingly guide our children back to where they need to be.

Working and homeschooling has challenges, but it also has great rewards. We have learned not to take anything for granted. We have learned to appreciate the time we have together. We have learned how to choose to love (verb) those around us and help them do the things they love (emotion) to do!

We have learned that life is short, it is best lived for God, and with God as your guide. When one of us forgets to love, God has taught us how to forgive. 

Choose today to love your children, to make your actions speak of God, His redeeming grace, and his unfailing Love.

Come back next week and I'll tell you about one of my favorite ways to show love to our girls!

In the meantime, click over and read some other L posts!