Where does the time go?  I haven’t even begun what I meant to do first!  Okay, it’s now 12:22; I’ve been up since before 7 (I always try to make my Word time/prayer time first or the day literally disappears without it),  I’ve answered approximately 10 emails out of the at least 30 I’ve received; I’ve made breakfast for the fam - kind of an ad hoc breakfast…Dad had homemade roast beef hash, an egg and baked beans (I know, but he loves it.  I think the baked beans part caught on when we lived in Australia.)…the boys had half a grapefruit, a quesadilla, yes, for breakfast ha!  (with the homemade salsa that Levi made - Mmmm good!) - some cereal - makes you wonder if the salsa will sit well with the milk?? oh well…and got on their school work.  Then the math tutor came-don’t get stars in your eyes all you home school moms out there, I’m desperate for help with math…he’s a friend of the family who happens to be really good at math and he picks up a little extra money by helping the boys because it would take me 30 minutes to figure out 1 formula because math is not my natural bent. He also saves me hours correcting.  “Bless him, Lord!”  About the time the boys turned 12, I always had to find someone I could hire to help us in the math department since we home educate.  So if you’re desperate, too, shake the bushes at church and see if you can hire/barter with someone to help you.  Then about the time I cleaned up breakfast, it was time to make fruit smoothies.  Smoothies are my way of getting fruit in our diet when winter fruit isn’t too exciting and Costco sells huge bags of frozen berries plus very cheap bags of bananas (so we ripen and freeze our own bananas for bulk).  While the smoothies had whirred in the blender,  I printed off a recipe from the web since I have all the ingredients for potato, broccoli soup but no recipe.   Upon consuming the mid-morning snack, of course everyone was hungry for lunch - so as I prepared lunch,  I broiled the bacon for the soup - we occasionally use pork as an enhancement for recipes and try to buy free-range.  (Fun facts with Denise).  Along the way I got Seth on the adding machine to add up receipts for me since tax time is just around the corner - ooh, fun.   I cleaned up the lunch, and smoothie mess (boys would help but math comes first today) and transferred the laundry load to the dryer - sound like your house? - in between answering the phone and bringing Daddy another cup of coffee plus running to the garage 6 times for ingredients from our second fridge.  Since I happen to serve on the board of our community, I caught up on those emails and put in my two cents’ worth on landscaping and parking issues - are  we having fun, yet???  If not, just think - even now as I type I can hear my enthusiastic teen upstairs in his room beating wildly on the drums - are you feeling this, mom?  He’s allowed 40 minutes a day between noon and 2 to play to his heart’s content - except Sunday ’cause we all need a rest since our house is just under 2000 square feet so the whole house VIBRATES - Chaos, beautiful, blessed, chaos!  Hurry up and enjoy every moment of your crazy day, Mom, because life is a vapor and before we know it, we’ll be 10 years down the road and onto the next thing…..

What was that I was gonna do????  Oh well, dryer just buzzed and time to start dinner!

…was actually in session yesterday.  First it was Dad, then Levi and now, Mom’s sick.  That’s about all you need to know and the rest is pretty clear.  Progress halts.   What’s there to eat?  Laundry?  Groceries?  Time-Out.  Push pause and make yourself a frozen burrito (if you can find one!).   Seth has excelled in Home-Economics for the last two days.  Cleaning, slicing, delivering, sweeping, dicing, dishes.  He’s our champion.  Upon further investigation, it appears that lots of our dear friends are experiencing the same bleak (thankfully, temporary) circumstances during this rainy, cold season.  We love you all and are praying you’re well soon!

Are all my homeschool-mom friends out there dreading Monday as much as me?!  I have to be honest - I’ve been luuuuuuuuuvvvvvving our holidays together and the thought of getting back to our normal schedule on Monday is just a bit daunting.  I find the holiday groove just groovy.  You, too?  I understand.  (For those of you perfect people who can’t wait to crack the calculus, Latin roots and biochemistry books, please go to www.mykidsagenius.com where you will find encouragement - after cracking the Greek-Hebrew code to enter the site - from other PhD’d mothers and their prodigies.) But if you’re like me, and ‘Sleeping In’ is a subject when necessary, here’s my strategy for the morning:

• First off, don’t expect too much!  I’ll probably cut the academic requirements by half on Monday, but follow my normal chore charts for the kids.  (you should see my dust!) Victory on day 1 is an 8 a.m. wake-up call for the kids’ Bible and prayer times, after 1 cup of strong coffee and some Bible and prayer time for Momma.  The time with God counteracts the potential caffeine-induced edge I might be tempted to yield to when encountering my not-so-gleeful students on the first day back to studies.
• Secondly, gird up for battle and require good attitudes.  You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that getting back on track with the normal schedule is like fighting the law of gravity on day 1.  And although I have every reason to believe the best of my children,  I will lead strongly and be ready to win any power struggles that might arise.  Peace and order must rule.
• Thirdly, ponder all that you accomplished during Christmas break so you don’t feel like you’re ‘behind’.  (as if some official were looking over your shoulder, evaluating all your moves in December-get rid of that imaginary set of little eyeballs sent to discourage you!)  If your kids baked cookies with you, built Legos, messed around with a digital camera, computer program or MP3 system, played with siblings, read, sketched, played instruments, built snow forts, hung out with Grandparents, Dad or church friends, and did chores, there’s a whole lot of learning and child development that took place.  Just the fact that they were home with you every day means they’re already ahead of the pack. 
• Lastly, praise God for the privilege of being home with your precious children, no matter how trying they can be at difficult moments.  Enjoy who they are and how unique God has created each of them to be.  The big yellow school bus can appear to bring relief, but God has called you to do what you’re doing, as imperfectly as you feel you do it.  You are a very rich woman indeed if you don’t have to hold an outside job to make ends meet, but rather get to work at home.  Resist the world’s mentality that children are a bother and you have much more worthy things you could be doing.  You get one chance at this job of training your tender shoots - decide to enjoy all the aspects of mothering while you’re in this season and you will never regret it!

I won’t tell you how much I spent on groceries (shhhh….)  but I will tell you I prepared every single meal idea on my list and enjoyed every single minute of it.  Lamb roast with garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus, Homemade beef vegetable soup, Spaghetti e Gamberi with prawns, capers and spinach in tomato sauce, Homemade biscuits and gravy, Turkey feast with all the fixin’s, Thai curries, Spaghetti bolognese with meatballs, Italian sausage and  stuffed manicotti (that’s Seth Daniel above, stuffing the manicotti shells 2 weeks earlier so we could freeze the whole Italian feast since it’s a 3-day job) not to forget, Levi’s famous homemade Caesar dressing on the salad, Spiral sliced ham with scalloped potatoes, and more I won’t take time to mention.  (here, Daddy takes time to kiss the cook. This was Spaghetti night - his absolute favorite.)

Planning, shopping, unpacking, chopping, frying, boiling, dicing, serving and doing dishes later.  Pure enjoyment.  I was energized with the strength of my joy-filled heart at having the pleasure of all my children’s company for a very brief time; all of us under one roof, all of us around one table, all of us pitching in to help with dishes afterward.  What a rich woman I was this Christmas.  Good-byes were inevitable and then…..after the tears…the laundry!  Mountains of it strewn across the kitchen; bedding, bath towels and more bedding.  Didn’t matter.  Love compels us!  (and all the moms said, ‘amen’)  Tired didn’t matter; there’s plenty of time for sleep when the sun sets and the house is quiet once more….ok, well, sort of quiet - we still have two teenagers living at home, and one plays the drums :).  (But they do like to sleep in).   (to be continued)

SPEAKING OF LAUNDRY…

…have you seen this product?  You are gonna love me for this, fellow homemakers.  These are the answer to one of your laundry prayers!  A box of 24 sheets runs about $3.50 here in the U.S.  I tear them in half to double my money, and toss a half sheet into the washer any time I’m afraid something might fade.  (which, for me, is nearly every load) New jeans, bright sweatshirt, dark socks….you name it, these dandy little cloths absorb any dye floating around in your washer, to keep everything honest!  Your whites won’t turn grey and your lights won’t be dulled by those bad boys who sneak into your double load on Sunday night during your hurried sorting.

I’m sitting here reflecting on ‘Christmas Past’, which officially came to a close today at 2:30 pm when the dry, tired tree was tossed out on the front porch and all the needles vacuumed off the carpet.  Being the first Christmas season in history when I lived in a different state, over 12 hours drive away from my 5 grown children (Our 3 oldest sons, our darling Melissa who is married to our oldest, and our dear ‘adopted’ South African daughter, Cindy.)  Well, when they all decided to spend their hard-earned money to purchase relatively pricey tickets to come be with Momma and Daddy, my wheels began to turn.  It had to be right.  Not perfect (never perfect, as much as we all like the idea), but homey and delicious and comfortable.  (If you’re a mom, I know you’re feelin’ this.)  A time  when they could totally chill  from the daily pressures of life, work and ministry responsibilities back home in Seattle.  To refresh, refuel and rest.  I went to work.  "What to cook? Costco, Trader Joes, here I come.  Where to sleep all 8 of us comfortably in just about 2000 square feet?  Hmm…we’ll need another airbed (Aeros are amazing!) and some fresh pillows and I’ll have to count our blankets.  What to do while they’re here, without too frantic a schedule?  Bowling might be fun. Daddy could read to us again. A puzzle has to be on the table. What mind-blowing, affordable stocking stuffers for 07?  Where ever did I put the sugar cookie recipe????"  I LOVE THIS MOM STUFF!!!  (to be continued)

Have you seen this? This inexpensive, easily accessible, paperback book is undoubtedly one of my most favorite tools for success in Kingdom life. It’s the entire Holy Bible, broken into daily readings consisting of a portion of the Old and New Testaments, along with a Psalm and Proverb reading as well. I’ve ordered myself a copy for 2008 in a different translation than the one I’ve been in the habit of reading, so I’m looking forward to a fresh flavor in my reading this year. (There are also One Year Bibles for kids, with shorter daily reading portions.) It’s not a ‘box’ you have to live in, but a plan set in place to get me in God’s Word daily, without flipping here and there while wasting 20 precious minutes deciding ‘where to read today’. Then, if I happen to hit a spot where I want to camp, I’m free to do that, utilizing any number of other Bibles and study books I have until I want to move on and jump right back on track in my One Year Bible at the day’s reading where I left off. Look at this:
Hebrews 1:3 tells us that The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful Word. Is the Word of God sustaining you? Are you being supported, strengthened, encouraged, carried, upheld by His Word? Or are you perpetually weak, lagging, afraid, depressed, oppressed, uncertain, and deflated? To wish human beings a ‘Happy New Year’ devoid of God’s Word, I might as well cross my fingers and knock on wood that everything works out o.k. for them. That’s too big a risk for me. Without God’s Word, I’m starving myself and living in a weak, defeated and emaciated way. Colossians 3:15 reminds us to Let the Word of Christ DWELL in you RICHLY…and that ain’t about livin’ out of my promise box! ‘Vitamins’ can never take the place of eating whole, balanced, nutritious meals every day. Start fresh this year and make a practical plan to live in God’s Word daily - His Word never fails. Oh yeah, one more thing: Happy New Year!

As much as I endeavor to ‘bring revolution’ into the world in which I live - bringing God’s Kingdom to earth every day in any way I can - there is always a groan in the midst of the glory.  Can you relate?  As you can see here, my life is filled with opportunities to praise God in the midst of it all.  After waking before the sun to seek God and ponder His Word, anticipating all the good things to come and the victories awaiting…I prepared a perfect triple batch of Malt-o-meal for Seth, my fifthborn, who loves the stuff, when, pulling it from the microwave to give it a good stir and admire it’s consistency - wow, it really came out well this time - OOOPS!!!, as it slipped through my potholders and down to the floor - breaking my new baking dish (drats) into a million pieces and propelling the sticky goo across the Pergo…all the way to the pile of dirty laundry awaiting my attention.  Life is filled with reminders of our clay feet.  The challenge is not to wallow in the mulleygrubs, but to rise above it all and find His glory - even on our hands and knees while scrubbing stubborn spots on the floor.  Praise Him in every little thing!  Thank Him for life and children and food and hope!  Don’t give in and live low, even when all the circumstances beckon you there.  Dance over your broken pieces, dirty laundry and disappointments. He is faithful and He will meet you!  Believe HIM!