Hello

(pic from 3 months ago)

Last weekend I pulled a late night...blog surfing while the husband got his fill of Myth Busters. I stumbled upon a blog called She Looketh Well. As I read, I sensed the Holy Spirit whispering to my heart and encouraging me. You see, there has been a great debate, or, is that even the right word(?), raging in my heart.

This past summer I felt the Holy Spirit tugging at my heart in the direction of homeschooling MW for first grade. I bucked the notion. "Me, homeschool???"

Years ago I told T in no uncertain terms that I would NOT homeschool our children. God would have to write it out in black and white and plaster neon signs all over the place for me to believe He was leading me down that path. T was fine with that.

So...after a few months of gentle prodding from the Spirit, I finally mentioned it to T. He was a bit caught off guard, but agreed to pray about it and submit, in obedience, to whatever God was calling us to do.

So we began praying.

And then so many things happened that have further drawn our hearts in that direction. I'm in a Bible Study with several other women from my community. Almost every one of them with school aged children homeschools. Lesson after lesson, scripture after scripture, have spoken to my heart on this issue.

God called Noah to build an ark. A HUGE, monumental task, and God gave Noah EVERYTHING he needed to complete the task. God commanded Noah to take with him two of every living animal and seven pairs of every clean animal. Did Noah have to go out and hunt 'em down? No.

God brought the animals to Noah. God commanded the animals and they went. Don't you know Noah was relieved when those animals showed up???

And so it is with our little family. We feel God is calling us to a monumental task...homeschooling our oldest for first grade. We are still exploring other options, but right now, the homeschool issue is heavy on our hearts. We are overwhelmed (at least I am) at how to juggle such a tremendous responsibility with the other responsibilities God has given us. But, we are at peace and encouraged by the knowledge that God is faithful. There is great blessing in obedience. And we know, that if this is indeed what He is calling us to, He will provide and meet our every need, just as He provided for Noah.

Today, Michelle, who blogs at She Looketh Well, and is a mother to "nine here on earth, and five in heaven," and also homeschools, asked her readers to post a little bit about themselves...who they are, the purpose of their blog, and what they like to write about, and to link back up on her blog in an effort to meet other like-minded women. So, here goes...

I am a sinner, saved by grace through faith. I am a wife, and a mother, a daughter, and a sister. I began blogging to keep friends and family updated. However, it's become a form of therapy for me. I also love to dabble in photography and blogging has given me an outlet in that area as well.

As I've struggled on a daily basis with the calling of wife and mother, a hope has grown in my heart that my children might look back on this and see us fleshing out the struggles, the triumphs, the joys, etc. of life. I want them to be encouraged and pointed to the cross by what I've shared here. I want my children to know that God's plans are not ours and the craziness, the unpredictableness of life, is normal and keeps us on our knees. At the risk of sounding cliche, I want to be transparent. I pray God is glorified in and through our family, our life. Life is crazy. And I love it. And sometimes I want to pull my hair out (or even run away), but, I do love it.