Sisters

Tonight as it was almost time for bed.  Dev went into the room

to begin her nightly reading.  Cambria ran in after her and

 into her arms.  It was glorious.  Dev just laughed and laughed and

almost had tears.  It was one of those not to be forgotten sister moments.

There are so many more ahead.  We have only just begun.

It was one of those first, "I am choosing you to love" moments

from Cambria to her big sister.  A beautiful moment for this mama!

Surrender.  Trust.  Rest.

Ramblings

Hey sister.

There is such a peace inside when I have finished cleaning an

area and the sun comes in with it's soft evening light.

I pulled Andrew to this view and said, this makes me feel

such peace inside.  It just does!  I love a clean palette.

Prayers in the morning.  I get back from my run.  Meet Andrew

in the driveway and usually Bobo.  Sometimes Cambria.

Sometimes Dev.  We pray for the day.

She loves holding hands when we pray.

She knows something special is happening

when the prayer happens- I love this. 

Dev's beautiful room decorated for fall..all on her own!

I am used to putting something out and getting a certain

response, Bobo challenges that.

Realizing he may do better with structure.  A set

schedule with notebooks and workbooks rather than open

ended discussing which tends to be more creative

and spontaneous but maybe more difficult for his

attention span???   Maybe at times I expect too much?

 

One thing I love is how good he is at making connections

in our day.  He will go get something to show what we

are talking about.  Like we are discussing cotton as a crop

and he will go get a cotton ball.  I want to continue to celebrate

this and teach from this place of hands on learning. 

Everyone has their hard (as my sister Stef once told me). 

 It might look different in different seasons on different people. 

But none of us escapes the hard of life. 

 

I have been thinking about my postings on Instagram.

I want to celebrate the beauty in the goodness of our days

because I'm very much in touch and aware of the

hard.  So when I post on Instagram it is usually about the good. 

I know people say the danger about social media comes

when we see only the pretty pictures and make comparisons

and try to measure up. I do need to remember not everyone

is directly involved in our day to day knowing about the hard

and hopefully they would receive an honest representation from me.

Something to continue to think through- how I represent us

through social media.

I love these pics Dev took!

Dev and her friend decided on this day after making macramé'

to start a business, Island Yarn.  We will see how it takes

off but Dev was excited.

She loves wearing my clothes.

Dev's growing yarn beauties.

Showing her the Halloween costume for this

year, it's Tinkerbelle!

We are practicing for worship before church.

I thought they other day that I'll be so sad when I can't

talk to Gigi anymore.

Sunday school

This boy with that girl.

This candle I gave to her long ago as a little

girl.  We didn't burn it too much.  But lately

in our school room Dev lit it a lot.

It is time to say good-bye candle.  We just

had it in her room for so long, it was

significant for us both.

First ICE CREAM!  So it was not creamy ice cream,

more like a fruity sherbet.

Pineapple flavored yumminess.  Dole Whip!

I would say she likes it!

Then she was really silly and Dev was

laughing at the possible "sugar high."

So Dev convinced me to get a blog.  She loves making videos.

She has been doing this sort of thing since she was little-

explaining things and talking to an invisible audience.

So this blog thing is right up her alley.  She also loves

watching others blog/vlog.  It is a whole new world

for this generation.

This blog was a yogurt taste test.  They will love

watching these when they are older. I gave her the

idea to do a "Brother Dare" where she dares

her brother to do something.  They mixed all

the yogurts and he tried them, so did she.

They are very serious and very cute.

Someone else got in on the yogurt taste test.

Alright, that was a bit all over the place,

but that is our life!

Sunset

My creative girl.

A sunset at Napili Bay.

Often in my life I will say to myself,

"Tell me what I'm doing wrong and I'll fix it."

I hate mess.  I have an overwhelming sense of

responsibility and I need to cover my bases.

I just want the answers.  I have been listening to

a podcast lately that has been inspiring. 

"Your greatest weakness is your untrained strength.  Your

greatest strength undisciplined is your greatest weakness."

Matt Chandler

One podcast spoke on the concept that when suffering or

hardship comes our way we usually react with one goal in

mind...figure out the source the solution and get it to stop!

When I was younger I had a few periods in my life of suffering.

I just had the new thought that maybe through this perseverance 

was developed and maybe a certain drive or

determination was created.  I don't give up easily and that

can be good and bad.  But I believe I have had that stance on

homeschooling-- that I'm not giving up on this. 

 

Homeschooling has been my hard spot, my suffering. 

I keep asking, "How do I make this better?"  "How do I teak this?" 

I want out of this hard place and thrive in homeschooling.  Why can't I get it? 

 Why can't I experience what I perceive many other home school moms

are experiencing?  I get frustrated that I can't produce what I am after. 

It is good to look at home schooling as suffering or my hard thing

because then I can reframe it to be purposeful and not as something

I just need to get over or there may not be that one answer out

there to make it all better. It is in a spiritual realm.

I want to live intentionally so I can look back on this time

as good but maybe the answer isn't to change my

circumstances but change my reaction to it.  Maybe

its the thing that ties me to needing Jesus on a

regular basis. 

Its funny that we were talking about things that

are hard that our family has gone through and Dev couldn't

come up with anything.  It struck me that their life

has held little suffering.  I know that won't always be the case.

I am glad in many ways for their protection but I also want

to prepare them as suffering will come and our reaction to

it (as I am writing) is so important. 

There are only certain ways that we can draw close to Christ

suffering is one of the main ones...This scares me it also

gives me hope for this path I've been on. So then the point

isn't the experience but the drawing close.

I set the tone. They don't need to always know how hard I

 work--even though sometimes I want them to know,

to see.  I don't need their affirmation.  I do need to

show kindness, patience, long suffering, and not

reacting out of my "blah's".  They react sometimes and

I scold them but they might quite possibly be reacting

to the mood I am feeling within.  So here we go.

Again and again.  I am so thankful for new chances.

Thank you Maui for nights like these.....