Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Year in Review

How's your year been going?   That was the question a friend recently posed to our homeschooling group.  That got me thinking about how we set priorities.  New year.  New calendar.   Time to plan.  Make changes.  

Here's my answer.   Granted.   It gets a bit preachy at the end, but consider it as mentor-y. Because that's what I do.    

A promise you can count on!

My YEAR? hohoHaHoHaHoHahahahahhaah!
January 7 - hub tells me he wants to quit his job & move back to Midwest, become a truck driver
Spring - declutter the house; start job hunting & re-writing my resume - ugh.
June - graduate our youngest from homeschool high school
July - find a buyer for our house (four offers out of five showings), finalize the deal, inspections, packing in earnest
August - get the graduate ready for college, move all our household goods to storage in WI, move in with hub's sister in MN, drop DD at college & hub off to truck driver training in CO
Sept - continue job hunting & interviewing, gallivanting all over WI for interviews & visiting family; not feeling very good; stressed out with hub cross-country from me & DD at college, flying solo = ugh.
October - more interviews, but wait! What is this? A new job at the end of the month (yahoo!); hubby starts a local delivery truck position after other driving things in TX and WI fall through
November - house-hunting; the vague discomfort I've been feeling in my tummy graduates to being painful; turns out to be a gigantic tumor (large grapefruit size--no wonder I feel like I'm preggers!), a couple days later I have a 9-inch incision down my stomach, and it's ovarian cancer! And we're buying a house.
December - recuperating, waiting to start chemo in a few days, writing my Christmas card, looking at all our blessings; waiting for a closing date to get into our new home.
Yeah. That's our year in review. Not very homeschooler-y-ish, but perhaps a good "lesson."
Wisdom from God's Word - guaranteed!

When I consider the many lessons I've taught over the years, along with the Bible studies and Bible WORD studies I've dived into....I am SO THANKFUL for knowing the Scriptures as they have provided me with SO. MUCH. COMFORT.
Really.  Comfort.   The kind that ONLY God can give.   
"Praise be to the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
the Father of compassion and the God of all COMFORT, 
who COMFORTS us in all our TROUBLES, 
so that we can COMFORT those in any TROUBLE with the 
COMFORT we ourselves have received from God.  
For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, 
so also through Christ our COMFORT overflows.  
If we are distressed, it is for your COMFORT and salvation; 
if we are COMFORTED, it is for your COMFORT, 
which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.  
And our hope for you is firm, because we know 
that just as you share in our sufferings, 
so also you share in our COMFORT."   

2 Corinthians 1:3-7
So...ladies, my CHARGE TO YOU IS THIS: In the midst of your day--be sure (be SURE--yes, I'm YELLING that word at you) BE SURE to include Daily Bible Reading. For you. For your children.
I don't care HOW you manage it. But DO IT! 
 * * * * * * * * * *
Look DEEP into the Scriptures--more than just a quick overview or survey. Savor it.
With your children, strive to see the sweep of God's hand in history as you read the "history" books of the Old & New Testament, and how God has laid it all out--according to His plan. Strive to see the wisdom of His plans. Strive to see the blessings and the promises FOR YOU, for YOUR MARRIAGE, and YOUR CHILDREN.   
So:  FIND. A. WAY -- if it's not already part of your daily routine -- MAKE it a priority.  As a homeschooler, you can use it for spelling, grammar, handwriting and reading.  And history.  Poetry or literature.  And rhetoric.  
You will NEVER EVER EVER regret the time you spend in God's Word.
That is a money-back guarantee.