Priorities

As I read before bed last night, after a sick mommy day where life’s priorities are suddenly seen with a clarity lacking in my healthy I-can-d0-everything days, this passage struck me regarding children:

 Jesus, too, loved hearing the children, and once it even triggered His anger.  The Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer of the universe was fuming.  His disciples were only trying to help- protecting him, guarding him from the crowds… But when Jesus saw them rebuking… the children… “he was indignant.  He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”  If this set Him off, it gives me pause to think He’s watching us now…

A new week is begun.  Monday is a day when we set priorities, make lists, start “back to school”.  We would do well to prioritize our lives not by what seems urgent but by the kingdom of God.

The grass can grow another 1/2 inch, the floor can be quickly swept instead of scrubbed & mopped, the world will not stop if you miss a facebook update…  Instead, read your little princess the story again.  Check out the amazing lego ship (that happens to look exactly like the last one he showed you) and admire the updated super-sonic engine with force field blasters your son brings down.  Talk to your teen.  (I’m totally preaching to myself here…)

Lord, help me to pour my life into the ones you’ve given me to love.  Amen.

Go Go Gadget… PATIENCE!!

Andrew just watched Inspector Gadget for the first time… and he loved it!  Do you remember Gadget?  He was the incredibly gadgeted, always bumbling, detective who saved the world from the evil schemes of Dr. Claw every Saturday morning.  With the help of Penny and Brain, of course.

Go go gadget chute! Go go gadget cuffs!  Go go gadget copter!  This robotic cop had all the tools he could possibly need for any evil scheme at his disposal.  But in spite of the awesome tricked-out suit, he messed up every single mission!

This morning, I found myself whispering, “Go Go Gadget, PATIENCE!!”  If I were Gadget, I think a flowerpot would have popped out of my hat or something comical like that.  Because in spite of my well-equipped suit, I too bumble…errr, sin… quite a bit.

I said it wistfully… but as I thought of it, the Gadget illustration really held out farther than my initial impulsive blurt.  (Which reminded me of Sarah on Labrynth, “I wish the Goblin King would come and take you away… right now.”  But I digress…)

Do you remember Brain, the brilliant dog?  He and Penny always had to bail Gadget out.  Well, it’s like that here, too.  I can wish for a go-go-gadget fix, but I really have to be engaged if I want to see change.  Kind of like Brain talking to Penny on their watch walkie-talkies.  (The Holy Spirit & me?  I know this is a stretch, but it’s my illustration & a comic after all!)

Here are some things Brain tells me, after my Go Go Gadget wish flops:
1) Think on scriptures that apply and meditate on them.  (ex: Let me be quick to listen, slow to speak & slow to become angry b/c my anger doesn’t achieve the righteous life God requires. -James 1:19 paraphrased by me)
2) Ask for help!  Go to the Lord.  Confess my sin, identify my weakness, and ask (beg!?) for His mercy, which is new each and every day.  AND ask a friend to pray for/with me and to check in on me later (it’s called accountability!)
3) Put off/put on.  I need to put into practice what I’ve just been meditating on!  I can’t read, “Love overlooks a multitude of sins” -1 Peter 4:8 and then keep on rehearsing all the ways my children/husband/the driver that just cut me off (fill in the blank) are making my life difficult!  (Side note: I’ve often noticed that they’re not even sinning against me, I’m just irritated b/c their preference isn’t the same as mine!  In those cases, I REALLY need to overlook!)
4) Go Go Gadget, SMILE!!  Raising my eyebrows helps change my whole countenance.

Summer + Reading =FREE Books!!

My kids love summer.  And they LOVE to read.

I love their imaginations, all the cool stuff they learn and how quiet it is while they’re curled up with a good book!

Every summer, they look forward to a trip to Barnes & Noble.  B&N knows how to get this Mamma through the door… children, 1st – 6th grade, can read 8 books of their choice and earn a free book from B&N!

We’re headed there today… hope to come home with a few good books!  You have until September 6, 2011 to do the same.

OH MY GOSH!!

Okay, I probably should have come up with a more sophisticated title… but I’m in such an amazingly strange state of excited, in awe and totally relaxed that I can’t come up with anything better!!!

Homeschooling moms, be very jealous. I was sitting in the same chair Mrs. Tracy Klicka sat in last week! And Bev Bradley not long before that and David & Shirley Quine then Jan Bloom before that… it’s like walking through Mount Vernon sitting in the president’s chair in the Oval Office!! AAAHHH!!! Now I know how Toni (aka TheHappyHousewife) felt when sleeping in Cinderella’s Castle!

Bob & Tina Farewell, our family by a wonderful marriage, are graciously allowing us to stay in their super-awesome Tree House and I’m in heaven!! (Note the plush robe and perfectly large-but-still-pretty teacup!) If you don’t know of the Farewells or any of the folks I mentioned above, you really must take the time to peruse their websites, read their books, and listen to any seminars you can find online. As homeschool pioneers, they have years of experience and a true heart for homeschooling our children from the heart. Amazing people, I tell you. (Umm… if you are one of those people I mentioned & you want your name off my blog, I’m happy to do that, too. Sorry. Can I have your autograph?!)

Seriously, though, our family is enjoying some time away in Lake Wales. I love being with my GeGe and the time was made even better by Mom joining us! My sis & her kiddos are coming soon as is Dad! Add our amazing cousins, who live next door to GeGe, and the fact that we get the treat of visiting with the Farewells… I’m sure you’ll understand my excitement!

Get to know the folks above. Amazing people. And, what is so encouraging to me, they are just like you and just like me. They love their children. They homeschool(ed), serve, speak, write, encourage out of the abundant goodness of God. I’m inspired to do the same.

Traditions

Our first field trip this year!

Today was our first field trip with our Learning on the Go co-op! The children learned about the history of the pretzel (a monk shaped bread dough into the shape of a child praying w/folded arms & the 3 holes represent the Trinity) and then shaped & baked their own. Afterwards, some of us went to the pool for some fun splash time. Good times.

Right now, the kiddos are enjoying popsicles on the back porch- then we’re going to go out front to put up some flags and pray for the families who lost loved ones eight 9/11s ago.

I’m also praying that the Lord will continue extending his care & mercies to us. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray then I will turn & heal their land.”

Using Proverbs to Teach Your Children

This article was originally published in Homeschooling Today, an encouraging resource for Christian homeschoolers.   

      I have a confession to make.  I hate coloring books!  As a child, I never wanted to slow down long enough to “stay in the lines.”  My kindergarten teacher gave up and let me grade papers for her during coloring time instead!  At home school conventions, I don’t buy workbooks that even look like them!  But a year ago, I was introduced to a little coloring book that changed my life.

    Our second child, Lauren, was six and had just mastered reading.  We wanted to integrate a devotional into her reading time twice a week and I set out to find the perfect book.  After wandering the aisles of our local convention the second day, a friendly smile from the Doorposts booth prompted me to ask for advice.  Did they have a beginning reader that would teach a girl godly character?  She handed me- you guessed it- a coloring book. 

    The simple booklet, “A Young Lady of Valor” Proverbs 31 for Girls filled the bill.  Each page had one or two sentences from Proverbs 31 with an accompanying picture to color.  There were no zany illustrations, the scripture was the King James Version (which would be hard for her to read with the extra -th sounds) and it was a coloring book!  But it was perfect for a beginning reader’s first devotional.  It was perfect because it was simply the word of God. 

    Lauren was thrilled to do a girls-only Bible study.  I remained unconvinced and wondered how long a 19 page booklet could possibly last.  We read the first verse, “Who can find a virtuous woman?  For her price is far above rubies.”  The book I initially thought of as too short and too simple immediately began to minister to Mom and daughter in such a profound way it set a precedent for our schooling that continues today.  I shared what a gift Lauren is to her Daddy and to me.  We discussed her incredible value to our family practically, relationally, and also her inestimable worth before our heavenly Father.  Her brothers, doing other schoolwork in the adjacent dining room, chimed in with why she’s special to them.  As she skipped off to color in the first page, I sat on the couch dumbfounded… and not only because the boys had been kind to their sister!  I was seeing the fruit of teaching from Proverbs. 

    I never had to remind Lauren to take the Bible, her “study book” and the colored pencils out on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  page by page, we discussed how the Lord would have a six year old girl live for him.  When she read, “She will do him good and not evil” she scribbled some blue, green and orange on the picture then cleaned up some of her brothers’ things and told her Daddy she was learning to be kind to him so she could learn to be a good wife one day. 

    A few weeks later, she asked what it meant to “giveth meat to her household.”  While I explained it meant to feed her family well, she colored a bit more carefully and then asked if she could make her brothers a snack.  The day we read, “She maketh herself coverings of tapestry” I had an opportunity to praise the skill of sewing.  Although I can’t follow a pattern to save my life, we chatted about friends and family who enjoy sewing and excel at it.  My desire as a mom is for each of my children to surpass me in both knowledge and skill, so the next time she was with Granny they did a sewing project together.  Lauren came home telling me how easy it is and that I really should finish the apron I started 2 years ago!

    As mammas, we have the privilege to gently impress biblical truth upon our daughters’ hearts until they are molded into the image of God.  We can train them and strengthen our own understanding by discipling our daughters in the very areas that challenge us.  You may talk about finding joy in serving others, creative ways to make meals tasty and fun, or working with willing hands.  We’re not confident as parents or teachers because we know what to do but because we rely on the greatest teacher.   He instructs our minds and guides our hearts through the word. 

    We’re reading a new book every Tuesday and Thursday now.  The 19kth century language paints pictures in Lauren’s mind of a girl growing into a woman.  We both enjoy it and her reading is improving daily.  But it’s the little Proverbs 31 coloring book that changed our lives.  She colored her way through the book and I learned to color her life with the Word. 

Allie Olsen continues to read books on godly character with her 5 children in St. Augustine, Florida.  www.gracefullmom.com

I’ve got my hands full

This article was originally published in The Creekline.

Benjamin is 8, Lauren is 5, Timothy is 2 and Andrew is 6 months.  Since we homeschool our children, they accompany me everywhere I go.  And whether they’re perfectly pleasant at Publix or distracted and devilish at the dry cleaners, I hear the same refrain, “Wow!  Are all four yours?  You’ve got your hands full!”

The funny thing about that comment is I heard the same thing seven years ago when it was just baby Ben and me.  Onlookers recognize that all parents- whether we have one child or seven- do have a lot to juggle.

Over the years, I have become much more proficient at “juggling” as I’ve gleaned from other moms.  It amazes me how the smallest change can make our family run so much smoother!  So this month I thought I’d share some of my favorite “tricks of the trade” with you!

Orderliness

• Teach the children to help.  There is some way for a child to help in every room of your house- even if it’s carrying a tied-off bag of trash to the back door or dusting the baseboards with a paintbrush.  A great mantra is, “The family all works together so the family can all play together!”
• We have always installed chair-rail height hooks so the children can reach their towels.  Periwinkle polka-dots graced the hall in our last home and nautical “rope” hooks are in the children’s bathroom now with a large photo above each.  Even 2 year old Timothy knows where his towel goes and Momma knows who left their towel on the floor!
• After making their beds in the morning, each kiddo places their PJs under their pillow.  This keeps pajamas handy but out of sight until bedtime that evening.
• Two or three times a day, I announce that it’s time for a Quick Clean Up!  We start at the front door and quickly tidy up the house together.  We do this between school and lunch, before Daddy comes down from work and before bed, as needed.  Sometimes we set the timer as a challenge with the reward of cookies ready on the counter.  This is a great habit to be in for general tidiness but it really pays when friends call before dropping by.  The house will already be salvageable and everyone knows how to do a quick tidy so you can enjoy visiting without tripping over toys.
• Along those same lines… it’s helpful to have “A place for everything and everything in its place!”  Baskets or bins corral toys so children can take out one thing at a time- not dump the entire toy box on the floor trying to find Mr. Potato Head’s shoes!  Little ones can learn to clean up 1 basket before taking out another.

Laundry

• Oh, the joys of parenthood!  It seems that stains multiply exponentially with the addition of children.  My mother-in-law is the Stain Master; her technique holds me over until she can come work her magic!  ① Apply stain out and toss aside until you’re ready to wash.  ② Put stained laundry in a soak cycle with hot water, 2x the suggested amount of Oxyclean and your regular detergent.  ③Run through a regular wash cycle.
• You may recall how much I hate ironing.  Well, my friend Michelle taught me this no-iron trick.  ① Place tricky garments in the dryer and set to permanent press heat.  Turn on.  ② Go kiss all your children or have a five minute tickle war.  Set the timer if necessary, but you must come back in 5 minutes!  ③ At 5 minutes start taking out clothes, 1 item at a time, turning dryer back on between garments.  Hang and smooth out any wrinkles, button collars, etc.  If space allows, lay knits flat.  Continue 1 item at a time, until all your challenge pieces are hanging up neatly.  Allow to fully dry before putting in the closet!

Kitchen

• Dishes are never a favorite chore.  A small tool called a scraper really will save you time!  Buy one from the kitchen stores at the outlet mall for around $1 or order one through Pampered Chef.  Scrape hardened food; wash in half the time and save your nails!
• We have one spot on the kitchen counter for cups.  Knowing where to find their drink helps to keep the children hydrated and cuts down on lost drinks, extra dishes and keeps the countertops from being strewn with extra glasses.

Most days, I stay very busy.  There are meals to cook, laundry to wash (but not iron!) and school to teach.  But through delegation, teamwork and an outlook of enjoying life every step of the way (by the Grace of God!) we accomplish what is needful- what isn’t urgent will still be there tomorrow. 

And when strangers tell me I have both hands full with my four children… I can grin and say,”Not ‘till we have 6 more!”

Copyright Allie Olsen *  www.gracefullmom.com