10 years ago today .....

A tiny girl was born.......

She turned one.....

Then two......


then three......

 

then four.....

then five.....

then six......

 

 

 Then seven.......

 

 

 

 

 Then eight.....................

 

 

And then nine.

 

Today Heidi, you turn 10.

There.

I've said it.

10.

You've said it about 10 billion times in the past few weeks. To anyone who would listen.  Anyone!

It is a good thing, this 10 turning business.  It is a sweet blessing from the Lord that he has given you to us to love for these 10 years, and we have loved being your parents and watching you grow and grow and grow. 

I have  loved watching you play soccer this season, your enthusiasm and good sense of fun are so evident as you play and encourage others.  When you pick yourself up and laugh, I want to cheer for you, and if you start remembering to bring home all you take to the pitch I don't know whether I'll cheer or cry that you are maturing even more. 

You are blossoming before our eyes.  It is a bittersweet thing to watch a daughter grow.  We trust you to God Heidi.  He made you and will sustain you through all that you navigate as you grow up.  Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him,and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

 

Double digits.  How exciting.  We're all cheering for you sweetheart. 

 

Child like theology

"We wont know what forever means until we get to heaven or hell"

"Your heart reminds you of the sea"
Pause
"Do you get it? When you put a sea shell to your ear it sounds like the ocean, but its your heart that you hear.  So your heart remind you of the sea."
Another pause.
'Maybe scientists don't even know that"


In the skating changing rooms and a child heard an echo, perhaps for the first time.  He turned and smiled. "That's God singing to us"


I love how deeply they think about things.  The amazing observations they come up with.  How they really do see connections between things that perhaps they have never been told, but they see them as their minds are trained to do the great work of thinking. 

And then at supper, over long story short, when one is clarifying whether the Israelites lived in Egypt as they were spared the plagues, and we talk about Goshen being a region specific to the Israelites within Egypt.

And of course, a small voice pipes up " Goshen, that's  where Batman lives!"

We persevere.......

New Year

I am a disorganised person.
I am a person who wants to do many more things than I actually have the motivation/time/resources for.
I am a person who plans out many a good conversation in her head, only to stick to the superficial 'How are you?'
'Good, how are you?'
'Good' kind of conversations in real life.
I am a person who fails to engage her brain in conversations/when reading/when listening.  This is to my detriment.
I am a homeschooling Mama, seeking to educate her children in a Christian Classical way (when I have trained my brain to engage, learnt to have deeper conversations, and found the motivation to do the activities etc I lack the motivation to carry out). 

The many plans of my head do little to serve my family, and they certainly do not help in the education of my children.  I have been given many opportunities to think and to plan and to dream.  Now I must do.  And what I have been learning from others is that I must start. 

Starting is the precursor to many things. 

I could keep reading, and making that the excuse for why I don't do....I am still planning
I could keep thinking of plans, and making that the excuse for why we have not done ......insert any number of things - I am still planning
I could keep dreaming of the perfect home interior/curriculum/craft project and making that the excuse for why I don't have my transition strips down, my knitting project done, Shakespeare started - I am still dreaming.

And so I wanted to record what I have started, in writing as a way of seeing where I am, and then making some small plans for what to add next.

I am not a writer, but I do think that writing out things helps make dreams and plans into concrete thoughts and plans.  And this is a long neglected blog which I think will focus a little more on our homeschooling journey than just family news.  Family news will still exist because we homeschool in our family and the two do not really exist outside of one another.  And lets face it, I have not been at the blog for a long long time. 

I have thought about adding some records of what we are doing on here for a ages.   Mostly as a record for me to remember what books we have read, what hymns we have learned and other daily musings of our life.  The family read a loud list is on the side bar and the Morning Time schedule at the bottom of the blog.  It is not intended as a bragging list, or look at what we are doing.  This is a messy business, living together as family.  We are failing more times than I care to admit.  There is a lot of sin involved with seven people living together and loving together.  This road is one that I pray will lead me to a deeper walk with my Lord, homeschooling from a posture of prayer and dependence on the one who has called us to this crazy life.