A Happy Mother

On a rock

"He gives the childless woman a family, making her a happy mother. Praise the LORD."
Psalm 113:9

How could I have ever known or imagine that my life's cup would be so full and running over? My children have always been blessings, just as God's Word has ordained they should. But, lately...with them coming into adulthood in rapid succession...I'm realizing new aspects of what blessings they are!

Of course they are blessings right from the start. But, when they get older the blessings increase exponentially. Last weekend I had the privilege of attending an "Above Rubies" woman's retreat. The speaker, Nancy Campbell, talked about living a large life.

Mine is a large life!  My thoughts and interests surpass my own little sphere.  I now have interests in: wheat farming in Wyoming, building expensive houses, being a nurse, working on a ranch, training a border collie, being in a godly courtship, teaching kinder-gardeners and marketing skills...just to name a few.

And the sphere of influence is huge: children's friends, and their friends, and their families and on it goes. Community people become acquaintances and friends as my children go to work for and with others.

What joy to have fellowship with grown children who love and serve God;  having your daughter tell you that she'll pray for you or your son ask you if you're alright. Our family recently went through a severe trial (still are really). Seeing my children express concern for how their Dad is doing, in rallying to guard his stress level, looking for ways to ease his burden - - it's hard to describe the feeling - - sort of "full circle" I guess.

I've shared here before that when my children were little I didn't really see them as people...little people yes, but not really future adults. Which makes sense since they were that...little people. But, there's so much more to them now. They have all of the history of;  the sweet baby, charming child, blossoming youth, awkward teen and emerging adult. That's alot! The memories. the mistakes, the victories, the healings, the laughter, the awe and the hope for the future and on in to eternity is all there in each one of them.

And on top of that...there are so many. And on top of that; two more have become daughters by marrying my sons! Plus some of them aren't even grown up yet so, we still get to live this out each day in anticipation of seeing what God will bring into their lives!

 And...before this all started and throughout the entire time...through every joy and trial there has been Jeff, my beloved and best friend ever. We often remark to each other.."aren't you glad we're in this together?" And, "I'm so glad we think alike"

Best of all though:  under-girding, orchestrating, shaping and sustaining us has been our Father God.

"For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things:  to whom be glory for ever. Amen". Romans 11:36

Jeff and me...walking our road

The Christmas Letter (that didn't get sent )

Today I decided to go through my nightstand and get rid of some things to make room for some other things that had no place to go. In doing so I came across the rought draft of a "Christmas" letter that my Sarah wrote a couple of years ago. We never sent it out but thought I'd share it here because it is rather funny after all. At least, we think so.




The Best of wishes are being sent
To friends and family dear
And tho all good years come to an end,
There's blessing in the New Year!

We wish to every one of you,
A Christmas of joy and love
Blessing each other, God Blesses you,
Think of Jesus above!

ATTENTION ONE AND ALL:

Well, here is some news about the Greenwood family!

Dad has become the biggest Grump of all ages and is working to achieve more!

Mom is becoming stricter every day...we never have a day off of school!

Hannah went to Haiti, but it did not improve her! She is a snipe and gets angry with you if you ask her a question.

James is just as annoying as ever, doing irritating things like pushing you back down an icy hill when you finally get to the top!

Since Grace and James went to Bible school, Grace has spent alot of time on the phone..even more than Mom (and that's hard to beat!).

Sarah, I don't know. I guess I'd say I'm just trying to cope with everything and everyone else, and they are trying to cope with me! I know they do have to...sometimes.

Seth still thinks he's older than me and is a pro at everything. He is also quite a know-it-all!

Mary is having a hard time getting over her irritating giggling over every thing that isn't funny!

Ruth is a tattletale and sometimes if she gets mad, she can hurt you! She likes to scratch! We have given her several nick-names such as "Bingo", "Dobba", "Ru-head", and boy does she LOVE them!

Joe is getting attached to Grace which could turn out badly!

Pete is - - I don't know - - you might say he's a brat - -sometimes!

But sometimes, as a family, we do have fun and loving moments! And we hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season!

The Greenwoods

We always said Sarah was born with a bit of a mean streak so now you know it's true. But I do like the way she writes!

Get Ready...Get Set...Start!

View of our  playground from the classroom:)

It's time to get ready for the coming school year. I am determined NOT to stress about this in the least. My children learn every day. It's true that as the weather changes our learning modes do as well. We do less and less outside and read and use more books. That's normal isn't it? That's the way life would be even without my children and I"M always learning so I figure....

Of course I do stress. A gracious friend told me yesterday that Jeff and I should just keep on doing whatever we're doing because our kids are smart. That was encouraging. But, I still wrestle with the questions...
Am I teaching what I should? Am I using the very best methods? Am I leaving gaps? Are my kids up to par with the rest of...???

Garden harvest before "school" started :)

Now in answer to that last one:  Jesus warned us NOT to compare ourselves among ourselves. So, there goes that. Besides, I am determined NOT to pattern myself after a failed system, that being the public school system!

And of course I'm leaving gaps! There are gaps in my education and I've been learning for 47 years! Does anyone, know anyone who knows everything?  I'm quite sure however, that my children (at around age 10) certainly have a better grasp of geography, "social studies" and history than I did when I graduated from high school;  because we teach them the truth. We study history through God's Word. There are no end to the "social studies" opportunities. When someone goes on a foreign mission we "follow" them on the globe, google earth, maps etc... and talk about where the people of that country are at spiritually and economically and why. Hearing the news prompts alot of research, which we usually do together but sometimes individually depending on the age of the person needing information.

Picking Choke Cherries after school :)

 Now we'll have to figure out how to make Choke Cherry Jam

As for the method, I really try to keep to the mindset I have gleaned from Ruth Beechick, Charlotte Mason and that ilk... School from 9 til noon, use REAL books rather than textbooks (except for Math for that we use MathUSee), and do REAL things in the afternoons like; go outside, go places, bake, sew, artwork, read, clean, play games, pursue whatever hobbies we have (the list is long). Oh, and play! Even the First Lady has proclaimed the importance of play :). There's a helpful article on this blog:   http://ladyofvirtue.blogspot.com/ concerning the "herding principle" that I try to keep in mind too. It's especially important to know where and what my youngest are doing so I focus on them and that frees the older children to study on their own.  You'd be hard pressed to keep a child from learning while they do their afternoon chores, or help with dinner or listen to Mom (or an older sibling) read aloud before bed. Learning takes place around the clock at home.
As far as teaching what I should... I've decided that what REALLY needs to be taught are the three R's; reading, writing and 'rithmatic, just like they did back in the day. Who every heard of the some of the subjects they teach nowadays anyway? Jonathan Lindval once said that any subject that has to have the word "education" added to it isn't a subject in it's own right. Think of classes called "physical", "sex" or "multi-cultural"  That's why "social" has to have the word "studies" tacked on. This is not to say that I don't have history and science curriculum, I do and I try to cover that as well, but in reality the three R's, the three meals and all of the other reality that life brings,means that we don't always get to those. Besides, that's what the Real Books are for! The final authority and the one where I find rest, comes in submitting my many ideas to my husband. He knows me so well and can easily tell me when I'm biting off more than I can chew.

Pumpkin Patch "education" and that... on a Saturday!

Okay, I wrote all of that back in August. It is now Oct 17th. and... true to my pattern, after that writing, I had a panic attack;  went to my husband totally stressed and told him that I don't know what to do, how to do it, where to start, what to use, what is best...etc. After sweetly hearing me out he wisely (as always) replied with this question...
"If you HAD to start school tomorrow, would you be able to just pick up where you left off, and continue with whatever you were doing before summer hit?" Duh! Why couldn't I have thought of that? After all, I'd thought of so many "other" things! That answer being the no- brainer that it was, brought peace to my mind. And that's just what I did...and it's working! :)

My 18 year old daughter made a thoughtful comment to me a few weeks ago...she said, "Mom, I don't understand why all these young Moms get so stressed about "starting" to home school their children? Don't they realize that's what they've been doing all along?"