anyhoo…

So Sunday at church during a prayer, we were asked to ask God to reveal himself to us that day, to show us who He really was…and I did..and what came to my mind was Neosporin (I promise I really was praying–I think God reveals Himself to me in ways that my simple mind can understand) but as I was feeling silly for thinking “Neosporin–what?!?” I realized that God is a healing ointment that soothes pain, kills bacteria, & helps heal faster than other ointments we might try…He is maximum strength!

Another random and proud moment for me this week was yesterday, my sweet son (and clearly goofy son, as the picture is proof) and I got to spend some time alone while I took him to the dermatolgist and then to run and errand…I took him home after and left him there alone (his Dad & sisters were playing golf) while I ran to Goodwill, and Target…anyway, we have a rule in our house, TV stays off til 5pm…so here this 13 year old teenage boy is alone at home…and he calls me before I get to the end of our street and said, “Hey, Mom it’s 4:45…do you mind if I go ahead and watch TV?” It thrilled my soul to see the true character of my son come through…I know as a 13 year old girl, my thought would have been “Mom’ll never know…I’m watching TV”…but my son is a better person than I was at that age…It makes me so proud and filled with so much joy to see what a fine man that God is turning him into, I can’t wait to see what plans God has planned…someone once said “character is what you do when no one is looking,” …I’m glad…no, pleased as punch that my son is showing such strong character!

And finally homeschooling is not always easy, not always fun, it certainly isn’t the cheaper alternative…but I love love love that I can pick what my children are learning (and that’s just one of the things I love about it)…the history that we are using this year is “The Mystery of History”…it’s awesome…it’s fun, interesting, bible based cirriculum…It works for multiple age groups, and I can’t say enough good about it…I’m grateful for the precious new friend that introduced it to me and super dooper glad I bought it…AND it’s affordable, especially when you divide the amount by however many children you’re using it with…LOVE LOVE it!! My children are acutally learning history…ancient history…and it’s not boring them…Thanks Mystery of History and it FAB author, Linda Lacour Hobar! (She rocks!)

At the prompting of my sweet friend Debi, I am writing once again on my blog…my so very neglected blog. Here’s hoping I’m more consistent with it!!

The kids and I are reading everyday from a series of books that I call the “10 boys” and “10 girls” books, they are fully titled things like “10 Boys Who Changed the World”, “10 Girls Who Didn’t Give In”, (along with several other titles) all about real people in history and telling their stories from childhood to adult, how they came to know Jesus and let God use them in some way in their life. Today’s story was from “10 Boys Who Used Their Talents”  about Samuel Morse (of Morse code fame)…what stuck with me from his story is not the fact the he invented a way of communicating that is used in such widespread ways today…that part is amazing enough…and I could write a lot on it…but what stuck with me today about this story was this paragraph…

“…Samuel took his faith seriously. He kept a diary and each day answered these questions: How did I pray? Did I feel weighed down with sin? Did I pray like the self-righteous Pharisee? Have I received blessings for which I’ve not been thankful?”

I thought…I need to post these questions somewhere that I can see them and be remind myself every day to ask these as well.  And then when I read them again I thought, if I’m NOT feeling weighed down with sin AM I praying like a Pharisee?  Shouldn’t I, as I focus on growing closer to Christ, feel more and more weighed down by my own sin?  I’m not saying I think we should all start self-loathing & flogging ourselves…but asking the question, as we grow closer to Christ shouldn’t we be more aware and weighed down by the sin in our lives…and if we pray ignoring that sin aren’t we acting like a self-righteous Pharisee?  Too deep?  Maybe, I’m still trying to wrap my head around it…as for the rest of the quote…how many blessings have I received and not given thanks for…I’m sure I am thankful for the bigs things…but how often do I forget to say thanks for the blessings I take for granted, for my car that works, and the job that helps pay for it, for the fact that I have been given the opportunity to stay at home with my children and watch them grow, that our pantry always has something in it…I would imagine if we thought about it we could all spend a little more prayer time every day just saying thanks, (remembering to be specific)…thanks for so many many blessings that we take for granted.  Hey, and you know what?   I bet after we’ve spent some time just expressing our gratitude to our Heavenly Father…our hearts will be a whole lot LESS likely to pray like a Pharisee…hmmm, what do you think?