• Be thankful for the clothes that fit a little too snug, because it means you have enough to eat.
• Be thankful for the mess you clean up after a party, because it means you have been surrounded by friends.
• Be thankful for the taxes you pay, because it means you’re employed.
• Be thankful that your lawn needs mowing and your windows need fixing, because it means you have a home.
• Be thankful for your heating bill, because it means you are warm.
• Be thankful for the laundry, because it means you have clothes to wear.
• Be thankful for the space you find at the far end of the parking lot, because it means you can walk.
• Be thankful for the lady who sings off-key behind you in church, because it means you can hear.
• Be thankful when people complain about the government, because it means we have freedom of speech.
• Be thankful for the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours, because it means you’re alive.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself…

2 Corinthians 5:17-18

Except us.

This is the last September that I won’t have a school-aged child. Next September it will be time for Ladybug to start kindergarten, and not too far behind will follow Stinkbug and then Doodlebug! Home-school, charter school, private school, public school– it doesn’t matter what kind of school we do, it will be time to do school of some sort.

I had been stressing about choosing some curriculum, some plan, some format for home-school preschool this year. I want to maximize the time I have  with my little ones. My blog reader and Facebook feed are full of excellent time managers planning and executing preschool at home for their little ones…and I felt like I should be doing something.

And then I looked at our life…

…at the white daisies we wondered if we could change colors…

…at the avocado seeds we wondered if we could grow into trees…

…at the ordering and pasting we did with whales after a trip to the beach…

…at the coloring by number and initial letter sounding we did because the Bugs are into letter sounds (Thanks Leapfrog videos!)…

…at the reading and preparing mom and dad are doing for nightly family worship times…

…and I realized that I may not have Sonlight’s 4/5 curriculum (or any “curriculum”!) to follow this year, but I don’t need it! We have shelves full of books, a cabinet full of art supplies, and a world full of mysteries at our fingertips!

So I might not plan our home-school preschool in a teacher’s plan book. I may not even call what we’re doing “school”. And I certainly won’t work myself into a frenzy about what I’m doing or not doing to school the Bugs this year.

Instead, I’m going to listen to my children’s questions and help them find the answers. I’m going to read aloud. We’re going to the zoo and the beach and the weekly bazaar, and maybe a farm. We’ll ride taxis, buses, trains, possibly even an airplane. We’ll talk about colors and numbers and shapes and letters. We’ll write and we’ll color, we’ll cut and we’ll glue. And we’ll soak up every minute of this last year before a new chapter begins. The chapter of “Schooling” and all that comes along with that.

For now though I think I’ll pour myself another iced coffee and enjoy the sounds of the kids playing their imaginative games.

Join along, and work on memorizing James 1:19 with your family!

There’s a four-going-on-thirteen-year-old, self-declared princess, who creates and perpetuates drama, but also initiates sweet conversations about God and life. There is a little boy running around in big boy undies, so busy with playing and jumping and laughing he sometimes forgets to do his business in the potty. And don’t forget the adorable, mobile baby who is as fast as lightning and has a fascination with electrical cords…

Some days I drop into bed at 11pm and I wonder how I made it through the maze of another day, and if I can muster the energy to do it all over again tomorrow.

So, I haven’t felt very inspired to write here about how to manage a Busy Home, because more days than not it feels like my busy home is managing me instead.

In days and weeks like I’m having lately, I find the greatest comfort in verses like Galatians 6:9:

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

I cannot express in words the comfort that this promise brings to my heart.

I shouldn’t grow weary. I must not give up. I don’t need to stop doing what I’m doing. I can’t stop sowing into my children. I just need to keep putting one foot in front of the other… And, one day, when it’s time, I will reap.

Isn’t that a precious comfort? Don’t give up! It will take hard days, and long weeks, and toil and struggle and tears, but WE WILL REAP if we don’t give up!

This morning as I was reading in Ephesians 4, I saw a few things that made me think about my yelling, and what I need to do to be different.

1. In verse 21, we read that Paul is assuming the readers know Christ. So the information that follows is an exhortation and an instruction to believers (those who “have heard about him and were taught in him”.)

2. In verse 22, we are exhorted to “put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires”

So my yelling-self is part off my “old self”. When I am sinful and disconnected from the Lord (through lack of the Word and prayer), and when I am hungry and tired, and oh so fleshly, I yell at my children.

It sounds easy- just put off my old self. But when you stop and think How do I put off my old self?, it starts to look a wee bit more complicated. I think the key to “putting off” is found in the next part:

3. In verses 23 and 24, we see that the old self doesn’t just need to be “put off”, it needs to be replaced– “be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.“

4. A little further down, verse 29 really struck me in regards to my yelling:

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

When I yell, I am not edifying my children. I am not edifying myself. It benefits no one. Those words (and the tone with which they are spoken) are not wholesome. They do not need to proceed from my mouth.

So, I prayed. Asking the Lord to help me put off the old self and put on the new self daily.

And  then I printed out Ephesians 4:29 and hung it up to be a reminder to me to only speak grace-giving words to my children. (I might post it up in every room of the house!)

Putting of the old and putting on the new is not an easy task. It takes daily prayer, daily truth from the Word, and constant work. But through God’s grace, bad habits (sin) can be put off and we can clothe ourselves with the new!

Find our past memory verses here.

My favorite resource for baby-food-making is Wholesome Baby Food. There is a wealth of information and tons of great recipes for making your baby’s food. (When I looked over there this week, I’ve noticed they’ve added a ton of new stuff since the first time I made homemade baby food in 2007!)

Basic Tips to Making Baby Food:

• Some fruits and veggies don’t need to be cooked to be made into baby food– like banana and avocado.
• You can bake, boil, or steam fruits and veggies before pureeing. (The Wholesome Baby Food website gives tips for preparing each fruit and veggie.)
• A food processor or a blender will work to make your purees.
• Freeze the baby food in ice-cube trays. After frozen, transfer to a labeled Ziploc bag in the freezer. (Each cube is about one ounce of baby food.)
• If your baby doesn’t seem to like a food when you first introduce it, don’t stop trying!
• When baby starts eating solid food, you can also try giving her a sippy cup to figure out. (It will probably take a while to get the hang of it!)
• Once baby is a crawler (7-11 months), you can introduce finger foods. Cooked peas, banana chunks, avocado pieces, etc. At first baby may get really frustrated as he learns to use the pincer grasp to pick up these things, but he will get it with time and practice!
• Keep some wipes or a wet rag handy to clean up the mess– and there will be plenty of mess!
• Have fun! Enjoy introducing your baby to a wide range of foods, spices and flavors!

This year instead of Easter grass, I put a piece of fabric inside my kids’ Easter baskets. It turned out very well– it was pretty and not at all messy!

The Resurrection

¹ Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. ²So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” ³ So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. ⁴Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. ⁶Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, ⁷and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. ⁸Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; ⁹for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. ¹⁰Then the disciples went back to their homes.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

¹¹But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. ¹²And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. ¹³They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” ¹⁴Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” ¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” ¹⁸Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

He is Risen, indeed.