Day One of Thirty Days of Prayer: He Was There

Those older boys took advantage of me and I was the one who felt guilty, like I had somehow invited their inappropriate actions. I was eight the first time and ten the next. Both my parents have been married three times each. I didn't see my dad for seven years so my grandpa walked me down the aisle on my wedding day. I don't need to elaborate for you to imagine all the confusion, anger, sadness, and sometimes happiness that wraps around a kid going through years of those changes. I moved twenty-one times. I attended eight different schools. I have watched more pets die in tragic ways than I can count. I have been a passenger in six car accidents--one that left me hospitalized with a broken pelvis, a broken bone in my back, and stitches in my head at the age of sixteen. I've lost a couple of friends to vehicle crashes. I've experienced miscarriage. I broke my foot on my honeymoon. I've watched family suffer with terrible diseases and die. I've experienced a deeply difficult time in my marriage that scared me ferociously. Why am I writing all of this? Certainly not to draw attention to negative events in my life, or to elicit pity from my dear reader. I desire to proclaim that prayer has set me free from the chains that could easily have burdened me for the rest of my life. 

 

I am not the only one who has a story. Millions of people have lived through even more devastating loss and trauma than me. However, I will always take the opportunity to give God the praise for seeing that little girl forty-three years ago, holding her through the pain and twirling her around in a beautiful dance in the joyful moments. I always knew Jesus was there, that He loved me and that prayer shifted me from sorrow to joy, bad circumstances to good. Whether it was the prayers of my mom, grandma, a neighbour, the church family, a stranger, or me calling out to Him from my bunk bed, quivering under my Holly Hobbie quilt, those desperate, faithful pleas moved the heart of God.

Most of my thirty or thirty-one day blog series are intended to keep me accountable and for me to learn as I write rather than stand on my soapbox and teach like an expert. I hope you'll join me as I grow in prayer over the month of November. I've already seen miracles from "knee time", but I pray these next 30 days will cause an exponential impact on any eyes that fall on these posts or any person who is a recipient of all of our prayers together.

Going Out With A Bang!

We've moved around from home to home and this was our final presentation day for all the work we'd been doing this spring. These kids went out with a bang as they showed each other their favourite things about all they'd learned.

 Katie shared her verses for each body part. Her hairs are all numbered by God!

 Oliver compared a barn owl and a scarlet tanager in his A Walk In The Woods notebook.

 Mayson shared about her favourite books she's been reading on her Kobo.

 Aaron was learning about the World Wars and told us about Morse Code.

 Getting a closer look at pieces and parts of projects.

 Emily read about various species of insects in her A Walk In The Woods otebook.

 Sara told us all about butterflies.

 Eden created her own flower press and gave us a demonstration.

 Calvin showed us his 100 Birds Pin he earned on his trip to Pt. Pelee.

 Samantha had read the book, "Hanna's Suitcase" (a holocaust story) and presented her project on the girl's life.

 Molly read her favourite parts in her woods project.

 Serena also studied the World Wars and showed us her homemade radio.

 Caleb shared his woodsy artwork and showed us the wooden owl nesting box he created.

Brooke read an "incident report" she had written from the perspective of the hired man who looked after a herd of pigs in the Bible. Jesus cast demons from a possessed man into the pigs and Brooke's used In Their Sandals to created her version of the story. 

 

As moms gathered reports and projects, kids jumped into the pool and swam away the last of their schoolwork for June. Truly though, I can't wait till we see what everyone will be learning in September!

Friday... Again

They waved goodbye to our beloved piano teacher and ran off in various directions. One ran toward me to help with dinner, two ran to build a fort and one to the nursery to straighten the vegetable seedlings table. They just waved goodbye and now it's Friday again. My mind cannot fathom how the weeks fly by. In each moment, the hard ones, minutes drag on. But, as I invite Mrs. A into our living room once again, and she settles at the piano with her music-designed teacher bag, I marvel as time slips through my fingers like the keys under their little hands.

My children clamour to make their teacher a cup of tea and to slip a cookie onto a saucer. I take mental inventory of the past week and note that not all my list items were crossed off. Did I even accomplish any goals I had set out for the kids, for myself? I silently prayed for mercy, although I know it's not my perfection God requires, but my time.

 

 

Once again, June arrives and recital songbooks are tucked under arms as we eagerly find seats in the church hall. Oliver is Mrs. A's youngest of 30 or so, students, so he takes the bench with her first. As usual, our boy is a ham for the audience. It happens to be Daddy's birthday, so he plays, "We Wish You A Happy Birthday" while we all hum. Emily takes her turn and sings both songs into a microphone as she plays, the second being, "Amazing Grace". Molly plays well after much practice and not being sure she even likes the song anymore :) Meg plays "Awesome God" and it flows beautifully. We hug Mrs. A farewell for the summer and place a period at the end of a school year's worth of lessons. I feel as if I am merely weeks removed from the last time I was in this place on recital day. It is another reminder of how time races on.  

 

 

 

 

 

There is an urgency within me to use well every minute I've been gifted. But, somehow, the clock ticks while I'm forgetting this goal or wasting my time on things that are not of eternal value. It's not that what I'm doing is wrong, it just may be a little off-centre from where God desires me to be. I tend to take items onto my list that are not meant to be there and they end up gobbling precious hours. I must give God my time in order to be fruitful or my attempts to live well will be futile. What does that look like? He let's me know when I'm truly seeking Him (Proverbs 2,3). When I do this, Friday's return won't be woeful, but satisfying as He directs my weekly paths.

 

Thank you, Mrs. Anger for teaching my children so very lovingly.

Ontario Science Centre

Just a few photos to remember what it's like to be scientists together for a day :)