Breathing In His Grace

She plunked out the chords and her sisters gathered around. They chimed in, "Every step we'll be breathing in Your grace. Evermore we'll be breathing out Your praise..." I watch from the kitchen doorway and smile. How quickly they grew from toddling, chubby, little ones to worshipful, unified, lovely ones. Oh, the blessing!

 

Found this amazing wall. Unplanned rainbow shirts? Even more amazing :)

 

A discouraged friend visited the other day and needed encouragement to trudge onward in her homeschooling journey. She witnessed one reason after another in our crazy, untidy, noisy home, that there was peace underlying it all and that her own wee ones truly were benefiting from her sacrificial choice. My girls sat down at the piano in the living room and that momma paused in drinking her tea and chuckled, "Cue the worship music!"  We had a good laugh as it seemed that the family singing was a plan to be the icing on top of our convincing argument. Of course, she noticed the less than beautiful moments too. But although we are so far from perfect, we are grateful for the freedom to home educate. Breathing in His grace.

  

 

 Cousin Clara's first birthday!

 

Hanging with cousins after swimming lessons.

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

First riding lessons on her own.

 

My favourite benefit of homeschooling? Tossing the books as soon as the rain clears and heading for the woods--where we get drenched anyway. We return home, dry off and cozy up for a read-aloud and a snack. Unforgettable memories. Breathing out His praise.

Scavenger Hunt With A Reward

She stooped to retrieve a snail from the stalk of a milkweed plant. She carefully placed it in her open zip-top bag, crossed off "snail" on her list and ran down the path.  

They were in search of twenty items from the woods near our campsite and the completion of the list for my three youngest, would result in a prize. It was a cooperative hunt and no one would receive a reward until each of them had all their items. So they ran around helping each other with those tricky-to-find bits and pieces. It seemed easy enough but now and then, a weary gatherer would come straggling back to me whining about how they will never find this item or that. For some reason, caterpillars were difficult to come by this year so, it took a day and a half for three to be collected... and I wasn't relenting on keeping it challenging! The elated squeals that erupted when the creepy-crawlies were discovered one by one, returned us to the game again and again.

An oak leaf, a butterfly/moth, a feather, a pink rock, a shell...

an acorn, a maple leaf, a caterpillar... 

a white rock, a piece of birch bark... 

a snail, something unnatural (garbage: plastic cap, pop can, etc.)... 

two different types of flowers...

a "Y" stick, a skipping stone... 

 evergreen needles...

 berries...

 crayfish (could be a piece of one--yum)...

and locust leaves.

 We finished off the day with a delightful campfire (where Mommy freaks out every five minutes thinking someone will trip and fall into said fire), complete with s'mores and Daddy's favourite: talking about our highs and lows of the day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day, we went to a nearby town and they did pick out a prize, however, I believe the joy of finally finding those three fuzzy caterpillars was the real prize :) 

Out Of Their Hands

A very short video to share of us feeding the birds.

Together In The Woods

Dashing from a fallen log to a moth alighting on a rust-coloured leaf to a teddy bear caterpillar to the splashing falls, my children burst through the woods. Nature journals tucked under their arms, they search for extraordinary treasures to sketch. Pencil to paper is frustrating though, as they begin to recognize they aren't the artist that the Creator is. Still I urge them to try and render their best and remember to draw what they really see, not what they think they know about His beauty. Soon they settle and begin and scratch diagrams that will impress this place upon their minds in years to come. 

And since a picture is worth a thousand words, be it by pencil or camera, we'll never forget our days together in His woods.

Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.

Psalm 96:12