Relationships and Priorities

So some of you may know that Carl and I are praying about whether or not to home school our youngest.  He will be in 5th grade next year.  If you know Carl and I you also likely know that we are exact opposite decision makers.  I like the quick emotional decision making process and he likes thee thought out have every detail before making a decision.  This is why we make a great team.  He brings me back to reality and I help him see how the decision could effect other peoples lives and feelings.

Thus, I have been researching homeschooling for quite a while so i have all of the information so that we can both be comfortable with what ever decision we make.  It has been really good for me to go through this process as i have learned a lot about it. God has really been laying on my heart lately that I need to be available for my kids on their time not mine.   I have learned through my homeschool research that part of homeschooling is about building relationships with your kids.  If I want my boys to grow up and be GREAT parents I need to demonstrate to them what that looks like.  I tend to be a serious Martha…..too busy doing things that don’t matter in the big picture but have to be done anyway.  God is really convicting me of this and showing me I need to be available like Mary was.  Not only for him but for my husband,  kids, friends, etc.  This process started a year ago about this time when I gave up volunteering at the youngest school.  I didn’t realize then that it was more than my husband needing me to be home.  The picture is MUCH bigger.   I need to be available for God to use me and not so busy that I don’t have time to be a vessel for God to use.

Last Friday Carl and I went to do some more research on homeschool curriculum and see it for our selves. Trying to get a better handle on what it is all about.  WOW! Was I totally surprised.  There is so much out there.  It just happened that one of the guest speakers was Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis and he was teaching on defending your faith.  It was amazing. Carl went to all 3 of his talks.  I made one but was really amazed.  The stuff they have out is AWESOME!  If you haven’t checked it out you should. They have great resources.  Anyway- A few weeks ago we started Brendan on the E100 bible reading plan.  He reads a chapter of it a day.  He has had some interesting thoughts and expressed interest in other evangelism etc recently.  Since Carl was leaving to go out of town to spend Mothers Day with his mom I decided to take Brendan back to thee conference on Saturday to hear Ken Ham speak.  I was not sure how he would handle it but new if was worth a shot.  He and I got up drove to Arlington, TX and spent the day hanging out, developing our relationship, and learning how to defend our faith.  He got a book that has 35 commonly asked questions about the Christian faith and how to answer them bibically.  I was amazed at how much he was soaking in and how excited about this he was.

I will forever be changed by that day.  The memories we made, the conversations we had, the times we shared….all that would have been lost had God not been slowly and patiently helping me to see that spending time with the poeple he put in my ife is more important than any task that is waiting for me.
Last night we had an impromptu Nerf gun fight in our house and i took the opportunity to put down the peeler and knife and joined in on the fun.  Oh the laughter and memories we made.

If you have kids young or old i want to encourage you to be available when they ask.  Put down the computer, phone, peeler/knife, what ever is keeping you from them and engage with them.  I know I will from now on.  Oh how I wish I would have learned this lesson much earlier.  I can’t wait to see what other GREAT experiences God has for my family!

Thank you God for caring about me enough to show me what I was missing out on and give me more opportunities to experience the blessings of the family you have given me.