It's that time of year again!!

  This time of year I get all giddy with excitement. Stores are packed full of school supplies at an unbelievably low price. With prices so low it makes complete sense to buy 24 glue sticks to add to the 24 I bought last year and didn't need. ;-)

  I love the fact that it feels like a clean slate. Another year to ‘work the kinks out’ and try to actually make a schedule that I can follow, and work more individually with each child focusing more on strengths and weaknesses. There are composers that I want to study, canvases to paint, nature to observe, draw and then study, bible passages to memorize and meditate on…oh yeah…math and grammar too. :-o

  As I’m bouncing around the house in my giddy state, I can see a tinge of fear in my girls’ eyes. It’s not that they don’t love school supplies, schedules or learning; it’s the fact that they don’t want to lose their mom and gain a school teacher again. We've had such a fun summer hanging out and just enjoying each other…they don’t want to give that up! Past experiences have led them to understand that something happens to Mom after she sees Facebook posts or hears how awesome someone’s school day has gone, and we have yet to have breakfast or feed the dogs…let alone even look at a school book. Insecurities pop up that I must not be measuring up. I start sending up little distress signal prayers “Lord, are you sure you think I can do this? I mean, I’m still not exactly sure how to do some of those math problems, and if it weren't for Google I could never even answer half of the girls’ questions!” And then the Lord ever so gently reminds me that He has given me this most rewarding job of training little hearts for Him, He won’t leave me to figure it out alone.

  Training children to be a light in this dark and dying world takes time. Time that can’t be scheduled or shopped for. It takes an understanding on my part that when the Holy Spirit is moving in one of my girls, I need to put my schedule/agenda for the day aside and not get in the way of the work the Lord is doing. Wow, that is a hard one for me. I love lists, but I love marking them off even more!

   Moms, go easy on yourself this school year. The days might be long, but the years are short.

So here’s to a year full of glue sticks, unrealistic schedules and a joy that comes from knowing that the Lord doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called!