Live a Meaningful Life

This post is to help explain how we "do school" at our home. I attended a short homeschool moms' retreat this weekend and some were wanting to know more. For the most part, we call school "Warrior Training." When we started this, we discussed character traits of warriors (determination, endurance, strength, responsibility, self discipline, leaders, perseverance, etc).  Of course, Jesus is our prime example of a true "Warrior." We often refer to these traits as we are "in training." For example, if someone tries to skip over difficult words instead of trying to read them correctly I might remind him of how sometimes doing little things that seem pointless lead to great results. For example: taking a very long time to sharpen an arrow will lead the hunter to make a quicker kill. Taking a few more seconds to say the word correctly will help you read better in the future. For each "warrior" their weekly mission is given to them usin...

I often look at my children and have these kinds of thoughts:  "It is so funny. These kids actually just get in the car and trust me to take them somewhere. They trust me to feed them, provide clothes, and supply their basic needs. Little did they know, I had never even held a newborn before." The only time I have ever heard them express concern is if we are taking longer than expected to arrive somewhere or if it has been a while since the last grocery trip! They just blindly trust, like in the picture above. They trust Johnny and I to meet their needs and love them. When they wake up every morning, there are no burdens or worries and days are filled with exploration, play, and freedom. When I think about how much they trust us, I am reminded this is exactly how I am to trust God. He reminds me so much throughout scripture: Matthew 6:25-34 or Luke 12:24-34 is the first that comes to mind. The shortened version: He takes care of the birds and the flowers. How muc...

The best way to travel down any river: with this good looking man behind you! Hi, there! I am behind with posting. I had planned to be done with the summer posting by now. I want to write about the beginning of our school year and some thoughts that have been floating through my brain recently. Since I have not been posting about our summer adventures in chronological order, I am not exactly sure how this will end up! But, here it goes! One day while in North Carolina, the boys and I took the boats and paddle boards to explore the part of Fontana Lake that was at the campground we were staying.  I love exploration journeys. We pretended we were discovering it for the first time. When one of us saw something interesting, we explored further.  Often, It required problem solving.  But, the rewards were were worth the effort!  We even made a new friend and learned something. Box turtles have an amazing ability to swim on with his shell completel...