I'm gonna tell ... "DADDY!!

I gave my testimony in church Sunday. I spoke from Psalm 35. I love the image it presents of all this warfare and being attacked by something bigger and stronger. Something that is too powerful to take on by yourself. So what does the Psalmist do ? He calls in the big guns, more accurately he calls in His Father. It just so happens that his daddy is also the Creator of the Universe, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the wisest , most powerful BEING that has or ever will exist. And oh yeah,, He LOVES David, and David knows this. Kinda cool huh?
So many times when I feel like I am under attack from somebody or something, I am learning to cry out to my daddy, Abba Father. My typical human response is to become angry, depressed, fight back, become indignant , complain, whine, gripe. After all it is not FAIR. What did I do to deserve the cop pulling me over just become I forgot to use my turn signal when there were no other cars around? I did not deserve my husband being rude to me, or not calling to say he was going to be 3 hrs late coming home from work. I did not deserve the bad attitude my kids were giving me, or a hundred other things that happen during the day. Then a gentle voice reminds me , "ah yes my child, but Jesus did not deserve the beatings by the soldiers, or the mockery of the crowd. Was it fair for the perfect unblemished Lamb to die on the cross? ".. Hmm well, I guess not Lord.
So what can a person do in those situations? He can simply and humbly bring his problems and complaints and sit them at the feet of the Master. Its like when my kids are fighting. I always tell them that if there is a problem they need to come tell me. If they just take matters into their own hands, then they are taking the risk of forfeiting my parental protection. If they bring it to me though, I can console them, pat them on the back, and sometimes I will punish the offender if I deem it necessary.
Just as my kids do not always know or see when I punish one of their siblings for a wrongdoing, we do not always know or see when God is dealing with a situation. Honestly we may never know this side of heaven, how the situation was dealt with. The important thing though is that we bring it to God, set it down before him and let him take the hurts, the cares, and the burdens on his shoulders. Best of all, He takes us into his lap and puts his loving arms around us and says , "shh, my child I will take care of it". Somehow it always seems a brighter day when I know that God is taking care of the situation.

I have been feeling so overwhelmed lately with all the things that are required of me. Its a typical situation for any mom, and especially for those of us who choose to homeschool our kids. There are always dishes to wash, laundry to do, bill to pay, scrapes to kiss, meals to cook, and the list goes on. I have always felt my calling to homeschool was one of the most important duties I undertake. Yet when do I have the time to decide curriculum , make lessons plans, do the worksheets, crafts, projects etc that go along with the lessons, and let us not forget actually teaching the lesson.

It seemed I was only achieving a fraction of the things I needed to finish. What was I supposed to do? Well , I was reading on a homeschool yahoo group about a friend who was looking into http://www.time4learning.com/ . She wanted something to use with her kindergarten child that he could do with limited supervision during the period right after she had her baby. Several people recommended it very highly and my friend ended up signing up for it.

I started thinking of how difficult it was meeting the needs of a baby, toddler, kindergartner and two elementary age kids. So I talked to my husband , and we decided to sign the older two up. The demo lessons were great because it allowed us to see what kind of program was offered and how to navigate the activities.

We have been using http://www.time4learning.com/ now for about 4 months and we love it. My third grader can awaken early and do his work first thing in the morning. My 4th grader usually does his work late at night. If we have a lot of "extracurricular activities" in a week, they can work ahead on the weekend. The program keeps track of the scores and what lessons are finished, and all the parent has to do is print them off. The lessons are fun , interactive, and there are quizzes and tests to make sure the information has been understood. Its a big weight off of my mind. Its worked so well that my 5 yr old is now begging for me to sign him up as well!


Now if I could just find a program that does laundry and washes the dishes, I would be perfectly happy.