Lent 2012

One of the things I love about homeschooling is being able to incorporate faith. Today is Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of the season of Lent in the liturgical calendar. Timothy was off at PEP so Annie and I met Michael for Ash Wednesday service at noon. I did a little research and found out that the season of Lent is not just a "Catholic thing." In fact in one friend's blog, he says that "Lent is catholic, not Catholic." But rather most of the mainline liturgical churches celebrate Ash Wednesday and Lent. (One website says: Many Western Protestant churches also observe Ash Wednesday, including Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and United Methodists.)


The service begins with the following words:


Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This is season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith.

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.


And then it continues with scripture readings and the imposition of the ashes which are marked with the following words: Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.


I love being part of a liturgical church which follows seasons, much like the Jewish faith or the natural world. (According to wikipedia Liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions and the liturgical year consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches which determines when feast day, are to be observed, and which portions of Scripture are to be read either in an annual cycle or in a cycle of several years. Distinct liturgical colours may appear in connection with different seasons of the liturgical year.)


This period is set apart as a time of self-examination, something that is often hard to do. It's much easier to examine others and find faults in them than to look deep down in our inner selves and find that which is moldy, rotting and downright putrid and work to eradicate it. 


I had been thinking about what God would have me do for this Lenten season that would draw me closer to Him and make more into his image. I felt that I had parts of it but not all. It was during the service and particularly during Rick's sermon that I was struck with what the final component of my Lenten exercise would be: Service. So here it is for this year's Lent, the things I will focus on and endeavor to do or not do as the case may be: 


Prayer and Thanksgiving - use prayer cards and pray for specific people; keep a thanksgiving journal
Fasting - Fast from breakfast and lunch on Wednesdays, pray when I feel hunger pangs; give up alcohol
Scripture reading and Silence - Continue to read through the New Testament; sit quietly and listen to God and reflect on the reading
Service - Cook a meal for a family


My children are at the age where they have decided on their own what they will do. Something we will do as a family will be to read Amon's Adventure by Arnold Ytreeide. 


What about you? Do you celebrate Lent? Why or why not? If so, what do you do to observe a holy Lent? I'd love to hear!

Another poem

Trees
Joyce Kilmer


I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.


Such a simple yet lovely poem. Think of this when you gaze upon your Christmas tree!

Merry Christmas!

The Road Not Taken

The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost


Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;


Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,


And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day! 
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.


I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

We read this poem in our Sonlight Core 100 study last week and had such a great discussion about it. First we discussed what was actually going on in the poem. A man, going for a walk in the woods, comes to a fork in the road and picks one of the two paths. Then we talked about the deeper meaning of the poem, how it's about life and decisions we are faced with and how the ones we make impacts the rest of our lives sometimes. Then we discussed what some of those decisions were in our lives, as a family, as individuals. It was really powerful. This has always been one of my favorite poems, and Frost one of my favorite poets.

One of the joys of homeschooling: great discussions!

Todd Wilson - Family Man Ministries

On Thursday I headed over to Hillcrest Baptist Church to hear Todd Wilson of Family Man Ministries speak. I was vaguely familiar with him, having seen him at several conventions this past year. However, since I work as a Sonlight Curriculum Consultant at homeschooling conventions, I don't often have the opportunity of attending workhops and seminars. So although I had heard he is an entertaining speaker, I had never had the pleasure of listening to him.

My friend, Natalie Davis, and her husband and daughter and I all rode together. I did something out of character  and did not take along a notebook in order to take notes. I just went to listen. And laugh. And be encouraged. Natalie, however, did take notes and she wrote an excellent summary on her blog. I encourage you to read it if you need to be encouraged in your homeschool adventure.

Do you hear the fog horn? Don't get lost in the Homeschool Fog!

Costume Party

Our school year is in full swing. We are busy with reading, classes and co-ops (2 this year!)


On Wednesday, Annie asked me if we could have a costume party. After our co-op. On Friday. Friday?! Two days to plan? So what is a mommy to say to such a request but, "Yes, of course!" I had stated the aforementioned response without having checked the calendar. I had conveniently forgotten that I was co-hosting a Pampared Chef party the night before, teaching two classes at co-op (for which I had not yet prepared nor graded papers), then attending a bridal shower in the evening. Plus we had plans to have friends over for a cookout on Sunday evening. So it wasn't like we had nothing going on....


However, the kids promised that they'd help me (and silly me believed them), promised that it would be low key so I posted a quick invite on our co-op's forum. We had about 6 sign ups by Friday morning so I wasn't too worried. Six is a pretty manageable group. But then at co-op that day I had several moms ask if it was too late to sign up for the party and believing in the adage "the more the merrier" I cheerfully agreed.


We arrived at home (with 2 extra kids in tow), ate a quick lunch and then quickly put people the work. The extra kids got to participate in the "preparations" (read: vacuuming, sweeping, putting stuff away).

In the end 11 kids showed up. They played on the trampoline.

Made and devoured caramel apples (all except one child who had braces. She made one and will bring it home to her braces-less sisters). Two girls had never eaten them before!!! Gasp!!

Drank two gallons of pink lemonade and then jumped on the trampoline some more.

Some of the girls had fun with the curling iron.

All in all it was a fun afternoon of food and friends! 

Home Educating Family Publishing

If you are interested in homeschooling, you may be interested in the following give-away!

Home Educating Family Publishing

Happy Labor Day!

We had big plans for our Labor Day weekend but Tommy and I both got the flu earlier in the week (which messed up our anniversary plans!) so the plans were scrapped and we stayed home. The good thing was Michael got to work around the house a lot, cutting the grass, pulling weeds and getting the boat moved out of the driveway and back into the backyard. I got to rest, rest, rest, watch a little Food Network, catch up on email, work on my to do list, plan my first day of class next Friday, and read a book just for fun! I also took 3 baths (which I hardly EVER do), watched a documentary on the Gates of Israel, and two (not very good) movies, played Banangrams, Uno and Sleeping Queens with various people. We did go to the beach for a few hours on Sunday (skipped church so as to not spread germs) where we just relaxed.

So although it's not what we had planned, it was still nice to spend time together, rest, relax AND be productive! Hope YOU had a happy Labor Day!