Schoolingmom

What does freedom mean to you?  Let me tell you a quick story. We have two German Shepherd/Alaskan Malamute dogs. They are about 5 years old now; just as precious as they could be. We just adore them. They are mostly outdoor dogs, but they come indoors at night. They are very much shepherds, as they always round up our children when they are playing or running free. They check on and sniff out each one of us as we walk in the woods in a group. So, when we go on nature trails and walks, our girl dog, Jenna, will always check on the youngest of our children and circle around them. Our boy dog, Balto (this name you may recall if you have ever read of the Alaskan hero dog by the same name), will go to the farthest ahead of our group and then run the line of our family all the way to our last member in the rear and then loop back around us again. He just herds us constantly. It is really sweet. I've never been a dog-lover, but our dogs have made a one out of me. The other day, we wer...

What do you do to earn money for your family? I don't think it's my duty to be concerned with earning money. Many of the times that I have been concerned with earning money, it has not been fruitful. Then, there are times when I have been fruitful in my endeavors to earn, but to much personal distress. It was a strain on my mind and body. The things that I have been called to do don't earn, really. I feel called to write, speak to and reach out to women and mothers to encourage them (and I enjoy their encouragement at well). Ok, well there are times when this type of thing can earn. But I don't feel earning as my main drive behind it. Instead, just leisurely sharing God's Word of Grace to others. I also know my first calling is to my husband, home and children. Doing work for earning money reduced the time I had for cooking, cleaning and teaching - which I love all three, because I do them well, and it blesses my family. It's is how I am ma...

What motivates you? Well, personally, I find my first motivation and inspiration from God's Word. In addition it is really awesome to have literature around my home and environments that continue to speak to me in favor of the direction that I am headed into. "Motivation" is a big topic, and it can be explained in many ways. Most of us have both internal and external motivations in any particular direction. I guess that is why it is so very important to choose our friends and our associations wisely. Because external motivation is a true and real factor, we want to be sure we are not hearing things and seeing things that will motivate us in the wrong direction. The Scriptures say that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). If our faith is built up (or broken down) by hearing, we should be sure to make sure that what we hear is coming from God's Word or supported by God's Word. If your faith is built up in a particular direction, y...

What do you do everyday? Do you know what? If children do not know what to do each day, things kind of fall apart...slowly. My mother once said to me, "If your kids wake up before you do, it is like  your work began before you did." Wow, what a wise statement that was! She was right, I cannot afford to be just getting a plan together when my first child walks down the stairs. Whether in my head or in motion, the day's plans must be set forth. I don't really need to know tomorrow's ins & outs, but today must at least have a plan. Alright, so there is somebody out there who is like me and the plan falls apart 80-90% of the time. Fine, yes, let's admit that. However, if you shoot for the moon and miss, you might just hit the stars! So, why not aim high, do what you can, stop when you can't anymore, and see how far you got? It is not a bad way of looking at things. I'm not a failure just because I did not reach the goals I set for myself that day. M...

What is faith to you? "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible." ~ Heb. 11:1-3 It is impossible to please God without faith. We put faith behind whatever we go to do. If you are preparing to sit in a chair, you are putting faith in that chair's ability to withhold your weight. If you are sending a text message, you are believing, by faith, that your message moves through the airwaves and is received properly by correct party to which it was sent. These are natural examples, but what about spiritual ones? The above Scripture goes on after verse 3 to give examples of ancestors in the Lord who demonstrated extraordinary spiritual faith: “ By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, throug...