Shopping with the kids at Kroger. Against my better judgment, I let Sarah push the cart. It's not long before she rams it into the back of my ankles. As I whirl around and snap at her, a memory suddenly flashes in my mind. I was pushing the cart behind my mom in the grocery store, and I rammed it into the back of her ankles. It was one of the few times that she snapped at me. So I told my kids that story right there in Kroger, and they both said, "Really? Grandma got mad?" and Noah wanted to know more times when Grandma got mad. I told them another tale involving a grocery store incident (which my mom wouldn't want me to post here), but there's one more that I'm keeping to myself, at least until they're teenagers.
It's been several years since both of my kids have broken into hysterical crying at the same time. I was downstairs when I heard a ruckus upstairs, followed by some screaming and yelling, and then both kids crying. I met Noah on the stairs who sobbed out his version. Apparently, Sarah had gone in his room and found where he had hidden her birthday present. He freaked out and yelled at her to get out of his room. He was upset because she ruined his surprise. I went upstairs and found Sarah in a heap outside Noah's door, blubbering about how Noah was mean to her and hurt her feelings. I took her in her room and explained to her why he was upset, and the crocodile tears dried up immediately.
I was standing at the stove, stirring tapioca pudding and feeling discouraged. I picked up the Homeschool Enrichment magazine on the counter next to me and asked God to use it to give me some encouragement. The first thing I read was an article from the editors, talking about how there are seasons of homeschooling, just as there are seasons in nature.
The author must have been peeking in my window when she wrote this: "When homeschooling is difficult, God's mercies are new every morning. When concepts aren't clicking, relationships are strained, and the character we're trying to develop in our children seems in short supply, God's compassions are fresh with the dawning of another day." It's definitely been winter lately in this homeschool, but I'm thankful that God used that article to give me just the encouragement I needed to make it till spring.
If I knew I had only one week left to live, I would do all those things you're supposed to do (like make sure your family and friends know you love them, tell people about Jesus, etc.), but there's more. I would eat bacon, and lots of it, every day. And cheese, ice cream, all kinds of fried foods and sugary desserts. I would also put on shorts and a tshirt and go outside with no sunscreen and just bask in the warmth of the sun on my skin.
What would you do?
God has woken me up way too early the last several mornings, and I have tried to ignore Him and go back to sleep, which hasn't worked. So when He woke me up again this morning, I finally asked Him what He wanted. He immediately told me to fast from the TV today. Not just me, but the kids too. I argued with Him a little, but He was persistent, so I started developing a plan.
Our mornings usually begin with snuggling in the bed together, watching TV. How would the kids react when I told them there would be no TV? What would we do instead? God was right (duh!). We've been depending on the TV too much lately. I started making a list of alternative activities, and I started actually looking forward to it. But I had had awhile to wrap my mind around the idea. The kids would be shocked and upset, I predicted, with no chance to get used to the thought.
Noah was the first one up, and he crawled into bed next to me and reached for the remote. I said, "Oh, wait! We're going to do something exciting today!" When I told him about it, I was totally unprepared for his reaction: he smiled! Then he said, "Can we just stare at the blank screen?"
A few minutes later, Sarah woke up and started heading for the TV. When I broke the news to her, she yelled, "NO!", but I told her that it was God's idea and that you can't say no to God. She said, "Can the boys play Wii?" When I said no, she looked pleased and said, "Good."
We all ate breakfast together, which never happens, and I gave quiz questions from Noah's Star Wars book. He was delighted that he did better than his dad. Mike left for work, and we played dictionary detective. I read a definition of a word from a children's dictionary, and they had to guess the word. Then we played food charades, where one of us acted out eating a food, and the others had to guess which food it was. That was kind of a flop, because Sarah just chewed and chewed, no other clues. Then she was mad that we couldn't figure out what she was pretending to eat.
We played Star Wars and Fetch for a long time, had a snack, had a peanut-shelling contest, folded laundry, looked for hidden pictures in a Highlights magazine, set up DVD cases and tried to shoot them down with Nerf darts, etc. We had lunch (while discussing our favorite TV shows) and read books, and now it's quiet time. After this, we have a Kroger and library trip planned. The kids are handling it better than I thought. Maybe we should continue it!
