Swimming Against the Tide

The last week or so has been a whirlwind of ideas coming to fruition in our household. We attended the HEAV convention in Richmond and heard the keynote speaker, Voddie Baucham give three very inspiring talks on biblical headship in the home, cultural war, and biblical manhood. The audience gave him a standing ovation. It felt good to be in that place. There was a rather large gathering of people all committed to the same (or very similar) ideals as those we hold dear. But when I looked around I couldn't help thinking how when we all part company, we are few and far between in this culture, and our views on things like biblical gender roles, marriage and family, education, and truth are not popular in everyday society. In fact, they run counter to everything this culture is founded on, and would even be construed as intolerant, extremist, even threatening, though we know otherwise.

What he said gave me courage to stand, and not just to stand against the cultural tide, but to swim against it, purposefully teaching my children and raising them in a way that will not win friends in Ceasar's eyes.

Psalm 144:11-12
Deliver me and rescue me from the hands of foreigners whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful. Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nutured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace.

Not-So-Surprising Facts about Bush

As President George W. Bush's eight years of service come to a close, I have been thinking about what his service means to our country. Polls have not been kind to this man. Hopefully, history will be more so.

I know the press and all that they have to say about the President. I read an article that appalled me with its disrespect for both the man and the office. There is no more shame in our society, no more decorum, no more manners. I'm not ashamed to admit that I voted for Bush, rooted for him to overcome Gore in 2000, was pleased when we didn't have to fight for our vote to be counted in '04. I'm relieved that there are no attempts on his life known to the public while he was in office. May God spare him as he lives out the rest of his days.

I can't help but believe that if a President wanted to be popular instead of right he could work the system and gain some popularity. There is incredible power in that office, and popularity and polls are easily garnered, if one so desires. There is something to be said, however, about a man who can continue to do a job when the whole world (literally) is not just against him, but is maligning his character, mocking him, throwing shoes at his head...

In the last month of his term, we learn this about President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. Bush committed troops to an unpopular war, intended to protect us from terrorists. As someone who witnessed 9-11 from the window of my house, I'm inclined to support his choice. We know a lot about the war, about how difficult and unpopular decisions were made, about the toll it's taken on our country, but what we did not know was that the President and Vice-President, in old-fashioned gentlemanly fashion, were taking responsibility for their decisions in a very personal way.

For much of the past seven years, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have waged a clandestine operation inside the White House. It has involved thousands of military personnel, private presidential letters and meetings that were kept off their public calendars or sometimes left the news media in the dark.

Their mission: to comfort the families of soldiers who died fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and to lift the spirits of those wounded in the service of their country...

Mr. Bush, for instance, has sent personal letters to the families of every one of the more than 4,000 troops who have died in the two wars, an enormous personal effort that consumed hours of his time and escaped public notice. The task, along with meeting family members of troops killed in action, has been so wrenching - balancing the anger, grief and pride of families coping with the loss symbolized by a flag-draped coffin - that the president often leaned on his wife, Laura, for emotional support.

"I lean on the Almighty and Laura," Mr. Bush said in the interview. "She has been very reassuring, very calming."

Mr. Bush also has met privately with more than 500 families of troops killed in action and with more than 950 wounded veterans, according to White House spokesman Carlton Carroll. Many of those meetings were outside the presence of the news media at the White House or at private sessions during official travel stops, officials said.

As I said before, in the office of President of the United States, it can't be that hard to gain popularity. But when a man does his job outside the scope of the public's notice and goes beyond the call of duty, this is someone who cares more about what is right than about being popular. I hope history rethinks the polls--I don't regret my votes.

I Like This...

If you're wondering if you're doing right by your kids by homeschooling them (you're not really wondering, are you?) then take a look at this website . I can't help but feel a little smug that so many incredible thinkers came from educations at home--and this is a SHORT list. Enjoy...see if your favorite homeschooled person is there. Mine is Pearl Buck.

Ready for a Break, Counting Blessings

It has been a wonderful fall...but I'm ready for the holiday season to begin. I enjoyed a post at Himhimthem the title of which is particularly apropos for this time of year. She seems to have a right attitude toward the the season.

Blessing #1 - It has been the most fruitful and exhausting term of homeschooling for me, yet. Fruitful because my son has developed that "love of learning" and is passionate about things like math, history, science, language, reading--wait--that's everything! Exhausting, because he has become passionate about all of those things and wants more, more, more. Our school days used to end with lunchtime. Now sometimes I have to call it off at 3:00 p.m. because I need to pick up and think about dinner and oh yeah--breathe.

Blessing #2 - It has been my joy and privilege to host three men of God from Uganda in our home this year, not the least of which was Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, a man who is without a doubt a prophet to the nations in our day. I was forever changed by these visits, left with a sober realization that our myopic point of view is so shallow, so limited in its scope. I only wish I had more time to spend with them. They became family to us.

Blessing #3 - I am so thankful for my beautiful family. I think sometimes I may be misconstrued as boasting about them, but because my heart and my mouth are so closely connected, it should not be taken as such. Rather, I marvel at them, and in my words appreciate them for who they are and all the wonderful things that they say and do and give. They are not perfect, but they are entrusted to me for a season, and I am delighted with this arrangement!

My heart is so full of thanks, so full of praise to our Father in heaven who has lavished his grace and mercy and love on us. The words to express it don't exist.

Science Museum Trip

On November 7, we took a field trip to the Science Museum of Virgnina. The kids had a great time, as the museum was very hands-on, and they had lots of friends to run with. I wish I had taken more pictures, but the ones we have turned out quite well.

Practical Homeschooling in the Fall

Fall in Virginia is definitely worth staying for. I've come to the conclusion in the last three years that the last week in October through the first week of November is really the peak of color, at least in my neighborhood. Out a little bit west of us in the Shenandoah valley it was probably a couple of weeks ago, but in the Potomac River basin, it's been just the past week that I've really been impressed. The maple tree in our back yard is very intense. The woods behind our house are always a delight in the fall. One evening I looked out and saw six deer standing at the edge of our woods--two yearlings and four does. We also have frequent rabbit and squirrel visitors and lovely songbirds, woodpeckers, and even birds of prey in abundance. We have a good number of bluebirds throughout the year, and we've built a couple of nest boxes and posted them to the fence in the yard in hopes of attracting them next spring. In a few weeks we will begin our new Apologia Science curriculum, which starts with zoology and flying creatures.

Now that baseball is over with, life has taken on a lovely pace. We seem to have finally hit a groove with lessons that doesn't drive us crazy. Matty is coming to the understanding that he's not a first-grader anymore and is working past lunchtime with increasing success. I'm starting to find a balance between the things I want to do to make school a success. I seem to have settled on a blend between the classical / Charlotte Mason approaches, and so there is both hands-on and a good amount of memorizing. I've also been able to really start doing things with Molly--whatever Matty is doing, I simply include her. She has her own notebook, has colored a map of the Louisiana Purchase, just like "Bubba," a picture of Sacajawea, a prairie dog (for the Lewis and Clark expedition study), and all kinds of body parts, since we are discussing human anatomy this semester. She hangs right in there and when brother does phonics, she learns letters. When he reads, she colors and listens. When he does math, we count teddy bears and do flash cards. (shameless boasting) She's three and a half. Not a genius, but stinkin' smart. Loads of fun. Thank God for my blessings...

We all seem content--the transition of finding a new job is past, Matty is maturing in his attitudes toward school, I am enjoying completely my role as wife, mommy, and teacher. There is a peace in our home that we all sense--I pray it continues.