New Plans for the New Year

The time is upon us for reflections and resolutions. I'll spare you the reflections and move onto some of my own plans for 2012...at least in the world of literature and such.

I was rather surprised with what I was able to finish reading in 2011. Allow me to apologize, make way for a small reflection. Books that I actually finished in 2011 were: (links to these books can be found on my page Books and Stuff)

• Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan
• Think: The Life of the Mind and The Love of God by John Piper
• The Shaping of a Christian Family by Elisabeth Elliot
• Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches by Rachel Jankovic
• Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe by Todd Wilson
• The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace
• The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson

And to add to my reading was much time, although not enough, spent in God's Word and time, probably too much, spent reading numerous blogs and articles. Nate laughed at me when I told him I was going to make a small goal of four books for the upcoming year. I suppose he thinks my goal is a bit puny. I say, at least I know it's doable.

My plan is to finish the book I'm currently reading, Give Them Grace by Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson. I won this in a book giveaway and will probably be coming back to say more about it. It is definitely making me rethink our methods in parenting and how we view the gospel as a whole in our home.

My three I plan to add to this extensive list of four are:

• The Hiding Place by Corrie Tin Boom I've attempted to read several times and just haven't been able to finish.
• Charismatic Chaos by John MacArthur This has been on my list for awhile. I have some family that is interested in the charismatic movement and really want to see how he deals with this movement.
• And number four is something by Francis Shaeffer. I haven't decided yet. Maybe The Christian Manifesto? or How Should We Then Live?

I also plan on continuing to look through Large Family Logistics. While we are not technically a "large family," I love some of the ideas she shares in the book.

And of course, I can't leave out a Bible Reading Plan. I found the perfect plan that will give me a few minutes after each meal to spend reading from three different sections of the Bible, starting in Genesis, Job, and Matthew. Nate and I thought this would be a good way to read through the Bible in a year to the little ones, too! I also hope to spend more devoted time to studying Proverbs. A few weeks back I started studying Proverbs alongside Matthew Henry's Commentary. I have taken a break but really hope to resume that in depth reading as well on my own.

For the wee ones, I plan to continue Catechisms for Young Children and doing scripture memory. Earlier this month I began using this system for scripture memory. It's still early on using it so we haven't got an excellent feel for how this system will work over time.

And we have finally decided on a reading curriculum! After looking at three different curriculums, we have decided to use Reading Made Easy. I'll keep you updated on my thoughts on this system and how it works as we go along. Reading lessons will be short and simple. We will also continue reading good, twaddle-free books and spending lots of time outside when the weather is just right for exploring!

So, do you have reading plans this year?

Missions Not Accomplished

I can remember a time when I thrived in the midst of completed projects. Whatever it may be…the attainment of my black belt, crossing the finish line of a 5K, or any such goal I may have set out to accomplish in this small life of mine.

The thought of a completed project now sends my domesticated, maternal, wifely-self into fits of laughter…psychotic fits of laughter. Going from goal driven professional to following my calling as “mother” definitely has had dramatic impact on my mental state at times. As all mommies know, the vicious cycle of laundry, meal preparation, dishes, diapers, potty breaks, discipline, naptimes, nursing, doctor’s appointments, play dates, reading time, animal care, ironing, grocery shopping, picking up toys, intervening in sibling rivalry, and list making can be…well… a bit unending. (And not to forget the fact that it’s canning season!) Completion is not a relevant term in my mind any more, as is evidenced by my reading habits.

It has been nearly four months since I have completed a book. Once a voracious reader, I took in books and devoured them in days with excitement. Not to say that I haven’t read a book in four months. Maybe five months? Prior to my youngest peanut being born, I had just finished Crazy Love by Francis Chan and John Piper’s Think and was ready for more good theological brain food. I started out with Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges. I was halfway through when 1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp arrived in the mail. Being the emotionally driven pregnant lady I was at the time, I stopped all other reading and rushed to the couch from the mail box to devour…the first three or four chapters. Providentially, for whatever reason, I didn’t finish and haven’t even attempted to go back. AFTER, Anna was born I decided to attempt to pick up some more reading. Since that decision was made you will find a constant array of books strewn around my home…unfinished. I begin to read D. Martyn Lloyd Jones’ Spiritual Depression after borrowing it from a friend. Unfinished. I started re-reading Pink’s The Attributes of God. Unfinished. On my end table lies And Then I Had Kids: Encouragement for Mothers of Young Children by Susan Yates. Unfinished. And as of last week I started reading Sonya Shaffer’s Laying Down the Rails, A Charlotte Mason Habits Handbook. I even started reading A Quest for Godliness by J.I. Packer and guess what? Right. Unfinished. Not to mention the book I received in the mail today from the Grateful for Grace giveaway…I couldn’t help but read the first two chapters in anticipation. (The book giveaway was Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe by Todd Wilson. It looks applicable to my own life and I haven't even started homeschooling yet!) Somewhere in all that mess I DID finish Rachel Jankovic’s Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches…but it was almost like a series of blog posts so does that really count?

My Bible reading…much the same. I try to read some Proverbs and Psalms each day. It’s the only reading in the Bible that makes sense when read in bite size amounts and it seems bits and pieces of anything is all I can handle at one time. I did start to read through the New Testament and made it to Matthew 8 or 9. I also started in Jeremiah and made it to chapter 5.

But today…Nate announced he wanted to read through the Bible in 180 days. And eagerly my soul screamed, “Here is my chance! Here is my chance to finish something! Hooray! Hoo-rah!”

I simply want to finish a book that isn’t written by Dr. Seuss and doesn’t have pictures. And isn't the Bible the very best choice?!

And so begins my adventure…I’m glad I have hubby to tag along.

Homeschooling: Bible and Repetition

I’m not sure why I didn’t learn what I needed to know several months ago. The day when I decided I was going to teach Lily The Lord’s Prayer. We had already been using breakfast time to read God’s Word aloud and a time to open our day with prayer. But Mommy had the good idea of working on some scripture memorization. What better place to begin than the Lord’s Prayer? So, I sat her down on the couch, explained what we were going to do, and said, “Repeat after me…”

“Our Father which art in heaven…” Awaiting her answer back…and then she didn’t repeat after me, she said… “Hallowed be thy name.” We continued the rest of the prayer this way. I closed my Bible and thought that was easy enough. Lily had been hearing the Lord’s Prayer for almost a year each Sunday morning during church. Little did I know she was not only listening…but learning!

We continued on with our regular routine until about six weeks ago when Mommy again had a great idea! I will teach her a commandment a week during breakfast time. So off we went reading Exodus 20:1-17 each morning and eventually added a chapter from Leading Little One’s to God. Week 1, I would emphasize Commandment 1…and so on.

She was doing well learning the commandments until about week 5 or 6. She started “stubbing up” and not wanting to answer my questions when I would ask. I knew she knew who the commandments were given to and how many commandments there were and each commandment we had learned. Why was she refusing to answer? One afternoon we decided to address the issue with Daddy.

We started going through our basic questions and as we got to “You shall not murder.” She continued… “You shall not commit adultery.” I glanced at him with a look of amazement and a bit of confusion. We had not learned that yet! And then I decided to try something…we went through the entire scripture of Exodus 20:1-17 that we had read each morning for the past few weeks. I would leave out words and even phrases and she would fill in the blanks! My three year old nearly had the entire passage of the Ten Commandments memorized by hearing me read them!

All of this time I had been fretting that she wasn’t learning the way I wanted her to. She wasn’t answering the questions that I wanted her to answer. But behind the scenes, at least as far as I could see, God was doing His work. She was learning through her own eyes and experiencing His Word for herself the way He wanted her to. And while doing so, He was showing me my worries and anxieties of not being enough would be met by Him. Again, I needed to quite relying on myself and trust that He will equip me for what He has called me to do.

“What is required of us is, that we should implant a love of the Word; that the most delightful moments of the child’s day should be those in which his mother reads for him, with sweet sympathy and holy gladness in voice and eyes, the beautiful stories of the Bible” ~Charlotte Mason

Sometimes…Plans Change

It was only a week ago that I spout out how I planned on finishing my systematic reading of the Bible by the time Ms. Anna arrives. For the past nine months or so I have been reading through the Old Testament. My original plan was to finish in 6 months…which would have been possible if I had not been reading Chronicles when my morning sickness kicked in! This threw me off my plan and into small daily doses of Psalms. I eventually kicked back in to gear and realized if I doubled my reading assignment for the day I could finish before “maternity leave.” And then…

I reached Isaiah. Prior to Isaiah, I was just “reading” through, covering the material if you will. Besides, other than CHRONICLES, I had read most of it before so I was able to tread covered ground and pick up more this time around. Well, I can’t do that with the prophets. I need to study the prophets. So, I set aside my timeline and my thin Bible that I carry everywhere so I can read anywhere… And I drug out my old, stand by me, teach me all things Bible, and have started on the endeavor with no timeline and with only learning in mind.

Today I will begin chapter 7. The thing that stands out most to me about these first six chapters of Isaiah is the similarity between Israel and the state of America currently. The rebellion is the same and it is hard for me to keep in mind while reading that this is before captivity. That Isaiah is not talking about us.

Your princes are rebellious, And companions of thieves; Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them. Isaiah 1:23

I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. The people will be oppressed, every one by another every one by his neighbor; the child will be insolent toward the elder, and the base toward the honorable. Isaiah 3:5

For Jerusalem stumbled, and Judah is fallen, Because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of His glory. The look on their countenance witnesses against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves. Isaiah 3:8-9

And this is why plans change…I cannot just read the prophets. What was Isaiah saying to them? What was Isaiah saying to us, if anything? Can we as rebellious nation learn from the rebellion of God’s chosen people? My prayer is that God will help me to learn and to know Him better as I finish the Old Testament.

(Note: That Bible I was talking about can be found HERE. If you are looking for an excellent study Bible, this is it. I have the older edition which is red letter. It appears the newest edition is not red letter. I have only seen ONE other Bible like mine in seven years! The pages are very thin but the information in this Bible far surpasses any study Bible I have ever seen. I HIGHLY recommend it! If you have any questions about it just let me know.)

Sayonara, Adios, Au Revoir, Sampai jumpa…for now.

So, Nate thinks it’s funny that I’m going to blog about not blogging. Whateva, brotha!

If you would recall…HERE…I had a lot to do this year. As I have been complaining about for…eh…the last two months… I have a lot to do and the list keeps growing. In addition to the original “list,” I’ve since added being more “frugal aware” and hoping to get some preschool activities down for Ms. Lily in the upcoming weeks and months.

Let us recall “The List” and see how far we have come (Keep in mind, this was supposed to start in December 2009:

1. Simply, start working out at least 5 out of 7 days. No. I’m still as weak and floppy as on December 1, 2009. I’ve worked out about 3 times in 2 months. Today being one of those.
2. Drink more water. Sort of. I have drank more water, but one glass every two or three days doesn’t suffice.
3. Eat less sugar. …right. This one made me LAUGH OUT LOUD!
4. By April 2010, resume training for my second-degree black belt. Still time, but must get with numero uno or Joe Grosso will kick my bumbino! And then I will throw up and feed the cat-titos. 5. Run the CASA 8K on June 12, 2010. Again, see #1 and #4.
6. Spend at least 6 months out of 2010 not pregnant, nursing, and/or both. Not there yet…looking to start this one in April. However, God may have different plans.
7. Spend more time studying scripture. I have done this but see down below.
8. Find a church family. We may be on our way. We have been attending a church for around 2 months and we are currently involved in an inquirers class that should last the next 3 or 4 months. We’ll see.
9. Pray more as a family. We are doing this, but it still needs some work.

10. Spend at least one night a month with my husband without babies. (Not enough, but a start.) I honestly think we may be doing OK on this one.

Now, to why I am going on a hiatus. I have around two slots of time out of my day everyday. One of those time slots is at 5:00 in the morning…which actually makes those times slots one and not two since I have the most comfortable bed in the world at 5AM. I have some pretty big goals that are going to take up the majority of that time. I plan to do a complete reading of the entire Bible over the next 6 months. During this time frame, I thought it would be a good idea to take a break from blogging and complete the reading as well as get myself ready for Tae Kwon Do and the 8K. I believe I may do an update occasionally on this progress but take a break from reading and commenting. I probably will have those days when I just feel like I must write...it's in our blood isn't it?! I feel these other things are a little more important right now. I know since I am in such high demand all the time, you may need to contact me. Find my email on my blogger profile or check me out on Facebook.

I’ll miss reading your blogs. If you have a REALLY good one, one you need some fiery back up on…email me so I can check it out!