On this not-so-unusual hot morning John was preparing to leave for Cap Haitien to take care of some business for the day, Cabila was leaving for school to take his exam while the other 3 kiddos and I were settling in for school at home... (this is the last 'scheduled week' of school here.. ya-to-the-hoo and thank the good Lord!!!) I was on my 2nd cup of coffee & getting everyone going with their work load for the morning then the realization hit me... Homeschooling may just be the death of me!
If I'm honest with you, I have to tell you that I have never aspired to be a home school teacher... When I was really young I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up just like my mom (cause she was the most awesome teacher around) but I soon grew out of that desire. I have had great respect for home school teachers for years... as a matter of fact, I had a great plan for a friend of ours when Caleb was a baby. :) I thought it would be just perfect for her to home school for all of us new moms that had little ones when they reached school age so we could reap the benefits of our kids being taught in a guaranteed spectacular environment without actually having to be the teacher. Genius, right? Heehee...
As the Lord would have it, her kiddos grew up and graduated from her home schooling and she went through new doors that the Lord opened up for her and we enrolled in one of the greatest schools in Madison, MS! Caleb and Kylie both had wonderful teachers while studying at Madison Station Elementary but as we firmed up plans to move to Haiti last year, it was quite clear that they weren't going to be able to go very far in college on 4th grade and Kindergarten honors. :) I felt "the tug" about home school before we actually shared our call to move to Haiti but I didn't talk about it much.... you know, the maybe-if-I-don't-talk-about-it-it-isn't-really-there kind of stuff. Ha!
As the plans to move solidified it was obvious that home schooling was the best option for the kiddos since we decided not to leave them in MS (a little international missionary humor). We researched curriculum, asked a million questions, prayed a million prayers and doubted our abilities a million times over but plunged forward with everyone on board. So without further delay, let's fast forward to now....
Kinley and I were working on letter sounds and she was coloring a picture for the letter "M" when Kylie asked a question about her own math work. I reached over to help her while trying to persuade Caleb to find something else to measure for his metric ruler exercise besides the pillow in the chair I was sitting in. While helping Kylie, Kinley gets up and I asked her where she was going. She said she needed an eraser but I told her that she couldn't erase crayon with an eraser. Kylie butts in (without missing a beat) and says, "Well, one time I DID erase..." I cut her off and asked her politely to get back to what SHE was doing and then answered Caleb's question about measurement abbreviations. [Can you sense a bit of the chaos by this point???]
I got Kinley settled in her chair again and went back to make sure I answered Kylie's math question thoroughly so she could continue her work and move on to her writing assignment. It was then that I noticed Kinley was coloring the table instead of her paper and that she had eraser rubbings on her face so obviously she had been successful at retrieving the eraser when she got up a minute ago. Meanwhile, 3 different children were hollering from downstairs and asking me for bicycles, some strange person I've never seen before was at the gate with one of the orphans dropping off a phone that I'm guessing they wanted to charge and cute little Levinsky was asking for some ice. :/
OH. MY. SWEET. GOODNESS...............
At this point my devotion from earlier is ringing loudly in my ears...... "Welcome challenging times as opportunities to trust in God". I wasn't in much of a welcoming mood but I did speak the words, 'HA! Challenges are here while trying to teach 3 very different children different things at one time and not lose what little bit of cool I have left in the process!' The same devotion also said, "...beware of measuring your strength against those challenges." At this point, I could feel my inner boiling point nearing so I began to pray, 'Dear Lord, give me extra doses of strength today PLEASE. When I feel like I can't take anymore thank you for being right here with me!!!!'
Maybe you've had a day that didn't require you to "grin and bear it" or maybe you've had a day where you had to call on the Savior before finishing your coffee like I did. Either way, consider it pure joy that, "He himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'" (Hebrews 13:5) I am so glad he meant those words!
While typing this post, the one and only Kinley that.never.stops came stomping in with this....
and said, "Oh my goodness, look at this mess off of my fan!"
She disassembled her fan and found, yet, another great excuse for using lots of wipes so now I must go.........
Please feel free to kick-off the nominations for my 'Mommy of the Year' award! (sigh)
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds." ~James 1:2
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