5 Minute Friday...Grit

Here I am, another 5 minute Friday.  The topic today is Grit. The idea of 5 minute Friday is no thinking...just writing. Not writing for anyone but yourself and no need to worry if it is right, or brilliant or anything else, just write.

So....ready or not.... GO!

The get, down and dirty, hard stuff of life. These days, my grit is mostly the dust that doesn't get dealt with because we are taking Friday Field trips, or make up days for unfinished work. Or it's the grit on the floor of the school room that needs to be swept but I don't want to interrupt the lesson to grab the vacuum and take care of it. Once I leave the room, I forget and then it's still there on the next school day.

Grit is the hard moments when DS doesn't want to do this hard writing or DD is stuck on a math problem and I really want her to try to figure it out on her own. Grit is the times when I know I'm doing the best thing possible but wondering if' I'm trying to do too much?

Grit is the menu changes I am trying to make to get rid of the dry skin, bad gas and other ailments that plague my family but are not worthy of a visit to the DR.

Grit is the way I feel seeing my kids growing and learning to be their own people and knowing they are going to rebel and push bask in some way, some day.

Grit is the jist of my life and I would not have it any other way.

STOP!

Committing to memory

Last week, our pastor challenged us in this new year begin committing verses to memory. In fact, each week the church will hand out business cards with a new verse on them for us to practice. Talk about putting some muscle behind the message!

This is something that I've been working on weekly with the kids since we started to homeschool last fall. It is something that is part of the Charlotte Mason style of teaching that we use in our home. Recently I had a verse keep coming to mind and I knew it wasn't from myself. And this past week at church, it was presented again by Paul as the weekly verse to work on. I knew right then it was a "God Talking" and felt it has something to do with my now-"10 word sermon" to myself. Or my word of the year that became 3 sentences.

"Be fearless. Go do more. Live it out, share it"

I wanted to share the verse here. You may have read or seen it before, since it is a popular one. It is living proof of how we are called directly by Jesus himself to go and share with others the joy of our salvation.

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and in the Son and in the Holy Spirit, teaching them all I have commanded to you. And surely I am with you always, until the end of the age.
~Matthew 28:19-20


Has this verse impacted your journey or have you shared it with someone who it impacted. I am not sure where God is leading me but I know it's down His path and that is right where I want to me.
Thanks for stopping by today. I would love to have you drop me a note here in the comments!

Hugs
Jen

When I am awake

This post is a part of 5 Minute Friday at The Gypsy Mama's blog. I am not a great blogger and really only blog for an audience of One but if from time to time it helps someone else than all the more blessings!

5 mintues of writing...not thinking, not editing to make it something other than it is. Are you ready? Am I?

Go -

Many times between homeschooling, mothering, being a wife and a human I am not sure that I am awake. Like the fully awake where you can see the gifts and blessings that are in your life and take the time to give God the glory He deserves.

I want to be awake. I really do. If I could only get the cat to stop spooning me at 3am. Or if my son in the next room wasn't having such loud, talking dreams. Maybe I could be more awake if I stopped looking at homeschool blogs right before bed or left next years curriculum planning to this summer. Both of those make my mind race like we were at Daytona!

I want to be AWAKE to the little things in life. I want to be AWAKE to the big things God is bringing me way. Lile how my daughter is finaly getting the hang of our math program. Or how my son suddenly would rather read than do math. Or how the messyness of my craft room makes my dear husband a little crazy.
What else am I missing when I am not fully awake? God's rich gifts poured out each day on me in the form of fresh grace? How about a friendship blossoming because I was too worried about which errande needed to be run. I don't want to miss any of these  - so I am going to try to be more awake. Even when I'm not sleeping much at night, and I wake up restless and know there isn't enough coffee waiting fo rme downstairs. I will still make more of an effort to be awake to the gifts I might be missing, right in front of me.

Done.

So...what are you AWAKE for? Are you fully awake or just going through the motions? Do you ever feel like you are missing something because you catch yourself sleeping? I know I do. I'd love to hear your personal story or comment.

Thanks you so much for taking the time to stop by!
Hugs!

Jen

Words for 2012

I have been praying and asking the direction that God wants my life to go in this new year. I'd love to be able to sum it up into one word to focus on. So far, I have not felt the usual 2X4 I ask for but here is a list of the words laid on my heart in the last couple of days.

Fearless
Go
Do
More
Live it out
Share it

I am not quite sure where He is leading me with this but I will just keep my nose in the Word and wait to follow.
I hope your new year is off to a great start! Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs
Jen

Open to the New Year

 This post is for the last 5 minute Friday of 2011...even though I am a couple of days late! The topic? Open

Go....

A new Year...2012. I have my heart and mind open to what ever the Lord has in store for us. I never would have imagined the road that we have traveled down and I cannot even fathom what might be in store for this year. I am open to new friendships. I am open to learning new things. I am open to closing old doors as God directs. I am open to being on the homeschool road for as long as we can, maybe forever.

I am open to doing a year long study of the Psalms. This is a scary commitment for me but I am ready and open for it.

I am open for the lessons that the Lord wants to teach me and know that they will not be easy. That is OK, I trust it is for the best for me.

I am open to the fact that my children and growing up right before my very eyes and I need to prepare myself and them for what lies ahead during these hard tween years.

I am open to the idea of moving to a different house next summer if our lease ends and we feel His direction. I am not looking forward to packing, but open to the idea.

I am open to what ever He directs because I know that what ever He brings me to, He will bring me through.


Done!

This is only the 2nd time I've participated and I really enjoy the time limit. I tend to overthink everything that I do, so this is agreat way to just write and not over do it!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope that your new year is off to a great start!

Hugs
Jen

Happy New Year 2012!

 40 ways to say Happy New Year!

Afrikaans - 'n Voorspoedige nuwejaar
Arabic - Antum salimoun
Bengali - Shuvo Nabo Barsho
Chinese - Chu Shen Tan
Czechoslovakia - Scastny Novy Rok
Dutch - Gelukkig Nieuwjaar
English - Happy New Year!
Eskimo - Kiortame pivdluaritlo
Finnish - Onnellista Uutta Vuotta
French - Bonne Annee
Gaelic - Bliadhna mhath ur
German - Prosit Neujahr
Greek - Kenourios Chronos
Hawaiian - Hauoli Makahiki Hou
Hebrew - L'Shannah Tovah
Hindi - Subh Nab Bars
Hungarian - Boldog Uj Evet Kivanok
Iraqi - Sanah Jadidah
Irish - Bliain nua fe mhaise dhuit
Italian - Buon Capodanno
Kisii - Somwaka omoyia owuya
Khmer - Sua Sdei Chnam Thmei
Laotian - Sabai dee pee mai
Norwegian - Godt Nyttar
Papua New Guinea - Nupela yia i go long y
Philippines - Manigong Bagong Taon
Polish - Szczesliwego Nowego Roku
Portuguese - Feliz Ano Novo
Punjabi - Nave sal di mubarak
Russian - S Novim Godom
Serbo-Croatian - Scecna nova godina
Singhalese - Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa
Slovak - A stastlivy Novy Rok
Spanish - Feliz Ano Nuevo
Swahili - Heri Za Mwaka Mpya
Sundanese - Sugeng Warsa Enggal
Telegu - Noothana samvatsara shubhakankshalu
Thai - Sawadee Pee Mai
Turkish - Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
Ukrainian - Shchastlyvoho Novoho Roku
Vietnamese - Chuc Mung Tan Nien

New schedule

We are on Christmas break. A very much needed break. When I started our first year of homeschool back in August it didn't really occur to me that I needed to have a yearly schedule. As the weeks went by however I can see how an actual yearly, or term by term schedule is needed. So, I talked to a bunch of people. I consulted the ever popular internet and homeschool blogs and then I prayed. Then I  prayed and prayed and prayed some more. I have decided that we need to have some kind of a plan so I am going to start it as soon as we get back to school on the 2nd of Jan. We are going to try the ever common and popular 6 weeks on, 1 week off term schedule. As I write it out on a calendar, it looks really good. I like the weeks that will be our week off. They could turn into some great travel opportunities since I am really hoping to get up to Northern Idaho this spring sometime. I don't know yet how it will work in the long term or how I am actually going to feel about only taking 6 weeks off this summer but for now, I have decided this is a great place to start. I know I still need to be flexible but think this is a great place to start.

So, I am curious. What kind of schedule do you use? Year -round? Following the local school calendar? Or something entirely different that is personally designed and a perfect fit? I would love to hear what works best for your family!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you had a very wonderful Christmas!

Hugs,
Jen