Peace through the chaos

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This has been one of the most trying years of my life.   This includes the losses, traumas, and craziness that we have consistently experienced in the last decade. 

This last year I realized just how much people change, traumas affect us long after, how much marriages can change, how strongly friendships alter.  This last year we have been uprooted and crazy and inconsistent to a level we have never had 

Do you know what I learned through this all?  That there is peace through the storm.

Romans 12:18

If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

1) Paul had never ending conflicts and still chose peace with God above all else 

2) Peace isn’t absence of hostility it is the atmosphere we bring into hostility 

3) Peace is the evidence of a life of forgiveness. 

Through my griefs and losses I learned the peace and grace God provides but now though a divorce and multiple moves and life altering changes I find that peace is a choice to follow God and put the chaos on Him while I learn to rest in His plan. 

Do you know what else happened as I have things to God??  He provided blessings and a new relationship I would have never imagined so perfect for what my life needed.  

I have learned that when I don’t see a way there is a way through Gods timing and his blessings through it. He has provided more amazing blessings than I could have asked for if I tried. 

Remember that when there is chaos and storms and loss, put the worry on God and allow Him to provide the peace and plans in His timing.

Miracle Lane Homestead- our new start

​We have started our newest adventure!!  Yes it feels like we are always onto something new each year but we go as doors open! 

Farmsteading.  This is a dream we have prayed for many years and it finally is!  It’s not happening where or how we planned but God has truly given us our hearts desire and dream home with this.

First thing was creating a name we felt met the feel of our land as well as our family.  Miracle Lane.  This gave us a touch of Mira’s name to honor her, but it also describes the miracle that God gave us with this land.  Lane is due to the fact we have a very long driveway which is truly serene and peaceful.   We are so thankful for this homestead. 

Our goals and plans will be to one day have self sustaining meat, veggies, and as much as we can off our land.  We are starting with pigs and very soon will add cows and chickens!  We are enjoying getting to learn and take care of the farm animals.

The boys are having an adjustment period.  We went from a whirlwind busy life with constant homeschoolers, friends, and activities to a very slow paced life.  We started trail life which is Christian Boy Scouts so they are meeting new friends and starting to learn new skills!  We also found a fantastic group of music homeschoolers so the kids started band and choir.  It allows us to have one thing a day with people (between church and activities) but we have the majority of our day with family and farm life! 

Our new church has been truly amazing!  It’s been a difficult thing for me to find a church that preaches solid bible and has traditional music but also has true love and grace for others.  The church here is very small town and country feel but they have made us feel welcomed and loved every step of the way!  It’s made the transition to a new state much smoother. I am grateful how God has continued to encourage us through others as we settle in. 

We have many new adventures to come and I can’t wait to see what is in store!!  For now we are settling into a slower pace of life, refocusing on our family, and healing through more of our past traumas without distractions.

I will continue to share as we settle in!    

Starting anew with 2022

 Looking back at last year I’m still floored at just how much changed this year.  I definitely needed Grace.  Here’s what I wrote last January:

“ This was SOOO hard because I've done Rooted, Grow, Content, and some others in the past.  I've always been focused on rooting in the Bible, growing in God, and being Content with what he provided.  After losing our daughter I learned that GRACE has been needed more than almost anything.   We needed it desperately after our loss, and in 2020 we watched an entire nation fall apart and need the same grief love and grace that we needed back in 2018.  I've learned that beyond all, Grace is needed.  When someone else is hurting, suffering loss, confused, losing jobs, health, normal life, Grace is needed. ”

So I’ve done:

1) Rooted

2) Growing

3) Content

4) Grace 

These have all grown in each other and I have needed them more and more than I even realized at the time 

I needed to be strongly rooted in Gods word before the worst tragedy of my life.  I needed to grow through Gods strength when my life fell apart.  I learned to be content though tragedy and loss.  I learned grace through incredible change and trials.

This year I’m working on SLOW 

I’ve said it before but I keep finding ways to be needed and help people which is great but after years of being there for people and learning and growing through Christ it’s time for us to slow down and refocus as a family 

I had no idea how this would happen and this year showed how quickly things change yet again   We had a plan to leave more than once and every door shut down on us.  I finally became truly content and settled with our home and my jobs and how we were when it all turned upside down again.  God has shut down every plan we had in Texas, and has diverted us away from all of our own efforts.  

We made big plans this year to stay and grow our school group which we have fell in love with!  We were given opportunity to start a homestead and build a house.  Due to the high inflation to our city all of our plans fell apart at thr last minute.  We had finally felt settled and it seemed our plans had fallen apart with no idea where to go forward.  Between Christmas and New Years we found doors flying open for us to move to Mississippi and start our farmstead and it has been a whirlwind of a door opening.  

I have truly learned not to rely on my own plans and enjoy the path God leads even when it means leaving all my comforts and friends.  

This year we are going slow, and starting a new focus on our family!! I cannot believe that all my needs are consistently met and we are getting what we need as a family to truly slow down and get the farm we have prayed for, for many years.

I pray you all have a fantastic year in 2022 and I cannot wait to see what God brings for our family. 

Starting day one in a new state, new start, new life! 

Texas blizzard 2021

 Well this is one for the books.  In Texas we have 205 hours of below freezing temperatures.   Through this I learned a few things (as a girl raised in the cold north): 

Texas homes are not designed to keep warm

Days without electricity is not fun

It was good to unplug and play games and have no agendas

It was exhausting playing board games with three hyper boys for three days

We discovered potatoes keep reptiles warm and all our keys survived

I learned to appreciate even more being back inside a warm house at the end of this week

Through this adventure I was reminded of the fun of snow days and exploring the cold and doing all of that with my kids     It was honestly a relief to not teach for a week and stay in pajamas and just be a family.  At the end of it though o appreciate even more my routine and schedule.  Our home lost power for over 24 hours and became frigid cold.  Thankfully my parents had a gas stove and fireplace so we were able to stay warmer there and still have warm food and family close by.  The boys had many adventures of playing and off electronics and just being kids.  We all slept super early as the lights out reset our internal clocks a bit.  We huddled in the cold, relaxed when we could in the warmth, enjoyed family time, while also driving ourselves crazy.  This was a truly historic event for our area, and was a memorable experience I hope we never experience.  

It caused a lot of stress as well though being thrown off our routine, living with uncertainty, hearing and seeing horror stories from across our town and state as many had it much worse.  Today we were able to have our first normal day with friends, food, and clear roads

As our kids went through this relatively calmly it reminded me today how days of uncertainty show their trauma in other ways   We are constantly recovering and growing through our pain as it evolves 

I am looking forward to fitting back into a routine.  I am so thankful for the family and friends through it all that supported and loved us 

Stay safe   Stay warm  and keep those you love close by  

Here's a small glimpse of our week:

Hello 2021~!

 Hello ya'll!

It's been a hot minute, and I'm SO sorry, but our Deember and January have been INSANE fun and busy!

Life is just now starting to slow down, as we go with our amazing homeschool journey.

December we spent a week going back to the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum.  After a long year of slowed down traveling and lots of disappointments with that it felt SO good to do a road trip where we could just reflect on God's amazingness in our lives and family, and be with friends.  The Ark Encounter had only magnified it's amazingness since the last time we were there three years ago.  They added in more animals, a playground, virtual reality ride, and still had the message of salvation in every area of the place.  We were able to stay at an AirBnb just a few miles away with lots of land so we were able to unplug and get away a little bit.

A big blessing of the trip was us being able to resume our Jr. Ranger badges again!  Earlier this year we lost out on over 15 because of closures, so it was fun to get another 8 for our collection and get to explore more battlefields and get a lot of insight to the Civil War from the Southern perspective.  It was something I had never been taught and it was interesting to see the different views and step out onto the battlefields where so many people lost their lives fighting for the freedoms they cherished.  So much of history is disappearing in our current days, so I am thankful we are able to teach this to our children while we still have the chance.

At the end of all of that my youngest brother got married, and we ended Christmas break by going to his wedding and watching him marry the most amazing girl!  I've loved watching how God brought them together, and so thankful for them both!

In January we also resumed our Pod School!  We have several new families, and after re-arranging the whole house, we were able to set up better classrooms, and give ourselves some more space for school.  We now live completely upstairs in our house, and our pod school operates 4 days a week downstairs.  We have it set to Monday and Wednesday we do Bible History and Science, and then Tuesday and Thursday we have less students to focus on Math and Grammar.  Some parents do all 4, and some only choose one or two classes.  It's great to watch homeschool families encourage each other, and support each other in our different areas.  We still keep our Fridays open for our field trips, and lately it's been more park days, board games, and a little more low key.  We are still looking for a building, and praying one will show up soon!

January has just been flying by!  So much traveling, rearranging, and growing!

We have also started REPTILES!  Our oldest son, Samuel, has been spending months researching and begging for a snake.  Now, he finally convinced his dad that this would be good to do, so we ended up with a snake for Christmas.  Since then, we have now, two snakes, a chameleon, three turtles, two fish, and now a leopard gecko!

It's been quite the adventure getting to know all these animals and watch how they all work!

Now, onto my "word" for 2021!

This was SOOO hard because I've done Rooted, Grow, Content, and some others in the past.  I've always been focused on rooting in the BIble, growing in God, and being Content with what he provided.  After losing our daughter I learned that GRACE has been needed more than almost anything.   We needed it desperately after our loss, and in 2020 we watched an entire nation fall apart and need the same grief love and grace that we needed back in 2018.  I've learned that beyond all, Grace is needed.  When someone else is hurting, suffering loss, confused, losing jobs, health, normal life, Grace is needed. 

This year I pray we are able to provide love, encouragement and grace to those who need it.  Grace which God provies to us so often, I continue to pray we extend to others around us.

I'm so thankful for the amazing year 2020 has been, and I am excited to see where God continues to bless and take us throughout 2021!

Our reads and why they are important!

 Welcome!

So, as most homeschool moms will say is that it's SOOO important to read books.  Yes.  Good quality, high literature, classic authors,  etc, etc.  

Our kids mostly like to read.  Our oldest is a super book nerd and would read ALL day if we let him, but the younger two prefer to be read to versus reading on their own.  Since they were babies, we have tried to read (3-4 nights a week) a solid 30-45 minutes a night of books.  Some months it was lots of Dr. Seuss, some weeks it was Mickey Mouse, and some weeks it was Peter Rabbit and classic kid books.  We have LOTS of Usborne books, so we get fun illustrations, good authors, and we keep finding more and more.

Lately though the books we have been reading have been impacting us on a new level.  Our homeschool curriculum (My Fathers World) uses and recommends classic family read alouds throughout the school year.  We have over the years read great books from it such as Little House on the Prairie, Farmer Boy, Sarah Winchester, and many more.  This year however was a handful of books I had zero backround with by Patricia St. John, and I decided to read it WITH my boys for my first time through as well.

We started off with Tanglewood Secrets.  This book surprised me with some of the rich storyline and hard topics.  Spoiler alert: a main character dies at the end.  Now, for us who have first-hand dealt with the loss of our daughter; and the boys, their sister, this opened up a door for them to discuss it in a way they never had before.  It's been almost 2.5 years since she passed away and I still struggle to get them to open up.  What I truly loved about this book through was how it presented the hope, truth, and love of Jesus Christ for children, from the perspective of a child.  Even when these children faced the loss of a close friend who was also a child, and they see the unfairness of life, they are still taught the unaltered truth of God's constant grace and loe through it all.

Now, this last couple of weeks, we have been reading Star of Light.  This book was harder for me to get into with them because it took place in Morocco, and it took me a little while to really understand the cultural and religious differences.  However, this book constinually discusses an older brother who has to protect and help his 2 year old sister.  This has been an avenue for our oldest son to deal with and sort through his self-seen failure of not protecting his sister.  It has allowed us to bond with a character who goes through some very serious life struggles, but to also discuss what it is like to feel afraid for the safety and future of a younger sibling.  It has allowed me to go through some of his trauma with him and discuss even better why our daughters/sisters death was in NO WAY the fault of our son.  He has spent two years blaming himself constantly, and nothing we have said or counselled him through has seemed to help.  This story has been healing as he sees the adults and children in the book navigate some hard situations.  Several times our son started becoming worried for the sister in the book, and trying to find ways to save her.  I was moved to tears as we read about the love of a missionary nurse, and the perspecttive of others around her, and how they loved these children through their trials.  However, my favorite part of this book, once again, is how simply and gracefully they incorporate the truths and blessings of Jesus Christ.  From a child's perspective who has NEVER heard of Jesus, it has spoken deep truths to our children from a perspective that most kids won't hear in children's church or "regular" Bible time.  

We will have one more of her books to read this school year called Treasures in the Snow, and I have NO doubt that it will share the same amazing truths and importance that the others have.  I have discovered the writings and stylings from the early 1900's are showing us rich storylines and new perspectives we normally would not.

I am excited to read more of Patricia St. John and add even more to our collection!

I will post another day about our 40 book challenge, and just WHY reading is important, but tonight as I tried not to cry as I watched my children heal through their struggles, I am so thankful for rich Godly truths and authors who wrote it in a way that our family (over 100 years later) desperately needed.

When life feels hard, find the rich and uplifting stories, and snuggle in together and read through the comfort together.

Grace and truth

 In a day and age full of disinformation, manipulation, fake news, and overall a lot of fussing, I was greatly encouraged this week from the Bible and Paul

In Acts 18, Paul was able to speak to some of the greatest minds of his day.  He saw philosophers, atheists, humanists, polytheist, and also some of the most educated religious scholars.  What I noticed throughout all of this was the grace.  

He didn’t mock people, shame them, attack them, or get mad they didn’t think like he did.  All he did was present his truth which was the truth of God and the gospel. He told them what he had learned from the Bible and gospel of his life and explained it in a way that they all understand 

Did everyone agree?  No. Did he win big awards? No. But he did point people to God and give them the choice

Even though many did not agree he didn’t take it personally. He kept sharing the gospel.  When people in Corinthians tried to honor him more than God he rebuked them but also encouraged them back to God and His word!

As Christians there is a LOT to fuss about with politics, masks, opinions, preferences, news media, social media, etc. At the end of the day, are we pointing people to Christ, or are we trying to get everyone to think how we think?

True gospel and Bible is not about making people agree with you, it’s not about mocking people, it’s not degrading people who don’t think like you

True gospel is showing people the mercy, love, and truth of God.

In an age of chaos, stay close to God so he can bring the peace.  In the age of madness, show others the joy of Christ. In the age of depression and anger, show others what love and grace truly look like.

Spend more time reaching out with the truth of the Bible, not the opinions of man