God’s presence
78 degrees
sun
no wind
flowers beginning to bloom
empty calendar
No calls
God’s presence

What does God’s presence look like in your day?

You can share my day.

My Mom is on the far right of this picture from 30 years ago. Right now all my relatives are about to shoot me for not cutting them out. I won’t name them so I most likely will live through the day.

I loved my Mom, but I don’t think I told her that enough. Actually I know I didn’t tell her enough. Soon after this picture, she and Dad moved far, far away and not long after, she had a major stroke. I thank my Mom for my love of all living things, nature and people. I thank my Mom for being fun. She had such a great smile.

Mom has been gone now for about 8 years. I like to re-imagine how I would tell her everyday how much I love her. She gave birth to me and learned how to be a good Mom with me as the guinea pig. Such is the life of the oldest child. She saved me from scraped knees and hugged me fiercely when I didn’t have the words to tell her how I felt.

I love you Mom.

May your Easter be filled with the sweetness of life, which we call hope. Hope through new life. Hope of changed direction. And hope of being together.

This is a picture of my home schooled grand kids. And yes, even the infant and toddler are home schooled. These darlings are a handful and I treasure the fact that my daughter and son-in-law care so much about their children’s education that they choose to do it at home, every day in every way.

A newer study form the National Home Education Research Institutes website (http://www.nheri.org/Latest/Homeschooling-Across-America-Academic-Achievement-and-Demographic-Characteristics.html ) says that the average home schooled family is larger than most families. This says several things to me:

First of all, those children who are home schooled are able to move between grades and skills more easily. My toddler grand daughter has been playing with Montessori early stages manipulative activities. She does these often independently because they are available and because her big brothers are “doing school”. My middle grandson can begin reading when he is ready (RIGHT NOW!) because all those materials for beginning reading are in the house and ready for him to jump into rather than waiting until others catch up.

Secondly, the larger family research tells me that the “extra stuff” of school is perhaps too much for large families. I remember living in a town when my kids were in elementary school. They had the grades in public school in buildings such as Kindergarten through second one building, third and fourth in another building and 5th and 6th in the last building. Every building did a carnival. For an entire month we did carnivals. What a hassle and I kept thinking are they reading or only setting up ducks in a pond?

As public schools need more and more outside fund raising I can see where those choosing to Home School might feel they can do more with less at home. I wonder what we in public school can learn from going back to basics?

Have you seen snowdrifts? They are amazing when they get so big they actually hide things. I like to think about my faith drifting in unpredictable ways and hiding the everyday items of faith. Can you see the top of my garden cross? I’ve been drifting on this blog and I feel like the snow, that my everyday job of blogging has being hidden by the unknown.

I started out thinking that blogging for me would be like daily journaling. I know the language is different and the topics are predetermined but I still feel it is a daily task of a faith writer. My hope was to connect to others in faith, to inspire others to think faith in terms of daily life.

I was looking for answers when my daughter and son-in-law gave me a book for Christmas about Blogging. (Content Rules by Anne Handley and C.C. Chapman) I keep learning. After reading the book, I find that my original plan is more true to who I am and I was getting connected to more people. For instance, content rule 10 in the book is roots and wings. This is where my bi-weekly “resources” piece applies. I find that with only blogging 3X a week that gets lost.

So beginning the first of March I will return to 5 times a week to blog. I will blog on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. My categories will continue as faith families, grand parenting, faith communities, resources and home school faith. I will intersperse videos and quotes. All the blog posts will revolve around my passion of seasonal and faith changes and how they come together to help us grow. Life is not a mountaintop experience but a circle of experiences and relationships that form who we are as people of faith. Several times a year I will do a discussion around a book that makes us think. I hope you will join me as I drift back.

So I have a question for you, “What is Holiday Inn?” It’s not a hotel chain. It’s not the stable. It’s not a movie. It’s not even this cool snow fort. Holiday IN happens when you spend lots of time at home during a holiday. You spend your holiday IN with family and friends.

It often feels when you work that holidays are spent out. We are at parties, special services at church, recitals, at least 2 white elephant gift exchanges and we forget that the holiday spent in can be a treasure.

Learning to discern between the need to be out in the world and being “in” with your family is sometimes hard. God gives us some great role models. In the Jewish texts or Old Testament, Moses said, “sure I’ll go God but only if I can take my brother.” And in the New Testament what about all those families that followed Jesus around? They took their families in to hear Jesus together.

My grandsons built this snow fort with the help of their Auntie Brenda and Auntie Susan. It has great memories. Their Mother provided mini marshmallow guns to play with in the fort. Who won seems to be in discussion. Once they left the fort and turned the wrong way and ended up somewhere a lot farther from warmth and cocoa than they expected.

So I hope you spent some holiday “in” your family. In the northern world, the merry month of January is a great time to be in with family. God will be there with you.

On December 24, 2005, my second grandson was baptized. he was a little peanut but in a wintry story, family and friends came out on Christmas Eve to celebrate his entrance into a faith community.

This is a faith box that the faith community gave to this darling. Actually, it is a replacement for the original that burned in a house fire. Not all the grand kids got a faith box. I struggled with whether I should provide one for each grandchild.

This brings up the question about whether Grandparents are equalizers. Is that part of my role in the faith life of the little ones? My thought is that the equalizing I need to do is not about “things” but about day-to-day faith stories, family memories and songs. If you tell the faith stories again and again you will give each little one the same gift as they journey into faith.

Help kids understand that roots grow first to support a plant and bring nutrition. Grow carrots inside. In a shallow dish, cut the wide end of the carrot off and place in the dish. Tend your carrot plant. Add water and see what grows. What things does the carrot need to grow? What things do we need to grow in faith?
Carrots are root vegetables. What happens when there is no soil for the root to grow downward? Your carrot will tell you the answer.