Back to School

Our two-month summer break has come to an end and the kids and I are back at school again.  I thought my daughter would get all freaky and anxious about starting middle school, while I had been taking it all in stride, knowing each phase of parenting has a unique set of pros and cons. But a week before school began, all she could talk about it was how excited she was to be getting a locker, while I behaved more like a freaky, erratic adolescent even threatening to pull her out and homeschool her when I learned that the teacher I have heard horror stories about would not only be teaching her two subjects, but four.  But I don't suppose 6th grade is a great experience anywhere.  She's been super excited though, and even wrote "Rising 6th Grader" on our driveway and in large letters with chalk.  If only all the concerns she will ever face in life could be remedied with something as simple as a new locker, but I know I need not worry, for she knows the Prince of Peace, and He calls her by name.

Back to School Day, Middle School Orientation, and Family Festival

At least our son got the teaching team we wanted most.  He absolutely loves his class which he shares with some of his favorite friends and his teachers.  School bored him silly in the past because it is so easy and slow (which is the case for many other students and explains why enrollment is down 35% in the Grammar schools), but I guess having friends suffering through the monotony with you helps.  I'm still not at peace with the curricula or teaching methodology and continue to push for changes even while being amazed by the leadership skills, Biblical knowledge, and strong character of the high schoolers.

First Full Day of School

School started on Thursday, and the school PTA hosted a family festival Friday evening.  The dunk tank is my favorite tradition as students take turns dunking the principals, headmaster and favorite coaches and teachers. My introverted, quiet, teachable, self-motivated, mama's boy was the ideal homeschool student, and he and I both struggled with the decision to send him to school. So what a blessing it was that night to see him having a blast with his friend and then hear him say to me, "Mom, I'm SO EXCITED about my school. I love it here."

As we walked through the halls that first week, I noticed some of the kids' artwork on display from last year.

His

Hers

The back to school rush was crazy as ever.  School supply lists alone involved shopping at four different stores and some on-line orders. We tried to order the middle school uniforms and athletic uniforms and bigger pants for my son from the annual consignment sale, but my husband was in the hospital during the sale, so I hired a shopper who bought all the wrong sizes.  So I paid full price at the uniform store only to discover on the first day of school that my son's new pants were too short already and that our  daughter needed more shoes and gear for volleyball.  Try-outs ran for three consecutive days and at least twelve girls had to be cut or go to an exhibition white team who would not get to play any actual games.  Our girl had never played volleyball before, but her athleticism gained through 12-16 hours a week of gymnastics served her well and she made the team.

Photos from the family festival posted on the school's Facebook page. That's our girl in orange and her pals at the top!

That first week of school was so chaotic that I rushed too quickly and learned (again) a valuable lesson. On those days when everything goes wrong or takes too long, and it seems you can't possibly get done all that needs to be done that day, I don't recommend using a knife that is much too sharp to chop up food for dinner that will be served much too late because you just might slice your finger right after all the urgent care centers nearby have closed. Then you'll realize you suddenly have plenty of time to drive to another city for treatment.

In the stillness of the waiting room and in the midst of cracking jokes with the medical team, I realized just how unimportant all that STUFF was that had me rushing too fast and feeling frustrated. It was just a minor mishap, but how many times does this stubborn girl have to learn this lesson the hard way? ‪#‎SavorLife‬ ‪#‎SlowDown‬ ‪#‎Perspective‬

Mighty Moms

I've always wanted to train other women in health and fitness but never pursued that dream because of the corruption, immodesty, narcissism, and obsession with outward appearance vs. substance so common in the fitness industry. Thanks to the encouragement of a friend and the support of our kids' school, I now have the opportunity to share a word from the Scriptures and pray with other moms while developing efficient training programs and working right beside them to help them achieve their fitness goals so they can be healthier and stronger for their families and their ministries. These moms will not boast or show off their progress in skanky clothing, for we discipline our bodies to win the prize that lasts forever and strive to do all things for His glory, not our own. (Philippians 3:14, 1 Corinthians 9:26-27, Colossians 3:23)

I had the great privilege of bumping into a tough and athletic graduate of our school this week while I was taking inventory in the weight room for our Mighty Moms fitness class. "Will the moms really be lifting weights?" he asked.

Lest anyone doubt the underlying power and strength of a mighty mom, perhaps I should share our fight song: (sung to the tune of the Mighty Mouse theme song)

Flab and weakness never hang around,
When they hear this mighty sound,

“Here we come to save the day!”

That means the Mighty Moms …are on the way!

Yes, sir, moms must stand for truth and light.

So they build more power, speed, and might!

In the home or in the van,

They’re strong and healthy, resting in God’s plan.

We know that when there’s danger, we'll never despair;

Because we know when trials come, Moms are there.

In the church…at the school...anywhere!

We're not worrying at all.

We’re just listening for their call.

"Here we come to save the day!"

That means the Mighty Moms are on the way.

When there is a wrong to right,

Mighty Moms will join the fight!

"Here they come to save the day!"

That means that Mighty Moms are on the way!

‪#‎GoofyGirl‬ ‪#‎CornyCoach‬ ‪#‎strongisthenewskinny‬ ‪#‎IBelieveInYouLadies‬ ‪#‎MomsAreSuperHeroes‬

STEM
In addition to facilitating the Mighty Moms Muscle and Movement class for fun, I am facilitating and new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) program at our kids' school and at a large homeschooling institute at a fabulous campground 35 minutes away.  I initially expected to have one small class of students at each location.  Now I have two large classes at each location and a waiting list!

I felt so called to work with seniors last year and saw fruit come out of my efforts to disciple and equip those students for the unsheltered world of college life, and I had put so much time and effort into writing the curriculum from scratch with the expectation that I could reuse it for years that it was quite a blow to lose that position when all the part-time positions got moved to full-time staff due to low enrollment in the lower grades for the reasons I've already mentioned.

Yet, as I see the STEM program growing and being used by the administration to show leaving or prospective families that classical schools due care about enriching students in this area, I see it all unfolding as part of God's plan. STEM has consumed so much of my time already that I never could have handled teaching 12th grade math and the STEM programs this coming year.  Yes, sometimes God must prune ministries from our lives that we absolutely love so that He can grow our sphere of influence in new, exciting, and unexpected ways. When that happens, we absolutely must cling to Jesus because if we ever let go of the vine, we will wither and die, bringing everyone else down with us. (John 15:4-6)

The STEM program doesn't even begin until August 31, but I've stayed so busy with all the registrations and logistics of finding another classroom, figuring out ways to accommodate more students by offering more classes, and hiring teacher assistants.

Substitute Teaching
I am also on the high school substitute teacher list and for whatever reason, I am the first person teachers have been calling.  So this past week, I've been subbing for the theology and apologetics teacher and dean of House and next week I'll sub for the "My Body: God's Masterpiece" course and study hall.  While I have studied both theology and apologetics previously, their teacher (an ordained minister, bi-vocational pastor, and seminary graduate with multiple degrees) has a mind on a plane far higher than mine, so I've done a lot of reading and studying this past week to prepare for the classes.  I've also been able to use a few of my engineering and project management skills as I have helped the students kick off their Trinity Monolith projects which will result in three large artistic sculptures representing the Holy Trinity being displayed at various locations across our town. I was impressed as I watched them take charge and lead with respect, courtesy, and dependence upon God. 

Some of my favorite quotes from my theology and apologetics studies this week are listed below:

"Christ’s people are to be active in the 'renewing of [the] mind,' for 'as [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he' (Romans 12:1– Proverbs 23:7; Matthew 15:10–20). There is a necessary distinction between thinking and action, but if activism happens without an adequate foundation of thinking, then our activism will be separated from the gospel and from the demands of Christ on our lives....The knowledge crisis is that people don't know if they can know anything. The real knowledge crisis is not merely what people do not know; it is also what they will not know. It is a disposition of the will."- Albert Mohler

While the following Bible passage isn't a favorite because it describes God's judgment, the message about how the fall of man and generational sin has corrupted the minds of "homo-sapiens" (a term which ironically means "wise thinking creatures") is sadly an accurate description of modern America, particularly with regard to the legalization of gay marriage and the refusal of the left to even watch the videos that expose the barbaric actions of Planned Parenthood, much less prosecute them or even withhold federal funding from them.

¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
²⁶ Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷ In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
²⁸ Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. ²⁹ They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; ³¹ they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. ³² Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.  (Romans 1: 18-32)

One of our objectives for this week's apologetics class could be summed up with this quote from John Piper:

 "The main positive aim is that you will embrace serious thinking as a way of loving God and people—that through the awakening and sharpening of your thinking, you will love God and love people more deeply and more fully and more unshakably."

John Piper reminds us that when trying to think deeply and rightly, our first focus should be the cross of Christ.

"The human wisdom that cannot know God—the human thinking that cannot fathom the cross—is self-exalting wisdom, man-centered wisdom, sin-denying wisdom....True wisdom sees the glory of God in the cross. False wisdom sees the cross as foolishness because it threatens our pride. There is no other object of knowledge in the universe that exposes proud, man-exalting thinking like the cross does. Only humble, Christ-exalting thinking can survive in the presence of the cross." - John Piper

Francis Chan once shared the following list of questions he asks himself before he prepares to teach or speak. Whether you are a teacher by vocation, ministry calling, parental obligation, and/or mentoring relationships, perhaps you will find this list as helpful as I did.

(1) Am I worried about what people think of my message or what God thinks? (Teach with fear.)
(2) Do I genuinely love these people? (Teach with love.)
(3) Am I accurately presenting this passage? (Teach with accuracy.)
(4) Am I depending on the Holy Spirit’s power or my own cleverness? (Teach with power.)
(5) Have I applied this message to my own life? (Teach with integrity.)
(6) Will this message draw attention to me or to God? (Teach with humility.)
(7) Do the people really need this message? (Teach with urgency.)