Homeschool Room, A Work In (a little bit of ) Progress

If you came over from Heart of the Matter, please tell me you stopped in! If you didn't, you might want to check it out! This week is schoolroom week...

Several years ago we decided to add on to our house. One of the rooms we planned to add was a homeschool room.

We had always used our home comfortably, but it sure sounded nice to have a room dedicated to all of the books and crafts, etc. which come along with homeschooling. That way we’d have everything all in one place. Especially since, at that time, we had 5 school-aged children. That’s alot of stuff.

So build we did. And we made glorious plans for all of the wonderful things we’d include. Ohhh, the sheer joy of envisioning everything we’d learn, and all of the crafts and projects we’d do there. It was gonna be gooooddd.

Then, a certain worldwide business machine company my husband worked for changed their mind about something pretty important. And the effect on us was alot of money. NOT in our pockets. Which had been promised.

So, the addition was built and we were pretty far along, but we simply. ran. out. of. money. $$$

HALT.

Since then, that room has been a storage room, a garage sale prep room, a rabbit dormitory and a homeschool storage area, among other things.

Disclaimer: Let me be clear, I am not complaining. I am grateful that I have the space and all of the beautiful things it already contains. I am grateful I even get to stay home with my kids, not to mention homeschool them. I know that many are struggling now. And we’re okay, we just have an unfinished addition. And I know there are many of you who would just like to pay your light bill.

This year, it is my hope to use it, as is, for it’s originally intended purpose. Because we built it. And, hey, the kids are not getting any younger (Drat those kids!!).

So, today, I am swallowing my pride, and I am going to show you some pictures of the room in pretty raw form. Then I am going to tell you a few of my ideas and inspirations and invite you to help me make it be the best it can be, in it’s present form, for little to no money.

Basic idea, view from door. To my left, about 2 feet inside the door on the same wall as the shelves you see here, is the plumbing for the farm sink.

Some of the high points (dreams come true) are:

~ The old time light fixtures that came from the same molds as old schoolhouse light fixtures. I adore those!

~ In the big box against the wall is our 30” Porcher Farm sink. Waiting. And our plumbing fixtures are in the box on top of it.

~ All of the big windows and french doors, allowing us to enjoy the views, inviting us to participate in all of the warmth and greens and nature and natural light.

~ Soft, yet bright, yellow walls. I love yellow!

The two main basic things that are still missing are the flooring and the trim around the floors. You can see the sub-flooring has also seen better days!

We have the trim all stained and ready to go. The flooring we chose is made of cork and cut so it looks like planks, similar to this:

It is a highly durable material, and is made with renewable resources. This guy has some interesting information about cork flooring.

I have talked about painting the floor while we wait to save the rest of the money we need for the flooring. But we keep thinking we are close, so just haven’t yet.

North and east facing windows

Current reading area

I envision having a reading area. We use a literature based curriculum. And we read alot anyway. I hope to find some kind of comfy couch and/or chairs on Craigslist or at the Goodwill to place here.

We already had the area rug, so it is there for now. We already had the pillows too. The reverse sides are animal prints. I am thinking of recovering them. Or I may just move them back to the family room.

The little 60’s cart was my grandparents. It is brown and getting beat up looking. I may repaint it. Because the books we read change all of the time, I thought this would be a sweet way to keep our current books handy to our reading area. It also holds my youngest son’s coloring lap tray, and can hold other learning things to keep him busy. It’s also a good place for our file box. It holds chore cards, memory cards and cue cards to study for tests.

East facing door and west facing wall, which adjoins our living room. The big bump contains our chimney. The picture was hung when something taller was there. I don’t usually hang art very high.

All three of the desks were given to us by friends who were moving out of state. They are not exactly what I had in mind, but free is a very good price and I am grateful I have these desks for now. I had grand ideas for built in custom counters, cabinets and desks, and shelves going all the way up to the ceiling in this area, to take advantage of the vertical space (you can’t tell here, but it is a very high ceiling), which we would access via an old (or old looking, safety first!) ladder.

(Note: Regrettably, not my room. Just a great example of what I’d like.)

This picture, that I just now found in a great feature by Country Living, is ALOT like what I had in mind, down to the look of the plank wood floors and the farm table (in fact, there is lots of other fun inspiration in that piece!). Ours would include low counters or wide sills for ant farms, butterfly cocoons, and other small animal habitats, our interactive globe, microscope, etc.

I’d love cabinets like these:

Those cabinets (above) are very close in color to our bathroom cabinets, and I love it. But I think we will eventually go with white cabinets since the doors are white and the walls are yellow. I’d love butcher block tops too, but it depends on what else we settle on and when. We may go with black. The picture above even has a farm style sink. And I love the lower counter right next to the sink too!

My little desk area (I found the sweet old chair at the Goodwill for under ten dollars)

I am trying to decide if this area should be for school related work only, or if I should find a way to store other items such as stationery, bill paying center, etc.

Right now I have some contraband naked bottom photos of my kids. Those are the six 8X10 pictures you see above.I had each child photographed in the same pose between 6-7 months, laying on their tummy, bare naked. They are very sweet and innocent. But one of my older boys decided recently that it was time for them to disappear. So I am trying to honor his wishes while still being able to enjoy something I love. I doubt he will even notice they are there. At least not for a long time.

The other piece of “art” is a dream board. I recently participated in a Bible study based on the book of Ruth. One of the assignments was simply to dream, and to make something where we could visualize some of our dreams. That might sound simple, but it was quite an undertaking for me. I will talk about that in another post. Under the dream board, hanging on a hook, is my literal, written (but still partial) Bucket List, inside a little bucket.

Because, where else in a house do you put something like that? I also plan to hang some precious photos I took in India somewhere in this area. And, obviously, I need some kind of shelving and storage. Oh, and do you see the cute blue file folders on my desk? Take note, because I am going to bring them up again.

Here is the current storage solution. The shelves were free, from the same people who gave us the desks. Just to the left of these shelves is where the plumbing is for the farm sink.

I prefer not to have all of the clutter exposed. I am working at tidying it up but, eventually, I hope to have more enclosed cabinets. I am searching for some solutions on how to store notebooks too (you have any ideas on this?). Because their shape just irritates me as they don’t line up nicely on the shelves. And I have set a goal to use up alot of those craft items on the bottom shelves before the school year is over!

A piece of art I love (you can see in picture above where it is hanging). I found it at the Goodwill a few years back and thought it would be perfect for a homeschool room.

Since I think the light prevented you from being able to see in the picture above, I thought I’d show you our homeschool security system, Boris. If you look closely, you can even see where he slimed the window. LOL.

As I have mentioned before, I recently took a trip to India. And, yes, part of my heart stayed there when the rest of me flew home. I have been wanting to come up with a way to include that beautiful, bright, Indian blue you so often see there. So far, I have not worked it into our house.

Near Mother Teresa’s Home For the Destitute and Dying, Kolkata

Two beautiful children I love

I will be framing the pictures above, as well as others with blue, above my desk. This brings me back to the blue file folders. And the pillows I might recover. And how I want to tidy up the shelves.

I want to keep the room somewhat farmy and schoolish and traditional, but would like to inject a pop of this color, or similar, here and there.

I have three school aged children and a pre-schooler. I’d like ideas on inexpensive ways to make this room work. Each item I add must be functional, not just decorative. Do you have ideas for me?

Oh, and if you know of any contests to win a free room makeover, I’d make a great contestant!

Jibberish to Me

The timing of today’s post was influenced by my peers. Yep, I give in to that every once in awhile. This time, as I mentioned in a previous post, I just really wanted to be a part of this:

…which I saw going on over at a blog one of my friends writes for. And this week is Curriculum Week. I want all of my homeschool friends to know about this fun resource. If you do participate, or if you learn something really fabulous by reading someone else’s blog post because of it, please do tell me!

CAUTION: Long post. But if you have ever agonized about math, or wondered if you can speak your child’s language, I hope you will be encouraged. There are so many resources out there. You can find the ones you need!

Math has never been one of those subjects that any of us, me included, have just done for fun. But the boys have been fairly easy, if you use the word easy loosely since I do not, nor have I ever, enjoyed math for the sake of math. Now, get me going on how many pounds of beef I can get cut and wrapped for one low price, toss in a bag of rice I can buy in bulk, or a coupon for a Ben & Jerry’s 2fer and I’ll be happily running figures in my head with a dreamy smile on my face. But puhleeze!! Do NOT make me just sit and “do math”.

We’ve used a variety of math curriculums through the years. If you’ve homeschooled for a few years, you understand that, while there is some comfort in using the same thing each year, you also have to be flexible and change what is not working, or what you can see is not going to work for you that year because you had a baby or are moving to a foreign country or what-have-you.

We’ve purchased Dollar Store workbooks, workbooks at learning stores and online print-outs. We’ve done Singapore and Bob Jones, Life-Pac and Switched on Schoolhouse. But mostly, once we’ve passed third grade, we’ve done Saxon in conjunction with the Dive CDs. They’ve all done fine with minimal help by my-math-avoiding-self.

Then came my girl.

Possible Map of Daughter’s Brain

(oops, I forgot to include the part for her pets)

Finishing third grade last year, we had not even yet attempted Saxon or Dive Into Math. I’d tried several different things and she just seemed to get stuck at a certain point each day. This last year, I decided to try Life-Pac because I liked the fact that she could take it in smaller increments, have a sense of accomplishment after completing each booklet, and I had the option to inexpensively buy additional booklets if I could see that she was not mastering specific topics covered within each.

Math took a ton of time each day. As the year progressed, we were continuing to spend upwards of 90 minutes on just 4 pages of math. Not time reading or cooking together, or having mud fights or hiking or learning to knit or paint. Not fun time, but frustrating time. On math and math alone. Time when my sweet girl seemed to “get it’ when I explained it, but she had a hard time retrieving what she knew at a later time.

I describe it this way: While I was teaching her, or as she read, she would seem to grasp the concept. She would put it into her Brain Storage Unit (BSU). The next time that subject came up, she would see the problem or concept and try to retrieve the information she knew she had stored, but it was as if she could not remember how to get to that BSU. So I would give her reminders -- something like “remember when we wrote out all of those hundreds and then you counted by tens until we got to a thousand?”. And she would say “oh yeah!” and I could almost see her thought process taking a little journey on a brain path to the BSU and gathering the info she had previously stored.

But I knew I could not be Mapquest Mom forever. Certainly not in a test situation. And, really, was she learning it if she could not even remember how to get to what she learned? I know she is a smart little cookie, sharp as a tack. So I knew it was I who was missing something about the way she speaks and understands the language of math.

Ouch.

I am aware that there is a shortage of females in the math and science world. I want my daughter to break beyond the typical. I want her to have every advantage. That meant that I, who did not fluently speak my own math language, was going to have to step out of the box. I was going to have to find a Rosetta Stone, if you will, a way I could use what I know, and might not love, to instill in her not only a knowledge, but a love, of math and the concepts needed to really understand it.

The following days and weeks were filled with Mapquest Mom trying to meet Rosetta Stone in the vast world of Internet Knowledge Gleaning and Talk-It-Around-Town Conferences. I surfed and chatted. I researched learning styles (again) and learning disabilities. I recalled advice given by conference speakers past and friends who are teachers and fellow homeschool parents. I followed one link that led to another. I cut and pasted and perused.

Finally I narrowed it down to two different curriculums/teaching methods I felt would make sense in her language. And I prayed. Boy, did I pray! My child’s life was at stake here.

Okay, now I’m being a bit dramatic. But you know that you know how I felt. Because it’s my child I’m talkin’ about here and the responsibility for what and whether or not she learns is upon me. Squarely upon me.

Enter

(click to go there)

You’ve never heard of it? Don’t worry. I’ve been homeschooling for awhile now, and I hadn’t either.

Their methods make sense. The way they developed their program makes sense. Some of what they said in their information very specifically addressed some of the issues I saw my daughter struggling with. And the simplicity of their ideas appealed to me.

They use an abacus as the base for their learning, for goodness sakes.

So I bought what we needed to make the transition into a totally new way of speaking Math. Well, plus what I thought we’d need to teach another kid or two for another year or so.

We got started the last week or so of April.

Our first day was fun. She kept asking when we were going to start actually doing math. I thought that was a good sign. The second day she asked if we were going to “be able” to do math that day. The third day she asked when we were going to do math and if we could do it longer. And on it went, until I decided to break for summer.

So we are part way through their Transitions book. And, you know, I am not dreading the Tower of Babel (reference to a Bible story) feeling anymore.

I know I can speak her language.

P.S. RightStart is sponsoring a free webinar on August 12th if anyone is interested.

Menu Plan Monday, August 2-9, 2010

For a ton more menu and recipe ideas, check out this week's Menu Plan Monday over at Organizing Junkie.

Who out there does Once A Month Cooking (OAMC)? Do any of you use your own recipes and make them work for your big cooking day? Or do you use a prescribed menu created by someone else? What are some of your favorite meals?

Before I left to go to India (you can read a couple posts where I reflect about that here and here if you are just popping in from MPM and you’d like to), I cooked and froze enough meals for my family to eat dinner each day with leftovers for lunches. However, apparently, many of the dishes had enough for 2-3 meals. So we still have a number of meals in the freezer, which I now get to enjoy as I get caught up on sleep, housework, school planning, family and friends, and work on some other projects I have brewing.

Those meals sure are coming in handy, and I do believe I want to make it a habit to pre-make at least two weeks worth of meals each month. I am looking for suggestions on healthy, yummy, good-for-the-freezer meals to add to my growing list, so please do tell if you have some you really love!

My meal plan this week is a feeble attempt at re-establishing some sort of routine. All three of my older boys will be out of the country at a couple different orphanages. That cuts down on how much I need to make for dinner by half. I am hoping that means I can also cut down on my time in the kitchen by half! Yep, it’s all about quick and easy while, hopefully, still being healthy. Please forgive the fact that I am not including very many recipe links this week.

In addition to meals I made previously, I will be adding some items (frozen) I bought at Costco, some fresh items I buy at Farmer’s Market and some fresh, seasonal, local produce. I love me some grilled veggies! And, ohhh, do we ever love Oregon blueberries this time of year!

Monday - Grilled Nut’N Berry Sausages (locally made with local ingredients)and seasonal grilled veggies (probably potatoes, corn and zucchini)

Tuesday - Chicken with Mushrooms and Bacon in Wine Sauce and **Last Minute Addition (see below)

Wednesday – Hamburgers with fresh, local green beans seasoned with local pork and onions, watermelon

Thursday – Chicken with Mushrooms and Bacon in Wine Sauce (based loosely on this recipe)

Friday – Pizza from Costco

Saturday - Leftovers

Sunday - Burger Thing at church

Have a great week – and take it easy along with me!

**Last Minute Addition: I clicked on a link I found at this week's MPM, which took me to this cute blog, which I think is dedicated to Pioneer Woman cooking, which, of course, linked me to Pioneer Woman, who I love but don't read because, well, because everyone else does.

So, anyway, I am totally making these on Tuesday night. Because I have not started back on my super strict diet yet since I got back from India. And I am soon, so I wouldn't be able to eat these. And I wanna eat them.

Crash Hot Potatoes

Getting Our Homeschool On

Having just returned home from India and some beautiful experiences there, I am needing to be purposeful about changing gears and getting back into the swing of things. One of those things is homeschooling.

This year, as far as school-aged students, I will have a high school sophomore, a 6th grader and a 4th grader (eek, freaks me out a little to list them out like that! How could they possibly be at those levels? And how could I possibly have only three school-aged kids?).

I have a loose framework of ideas for curriculum and objectives set out before me, and I need to narrow my scope and get more specific, especially for my high schooler. This can get overwhelming at times, because high school is so important for his future. Yes, one of my favorite words, “purposeful”, definitely needs to apply here.

My bloggy friend Darcy (who took my jumble of ideas and preferences and designed my fabulous blog) ran a helpful and encouraging “blog hop” last year on her personal blog. It will be run this year as well, over at another blog she is involved with, Heart of the Matter. I am going to use it as motivation to get my own ducks in a row. Or chickens in a tree, whichever the case my be at my house.

It will run for four weeks and include Curriculum Week, School Room Week, Student Photo Week and Day In The Life Week (when you go to their site you can also get links to last year’s posts).

Check it out (click on banner below) and I hope I will see some of you joining in!

Duck, Duck, Goose

“Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people)…” Ephesians 5:15

Another person, who went to India as part of the team I was on, posted this picture today. Here’s me, cheering someone on as I am teaching a circle of kids at the Happy Home in India how to play “Duck, Duck, Goose”. What a precious time, seeing them all learn and play with such delight!

How similar that game is to some of my thoughts before the trip and now, for sure, after taking the trip. I have contemplated it so many times throughout my life.

I often wonder why and how God chose for me to live where I live, be born healthy and into the family I am in, meet the man I married, live a comfortable and healthy life, have good and healthy kids, not be in want, be able to worship freely, have brunette hair and fabulous friends, like the great outdoors and the color yellow – and all of the other things that make up who I am, where I live, and how my world view is developed.

I am no more or less deserving of happiness or contentment than anyone else, certainly not more than the beautiful kids we spent time with in India. No more than the widows or the orphans in Haiti, in lack of clean water and healthy living conditions. No more than the parent sitting at the bedside of their child fighting a disease or an addiction, or the old man our friend Roshan found on the side of the road in Shimoga yesterday.

Though often the ‘chooser’ in “Duck, Duck, Goose” chooses the next “goose” randomly, I think God is more like that one who has someone specific in mind, who wants a certain person to chase them. I don’t think He decided randomly, but He had specific ideas and purposes in mind for how He chose me and how He chooses all of us.

“You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day.” Psalm 139:15-15 (Message Bible)

He purposefully chose me to be uniquely me. I had to be born here, in this family, have these relationships and life experiences to grow into the me He created me to be. I had to be on this particular journey.

I can never understand the big picture and, using human emotion, be ‘fine’ with seeing others live in sadness, sickness, poverty and even hopelessness. It is my challenge to walk worthy of whatever He has called me to, to accept whatever challenges He has for me with a willing heart -- even with joy, delighting in learning and in “playing”,trying to live wisely, accepting that He does not look at how worthy I am, but at who He created me to be.

"A bird's not defined by being grounded but by his ability to fly. Remember this, humans are not defined by their limitations, but by the intentions I have for them; not by what they seem to be, but by everything it means to be created in my image." ~ W. Young

Smiling as I enjoy the lesson,

*Ephesians 4:1

*James 1:2-4

*Ecclesiastes 9:10

“Let It Go”

I knew many years ago that India would be significant in my life. The first time I tried to go, at age 15, it did not work out. The second trip I had hoped for, last year, was put off because of a nephew’s wedding during the time that year’s trip was planned. This year, the third possibility, weighed heavily on my mind. Eighteen days is a long time to be gone from one’s family, especially because I have young ones.

I prayed and stewed and debated. I worried myself about how my family would function, what people would think, if I would be letting anyone down, or if it was even a reasonable consideration. The short story is that, eventually, I heard, almost audibly, the words “Let it go”.

At the time, I thought God was challenging me to let go of specific “good” idols, those things in my life that are good and right, but that begin to take a more important place in my heart and my motivations than they should.

The specific things I thought He meant were being a wife, a mom and a homemaker, and the way people perceive me in those roles. I thought He was calling me into a greater balance -- within those roles, yet placing the importance on the right motivations and desired results.

I forgot about those words for awhile. But as the trip progressed, I began to be challenged in other ways and they came back to me. I began to realize there are many other things He was, and is, asking me to relinquish to Him.

Mostly, as I am aware of these things in my life, I seek to hand them over. But I discover that, in my humanness, handing them over is not a quick or easy process. It takes work. It takes consistency. And practice -- painful, muscle-aching practice. And only He knows how to approach them with me in ways where I will recognize them and be challenged enough to work my way through and past them.

As I reflect, and though I realize I don’t have a complete list even now, I see how many of my “good” idols are wrapped up in one common denominator.

I’m a People Pleaser. If you’re happy, I’m happy.

There I said it. And now I am left to ponder what you will think of me. Because that is the nature of a People Pleaser.

We are always asking ourselves, “Did I love that person well?” and “Did I represent myself accurately?”. Lord help us when we feel our hearts or motivations are misunderstood!

“Whatever may be your task, work at it heartily, from the soul, as something done for the Lord and not for men, knowing with all certainty that it is from the Lord and not from men that you will receive the inheritance which is your real reward. The One Whom you are actually serving is the Lord Christ the Messiah.” Colossians 3:23-24 (Amplified Bible)

And so it goes, my lifelong struggle.

He placed it in my path again, clearly visible. He allowed the comfortable rug I had placed under my feet to be pulled away. He allowed me to teeter and totter, to feel unsure of myself in a strange land, with no long trusted family member or friend, or even my comfy bed, to run to for comfort or reassurance. He made me face one of my most formidable giants. All alone I was forced to struggle and writhe and agonize in the discomfort of my own creation, my doubts of self worth, my seeming inability to find my peace in Him and in Him alone. In the midst, He reminded me, not so gently this time, “Let it go”.

“The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” I Samuel 16:7b

My heart-hands are rope burned from hanging on too long. Psalm 139 is so beautiful and reassuring. I again slowly loosen my grip. It spelled it all out for me, clearly, yet again.

I don’t want this thing. I don't know why it is so hard to let it go.

I want a teachable spirit so I can learn what that means to “let it go” and so I can clearly hear that one clear voice guiding me on how it’s done. I seek that Peace that passes all understanding. That Peace that comes when I know I am safe. That rest that comes when I remember that He created me to be marvelous, and I am marvelous. He is with me, even in a strange land. I am safe in His arms (listen to song here). He truly sees my heart, He knows and understands me …

and He loves me still.

In Peace,

Sweet beauty = being truly and magnificently loved by the Creator.

Psalm 139:1-17, 23-24 (emphasis mine)

¹ O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.

² You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

⁵ You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

¹¹ If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

¹⁸ Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.”…

²³ “Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Psalm 139:1-17, 23-24

How Then Shall We Live?

Well, here I am, home from the other side of the world, feeling like it is a different world altogether. I am still trying to take it all in, trying to process all of the beauty and all of the pain I saw and participated in. I am praying and sorting and hoping for ways to incorporate all of these feelings, these lessons before me, into everyday life. For my lens – my eyes and my vision, is forever changed.

Two kids I love. There.

Still, the two worlds are so vastly separate, in some ways it seems easier to keep them that way. Being a person who prefers black and white, the clarity of that would be most comfortable.

Even as that thought occurs to me, I know it will not be the path I choose.

I think back to a recent sermon I heard at church. Though it was applied differently, it is relevant to so many things. He was speaking specifically about how the world is neither all bad nor all good, so we, especially as Christians, need to “live in the tension” between the two.

Two kids I love. Here.

I know that tension is where I will choose to be. I cannot live in one world or in the other, but in the disparity, and even in the similarities, between the two of them. Though not the same comfort as black and white, thinking of it this way provides me with a degree of clarity I can live with. It gives me a framework within which to sort my thoughts and feelings, my convictions and emotions, and a way to function in everyday life as I learn to incorporate the lovely wounds, the heart scars inflicted by the beauty and the pain of that other world within this world, learning to be fully dependent on One who created, cares about, and lives in both.

Romans 2:1-2 (The Message Bible) “So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”