Introduction / Prologue

I've owned my fair share of parenting books. As a matter of fact, I had no idea how many I had until I took them off the shelf to take this picture. I was in shock. Then I laughed hysterically. With all this "help", you'd think I had this parenting gig figured out pretty well by now. Ha! 

So maybe it's because I have an apparently insatiable appetite for parenting knowledge. Maybe I'm looking for a comprehensible treatise on the particulars of mothering well. Maybe I just don't want to screw up my kids. But I'm excited to read this book because it's not just another parenting book. Mothering like Mary is not just another way for me to fail helplessly as a parent. Mary was real - she struggled with the same struggles we face today. God equipped her for the task - as he does for us too! 

I loved the paragraph in the intro that begins So why would we care to mother like Mary? ... Her hope was built on faith: that in Jesus, her life was sponged clean of sin and guilt, and her death would lead to a heavenly home. That's where I want my hope to be too, and what I want my kids to learn. 

When we open our Bibles and let God's word direct us, then we have grabbed hold of Mary's treasure. Yes! As it says in Deuteronomy 6:5-9, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads, write them on the doorframe of your houses and on your gates."  This is how I desire to parent. 

Prologue:

First off, I just want to mention how I appreciate how the author begins this section as she does in the following chapters - with poetry. It's a lovely way to summarize each section and I think she does a beautiful job!

400 years is an awfully long time! I can't say I blame Zechariah's doubting heart. I can relate to it too much. Who am I to point fingers? The paragraph that begins There is a message here for both life-long believers ... It's all very well that you have destroyed sin, death and the devil and won for me forgiveness and eternal life ... but ...  Ouch. That hits close to home! How reassuring are God's promises to us! And God always keeps his promises! 

This is a truth I share with my children. My daughter and I were just reading The Promise of Isaac Bible story and I asked her, "Why can we trust God to keep all of His promises?" She responded, "Because He always keeps His promises and what He says is true." Amen, dear daughter! 

And we pray:
Dear Lord, We ask your blessing on our study of Mary and the Treasure that she held on to. Help us to hold on to that Treasure as well - especially in these busy and hectic days leading up to Christmas. Keep our focus on You! Give us wisdom as we study your Word. Help us teach our children your truths. Sanctify us by your truth; Your word is truth! Amen

Book Club Sundries

If you are here to participate in the Advent Book Club - Welcome! There are a few items to note before the formal start of our study on December 1st. 

On November 28th, I'll be posting on the Introduction and Prologue. I'll then be posting daily starting on December 1st through the 24th. My posts are usually scheduled to publish at 8 am. 

Please remember to try and watch the movie My Son My Savior. At our church, it will be shown during adult Sunday morning Bible study on November 29th. During the following weeks of Advent, we'll also be following the study that follows scenes in the movie. 

If you're new to my format of "blog book club", let me explain how it basically goes. I start with some of my own comments and thoughts and highlight some of my favourite passages from the book.  Sometimes readers like to form their own thoughts before they read what I have to say while others may appreciate someone else going first:) It's all good! 

I'll also be personally answering one of the questions found at the end of the chapter. Feel free to share your own thoughts or answers in the comment section below. This gets the conversation going!

If you get behind, DON'T PANIC! If you're a week back and just now making comments, it'll still be read and acknowledged. You can still be part of the conversation. 

I try to make it really clear as to what I'm quoting. If I am italicizing words in the same size font, this means it's from the book The Mom God Chose. I usually will give a page number or the first words of the paragraph as reference. If words are italicized and in bold, I am quoting the Bible. If they are in just bold and same font, it's either a prayer or used for stress. If I'm quoting from the hymnal, you'll know this by small, italicized font with the hymn reference. OK - hopefully it's not as confusing as all that sounds now but will make more sense as we go along. 

Oh! And if you are here for book club and wondering who I am - I don't blame you:) I'm Rachel - (WELS) pastor's wife, mother of two, home-maker, home-educator, home-based hair stylist and child of God.   This is technically my family blog. I started it in 2007 as a way to communicate with family and friends all over the place when my husband and I traveled to China to adopt our daughter. Since then, I've just kept writing! So no worries if you could care less about the wreath I made by destroying an old Lutheran hymnal, or you're not interested in the super cute chairs I my husband just recovered with adorable IKEA fabric. I'm just thrilled you're here now for the purpose of joining me in the study of Mary through the month of December! May God bless your Advent study! 

Advent Book Club Announcement!

I'm so excited to announce the book I'll be discussing here this Advent season! Let me tell you a little about it.

Northwestern Publishing House very recently released their new movie, My Son My Saviour out in time for this Christmas season. Along with this release are accompanying tools for further study - devotionals, Advent by Candlelight program, small group study, etc. They've also just published a book, The Mom God Chose written by fellow pastor's wife (and Canadian:) Sarah Habben. The website has the following synopsis:

Discover more about the mother of Jesus and learn timeless truths for raising your own children in the book The Mom God Chose. Throughout the book, you'll be reminded to rely on your heavenly Father in all the trials you face as a mom. After all, motherhood is a blessing from God! In addition to 24 compelling lessons, the book includes interviews of present-day moms and study questions.

I'll be starting the discussion December 1st with an earlier post on the introduction. You can purchase the book here. If you live by me, you can purchase a book from my church and save yourself the trouble. But I ordered limited quantities so let me know ASAP. 

I'm very excited for this seasonal book that's sure to have impact beyond Christmas. Sarah's a gifted writer and the content is solidly Scriptural. The interviews she included of present-day moms will have you weeping in your chair! Or maybe it's just me. 

Please join me as we study Mary, the mom God chose. God also chose each of us as the moms of our kids. It may seem sometimes that we're not cut out for this role (and that maybe our kids were switched at birth) but God is equipping us for the task!! And through our mothering, we are serving and glorifying Him! 

One more thing - watch the movie if you can. Your WELS church should have a stack by now if they've been paying any attention to the mail, WELS Connection, or checking their email. You can also order a copy yourself. 

Joining the book club? Feel free to leave a comment letting me know with as much or as little info as you feel comfortable. I pray this study will be a blessing to you, sisters! 

Sewing, School on the Road, Soup Weather and Such

Plymouth Rock, people. The rock. Pilgrims. Mayflower. All set in beautiful New England. It was lovely! Let me back up ...

Wayne had pastor's conference in Massachusetts and Zanna and I tagged along. While the men spent their time in meetings, Lisa Gumm and her kids hung out with us and explored the area. We spent the first day exploring a mill in Providence that was one of the first to spark the Industrial Revolution. Serious history, ya'll. 
We took the guided tour followed up by a picnic lunch in the perfect fall weather. 

Once the men were relieved of their duties, we packed the gang up and both families headed for Plymouth. Time was ticking and we went straight for Plimoth Plantation - a live museum with people dressed in costume and playing their part on the plantation. We toured the Wampanoag tribe's settlement and walked the street of the Pilgrim's village, peaking our heads in to explore their homes. 

That night we took full advantage of the hotel we managed to score. It was right at the top of the hill of the original Plymouth "main street". It boasted a pool and waterslide that was built into a replica of the Mayflower! And the hot tub was built into "Plymouth Rock".  It was super cool!!

Plymouth Rock itself was nothing to write home about as you can see above. It was a rock (duh). You looked at it from above. It was surrounded by fence. It had the date inscribed on it. At night, it wasn't even lit up. But whatever!

The next day we visited the Mayflower 2 - replica of the original. Again, people were dressed and in character to answer questions having to do with the long trip over from England. It was really neat to imagine what it must have been like for the passengers. 

We also enjoyed some good New England fare: NE Clam Chowder, Lobster Rolls and Mayflower Golden Ale. 

We really enjoyed and cherished our time spent with good friends. We thank God for their friendship!!

Back on the home front, Zanna finally finished her sewing project with godmother "Auntie" Karen. Karen had given her books on sewing ideas for her birthday. After picking one out, the two have been meeting regularly to complete the project. Karen has inspired a love of sewing in this girl! She's now the go - to gal in the family to fix clothing tears, puts buttons back on and has made little things for her dolls. Thank goodness because that's an area her mother doesn't do well;)

Mother-in-law, Fran, came for a visit to see us for just over a week in October. We enjoyed having her join us in our regular goings on - dragging her to swim and violin lessons, homeschool co-op, Bible classes, choir, the grocery store - you get the idea! We also took a special trip to Quebec City on our "weekend" (Monday and Tuesday).  

It was totally worth doing a city tour and getting a local to guide us around for a few hours pointing out places and filling in history. The days were cool but sunny and beautiful! Some fall colour still clung to select trees and bushes - just enough to keep it cheery! We got a great workout walking up and down all those hills and treated ourselves to authentic French-Canadian fare: Quebec meat pies, pea soup, maple syrup pie, poutine. 

No kidding - around every corner of this city is a picture! Lovely!

On the home front, I recovered my dining room chairs. The following is particularly for my mom's benefit, but if you happen to care please feel free to read on.

It started at IKEA, where all good schemes seem to start. I didn't realize I needed fabric when I went in. But by the time Mom and I came out, both of us possessed fabric we couldn't live without. And because I don't sew (see above comments), I could only come up with the excuse of recovering my chairs. Before we left IKEA, we managed to talk some other strange lady into buying this fabric too. 

Anyway, when I got home I proudly and excitedly showed Wayne my new fabric and shared what I planned on doing with it. Do you know that he wasn't nearly as excited as I expected him to be? I didn't get it? Why should he care? It cost me all of $15 so it couldn't be the unneeded expense. Sure, the fabric on them already was still in good shape but this would update them. Who doesn't want to update? 

I finally got around to this project on his day off - a Monday - because I needed him and his staple gun. And since I don't use his staple gun, I needed him. It was at that point I realized, this is not my project - I've just signed him up to recover our chairs! You're welcome, honey!

So here's the before on top and the after on the bottom. He did an awesome job (except one of the chairs has upside down fabric, but whatever). They bring out the Scandinavian in the style of furniture. The fabric (not the upside down). 

I can not believe how fast this season is going! Will is having a great Sophomore year at Prep and I have not seen him for THREE MONTHS! So we are really looking forward to being with him soon. And believe it or not, Advent is around the corner and I might almost be done with my Christmas shopping. Yay!! And I also have an exciting announcement for my upcoming blog book club for Advent. Stay tuned because you're NOT going to want to miss this one. I hope you will join me:) 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Happy Thanksgiving! What? Are you confused? Do you think I'm confused? It's Thanksgiving in Canada. While you might be celebrating Columbus Day this weekend, the rest of us north of the border are busy being thankful. 

I've been celebrating my own Thanksgiving for 20 years - as in, I've moved out of the house and I'm now responsible for making my own turkey. I've also celebrated two Thanksgivings every year for 17 years regardless of where we lived. So that means I've made a total of 37 turkeys that went with 37 everything you'd expect a Thanksgiving table to offer meal. Let's just say, I've got Thanksgiving down. 

When we first moved to Canada, it took some getting used to having everyone be thankful in October. For 10 years it snuck up on me. It also took some getting used to having no one around us celebrating in November. Just another day here!  I thought the only difference between the two holidays was the date but that was a rookie mistake. I finally clued into a few distinctions that made each one unique. 

1. October is actually a smart month to have it in. It's at the peak of fall, looks like fall, you can still buy food at the farmers' market and (this is important) you can take a nice long walk after you've stuffed yourselves. November = cold and snow. The pumpkins are frozen. 

2. The Pilgrims are missing. That's right. No Pilgrims, no Indians. I'm sorry - make that Aboriginals (here in Canada). There's really no history attached to Canadian Thanksgiving. There's no story. No Charlie Brown video. It's just about the thanks here. Passionate, unadulterated, secular thanks (unless you go to church and religious it up yourself). 

picking pumpkins

3. You can celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada anytime during your weekend and it's just as valid. Saturday, Sunday or Monday. Just be aware that on Monday stores are shut down so if you forgot to buy the cranberry in a can, you're out of luck. Should have had your dinner on Saturday. November Thanksgiving must be celebrated on Thursday. But don't worry about forgetting a crucial ingredient to your meal because the stores seem to be opening up earlier and earlier to beat the Black Friday rush. Does Kohl's sell cranberry in a can? If they do, you can bet it'll be on sale!

Farmer's Market!

4. There's really no Black Friday in Canada. Oh, they try! But you can't mimic the anxiety of Christmas being only a month away. We've still got 2 1/2 months here. We're good! 

Reading special just for fall books

5. Yes, the food is pretty much the same. Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, squash, pumpkin pie. You may have some regional, traditional dishes added like tourtiere but it's the same. Except the green bean casserole is missing in October. I don't know why this recipe didn't make it across the border. The Campbell's soup company seemed to drop the ball on that one. But anytime I make it I get rave reviews and a request for the recipe. It's sort of embarrassing!  

Nature Walk

6. Macy's Day Parade, afternoon football game, the first viewing of "A Muppet Christmas Carol" - November. OK, maybe just the first two for most homes. But all three help to make the mood in November for me in my home when no one else around us is celebrating. Bonus - we still get mail that day! (not a holiday here, you with me?) 

Decorating leaf cookies!

It's not such a bad deal celebrating two Thanksgivings every year. After all, can you ever be too thankful? And as far as my family is concerned, you can never have too much turkey. 

Wreath Songs

 Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Colossians 3:16

 Words cannot express how happy I am with how my wreath turned out! It is GORGEOUS. Yes it is. 

There are many tutorials for book page wreaths out there but I was inspired by the one I found on Holy Hen House. It was this one in particular that used the pages of an old The Lutheran Hymnal (TLH) which I absolutely adored. 

 Truth be told, I felt a little sinful tearing the pages out of the binding. But I got over it. And before I knew it, I was singing away to all the old tunes with the thous and the thees and the thys. I also was rolling the pages while watching the LiveStream of Luther Prep's opening service. It was quite the experience. 

There's something about the smell of an old book that makes me giddy. And I love how the edges of the hymnal pages are red. 

We can never move now because this wreath would never make it intact. So I guess I will die in this house. 

O God, our Father, whose praise is in the Church, uplift our souls to the holiness of Thy presence that with pure hearts we may adore Thee and worship Thee with joyful lip; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

                                                                                   ~TLH

Son Flower Season

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 1 Corinthians 4:6

It is with these words that we humbly begin another school year. 

The wise owl vase sits on books where only true wisdom is found. 

We do well to imitate the sunflowers - they turn towards the light of the sun. Aren't we Son-flowers too? 

There's advantages to having my kids six years apart.  It means I've had some breathing room and time to reflect. I've had a break between changes diapers and teaching geography. I sort of get a second chance. I can learn from my first experiences and apply that wisdom going forward. One thing that stands out in my mind is how very fast it really goes even when you have days, weeks or even months that seem to drag. As sure as there are seasons in a year, there are also seasons of life. My challenge has been to embrace the uniqueness of each season even in the midst of the trials it may bring and still appreciate it. Even in those seasons, I can reflect back and see the good, the blessings, the growth. I know my seasons yet to come will bring the same.  

Grade 4 is where she's at this year - so exciting! This is the year she turns "double digits", we study American history and she learns to add and subtract fractions with different denominators. 

We'll start the day the best way I know how - One Hundred Bible Stories and workbook. We'll study hymns and memorize verses. 

 Saxon 54  It's not about the math -   it's just digits when she's trying to comprehend a number line. And when negative numbers are introduced and she doesn't get it the first time (or the 2nd or the 3rd), I sit by her side and we draw a number line together. I used to think there was a rush. A deadline. But now I know we've got time and I refuse to rush this moment. 

She can't stop reading. I totally get that. And I appreciate that this is  her strength. I know this now because he had different strengths and it's clear to me now but wasn't always back then. So if this is where she shines, then I run with it! I find all the good books that I can - classics that have stood the test of time, books full of words that she sometimes has to ask, "what's a blouse or a patent?".  I order books from the interlibrary loan system and I fill our own shelves with books that we call ours. We haunt flea markets and find diamonds in the ruff and they are proudly displayed around our house. We learn History  through fictional and real characters and experience their time and space through the pages. And as I get to reread some of these books with her that he and I snuggled up with, the memories remind me that it was worth it. This is worth it. 

Our Language Arts core starts with The Boxcar Children literature study. She's already obsessed with the series and piles found throughout the house reflect our recent flea market purchases. This year she'll keep Writing and studying Grammar which she claims to love, crazy girl. She'll Explode the Code and Spell what we didn't finish last year. And believe me - I wondered how I was planning on accomplishing all this. I found Sarah Mackenzie who walked me through teaching from a state of rest. And I discovered loop scheduling and block scheduling and wondered how I ever lived without this insight? And she encouraged me to be faithful. Leave the results to God. 

My nemesis must surely be Science. I managed to farm it out as often as I could with him. He spent summers at various science camps and participated in museum classes. We'd have to talk after (and before) about what was true and what others believe to be true.  I boldly took on my nemesis over the years and discovered my own appreciation for knowledge labeled "science" and found God very much present there and willing to help me. So when I found this curriculum last year after hearing from the author himself at a conference, I jumped in! I realized I could manage the experiments and we could learn together. Taught through the eyes of Truth by an amateur is better than lies from a competent teacher.  

We'll continue our Co-op group this year and enjoy the friends we've made. She'll be playing her violin and learn to sew. She'll keep swimming and even branch out to synchronized swimming for fun! She loves going to Chinese school and Lutheran Girl Pioneers. She'll continue a monthly cooking class that leaves all the mess there:) And she'll be by my side at church choir and mid week evening Bible class. 

She'll walk life with us. 

*Pictures are from our first day of homeschool field trip to Malone, NY to visit the Almanzo Wilder farm. We met up with our dear friends from Syracuse and enjoyed a beautiful day!