In my soul is the Holy Spirit, God indwelling, giving direction and wisdom when we ask. I have been blessed to overflowing by His gifts. Last spring I hit bottom, struggling to relate to my husband, and feeling quite bankrupted in emotional energy, I asked a woman in my church to mentor me. While I felt my schedule was packed and one more thing would not fit, I started on the path of discipleship. Until that point my training in this way had been limited to my mother's input and little bits of wisdom drawn from friends and books. Moments of peace in the Scripture were morsels of hope. But I wasn't making the time. I'd started so many books and not finished them. I started a Bible in a year program, and a blessing counting book with my 1,000 gifts friends. But the discipline wasn't there. With the addition of accountability that all changed. My mentor challenged me, and we began to memorize and read. We took an entire year to savor a book and to memorize passages each week. I shared my worries and, instead of fixing them for me, she took my hand and we carried them to the cross. Oh I have so much to learn, but I have come so far. When I am all tumult inside, I can choose to process and doubt, or hit my knees. So many times this year I have poured out the Scriptures in my heart awash with a flood of tears. How different each Scripture is, when framed in the circumstance of my trials.
In the mean time I'm as busy as ever. I completed two Awana T&T books and memorized 200 verses to do so. I've learned so much about my family, my schedule, my heart, but most importantly, my Savior. This foundation pushes up and strengthens my life. In turn I have had small opportunities to pour those words into others. I had felt completely inadequate to disciple another person, until I saw it for what it was. Leading others to Him, being filled with His Word, and being transformed in the process. Like water raining down on a mountain pools up and pours into the pools beyond, each overflowing to the next. The source is not the pool, but the One giving the water. As my pool flows out I need to be filled again and again.
I am so thankful for the lessons He pours out into my life!
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Mayda used Spectrum Phonics this year, which was a change for us. My older two had always used Christian Liberty Press Phonics, but I needed something quick and inexpensive. This was my first time using it, and I was very pleased. It has simple 2 page a day pace and she quickly worked through the basic phonics rules. The pages were well laid out and the pictures were colorful. It wasn't too easy, but she didn't struggle or cry about it. I would gladly use it again, and likely will with Wyatt.
. I really like how it covers the basics in an organized fashion, and the lessons are numbered out so that it is easy to finish within a school year. This is a very traditional approach to grammar and it really worked for Emma. I will likely stick with this one.
, and the style really clicked for her. The MCP Level D book came in two thick volumes, and when I compared the second volume to the coursework in Saxon 54, I decided to use the second volume of the MCP instead. By the end of the book, Emma was doing the same level math as Saxon 54, so this fall she will start right in with Saxon 65.
