"Our Daily Grind is Holy Ground"

My hope was to encourage you with a post about how the mundane, routine life of a wife/mother/homemaker/

homeschooling family is truly a place where God can take us into the Holy of Holies.  A place where it is a privilege to suffer.  A place where sacrificial living brings the greatest rewards.  A place to share the Gospel with our children and live it out in our daily lives.  A place that produces genuine repentance and asking of forgiveness.  A place where we bring our needs to our Father and watch Him give good gifts in the little things.  A place of community.  Friendships.  Memories.  A place of making.  Molding.  Refining.  Pruning.  A place of love.  Grace.  Mercy.  A place to be raw.  Real.  Vulnerable.  A place to be a witness.  An encouragement.  A servant.  A place to learn.  Grow.  Develop gifts.  A place to be loved.  Anticipate.  Dream.  A place to sow seeds of kindness.  Generosity.  Self-control.  Discipline.

The assignment we have been given is the greatest one to ever be given.  One child can change the world.  We have the honor and opportunity to be the parent of that child.

I had hopes of sharing all that.  I had my post almost done.  I accidentally deleted it all.  

A place of humility.  A place where we must decrease so He can increase.  A place of denying self.  Believing that God is Sovereign over all things, and nothing happens without His hand in it.  A place where less is more.

And so, I must believe that this is what God wanted you all to read tonight.

Keep on keeping on, mamas!  We are raising warriors for the Kingdom.  You are doing a great job!  You are right where God wants you.

Love to you all.

- Tori Lynne

Enjoying the little things....

Friday morning was such a whirlwind of chaos!  Brooky stayed home and slept in, as she was exhausted after a late Thursday night monster of a seizure.  Brody had to leave for work at 7:30 a.m.  We had lots of school to complete.  Boys were wound up something awful.  Have been all winter it seems.  We had to be out the door at 12:45, as we were meeting some other homeschool families at the YMCA for a "Get all your energy out, give me a break, scream all you want play day".  I had one stop to make prior the "Y", had lots to load yet in the truck, left my house messy, and was very frazzled.

When I got to the Y, two other families were already there.  I was happy to:

The moms said hello and asked how I was.  

"I need to walk!"  I really had to let off some steam.  Doesn't it feel so good to let the children loose and visit with adults?  I really think that if we could buy land, I would build a little cabin - just big enough for one bedroom for the hubby and I, a loft to divide in half for the children, one bathroom, and a big room with a kitchen/table/fireplace.  Hey, I just realized something.  I think I just described this (minus the bathroom):  

LOL!  Next to the cabin, I would also build a "Morton Building" with a cement floor.  And this is where my children would spend the winters!  Nerf Guns.  Basketball hoop.  Roller skates/blades.  Balls.  Bicycles.  Card table.  Games.  Sidewalk chalk.  Music.  And we would all be happy!  :)

Well, I power walked for a good long time, and I was calmed and refreshed.  I guess exercise is good like that.  All the moms sat together and talked for a while.  I had Brooky in her wheelchair just in case she were to have a seizure and fall.  After a while, I took her out of the wheelchair and began walking around the gym.  Then I started to jog.  And she was a runnin'! 

The smile on Brooky's face melted my heart.

*This pic is not from the gym, but this is Brooky's contagious smile, none the less.  

We all left the Y tired and satisfied, and the day was redeemed.  Brody went back to work for his second shift.  Blayde sat down and joyfully finished all his schoolwork.  I picked up the house.  And then Brody had his birthday slumber party, which made is possible for hubby and I to enjoy a nice fire in the living room upstairs.  So very peaceful.

And of course we topped off the night with a big bowl of ice cream!

We slept in until 9:30 this morning!  Delightful.  Brent and I went into town for a couple errands.  We took Brooky along.  She got her usual McDonald's cheesburgers and cookies.  Of course we had to stop at Walmart.  I bought some yarn to finish a crocheted scarf I am making.  Also had to get some goodies for our Growth Group and Superbowl Sunday.  Chili cheese dip and hot wings on our our Superbowl evening menu.  YUMMY!

Then we hit Aldi.  Sale on milk - $1/gallon.  Limit of 6!  Brooky was so well behaved.  She held our hands most of the day.  She did knock some shirts of the display table at Walmart and tried to touch all kinds of people at Aldi, but all was good.  :)

Now, I want you to know that something very interesting happened at Aldi.  All the employees know my husband and he knows them by name!  And they are all chummy!  The ladies smile at him.  On the outside, I was smiling; on the inside, I was giving him the look.     

This is what happens when you take advantage of your hubby working next to Walmart and Aldi!  (Apparently, the Walmart Pharmacy department also knows him by name.)  LOL!

I wasn't really jealous.  It is to be expected.  I am married to a very social and funny guy!  

We are now downstairs relaxing and watching some TV.  Made pizzas for supper and are now getting ready for the menfolk to watch some John Wayne.

Does my weekend sound very exciting?  Probably not to some.  But to me it has been wonderful.  Fellowship.  Friends.  Smiles.  Laughter.  Conversations.  A fire on a cold February night.  Good food.  Love.  

Just a day in the life...

Have a good weekend, folks.

- Tori Lynne

Often reminded of...

I am often reminded of a song I learned A LONG TIME AGO in junior high choir.  The first line goes like this:

"Life is like a flying trapeze; sometimes it's up, then it's down..."

It has been one of those weeks!  If you read my last post, Monday ended up to be absolutely crazy, but I found a few reasons to be thankful. To be honest, I can hardly remember Tuesday, which means it must have ran smoothly.  :D Wednesday...emotional, very emotional.

I let the children sleep in a little longer, so it gave me some alone time to think, pray, read - something I do not do near often enough.  In the mornings, I hit the floor running it seems.  There was a time, I would wake up at 5:00 a.m, take a brisk 4 mile walk, get my shower, have chores done, and school work ready to go when the children got up, AND started school by 8:30 a.m.  That seems like forever ago.  The younger years.  When I had four children (only two school age); did not have a child with special needs; no adult children (if you have adult children, you understand what I mean); lots of energy; the calm before a decade of storms.  Feeling old right about now.  I am not sure age 47 bodes well for me.  ;)

Anyway, where was I?  Well, I had time to think yesterday morning.  Dangerous, I tell ya.  Dangerous.  Me thinking, that is.  One thought led to one rabbit trail.  That trail led to other rabbit trails, and on and on and on.  You know what rabbit trail I was on when the children got up?  A devotion time discussing what loving Jesus looks like practically.  Concern for where my children's hearts are.  Praying with heartfelt tears.  What my children saw it as was a lecture.  Do I really need to tell you how the day went after that?  It wasn't pretty.  I will not go into detail for privacy's sake, but a lot of honesty was flying around the house.  It set the tone for the rest of the day.  Tears.  Hurt feelings.  Exhaustion.  Had to involve hubby as soon as he walked in the door from work, only to leave 20 minutes later for church.  Came home bone tired and emotionally drained.  

Today went very well.  Blayde and I laughed a lot.  Good discussions.  Excellent read aloud time.  School work completed.  Had taco soup in the crockpot for supper.  Baked chocolate chip zucchini cake.  Worked on a crochet project.  Watched Little House on the Prairie and Andy Griffith with the boys.   But I will say, that in the midst of some of that mostly good time, there were some moments where something would happen between the boys that took us right back to a yesterday moment.  Also, about an hour ago, Brooky had a monstrous seizure. 

Please, please, please tell me I am not alone.  That you completely understand what I am talking about.  And if you are a mom, especially a homeschool mom, and you say this never happens to you, I just do not believe it!  ;)

I have been a wife for 27 years next month; a mother for 26 years this May; a homeschool mom for 20 years; a Christian for 14 years.  As much as I have tried to figure out how to avoid the "flying trapeze", I have determined this is just life, folks.  It just is.

We are all human.  We are all sinners.  We will all fall short.  There are times where we will get along great and times when we will fight like cats and dogs.  Days where we sail smoothly and days where we are tossed about in the waves.  Days where home is the nicest word there is and times when we want to run away from home.  Life is ever changing.  People are everchanging.

Last night when I got into bed, I took a couple deep breaths and began to pray for my children.  I am not sure how far I got, as I know I fell asleep quickly.  So, when I woke up this morning, I stayed in bed for a few moments, picked up where I left off, and prayed some more.  I thought about the previous day's events and was able to give thanks.  

What did you give thanks for, you ask?

I am thankful that I serve a God who never changes.  Whose Word stands proven and true every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every year.  Thankful that His mercies are new every morning.  Thankful that nothing takes Him by surprise.  Thankful that He not only orchestrates these circumstances, but also uses them for His Glory and for my good.  Thankful that God is good all the time.  And most thankful that He is Sovereign over all - which includes trapeze bars.  <3

Oh, one funny for my readers:  after all the ups and downs so far this week, my youngest son, Blayde, asked me an interesting question after supper tonight.

"Mom, would you be disappointed if I grew up to be a dumpster diver?"

Only Blayde, I tell ya!  LOL!

Have a great night, folks!

- Tori Lynne  

Don't That Beat All...

So, I start this new blog entitled, "A Day in the Life", and thought that my first real post would be about how well January 30th would go, because it was Brody's 14th Birthday! <3  (He did have a great day.)

*God has quite the sense of humor, doesn't He?  ;)

As most of my friends know, my family had been quite busy mid-December through mid-January - not only was it the Holiday season, but we also had company staying with us for 4 weeks total plus a BMT graduation in TX which was an 18 hour drive one way. Since I homeschool, we could pull this off, however, this all put us way behind schedule.  What does this have to do with yesterday you ask?

Hold on. I'm a gettin' there.  ;)  

It was only our second week back to homeschooling.  NO MORE BREAKS FOR US!  I had lesson plans written Sunday evening.  House was picked up.  Dining room table decorated.  Balloons.  Birthday dinner in the crockpot.  DQ cake ordered.  Everything was running smooth as silk.

Then, I had a wonderful idea!  Since the boys have drama class at 11:30, how about for Brody's birthday, I let him have his friend over for the afternoon to play video games.  Said friend has many siblings, and two of his brothers are friends with my other son, Blayde.  They called and asked if Blayde could go home with them after drama class.  So, we pretty much swapped.  Wonderful!  Great motivation for my boys to complete their school work.  WRONG!  

We sat down to start our school day - circle time.  (My favorite time of the day by the way.  Lots of read alouds!)  The boys were a "little" wound up, you could say.  It was rather difficult to keep their attention.  But I was determined NO MORE BREAKS FOR US!  Then my son remembered...

"Mom, can we just not do school today?  We always have our birthdays off?"

UGH!  I am all about tradition, ya know.  I told them, "We have to do History and Math."  

"Okay!" the boys said.

We sat down for our History.  I do not know what I was thinking.  Surely they could get self-control for just two subjects, right?

"Let's just do math."

"Okay!" the boys said.

Surely they could get self-control for just one subject, right?

"Boys, NO SCHOOL.  Go downstairs and play!"

And they did.  At 12:20 they left for Drama class, so I left to run a couple of errands in town that were supposed to only take 15 minutes.

**I forgot to mention that my daughter, Brooklynne, was quite a stitch yesterday morning before school.  (We send her to our local school as she is severely developmentally delayed.)  Let's just say, I was glad it was a school day.  (Don't let the cute pic fool you.  She can be ornery!)  LOL!  You gotta love her!

Where was I?  Oh, my errands.  I only had three things to do; two were at the same building, so I thought.

1)  City Hall - drop off my paperwork/application to get approved for chickens in town.

2)  YMCA (back side of City Hall) - to get a family membership.

3)  Dollar General - to get candy for Brody and his friend

All places in town and less than a one minute drive.

I will make this part short and sour, I mean...sweet?  ;)

I dropped off my chicken application first.  Told I need two more addresses written down, even though I was unable to secure signatures at those homes.  No problem.  I left real quick to check house addresses and write them down.

At that time, the school called to say that Brooklynne had been sleeping all day and was not getting up.  I let her teacher know that Brooklynne was up a lot through the night.  No problem.

I went back to City Hall with the addresses. Secretary looked them over real quick.  Looked good.  I asked, "I can just go around to the back side of the building to get my YMCA membership, right?

"No.  The back side is closed.  Has been since October."

WHAT????  How on earth did I miss that?

She said, "It moved to a different building, while the new facility is being built."  (Has not been started yet.) 

Well, I thought I heard the building name correctly, but after driving over there, I did not see it.  I decided to drive 10 minutes to the Wellman YMCA location.  Walked in the door and got a phone call from the secretary at City Hall.  *Very short version - I guess I needed to get signatures from far more addresses then I did.  That is all I am going to say about that.  :(  Finished that phone call, filled out and paid for our family membership, and was headed back to stop at Dollar General then home.  On the way home, I got another phone call.  It was the school nurse.  Brooklynne still not wanting to wake up.  I told her I would be there in about 20 minutes.  Stopped at Dollar General for the candy.  Went to City Hall to pick up my application again.  Spent more time there and was given lots more info that was not originally given.  Went to get Brooky.  When I got there, SHE WAS RIDING HER ADAPTIVE BICYCLE!  Her teacher said that she just woke up.  Since there was only 1 1/2 hours left of school, I went ahead and took her home.

I was done.  Done, I tell ya.  I laid down on the couch, because I had a headache.  I was exhausted.  The day had been one big blur of chaos. 

   

The night ended with a wonderful supper chosen by the birthday boy:  pork roast, mashed taters/gravy, and corn.  The guys watched an episode each of Big Foot and Home Improvement.  DQ ice cream cake for dessert.  Then the hubby and I watched the news and fell asleep on the couch.

Although it was not the day I had planned, we survived. 

Giving thanks in all things:  The boys were able to spend time with their friends.  Brooky had a good evening.  Supper was AWESOME!  Dessert was EVEN BETTER THAN AWESOME!  And none of my appliances broke.  LOL!

God is good all the time.

Sigh...Have a great night, folks.

- Tori Lynne

*After all the effort, I decided against getting chickens for now.  Gives me a reason to look forward to moving back to the country some day.  ;)

Sneak Preview...

How do you like the picture?  Doesn't it just scream what we are all thinking?  49 DAYS!!!! Hurry up, Spring!  Bring it on, March 20th!

It seems like a long time from now, but time really does fly - at least for me - because the older you get the faster it goes, right?  :)

As much as we are anticipating sunshine, warmth, blossoms, verde (green), we really should appreciate each day as it comes.  As we all know, tomorrow is not promised.  We are prone to wishing time away.  Tomorrow.  Next year.  This summer.  Friday.  Our next vacation.  Sometimes, in the mundane order of life, we forget to be thankful that we were granted another breath of life.  Another day to appreciate the season we are in - the actual season (currently winter) and our phase of life.  (Which phase am I in again?  Ummm... almost ALL OF THEM!)

I decided I would start a new blogspot.  I only had three, ya know.  :D  Honestly, I like creating new blogs.  (I deleted two of my previous blogs.)  I decided I wanted to try something New.  Fresh.  Different.  In honor of giving thanks in all things, appreciating today by not worrying about tomorrow, and living intentionally simple and abundantly grateful, my new blog is called, "A Day in the Life..." 

My posts will be about my extraordinarily ordinary days of being a wife, mother, teacher, and friend.  All for God's glory.

I will be sharing highlights of our day.  Humorous moments.  (We have plenty!)  Difficult times.  (We have plenty!)  Prayer requests.  (We have plenty!)  Projects. (You got it the hang of it by now, right?  LOL!)  Recipes.  Practical tips.  Reflection.  Homeschool happenings.  Memories.  Lots of encouragement.  Stuff like that.  ;)

Tomorrow is a big day!  You will have to tune in to find out why.  In the meantime, have a nice evening, folks.

*Even though tomorrow is a Monday, give thanks.  ;)

Oh! I almost forgot - go to the website below just for fun.  AND KEEP WATCHING FOR ONE MINUTE.  <3

https://days.to/until/spring

-Tori Lynne