Classic Hilton's

"Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!'" In Matthew 14:22-33, Peter experiences the miraculous. Again. Earlier in the week, John the Baptist had been beheaded. Grieving, Jesus and his disciples withdrew to a remote location for some privacy and instead encountered a crowd of needy people. Jesus had compassion on them and spent the rest of the day teaching and healing and then feeding them all a huge meal with just a few loaves and fish. Then Jesus puts his disciples into a boat and went away for some quiet prayer time. I imagine there were some big emotions on the boat that evening. The rush of the miracle, the demands of the crowd, the ache of sadness accompanying the news about John, the fear that they could be next on Herod's list (!), and the exhaustion of such a full, demanding day...so much so that they didn't even not...

So do not worry, saying 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own. ~Matthew 6:31-34 (NIV) I like to make plans.  Well, sort of.  I like thinking long term.  My favorite part of homeschooling is taking time at the beginning of the academic year and looking at what I call the Bird's Eye View. Officially our philosophy is to treat each year individually and make decisions based on what is best for that child at that time, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I have a pretty good idea about what we'll be doing for the next thirteen educational years.  The "sort of" part of my planning abilities come...

Two things really stand out to me at the end of this jam packed weekend.  First, my mom came into town to watch my kiddos while I attended a two day homeschool convention.  That act alone is not what inspires me, though I am so grateful for her willingness to help when I need her!  In the days leading up to the convention, she took us to the park to walk. We walked and rode bikes around Stoner and Overlook parks every day, sometimes twice! (we are all exhausted!)  When it comes to exercise, I have a million and one reasons not to do it. But walking around with my mom this last week I realized that it doesn't have to be complicated. I don't have to make any big commitments, or walk the track in a certain time frame, or wait for perfect weather conditions.  I just need to get out and move.  I DO need to remember to bring a first aid kit and to SHUT the doors of my car...but that's another set of issues all together. The second thing that inspired me was s...

"The act of reading is a partnership. The author builds a house, but the reader makes it home." ~from Between the Lines I thoroughly enjoyed reading Between the Lines  and Off the Page  by Jodi Piccoult and her daughter Samantha Van Leer. I was completely swept up by the story and felt like I jumped right into the book and lived the adventure with them.  They are not "Christian" books but the spiritual undertones are rich and surprising.   What captivated me most was the idea of authorship.  In this world, an author wrote the story, but once it has been read it cannot be changed. The author is not all powerful because it is the reader who brings the imagined world to life.  It made me think of how God created the world and invited mankind to work in the garden and name the animals. (The difference being that God is  all powerful.) On another level, the characters in the story all recognize, simply because they exist, that there must be an...

This homeschooling journey has been as much a learning experience for me as it has been for my children. One thing I have learned is the importance of understanding  my  strengths as a mom and teacher.  If our curriculum is made up of hands on projects requiring lots of intensive prep and clean-up...we ARE going to fail. It's a given, because, no thank you! Likewise, if it's nothing but pulling the next worksheet out of a book we won't do so well there either. The best homeschools thrive when everyone's style, including mom's, is taken into consideration.    In Teaching from Rest  (highly recommended!), Sarah Mackenzie uses the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 as a great example of this ( John 6:1-12 ). She encourages moms to come to the table with what they have. Jesus can take our little basket of fish and bread and use it to feed a multitude! We just have to bring our basket. Truth be told, I panicked when I read that the first time.  What is in...

When your job is to homeschool your three children, you end up spending a lot  of time together. Of course close sibling relationships is one of the benefits of our school of choice, so this is not a bad thing. But let's be real. All that quality time together means that eventually somebody is going to get on someone else's nerves! The other day I read a passage of Scripture that hit so close to home I laughed out loud. Maybe other mom's here can relate.  In Numbers 12, Miriam and Aaron, the big brother and sister of Moses, start complaining because Moses has a foreign wife.  Now this isn't new information to them.  He didn't go out for a weekend to blow off steam and come home married or anything. But all of a sudden Miriam and Aaron are bugged by it and start complaining, so the mother in me knows they were just trying to pick a fight. I love the end of verse two: "And the Lord heard them." In my home, I do my best not to referee every single ...

He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. Isaiah 40:11 (NIV)  I can't help but chuckle over the tender ways God deals with me.  It is not easy to describe what has been going on in my heart and head, but I suppose the best way is to say that so many of my dreams have come true or changed that I don't quite know what to dream about anymore. I know that sounds ridiculously hopeless which is not at all how I mean it because I know I have so much life to look forward to. I guess it's just in the vein of personal development...soul nourishment...what is my place outside of wife and mother?  I could go into a lot more detail here, but for now I think I'll leave it and just say that I have questions and I've been seeking the Lord about them. So then there is Grayson. Sweet, tenacious, four year old, control-freak Grayson. All of my children like plans, but Grayso...

Whew.  That's just about all I have in me at this moment. Just a tired yet contented sigh. We are about halfway through our second full day of school. To date we have logged about 45 days. Field trips, camps, workshops, and historical readings throughout the summer mean that we are in great shape at the start of our year. Tuesday marked, not so much our first day of school, but our first day diving into our full time fall term schedule. The one where we make formal education the priority of our day, including pre-school two days a week.  We made the decision to homeschool back in March. That's when I started dreaming and planning. Over the last five months I have planned and prepared and freaked out and planned more. Then I had a reality check and planned less, raised hope, lowered expectations and then raised and lowered them again. Some necessary refurbishment of our home threw the house into chaos the last two weeks of August, and naturally it took longer than anticipat...

The message at church yesterday was from Mark 11, when Jesus cursed the fig tree (not because of the lack of figs, but because of the pretense  of the leaves). So because we are very hands on and like the experiential element, during our worship and response time of communion, we had the opportunity to eat a dried fig.  My time of communion was exactly what I needed it to be. I took the time to pray over the coming week - one that I was feeling overly anxious about, not because of anything bad, but just all the details. I took the bread and the juice, and I thought about how Jesus poured himself out for me; how he humbled himself, becoming less than a servant. Broken. Selfless. Then I thought about my role as mother and wife, and the life I have been called to. I read somewhere once that motherhood is the perfect picture of that sacrificial love because every day you are dying to yourself in service of your children's needs. So during my communion with the Lord I prayed, sub...