Summer is almost over....School is almost here!

We're finishing up the last week of summer freedom in the DeShong household. School starts this Monday! Every year at about this time, I find myself craving the routine once again, and leaving behind the lazy, lax, do anything whenever kinda days. I somehow just can't manage to eat well, exercise, read the Bible regularly, or anything else during the summer. Go figure! I am a "routine person" who craves and thrives on the predictable. Although, God has taught me to be able to cope with the unpredictability that life sometimes throws at you. OK, I am slowly learning that idea! Like an unexpected spill or a hurt child. I have learned that everything can stop for a while and be put on hold. And I have come to the conclusion that nothing is more important in my endeavors at home than truly training and loving my children. Giving them my full attention and devotion. Yes, the house needs to be cleaned and meals need to be made and laundry needs to be done. But those will get done, no matter what. Maybe not when I want them to be done, but they will get done. They always have. I pray I would devote myself first to my God whom I should love above all else in this world, and then secondly to my husband, my children, and my home. It is a privilege beyond measure to be a wife. To be a mother three times over. To be devoted complete to my homemaking endeavor. And for anyone thinking to themselves "How fulfilling could that be?" I would say....When your child kisses you and says they love you and thank you for all the hard work you do for them...it's all worth it. Even if I don't get the kiss and thanks (which most of the time I don't!), I know that God will reward me for obedience to His commands. It is His desire for me to do these things...and I want His desires as I submit my life to His loving and caring ways. Secondly, this life is not about my fulfillment. It is about glorifying God! It is about denying myself to follow him, as Jesus himself said.

So with that, the house has been purged of all its unnecessary junk, summer projects have been finished (well....almost.....), the lesson plans are in progress, the school room cleaned out, old books sold on Ebay (yippee!), and new supplies in the drawers. I pray my children would grow not only in the wisdom contained in their schoolbooks, but beyond that I pray they would grow in wisdom that leads to salvation. I pray I would be faithful to teach them the Bible both in word and by example, and that they would glean some new information despite all of my failures. I thank God for the freedom to homeschool, and that it has recently been declared LEGAL in the state of California. Praise God! School, here we come!