My spirit is alive!

Do you ever get the feeling that your spirit becomes more alive, more excited after spending time with certain people? Tonight that is how my spirit feels thanks to the evening we were able to spend with some sweet friends (who actually have 5 children of their own and understand our life just a bit better than most others!!).

First of all, I think I finally have words to express the great desire to homeschool. I homeschooled Pepe last year and I will continue with both boys this year. I don't have to register them for homeschooling until they are 7 so, in the mean time, I have been trying to come up with a philosophy of education. Why do I want to homeschool? Until now, I knew that I didn't like the idea of the kids being away for 8 hours a day under someone else's instruction, influence, control! I thought they were gifts given to me, not the school teacher, no matter how good those teachers are (and in our school division we have some great educators, some of whom are my friends). Some people scoff at the idea of educating my own children - after all, think of all the free time I will have with them gone! Think of how much cleaning, shopping, crafting I can do with no little people to "drag around"! I could read a book, take a bath or a nap, paint my toes, go to the bathroom, all without interruption! But, guess what? I like those little people! And they were given to ME as gifts from the Lord. He says, "Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them." (Psalm 127:3-5) My children are not a barrier to my happiness, my children are not an inconvenience that I must put up with until I can finally send them away to school so I can do my own thing. My children are a heritage, a blessing, a gift. I need to cherish that gift. To embrace that gift. And for me, that means to teach that gift! Deuteronomy 11:19 is talking about the Lord and his commands when he writes, "Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." It says right there I am supposed to teach my children! I need to teach them far more than reading, writing and arithmatic - I need to teach them all about the Lord and all that He has done and all that He is continuing to do. And, guess what? You can teach them to read and learn about the Lord at the same time!! So, I put away my own agenda for a little while. Aren't they worth it? Eventually they will grow up and leave home and I will have all the time in the world to craft, nap or shop. But won't it be that much more rewarding to have that 18 or 20 year-old that is bright, educated and loves the Lord with a passionate faith because their mom took a few years out of her life to teach and embrace those precious gifts He entrusted to her?

Secondly, I was informed, though the concept shouldn't be a new one, that children don't get a baby-sized Holy Spirit - they can have the full power of the Holy Spirit at the age of 3! Do you understand what I am saying? My 3 year-old RJ can have the same power Christ had when he walked the earth because that same power can indwell her through the Holy Spirit!! Isn't that just amazing!!! You don't have to wait until the age of maturity for the Holy Spirit to indwell you. I guess I should have known that but I have never thought about it like that before. Makes perfect sense to me. And, it certainly makes me look at and pray with my children in a completely different light. Can you imagine the things they could do? The children they could be? The children they already are?

Thirdly, God really cares about us, about all the little details of our lives! Tonight Jay picked up Ali and somehow hurt her arm so that she wouldn't use her wrist - she just kept holding it and crying and crying. We tried to get her to move it - she wouldn't. I was already envisioning a trip to the ER - a long night in the waiting room, a 2 year-old crying in pain the whole 45 minute trip - it was not going to be a good ending to a great evening. Her wrist even looked funny. Then all of a sudden she started using it. Just like that. No pain. No more tears. I said, "Okay, who was praying?" The man of the house said he was! And God choose to heal her! Maybe to teach us all that God really does hear our prayers, that God cares about the little things and that God certainly cares about the little ones! After all, Jesus did say, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." (Mark 10:19)

My spirit is alive! Thank you, Lord!