I got the call late Sunday night that my Daddy had a heart attack. Now, I am the only family member that lives states away. He is in Ohio and I am in Georgia. As I tried to register what his girlfriend was telling me and I felt the walls closing in around my reality that is usually very calm, I was barely able to keep it together on the phone. In a few seconds chaos had exploded into my world. I know full well what it feels like to lose a parent having lost my mother 9 yrs ago. When I called the next day to check on him I learned my brother who has been MIA for a few yrs was there and that they had made up. I hate it took such an event but I am thankful that relationship is now on the road to recovery. As I read my father's facebook page and the hundreds of people who were posting get well wishes and prayers, it really hit home how blessed my Daddy truly is. He has 6 children that love him a family that loves him and tons of friends that care that he was down . It is an amazing thing to find blessings when your life has been turned up side down.
It got me thinking about all the times in my life where I just felt things couldn't get any worse. Times when you just want to throw in the towel. Like when I was a single teenage mother working two jobs. The time when I had no car, no house, no babysitter but a friend opened her home for me and my oldest son to live. The time when my mom died or even worse when my grandma who was my rock in life passed away. Those times seemed to me so dark and hopeless but now as I look back on them I can see all the blessings that would not have been had these things never happened. The is something in the human ability to over come those mountains in life.
As a homeschooling family this is usually that first yr. That first year you may find your self curled up in a ball crying because you can not for the life of you get your 9 yr old to grasp multiplications. Those voices of you are failing them will creep in and bite you on the A**. You will ask yourself what was I thinking what if they never learn anything. I am here to say that chaos too will pass. They will grasp multiplications and so much more and you will look back on those days of crying and feeling like a failure and think boy was I wrong.
For must of us homeschooling is more than educating your children. It is more than making sure they learn in a safe environment. It is a way of life. It seeps into all other aspects from how you parent them to how you view the world at large. I want to say that even in days when your world seems to be crashing down around you that you will look back and find blessings in the mix. I want to remind you to not just educate your children but enjoy the journey of living. Look for the blessings even on the chaotic days. Those blessings could be curling up on the couch with your kids. Or the message the movie you put on had. It could be the smile across your 5 yr olds face. You will one day look back and they will be grown and out in the world and your heart will ache for just one more day with them homeschooling. Just one more time of seeing their eyes light up when they finally grasp a concept. One more day pushing them in 100 degree heat just so they can feed the ducks in the pond at the back of the park. Live is full of ups and downs. It is full of times that will try you to your very core but homeschooling doesn't have to be one of those times. Look at it as the most wonderful times you may ever spend with your children. Don't forget to just live and enjoy that time.
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