The guys in Cloverton are sweet, great musicians and have hearts on fire for God. I bought an extra CD at their concert the other night and I just want to give it away to someone. Songs on the CD are: It’s all for you, Hope inside, Be lifted higher and Turn. And of course, the band signed it for you.

Rules (well, there’s only 1 rule): leave a comment and tell me one thing you’re grateful for.

Yep, that’s it and you’re name is in the hat.

Next week I will put the names into a randomizer (yes, that is a word) and the winner will be contacted by e-mail.

(No one paid me to do this. The CD was bought by me and is my property to give away.)

Bible study is tonight and I’ve been going over the weeks readings to refresh my memory. One that I have a visual image for is: Trust Me to show you what to do when you have finished what you are doing now. I will guide you step by step, as you bend your will to Mine. (Jesus Calling by Sarah Young.)

I see this bending to become something beautiful in a work of living art that is at a park near us. It’s called Weidenblume and willows have been bent and secured and gathered to grow a certain way.

The willows probably don’t want to be bent, they want to grow free and wild, but these particular trees will bend and grow the way the artist wants them to.

In the same way we don’t always want to bend and do God’s will, we want to do what we want, but when we give over and let the Master gardener show us where we need to bend and flow, we become His works of art.

Forgiveness – because I need it and it is a free gift waiting to be accepted.

Psalm 130:3 (The Message)
3-4 If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that’s why you’re worshiped.

Grace – because I don’t get what I deserve, grace takes the brunt for me.

Matthew 11:28 (The Message)
28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Praise – there is no end to verses of praise. These are gifts in hard times when I feel like there is nothing to sing praises about, but there is always something to praise God for.

Psalm 150 (The Message)

Hallelujah! Praise God in his holy house of worship, praise him under the open skies; Praise him for his acts of power, praise him for his magnificent greatness; Praise with a blast on the trumpet, praise by strumming soft strings; Praise him with castanets and dance, praise him with banjo and flute; Praise him with cymbals and a big bass drum, praise him with fiddles and mandolin. Let every living, breathing creature praise God! Hallelujah!

The girls and I went to a friend’s house to ride their horse and spend some time together. We got there just as the farrier was finishing up with Murphy’s hooves.

Murphy is a very patient horse.

Bethany didn’t want to ride, so Grace and Hannah took turns riding Murphy, you can tell that he thinks being a riding pony is beneath him, but he did it anyway.

We had lunch and chatted, walked in the gully and then rode Murphy again. As a treat he and Tucker the donkey were let out into the pasture to eat the grass, they were running for the gate when they realized they were going to get out. We said our goodbyes and headed over for a quick EK meeting at Mcd’s, we only stayed about an hour because we had plans in Evergreen for the rest of the afternoon. Our afternoon thunderstorm rolled in and the girls thought I was going to put off the hike, but they should know better. Besides, rain here doesn’t mean rain in the mountains.

Sure enough when we got to Lair O’ the Bear park it was hardly even sprinkling on us.

We hiked by the creek winding through willow brush and coming out by picnic tables and climbing trees.

We crossed to the other side and climbed up some rocks and then went into the woods following the creek again.

We saw lots of flowers and lots of berry bushes with nothing on them (yet.) Grace found some baby helicopter seeds.

We hiked back to the start of the trail and found some good wading water and rocks to sit on.

Some more leaves and flowers along the trail caught my eye.

It was a gorgeous hike, the sun came out right toward the end and warmed up the air, but in the woods it was nice and cool.

The hike made us hungry and I had already scouted out the place we were going to eat dinner at: Cuisine of the Himalayas. The chefs that run it are the brothers of the chef that runs Kathmandu in Nederland (plus Westword gave it a thumbs up, so that’s all I need to know.) Here’s how it compares to Sherpa house in Golden: the chicken momo’s were wonderful (if a bit spicy for the kids, but they are them anyway), Bethany had pizza (which, last time I checked is not Himalayan) and said it was really good, the naan was thinner than Sherpa’s but was good in its own way, the chai tea was delicious and the chicken korma was a tasty blend of curry, coconut and cashew pieces smothering tender bites of chicken. So, if you find yourself hungry and in Evergreen stop by Cuisine of the Himalayas to have an adventure for your palate (1262 Bergen Pkwy, Evergreen, CO.)

And finally, the reason we were up in Evergreen to start with, Cloverton in concert.

Hannah and I sat in the front row, right next to the speakers (what was that? SPEAK UP I CAN’T HEAR YOU RIGHT NOW!) Just kidding. Grace and Bethany sat in the back close to the merch table, I think they were positioning themselves for the signature line.

Anyway, Cloverton rocks, literally. You can visit them here or here and hear some music.

The guys are partnering with World Hope’s 2500 strong campaign and they went to the Hope center in Kenya to film a documentary about World Hope, play soccer with the kids and lead worship in services. WH is working to give hope to the hopeless and not just in 3rd word countries, there is a center going into the inner city of Detroit, MI.

Cloverton led us in worship and wove old music and new into the night, it was beautiful.

I’m going to have a giveaway tomorrow of one of their CD’s, signed by the band. Check it out soon.

Today, Take Me into the Beautiful was more than just a song – it was our whole day.

I have the gift of passion, that can be good and bad. Passion drives me to dance, even though I’m not very good at it. Passion drives me to be married for almost 20 years to my love (I am very good at that.)

I have the gift of cheer; even when I am down I try my hardest to be cheerful and bring a laugh, a smile, a grin to others.

I have the gift of talking. I can talk to others and use my speech to teach, to inform, to help or to hinder. I like talking, sometimes in the morning on a quiet walk I pray out loud to God. (It’s not like He can’t hear me if I think or whisper, but I don’t use telepathy to talk to anyone so I think it’s okay to pray out loud.)

*I also make a wicked dump cake, but I’m not sure that’s a gift.

{May Joy dare list is here}

First, I guess I could follow the advice of Psalms and guard my tongue and mouth to keep trouble from my soul. Second, I could follow the advice to pray for the other person, and pray for myself as well. These two steps could really help me out (assuming I could keep my mouth shut….) Following the advice to pray for the other person reminds me of the May joy dare that I really had to think about – 3 gifts found in difficult people, maybe these are the EGR people in our lives that we gossip about or just don’t know what to do with them.

Hmmm, difficult people cause me to look at myself as in a mirror, I try to see what is making them difficult and then see if I have that same thing in me. It’s not easy to see your own faults, easier to see the faults of others. I guess that trying to fix my own problems is a gift that difficult people give me. Wow, this is really hard. Difficult people give me patience, though I don’t always have enough of it to deal with them. Difficult people make me think – why are they difficult? Maybe they are going through a rough patch at home, maybe they are jealous of someone else’s life, maybe they are lonely, maybe they aren’t actually difficult…maybe it’s just a mask they wear. So, difficult people make me pray and that is definitely a gift.

Prayer is a gift, so I guess people we see as difficult or needing extra grace are really just gifts to make us open our hearts and minds in prayer.

Hmmm….now that’s something to talk about.

I told the girls we’d take Maisy to the dog park after Bethany’s guitar lesson and enjoy the sun that has come back out after being hidden for three days. We’re looking forward to Wednesday, a busy day, but it will be an awesome day of: horseback riding, an EK meeting, hiking and a museum tour, Nepalese food and a concert in Evergreen.

Mothers day, check.

It started with cinnamon rolls, hot and flaky.

Eggs scrambled with potatoes, sausage and peppers stood nearby too. Flowers with colorful paper waited for me on the counter and bags of presents waited to be opened.

A lantern (a green one!), sparkly earrings and a compass for hiking.

Church was filled with songs of praise and a sermon to think about, lunch was Pho and a good cafe’ sua da and now we’re going to see ‘Mirror Mirror’ at the movies.

A good day.

To all the Moms and Mother-in-laws, birth Moms and adopted Moms, Step-Moms and future Moms (and every other type of Mom)
{Happy Mothers Day}

And, because I’m a homeschooler, here is a biologist’s tribute to Moms everywhere.

It was kind of like a recital of all of their classes; it was very cool. We saw girls and ladies on cubes, fabric, trapeze, ropes and hoops.

There were acrobatics, dancers, and ballet moves in the air.

It looked like a lot of fun….

I have found over the years that there is no separating the teacher part of me from the mom part, it’s just part of who I am. It’s like trying to separate ‘art’ me from ‘wife’ me, it’s not going to happen. But, I’ve been trying to find the way to balance out everything, kind of shuffle things around so I don’t feel overwhelmed. Do you know what that’s like? Overwhelmed? Schoolwork to do, dishes to clean, laundry to put up, college admissions to sign up for, birthdays to plan, the usual stuff. So, the question is: how do homeschoolers find balance in their lives?

First and foremost is ‘me time’. I can’t give out to others if the well is dry. This goes for family and friends, if I am digging in the dirt of my own life I might need some pouring in before I can pour back out. I feel the most stressed when my personal well is looking a bit empty because then I start to focus on how I am going to dole out the tiny drops of me that are left to get everything done. So, I fill up with some time for me.

This might be reading my devotional or reading anything at all. It might mean a Teacher’s night out with our homeschool group which gives me time to chat and relax. It might be an early morning walk by myself. This time of filling back up could be anything that refreshes you, gives you emotional, physical and spiritual newness. Sometimes that might mean a really long nap, so be it, give the kids quiet time and take a nap. In the long run giving yourself some time to refill will make everyone happy, there will be more of you to go around if you first take the time to be there for yourself.

***Some people work well in mess and it drives some crazy, don’t judge someone based on their cleaning skills. I’ve seen lots of happy, messy homes, if you like messy just skip the next paragraph! ***

Great, now you’re recharged and ready to handle the mess around the house. Prioritize! Make a list of things that you think need to be done: daily, weekly, monthly (and a separate category: your Mother-in-law is coming over!) What things need to be done daily – that will be different for everyone. In our house Swiffering (I can’t believe I just used that as a verb) is a daily chore, cleaning the toilets isn’t. Now, who can handle what? My 6 and 9 year old tag team putting away the dishes because the younger one can’t reach the cabinets. My 13 year old can do the laundry (and Swiffer!) Everyone is responsible for putting their ‘things’ away (those things that accumulate downstairs like hair thingies ((if you have girls you know what those are)), stuffed animals, etc.) It’s no fun to do the same chore over and over, so rotate who gets to do what, it shouldn’t always be the same person taking out the trash. Put a list up on the fridge for daily chores and keep a side list of the weekly and monthly ones. Spend 5 minutes a day making one room clean, really….5 minutes, you can do a lot in 5 minutes (have you ever seen a toddler destroy a room, yep, 5 minutes.)

Now for the homeschooling balance, the thing about homeschooling is that it just never stops. There is always something to learn, some new thing to find out about and therefore even when homeschoolers are on vacation or break we often find that school still happens. But, there is more to life than just school so we need to watch how we do school. There is the burn-out factor here too, you can only do so much before you just are going so fast and so hard that you burn out. I’ve seen it happen and I’ve seen some things that skew the balance of school at home. One is too much work, I know some homeschoolers that school for 8-10 hours a day, whoa! That is a really long time to be sitting down at a desk (in their case.) The average is probably 3 to 4 hours a day and that seems to be a good balance for most people. Be sure to include some real life in your school, don’t lock your kids in the schoolroom and expect them to learn everything from a curriculum or computer.

Balance inside activities with outside ones, give your kids some hands on work as well as book work, find things to compliment your schooling. Take some time to be physical, take a walk, swim, ride a bike (Swiffer the floor) and finally, have fun! You have these children for such a short while, find ways to learn and have some fun at the same time.

Let’s see, you’re refreshed, the house is clean (or not) and the kids are having fun with learning. Now you can handle that pile of laundry, those college applications and still have time to read a good book…..might I suggest some?

Time For Me by Helene Lerner

One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

The Well Planned Day by Rebecca Keliher

Homeschool Burnout by Raymond and Dorthy Moore