Last December when we were contemplating taking Jill out of school because of the bad situation in her class I felt really really overwhelmed. I have never led much of a life of leisure. I work from home and I stay busy with many other things. I was also full of grief over Destiny. However, I couldn't feel good about sending Jill to school every day when I knew that things would not be resolved quickly enough to justify her having to put up with her teacher's antics. As I've listened to other parents and students through the year I've been quite confident that we did the right thing for us. I think that we've grown closer because of the time we've spent together. It's important to me that she really knows that she doesn't have to endure abuse from anyone - even a teacher (especially a teacher?!) Jill has also really grown emotionally and spiritually the past six months. Our friend Jenny asked if she could tutor Jill in French...and what a blessing that has been....not just because of the French, but because Jenny is an amazing role model. She has influenced Jill in ways that will have a life-time effect. I think Jill has a different kind of respect for us as her parents as well. And I know I certainly appreciate the life I have. I'm SO grateful that we're in a situation that we could take her out of school without too much of a disruption to everything else in our lives. I don't know if it would have been the right thing for everyone (I seem to have conversations on a regular basis that include a comment from someone along the lines of 'I could never do what you've done'). I have difficulty agreeing to the idea that those children will be fine having to put up with that teacher - but it really isn't my place to impose any value judgements. Every parent knows what is best for their child. I know I felt very strongly about what was best for mine. I'm sure glad we could do what we thought was best!
We're pretty much hanging up the hat on our homeschooling these days. We had our end of year school visit and while I had planned to continue, the motivating is waning. Looking back, I'm amazed at how things fell into place and made it all so managable. I really believe that God helps us when we need to do things that seem beyond ourselves. This scripture is true!
1 Nephi 3:7.....the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.
One of the things that happened that made it all much more managable is that I hardly had any work the past six months. Normally that would stress me out and I would be asking for extra work and being saddled with impossible projects. However, I wasn't in a position to ask for anymore work, and interesting enough, no one even asked me if I wanted more. Usually there is more work than they have people for - but somehow I remained under the radar when it came to extra work. It was also amazing how our finances didn't suffer at all - as a matter of fact, we probably have had more income in the last six months than we've had in the past 10 years. Neither Allen nor I earn a salary - it ebbs and flows according to how much work we have (oh the joys of commission work!) Allen has been run off his feet with great clients the past six months or so. An amazing blessing!
The interesting thing is that the week we had our end of year visit suddenly I got two new big projects - which certainly boost the time I'm required to spend on the computer. They look like good projects too (some are much more painful than others).
This may seem like a little thing to some - but to me it was another example of God's tender mercies. I received a recipe book for Christmas called The Big Cook. I've written about it before here and here. Our live certainly wouldn't have been as smooth around here the past six months without this book in our lives. We have great meals (if I do say so myself) and I don't spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Right now I have about 30 meals in my freezer, ready to go, thanks to this book. I could take a month off of cooking if I needed to! I won't - but it sure feels great to have that in the freezer. It blesses our family. It's also a great blessing to know that if someone else needs help for one reason or another providing a meal for them would be a breeze.
In case you're interested, here's a video that talks about how it all works. I'm telling you, it's changed my life!
The Big Cook
Today I feel so grateful for the gentle way God directs our lives and helps us to accomplish the things we need to do. We don't need to fear!! We will always be able to handle the things that fall in our laps.
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