A Bit of Real Life

In this post, I'm going to show you 3 photos that were taken today (actually, by now it was yesterday), which may or may not sum up a normal day for us.  

Today in Chemistry and Physics class (did you ever in your life think I would teach Chemistry and Physics???) we were studying the different states of matter.  One of Noah's favorite parts of the Apologia curriculum is all the experiments and hands-on activities that are suggested and embedded in the reading assignments.  Today one of our experiments was to make sorbet out of fruit juice, using a couple of ziploc bags, ice, and a boatload of salt.  It turned out great, and Noah loved it!

Now, as a side note, the above is one of those pictures (actually all three of these are) that people post on Facebook, and then everyone and their brother looks at that and says, "Oh, what a nice day they had homeschooling.  I wish we did fun projects like that. He looks so happy and content.  Why is my homeschooling effort drudgery and theirs is so rosy?"  And that, friends, is exactly why I have mostly quit checking Facebook.  It's just not good for people to do all that comparing among themselves, especially without all the facts.  Like the fact that later in the day, I laid into Noah about wasting his time.  He wasted 40 minutes of homework time and had next to nothing to show for it at the end.  We had to deal with that, and then I told him he had 30 minutes to get his Math homework done, or I was charging him $1 for every problem not completed in that time.  So there!  We have our share of the un-fun too; I just don't take pictures of it. Disclaimer; I'm not saying my way of handling the above scenario was the best, but it's what I did. (It worked! He had his work done in 20 mins)

And then we have Eden.  Eden the Everywhere.  Isn't she cute, trying to play the piano? Aww, how sweet.  What you can't see in this picture is that the entire office behind me has been rifled through, pulled out, and redeposited in no particular order on the floor.  She's at that fun and BUSY inquisitive age, which is mostly like having a blender with no lid.

Oh, how sweet.  The three cherubs reading.  But...this was 2 seconds before Eden had had enough, and Noah went into his crazy reading voice, and Seth demanded that Noah read it normally, and we basically had pandemonium.  But it's a cute picture nonetheless.

So, see?  Don't be so quick to judge a peaceful photo and think a person's whole life is like that.  Photos are generally the "best of"s, and that adorable one you just saw of all 6 of someone's kids smiling in their matching clothes may just have been that mom's 2,568th try.  Chances are, their life is just like yours: blessed, yes, but also filled with moments that just aren't captured by adorable photos.

The truth is, whether my life is full of sweet, picture-worthy moments or moments where I just want to turn in my badge, it's all from God, and all designed to bring me closer to Him.  Have a great day!