My Ebenezer

Seth, age 7

I struggle to balance my life. The things I have to do versus the things I want to do. I have identified a very addictive streak in my personality, which becomes almost obsessive when awakened. Take this puzzle I recently completed for example:  It's a Norman Rockwell painting that was printed into a puzzle, and I just love the subject matter--it's so humorous. But it. was. hard!! So hard, in fact, that I hope I never have to take this puzzle apart. It may just have to live in our schoolroom because I can't bear the thought of all that effort going back in its box in fragments. I don't know how long it took me to do this puzzle, but I do know that for the last several days I have spent almost every spare second poring over its 1,000 pieces. My eyes ached in their sockets and I repeatedly lost track of the time--a rarity for me.  All that blue and green! All those skin tones! All that car trim! And in this puzzle, the pieces are not evenly-shaped and patterned in a ...

Yesterday I posted this photo on Facebook and Instagram with the caption "We serve a risen Savior!" I like that caption best, but as always, there was so much more going on than a single picture can represent. Here's some behind-the-scenes action: In light of the stark differences between celebrating Easter in years past, versus in this new Coronavirus Twilight Zone, I wanted a "normal" looking Easter picture. (They can cancel just about everything else, but not Easter! That kind of idea.) Unfortunately, when we were ready to take the photo, everyone except me had already changed out of the Easter clothes that we had worn for our Zoom church service. Josh, Noah and Seth hurriedly retrieved their shirts out of the hamper and threw them back on, and I decided to compromise and not make Eden put her dress back on. You choose your battles. I asked James, who was here, to take the photo "from the waist up" to hide the fact that the family had their casu...

Seth is hilarious. His strong point is definitely not school work of the worksheet variety, but he is always thinking on a creative track. For example, check out his mad fort-making skills:   Oh that we could find a way to harness that creativity and still accomplish the worksheets' objectives! Today during math class (online with BJU Press), his teacher Mrs. Lawson was trying to teach the concept of counting coins for correct change. They were pretending that they were trying to buy a baseball for $0.28 (by the way, on what planet could you buy a baseball for that price? I know, suspend your disbelief!). Mrs. Lawson told the students to pick up two dimes, then said:  "Okay, you have twenty cents in your hand. Is that enough to buy the baseball? Remember the baseball costs twenty-eight cents..." *long pause* "Noo-o! That's not enough to buy that baseball; how much will you need to pick up to have enough money?"  *another pause* At wh...

"Donkey drinks a lot of tea" -Eden Deep in concentration.  We are 20-something days into the strangest period of time I've ever lived through, social distancing. I don't share my opinion much about this, largely because I have a dissenting opinion to what I believe is the popular one, and also because I'm not sure I'm right. (But I think I am)  But the other day, my brother posted the following on Facebook, and I just couldn't agree more. " Social distancing is not the answer to this crisis, friends. We can't stay distant long enough to wait for a medical cure, without destroying ourselves in the process. Further, we were designed to be social beings. Isolation will kill us in more ways than one. Human solutions will not work. The answer, my friends, is prayer. If you are not a believer, then you may find this answer irrelevant or offensive. That doesn't change the truth of it. God has the power to deliver us. M iracles neve...

This morning the Lord worked on my behalf in a big way, and I need to write it down so that Future Me can be encouraged. I wish I could change the names and circumstances to avoid embarrassment, but I can't. Instead, I asked Noah if I could write about it, and he said "Yes. Just don't post it on Facebook." Roger that. It was 9:47am, and I had just called Noah in from outside to give him some further instructions with Eden, so I could give Seth a Reading lesson without interruption. As Noah was standing at the door, he began what I call "man-handling" Eden, which means he was trying to forcibly get her to do what he thought she should be doing, which was to stay on the mat and not get the floor muddy. A good goal, but man-handling never goes well. It doesn't leave the one being forced feeling all rosy and teachable. It usually backfires and causes even more of a fight. Not only does it NOT work, it is also sinful. Plus, I was standing right there. I...

This is Day #20 since our lives were noticeably altered by COVID-19. I think we're all counting! For the most part these days, we just stay at home all the time. Eden is my "Can I go?" child. It doesn't matter where you're going, she just wants to go too, which is the exact opposite of me! It doesn't matter where you're going, I just want to stay home! This "safer-at-home" mandate Florida is under would be much easier if it were just me at home. Lonelier, yes, but oh the things I could do! The puzzles, the artwork, the cleaning, the organizing, the card-making, the baking/cooking... Another season perhaps!  For now, I'm trying to keep three kids out of mischief. Succeeding for the most part, thank the Lord, but sometimes things fall through the gaps.  Exhibit A: That is green sharpie on my dining room walls, folks, scrawled there by miss E herself. Don't ask me how or when she did this, but there it is. Kind of resembles the stoc...

Earlier in the week Josh, the kids, and I were itching to get out. The lockdowns here in Jacksonville are getting a little... well, the first word that comes to mind is "ridiculous." Oppressive is a close second. Maybe not quite that strong, but when you tell people to keep exercising and stay active, and then you shut down literally ALL the outdoor venues like playgrounds, fields, hiking trails, state parks, and beaches...  Anyway, we found out that the state parks with campgrounds in Georgia are still open, and there were vacancies, so we booked a couple of nights at Crooked River State Park in St. Mary's, Georgia. What a treat it was to escape, for just over 24 hours, the twilight zone that we are currently living through! Here are some pics from our time away: Our first meal at the campsite: hamburgers and hot dogs. Food tastes better when you're camping, in my opinion. It was bright down by the dock and fishing pier! Pep brought his cast net. He ...

You know when the electricity goes out suddenly and unexpectedly, and it's kind of cool for the first hour or so? You light candles, you might pull out a card game, you imagine what it must have been like for people before electricity was a given.  And then, along about hour three of the power outage, it starts to get Really. Old.  That is how the current worldwide quarantine feels to me. I'm not even going to explain about the Coronavirus since I can't imagine you not knowing about that already. A couple of weeks ago the government began clamping down one freedom, and then another, until what we're left with is the order to just stay at home.  Social Distancing. The whole world, it seems, has been ordered by the powers that be to stay at home except for absolute necessities like food, medicine, or doctor visits.  And just like that, everything from the way the world learns, worships, shops, works, eats, and lives has been freedom-restricted. I'm not saying whether...