Motherhood!

I found this encouraging and thought some of you might too...

Four Things I Wish I'd Known As A Young Mother: (Taken from a letter written by Laurel Foster)

I've been a mother for 18+ years. Jeff and I have nine wonderful children. But as a wise man once said, "The more I know, the more I know that I know not." My heart is drawn to mothers, especially mothers with young children. When our first baby, Christie, was on the way I was really scared. I wanted so much to do a good job. The responsibility I felt was almost crushing. My purpose today is a very limited attempt to fulfill Titus 2 where it says that older women should help younger women to love their children. Verses 3 through 5 read "Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." My goal is to share with you some things I wish someone older and wiser had shared with me when I was a young mother.

#1: The Most Important Job In The Universe
Mothering is the most important job in the universe. How I wish every mother felt that in the depths of her inmost being. This is no second class calling. It takes every ounce of intelligence, energy, creativity and unselfishness for one person to raise another to successful adulthood. I wish we honored and revered mothers as they deserve. I wish there were tax breaks and other incentives to reward and recognize that laying your life down daily for little children is a career of the highest, most important caliber. I wish every night every mother would be told by every father that her work is essential and appreciated.I was a registered nurse until I was promoted to full-time motherhood. I struggled for a year to feel important in my new career. I think it was Christie's growing ability to communicate to me that I was her whole world that began to give me the confidence that I wasn't wasting my life.My belief, that motherhood is extremely important, has grown stronger and stronger through the years. If it is of any comfort to you, I have never regretted spending my life this way. One of the great cries of the human heart is to be needed. Your children need you. Your work is of immeasurable, eternal value. It is worth the high price of you life.

#2: Precious Little To Spare
I wish someone had told me you can't raise children well in your spare time. It might not have been such a shock to find out I was required to be available anytime, day or night, to help my child. I t might have helped me deal more patiently with giving up plans because of unexpected interruptions. If I had gone into motherhood with the expectation of serving 24 hours a day, perhaps I would have been grateful for every hour I did get to sleep, instead of resenting the three hours in the middle of the night that baby needed company.I honestly thought that children did not require much time, but they do. People exclaim when they hear I have eight children, "Boy, I bet you're busy!" But the truth is that although eight children take all your time, two children take all your time. There is always something more that could be done for one of your little ones.Laying down your life daily means being inconvenienced. It requires being very flexible. Please, give yourself a hug every time you are patient. Pat yourself on the back when you do successfully conquer selfishness to help your little one. Don't beat yourself up if you get angry at that sixth interruption during a project. Strive to improve but don't be harsh with yourself. Remember that the mother of your child has a very difficult, demanding job and be kind to her. Speak words of encouragement to her when she blows it.Giving up your time is giving up your life. It is a requirement of motherhood but it is not an easy thing to do. One thing I have found helpful is to keep things as simple as possible. Be willing to bring store bought rolls to the potluck instead of homemade ones if that will keep peace in the family. Another hint is to ask for help. I got really discouraged a few years ago and my husband willingly took charge of the children from after supper until bedtime. I believe the Lord will bring necessary relief but we may need to ask for it. Older women should consider whether they are following the Scriptural mandate to help younger women.The bottom line, however, is a mother's attitude. For me things work best when my expectations are very low concerning "free time". Your work is important and very time consuming. You can not do such an essential job in your spare time. I wish I had known and accepted that fact years ago.

#3: Change Your Tomorrows Today
It would have helped me if someone had encouraged me to develop skills and good habits as early in my marriage as possible. Hoping we would have more children, I began storing Christie's clothes when she was an infant. Somehow, about four babies later, I had this closet full of clothes that were difficult to use because they were not sorted by size. I am developing a system of boxing clothes according to size, season and gender but I could have saved myself much frustration if I had started this system when Christie was a baby. The same is true of washing dishes. I confess to you that when Jeff and I were first married I sometimes did not wash dishes for days. Now, with a family of ten, we must wash after every meal or the consequences are immediate and overwhelming.The Laurel of today can be the best friend or the worst enemy of the Laurel of tomorrow. It is true you are very busy, but as the Lord gives you time, consider what habits you can develop while you have one child that will help you when you have three children. There are so many areas where this advice would have helped me. I wish I had the habit of putting photographs in albums or even getting film developed quickly. It would help if I wrote one short note a day instead of letting correspondence pile up. I have yet to come up with a system of dealing with clutter other than to have one large box in which to put it. You will be shocked to know I do not clean shelves, closets or even my refrigerator on a regular basis.Even so, I have had success in some areas. I have learned to change a diaper when I first smell it and then to throw that diaper in the trash. I have learned to start Christmas shopping in November. The kids and I pick up the house almost every day. I actually wrote out these thoughts days, not hours, before we got here this morning.There is always room for improvement in skills and habits. Wherever you are, remember that what you do today will affect tomorrow. Unfortunately, that is much easier to see with eight children than with two. If something is needing a little attention now, I encourage you to really stop and consider how to conquer it before your family gets bigger or busier. If not dealt with effectively, a small problem tends to become a big problem. As time allows, without being harsh with yourself, develop good skills and habits and be your own best friend.

#4: Be Content With 80%
Although it is true that we need to strive for improvement, it is also true that we need to accept gracefully the limits of time and energy. I rarely get to finish projects to my satisfaction. Even in something as basic as laundry, it seems there is always one more load to do. That is why I wish someone had told me long ago to guard against perfectionism.Much of my anger stems from situations where I almost complete something and circumstances force me to quit. One little saying that gives me some comfort is "Be content with 80%." Life is much more fun when we congratulate ourselves over the ten Christmas cards we did send, than when we mourn over the fifty we did not send. If your child is sick and you're up all night, please sleep late the next morning without guilt. If a sticky-faced toddler interrupts your devotions and you only had four more paragraphs to read, be patient with him and with yourself. God understands that you tried.Deuteronomy 33:12 says in part, "Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him..." There is tension between striving for perfection and resting in the Lord. God knows your heart and, if you look carefully, you know your motivation. You know if uncompleted work is the result of being lazy or if it is due to your first priority (Baby) bumping your second priority (housework). The simple answer is to ask the Holy Spirit how to best spend your time and energy in each situation. I am more relaxed and pleasant to live with since I began to grasp that earthly work does not have to be done perfectly. Frequently, 80% is good enough.So, if we had a chance to talk, and you asked me to share some insights that the Lord has given me over the years, I might tell you to realize that motherhood is the most important job in the universe, to expect little "free time", to strive today to make tomorrow better, and to be content with 80%. Then I would hug you and tell you that God and I both appreciate every effort and sacrifice you are making to raise your children. I would assure you that you are not wasting your life. May God give you hope and help as you daily lay down your life in this high calling.

HEAT Robot Club at work again!

I am long overdue to post the happenings of our illustrious Robot club in these parts of the world. The challenge officially started September 13th with Kickoff day and six of our representatives (4 team members and 2 adults) were allowed to participate in viewing the challenge before us. For those of you who don't remember from last year, we have six weeks to complete the assignment and compete at the BEST Robot Game day slated for October 24th! Our mission was to establish a make believe company, employ team members (they learned the skill of writing a resume and a cover letter and submitting it as any employee seeking a position would), split up the teams, and build, display, cheer, notify the public, notebook, and photograph all the happenings of building a robot. The Robot, SLICK (Supercatalyst Liquid Isoctane Conversion Kontraption), will perform several duties of gathering catalyst (tennis balls), energy (tomato paste cans), H2O (racket balls), CO2 (Small beach balls), Benzene tankers (small back of truck like an 18 wheeler would haul), and more and the team that puts these together to make a formula that would equal Isoctane and Ethanol wins! Now if you haven't figured out as well as building a robot we had to learn a little chemistry along the way. Our Robot picks up, scoops, presses buttons, and so much more. The drivers and spotters are this week working on their strategy to decide what piece of the formula is most important and how many of them they need. We have 3 minutes each round to finish our assignment. This year is different however because we are allowed to build upon what we have already gathered from the previous rounds. Our media/PR team have worked non stop in getting the word out to the public about our mission, our needs (monetary), and our sponsors. The display team continues to work furiously ensuring that our display shows our hard work to the judges come game day. The Jr. build team will meet tomorrow to put the finishing touches on our robot (decor)! The notebook that contains all the demographics of our teams, our technical side of building the robot, all our work thus far and more was proudly turned in last weekend at Mall day. Sarah continues to battle for the best driving position. Her and a friend gathered many supplies this weekend when they practiced and as in the words of a gentlemen beside me (not part of our team or any team, just a spectator) said, "She has changed my opinion on women drivers!" LOL! She was neck and neck with competing for a CO2 (beach ball) with another robot. We all had a good laugh, but in the end our fearless leader of our team agreed that when she and her friend Jordi obtain their drivers licence we don't want to having parking wars with them, because they would win hands down. Sarah is also part of the media/PR team (she might be on TV come this Wednesday nightly news!) Zech is a spotter this year and working well with the drivers and helping them observe the field and part of the Website Team (check it out at http://www.wfmars.com/ ). Isabella continues her cheer leading skills by being part of the Spirit team and Media/PR. Sarah and Isabella are part of the display team as well.

This year has proven to be a challenge of late night meetings, day meetings, dealing with school in the midst of that, and the curve of learning chemistry as well. HEAT Robot club has met the challenge though and their goal is to win 1st or 2nd to go all the way to state! I'll keep you posted!

In the name of Science!

Pungent smells and aromas that I don't quite have words to explain are exuding from my kitchen as I sit 15 to 20 ft away to type this message. My counters, window sills, and even a dark closet has science experiments awaiting to see if the hypothesis my children have written down will show to be true or false. We are trying to grow bacteria, grow a Lima bean, decompose bananas (not sure why, other than something about yeast being a decomposer), show vegetative reproduction (in which my dear son asked me politely that his plant was supposed to stay warm and could I not turn on the fan? this is the kitchen I might add!), and to produce turgor pressure (which is cells expanding). Not only are their aroma's from the kitchen and closet, but my back porch was a pond feeding frenzy last week. Sarah had taken four jars of pond water and placed cultures (rice, hay, pond soil, & egg) in each container to see which one would grow living organisms. Reaked would be a mild word for the smells that oozed from those containers (thankfully they were on my back porch and not my house). My husband might ask the Biology class just to come clean my refrigerator and they might find all kinds of biology experiments growing in there (not on purpose either! LOL). The pictures above represent the different experiments going on at the Roberson Academy just today! Who knows what will happen next? Biology and General Science have been stinky and yet interesting to study. Next year we will be experimenting with chemistry (we might end up blowing something up!).

Musings of Homeschool Mom - Part I

Questions and comments of the general public to a homeschool mom are often amusing. Yesterday, after I had finished my grocery shopping, a gentleman helped me out with my bulging two baskets (yes I know that's a ton of groceries, but that's another story), started questioning me on the amount of food I was buying and guessed that I had at least 2 children at home to scarf down these delectables that I was trying to stuff into my truck. I informed him of my three precious children and then he politely asked what school were they attending. I immediately and profoundly stated, "I homeschool." And this is were I found myself chuckle because he then flatly stated, "Well, there is nothing wrong with that." Hmmm.... I thought, no there isn't anything wrong with that, but why would someone say that to me? Why would I think there is anything wrong with homeschooling my children and found myself giggling under my breath. My giggle was a result of numerous years of hearing comments from, "Are you stupid?", and, "Christian schools are a great alternative", and "Do you know everything you teach?" Also being accosted by flying words from individuals who are vehemently against my homeschooling. I've been the but of jokes and the topic of conversations. Our family has been labled, upholded, put on a pedestal, made fun of, and so much more that we find it amusing anymore to hear the views of the public when they find out our homeschooling ways.

Another interesting subject that I like to broach as people bring up the topic is, "How do you teach all those subject that per say you struggle in or don't know anything about?" Good question I tell them and then I proceed with my explanation. "I haven't a clue how to teach trigonometry, but I'm not past learning yet myself. I have the ability to learn that subject and teach it with my children or I proceed with a tutor in that subject." Every subject I am not an expert in. However I can receive help if I need it or learn it myself and then teach it. The other night I studied biology, mythology, and freshened up with my Algebra II. I was beginning to wonder just who was going to school, but amazingly I find myself enjoying new subjects. Just for you sciencey people, Biology though I still don't get. This is where other moms help out. There are some in our city that LOVE science, and there are some in community that LOVE English, and so on. We all partner with one another in our different interest and either form a group where we learn individually but gather together once a week to discuss what we've learned and do labs (biology, I'm loving that teacher!)or we discuss with one another on different areas in which we can improve.



There are difficulties and joys with this particular job I have chosen. But with any job I believe the same is true. I love how some people believe that what I do at home is not a job. As if I just sit at home all day and really do nothing (Please come sit at my house for just a day and it will change your mind). I am usually up by 5 am and do not lay my head down until 10 and some nights 11. (Last night while laying in bed I was able to slay every Algebra dragon my dear daughter brought in from the school room because she was doing homework very late at night! Okay teaching her how to slay them!) EVERYTHING my children learn is usually produced, bought, studied, or glanced at by me. If you've lost count, I have 3 children, with at least 6 to 7 subjects each, and that would be up to 21 subjects everyday that I'm helping, reading, glancing, teaching, sweating over, grading, and planning for the next day, next month, next year. I'm always, always on the clock. The pay is horrible if you consider it monetarily. There are some days in which at the end of the day your child looks at you and asked you a question that you KNOW you covered in school that very day and they so effectively spit it back out at you, but their mind goes blank and you feel as though all you are doing is talking to a wall and therefore wanting to bang your head up against a wall at the very moment (I know that is a run on sentence but say it out loud without taking a breath and that is how I feel some days). Even so, the pay is received when you children are riding with you and all discussing the eight Kingdoms of Biology and all of them can tell you with relative ease the 1st law of Thermodynamics. The pay is received when they accomplish something and you grade it and your smile shows them your approval and they know they GOT it! Your pay is when your children are always around you giggling, laughing with each other, and expressing to each other something that they learned that day because they enjoyed their day of learning! The pay isn't what I do this for but it is a great luxury knowing that I've done what the Lord has called me to do.