Last week’s post was written by Seth and can be found here.  It’s wonderful.

And this week’s post is written by Carrie and can be found here.  It’s beautiful.

Even if you aren’t a part of an “organic church” you can still know more of Christ through reading this series.  I promise, the authors aren’t trying to get you to join an “organic church”.  I know each of them personally and they all have a desire for more of Jesus in every way.  Period.  They desire Jesus and His life expressed on the earth through His church.  However He chooses to do that.

Love,

Bridget

Like I said in pt. 1: there is TONS of good stuff out there.  And as you start to sift through it all, you will want to try lots of really great things.  And you CAN try lots of really great things, just don’t try them in the beginning.

WAIT.

Get only the core subjects at first.  Math, Language Arts, Science, and History/Social Studies. And only do those subjects for at least two months.  You might feel like you aren’t doing enough, you might feel like you have too much extra time during the day.  That’s OK.  Seriously.

Homeschooling, like life, has lots of ups and downs.  And if you are transitioning a child out of public school there can be even more.  You need to give yourself time to ease in to this new adventure.  Slow and steady wins the race.

After spending at least two months (or a whole semester) with the core subjects, then slowly add in the electives you want.  You will probably already be doing other activities, like church, sports, etc. so don’t overwhelm yourself.  A homeschool stuffed full of activites and a stressed out mom/teacher is NOT what you want.  You will burn out and give up fast.

There will be lots of things that you try that won’t work out for you.  That’s ok.  What’s worse is to buy a whole bunch of electives with grand plans that just sit on a shelf or in a closet and never get used.

Start slow and with only the core subjects.  You’ll be glad you did.

Love,

Bridget

Our Lord is completely able to be head of His body.  He has it completely in His power to lead His church.  To direct them, to correct them, to grow them.  To have His way.

He does this through multiple ways.  His resources are vast and inexhaustible.  And He is so very patient.  But why wouldn’t He be?  He’s not confined by time.

At one time, I would have made the above statements on faith because I knew about Jesus.  Now, I make those statements because I have actually seen Him do it.

I have seen the Lord change the heart and mind of a group of believers in the course of one meeting, and I have seen the Lord change the heart and mind of a group of believers over the course of months.

I have seen the Lord heal hurts and restore relationships.

I have seen the Lord bring someone back from the clutches of death.

I have seen the Lord express His love, His laughter, His joy, His pleasure.

I have seen the Lord express His compassion, His provision, His inclusiveness.

I have seen the Lord discipline and I have seen the Lord comfort.

I have seen the Lord take a group of believers into a new season.

I have seen the Lord truly alive and living on the earth today.

The thing that so many question is how can a group of people function without a leader?  The answer to that question is that they can’t.  And we’re not trying to.

The difference is that we have chosen Christ Jesus as our ONLY leader.  But He is more than just our leader.  He is our source, our origin.  He is the giver of life, the conduit of life, and Life itself.

And He has proven Himself able.  Completely able.

Have you seen the movie Captain America?

It’s ripe with the reality of Christ to me.  You see, Captain America has The Life within him.  He’s the only one that has been given the super serum.  He’s the only one with super strength…super ability…super everything, yet the powers that be put him in the position of a mascot.  They have him on stage “pretending” to do all the things he can do, but they won’t give him the opportunity to actually do those things.

I never realized it in my early christian life, but this was who Christ was to me.  Someone used simply to “inspire” me to do things.  He was put on stage every Sunday morning or Wednesday night and I was then told about all the things I was supposed to do to “help” Him.  He was a mascot.  And a very demanding one at that.

Don’t get me wrong: despite myself, the Lord came into my heart and began a relationship with me.  He was real to me and I loved Him.  But I didn’t really know Him.

When Captain America was allowed to be who he truly was, to do what only he could do, things happened.  Things changed.  The Life that was in him was expressed to the fullest.  And when someone is able to express the life within them fully;  that’s when you really get to know them.

Jesus Christ IS The Life and He is living in you and me.  We can choose to set Christ on stage as a mascot and go on living by our own life or we can give Him free reign and live by His inexhaustible, eternal Life.

I will say it again: I have seen Him and He is alive and living on the earth today.

And He is able.

And He is glorious.

Love,

Bridget

For more on Living by the Life of Christ go here.

Here are the past posts in this series:

Pt 1: The difference between brotherhood and buddyhood (this includes sisterhood)

Pt 2: The life of the church flows from Christ’s life in us, not from our activity

Pt 3: Desperation for the Lord

Pt 4: Just say yes

Princess decided to smell it…

…but ended up kissing it instead.

No bueno.

Lesson learned.

Love,

Bridget

Also, next week I am sharing what I have learned so come back here next Wednesday for Pt. 5 of the series and here are the other posts so far:

Michael Young – The Difference Between Brotherhood and Buddyhood (this includes Sisterhood)

Mark Lake – The life of the church flows from Christ’s life in us, not from our activity

Mark Hardy – Desperation for the Lord 

I remember when that was me.

In February 2007 I started getting the itch to homeschool.  It was very overwhelming and scary, but I knew that if I didn’t at least try I would someday wish I had.  We ended up moving from Texas to Oklahoma in August 2007 and the fact that we had prepared to homeschool actually made things easier on me.  That first year we didn’t start school till the beginning of September.  Already a perk to homeschooling.

My Precious Person asked me for some advice.  Anything, really, that I could share that might help her navigate these new waters.  So I decided to share it here for two reasons.  1.  It will be in print and can be easily returned to.  2.  Sharing it publicly might allow it to be of help to others as well.

This will definitely be a multi-part series over a few weeks.  I start school March 12th and I really want to have it done by then so I’ll be hitting you pretty heavy with homeschooling stuff for the next few weeks.

I have been homeschooling for almost 5 years.  That is not very long and there are others out there with much more wisdom and experience than myself.  But I will gladly share what I have learned and what works for our family.

So here is my first piece of advice, and in my humble opinion it is the most important piece of advice because it can direct all other decisions you make.  You will probably read this in every homeschooling book and on every homeschooling website, but that’s because it really is that important.  (but in the case that you don’t ever find this advice anywhere else, then be super glad you read my blog becasus it really is the most important thing =))

You must know what you want to get out of homeschooling.

There are a gazillion reasons to homeschool and I would say that 95% of them are good reasons.  But knowing why you are homeschooling (ex: I believe the Lord wants me to, I don’t like the kids my kids are around at school, I don’t like the school teaching to standardized tests, my kid struggles and I can best give them what they need, etc) is only part of the equation.

R.C. and I love homeschooling.  We love the time together  it affords our family.  What we want out of homeschooling is a very close-nit family.  We want family conversations about what we are studying, we want inside jokes from shared experiences, we want flexibility to schedule anything, we want our children teaching each other.  That is what we want out of homeschooling.  So when I am faced with deciding on curriculum, or planning activities, I have a very good road map to help me make the best decision for our family based on what we want to get out of homeschooling.

Do I want bright children that excel?  Of course!  Really, who doesn’t?  But I’m not wanting Ivy League Scholars out of my homeschool so I choose curriculum and experiences that we can share as a family compared to finding curriculum and experiences for getting my child into Harvard.

Knowing what I want out of homeschooling has greatly impacted my ability to discern what will be best for our family and to leave all the other really good stuff alone simply because it won’t give us what we want out of homeschooling.  Because, truly, there are TONS of options out there.  Stuff out the wazoo!  Talk about overwhelming!

I didn’t get a grasp on this till my third year of homeschooling.  I can’t say that the first two years were wasted, but they were much trial and error.  Even the third year consisted of much trial and error while I learned what worked for helping us get what we want best.  But possibly, maybe, if you head my advice, you can shave a couple years off that time.

Love,

Bridget

Actually, I’m just trying to take Frank’s advice and be more creative and clever in my post titles.  Obviously, I still need some practice

On Wednesday Princess got her hair cut.  By someone who actually knows how to cut hair (versus me).  It is crazy cute and I knew you would want to see it too, so here are some pictures.

She loves it!  I knew a shorter cut would work for her because she ALWAYS takes her ponytail or hair clip out after wearing it for approximately 2.5 seconds.  Therefore a shorter cut that will allow her hair to keep from looking like I hadn’t brushed it in a week will be nice.  Very nice.

She also looks older.  And I KNOW she loves that.

Popeye has two missing teeth.  One on top and one on bottom.  He actually swallowed the one on bottom yesterday while he was eating his snack.  It was pretty funny.  And, of course, with six boys in the house (my three and three others that were over) there was a lot of poop talk after.  It was lovely. :/

So there you have it.  Hairy Teeth.

Love,

Bridget

There is a good possibility that I will be attending classes starting in March.  Santa Fe College has smaller semesters that are six weeks long and I have registered for nine hours.  I am excited and nervous about getting back into this part of life.  It has been so long since I’ve been a student that I’m not sure if my brain remembers how to think like one.  We shall see.

Homeschooling is going really well this year.  We have found a good groove and I’m LOVING doing the six weeks on, one week off.  It really is amazing how much more motivating it is when you know you only have to stick it out for six weeks and then you get a breather.  Like I said, I’m a short distance runner, just not a very fast one. =)

The weather is amazing here.  Yesterday it was in the upper 70s and, of course, sunny.  Bear and a friend, who was spending the day at our house, played outside almost all day long.  They have a “secret base” near the small pond in our neighborhood and they took snacks and tools with them.  They found some nests with duck eggs in them and came home very excited to show me the pictures they took with their cell phones.

Princess played in the front yard.  She was “healing” this tree branch.  Bless her heart. =)

Bobo is busy with his school most of the day and he is also working on creating a video game.

Popeye decided to play with his math manipulatives after he finished school.  This is a lion with some sort of headdress.  I  think it’s amazing.

I have been making some changes around the house.  We have decided to stay in this townhouse for another year so we are settling in even more.  It feels good.

Today is another post in the What I’ve learned in Organic Church series.  Mark Hardy wrote today’s post and it is beautiful.  Click here to read it.

Love,

Bridget

I’m participating in a blog series with other brothers and sisters from the church here in G-ville.  A different person will be posting every Wednesday.  Click on the picture (or go here) to read this week’s post.

It’s really good stuff!

Love,

Bridget

The truth is:  I’m bummed.

Ever since starting down the idea of returning to college R.C. and I have both felt strongly about not going into debt, just yet, for it.  Things are so financially tight right now that we knew we could qualify for assistance in the form of grants, we just didn’t know how much we could qualify for.

Then, when I applied to Santa Fe College online, the information there said I could claim residency based off my husband’s information.  You see, I hadn’t gotten my FL license yet.  I know, stupid, stupid.  When we moved down here and moved in with Toby and Brenda I knew we wouldn’t be at that address long so I waited.  Then when we finally moved into our own place, there was just always something else more important to spend $50 on.  Plus, I had no intention of going back to school so why in the world would I need to hurry up and get it?

After I had R.C. fill out the residency form and took it to Santa Fe to turn in, I discovered that the online information was incorrect and, as of six months ago, they no longer allowed you to claim residency as a dependent of a spouse.

In-state tuition is $101 per credit hour.  Out-of-state tuition is $377 per credit hour.  And to receive a grant you must be enrolled for a minimum of 12 hrs.  That comes out to about $4500 for 12 credit hours per semester if you have to pay out-of-state tuition.  Which I do because of the whole driver’s license thing.  There are two other ways of proving residency which are voter’s registration (which most people do when they get their DL) or vehicle registration.  We have registered our vehicle in FL but only in R.C.’s name so it doesn’t help me out any.

After this initial blow we decided that there still might be a way to make this happen.  You see, I have decided to go back to school to get my degree in interior design.  I am crazy excited about this.  I LOVE to design interiors and would love to  have some serious schooling under my belt so that I could design interiors on a professional level.  Watch out Candice Olsen, here I come!

We knew that there was the chance that the grants could be enough to cover out-of-state tuition so we kept moving forward with our plans, all the while knowing that everything hinged on how much financial aid I was awarded.  Christmas break came and the school closed for two weeks so no ground was made.

After lots of phone calls, trips to the financial aid office, and Monday spent actually going to classes, I must say that Tuesday was a big let down.  With the grant money I was awarded we would still have to take out about $3000 in loans to cover the rest of my tuition and books.  Yes, we could go ahead and use the loans and start this process right now, but R.C. and I both have more peace with just being patient (not easy for me) and waiting.

You see, the grant money I was offered would have covered in-state tuition and my books.  So, either we will be able to put some of our tax return aside and use that money along with grant money for me to enroll in the fall or I am just gonna have to wait till January 2013.

Sigh.

So we’ll see what the future holds.  For right now, it’s just not school.

Love,

Bridget