I finally get my moment to play with the kids! It feels like the first day of summer to me and it is July 1st. Everything else has been such a blur of run here, run there! But today, we played!
As always the summer months are my thinking and pondering time. What do we need to change? What isn't working? What will our focus be? How, When, Where will we do school? Who does what when? What curriculum will I use?
(Lets break that down more!)
What curriculum for High Schooler? ...for 9th grader? ...for 7th grader? ...for 6th grader? ...for 3rd grader? ...for 1st grader? Will I actually GET to the first grader more than the handful of times I did this past year? What will the toddler be destroying? How will we engage him or work around him? When will we start? What are we lacking in?
(And that my friend has started an entire new chain of thoughts!)
We have gone from a family moving in one direction to a family moving in a multitude of directions and it is creating tension here and tension there!
Can you relate?
I figure if you have more than one teen, YOU, can relate! We are adding one more teen into the youth group this year and I am in SHOCK we have more kids in the upper ages than we do little ones.
What's this new crazy world we live in of almost NO rest! Barry and I are feeling the pull to change a few things. Somewhere in the midst of doing good things, having Bible Studies, socializing with friends, having activities from disc golf, tennis, ultimate Frisbee, and soccer a day of REST has been lost! Amazing how you compromise on one thing and before you know it there is no boundary, guide, or line of what you use to hold. Our Sabbath day is lost. Just because our churches got busy, our homes stay in motion, and our children keep begging...that doesn't seem to change the fact that Scripture talks about having a day of rest.
Where is our rest?
We had always protected that...until we had multiple teens! It isn't their fault they are doing what they were created to do, being young people full of life! They keep the rest of us engaged! But we are now faced with helping our kids find balance in life. And God is prompting us that this area is OUT of balance.
Where is the moment to ponder?
Where are the moments to regroup?
Where is the time to see if we are still walking God's path or have we stepped onto our own?
There is change coming to our home. Not sure what that will look like.
As parents we are faced with looking over the situation and seeking God on the steps to walk.
As parents we may have to take a stand which means we need to pray for strength as we disappoint the kids and wisdom to lead them well. We are not convinced our day of rest must be Sunday. BUT we are convinced there needs to be a day of rest!
When is YOUR day of rest?
Ours?
Well, we are working on that and will have a plan shortly!
Kyle and I just had this discussion on our date this week. We haven't decided what it looks like either, but we just need more "family" time...especially so the younger ones get time with the older ones. The problem is that all the stuff the older kids are doing is "good" stuff...good friends, Bible study, wholesome games, etc. So changing that is hard. I'm totally with you, Shannon! We may have to discuss this more since our kids are friends!
ReplyDeleteKeith and I saw this trend coming. We see it in a lot of families we know. We chose to step out. It is hard and it is wonderful. Swimming against the tide never was easy! Blessings to you guys as you go for it!
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