There is always a greater sacrifice.

3 nights(and one morning) every week, I sit for anywhere from 1 to 4 hours each time watching and/or coaching soccer. Even thought I adore coaching and love to watch my children play their games and score a goal even more, I often will find myself grumbling. Just trying to find any excuses not to go. Mainly because I have a million things to do, but also because I just get tired of spending countless hours on the fields just thinking about the million things I have to do. You know what, I just do it. My kids need it. They love the game and they love their friends and I love that they are....happy. Why is it that the things that can give us the most joy also sometimes give us so much grief?
When I first began to homeschool, my husband's biggest "worry" was that I was just taking on too much(which I will admit, I am good at and I do it often). I mean, what mom doesnt take on too much at some point in their motherhood? Well, Me....I sometimes push the envelope. Okay more than sometimes :) I homeschool, I work a few hours at night, I lead a church life group, I am in multiple moms groups and homeschool support groups, we are in a co-op, I coach soccer, we have to run to karate, piano lessons and any other extra curricular event that pops up. Not to mention the normal keep-up with the house, yard work, and the animals. Phhewww. I am Wiped out just typing it all. And I am pretty sure I forgot a few things. To some of you you are looking at that list and thinking "Lady, I got you beat". For those of you, I say God Bless You!! A friend once said to me, "How many hours are in your day, because there are only 24 in mine." I am still not sure how many hours are actually in my day!
My husband, God bless him, often gets chucked in that list somewhere. He is normally the one to remind me that I need to breath. I need to sleep. I need.to.relax!! And I do, for an hour or so :)
So why is it that I, or we as moms, continue to run ourselves down? Well, to me, my family and their happiness is worth the sacrifice it takes! I am fulfilled and happy knowing that they have every ounce of me that I can give them. Now, I am not saying that I don't have times where I feel insanely overwhelmed. I would be a liar to say that I never have an occasional cry-fest in the shower. However, I am not unhappy. Sometimes I am just tired. I just need a little encouragement. Other than the encouragement from my mother, who has the ability to encourage and scold in the same breath, there is only one other example I can think of to keep me motivated.

Beyond my sacrifices, there has been one made that is far greater than mine will ever be. We have a Father, who gave his only Son, SACRIFICED his only Son to save the lives of us, his children. This sacrifice was made to give us life, hope, happiness, and love-all the things that we want to give to our own children. What more encouragement do we need then that? What I have to give us up is nothing compared to that!

Over the past month, the thought of my legacy, has been predominately on my mind. What will my children remember most about me once I am gone? I pray that I pass on a legacy of faith and service to others most of all. My grandmother's funeral readings have made me add one more to this list. Every child of my grandmother remembers the sacrifices she made to raise her family. She was so strong and independent. She did everything she could to give them everything the needed, even what they didn't have. She passed that memory to her children. So my 3rd legacy to pass on will be sacrifice. For your spouse, for your children, for your family, and most importantly... for God's work.

God has all intentions to bless you in every way possible. Personally, just the fact that I have the home, children, and spouse that I have leave me feeling blessed more than I feel I should be. Sometimes it is not always the sacrifices that you make for your family or friends, but the ones you make to live your life for God, that will be the hardest sacrifices of all.
Running yourself down, to do the work of God, and adding it into the mix of everything you are already doing for your family, will be one sacrifice that will never go unnoticed and will never be regretted!
However, there will always be that one greater sacrifice!

Please use that as your encouragement this week. Can you say that the sacrifices you give for your family are enough to leave a legacy? Give yourself, every ounce of you, to you family and to God. He will work through you and believe me you will accomplish all you set to do, as long as you live through him!

So easy to fall behind..

I have to tell you...it can be easy to let your school days slip by. The past 2 weeks my family and I have been dealing with my grandmother falling and ending up in the hospital, then finding out she has stage 4 lung cancer, to watching her wrestle with pain and subsequently death. It has been an emotionally draining time. I would say out of 10 school days, maybe 2 days were completed, besides our daily math and reading. Its times such as these that I begin to question my homeschooling ability! However, it is also times like these that I find reassurance. Okay... wait a minute, what a contradiction, right? I go through this often. I start to think that a "real" teacher could do a better job, I dont offer them enough school time or that I am just not teaching them enough. Then I remember that one of ther joy's of homeschool is FLEXIBILITY. I know parents that aren't beginning thier school year until after labor day for crying out loud. Why am I stressing? Yea, I would say under the circumstances, I had good reason to fall behind. But to me I felt as though I was offering excuses.
I think as parents we always feel that we arent doing something right. We are failing somewhere. We are not doing enough. The truth is...those feelings mean you are doing your job! It is important to not always stress over what you feel you are not doing, but focus on everything that you ARE doing.
Here's my goal for myself and you this week: Have more faith in yourself. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen"(Hebrews 11:1). This can refer to our faith in Christ as well as faith in ourselves. You might not always see the positvie side of your homeschooling choice or of you efforts to accomplish it, but believe me, having the extra faith in your self will prove successful!