Preparing daily meals is practical, incessant and spiritual—whether it be for yourself or a small army.

Imagine getting a last-minute call that overnight guests are on their way and breathing a sigh of relief as you head to your freezer because there is ground beef and onions already browned for tacos, spaghetti sauce ready to be heated and poured over your choice of pasta, a hearty soup, ready to thaw as you make biscuits, or maybe a fruit pie, lasagna or chicken casserole that simply needs time to heat in the oven!

Once again, I am packing our trailer as we prepare for our annual fall camping trip. We will celebrate our two little boys’ birthdays, bike through leaves, and read around the campfire as we watch the season change right under our feet.

This is my favorite trip of the year!

I am about to listen to the Lab I:68 podcast like I do every Monday as I fold laundry, but I am a little nervous as this time I will be hearing my own voice chatting on the other end—weird.

In this season of harvest, we are reaping what we have sown: spaghetti squash, mashed potatoes, warm apple crisp, zucchini chocolate cake. . . but are we reaping good fruit from investing the word of God into our hearts?

Could we be spiritually malnourished?

"We work to feed our appetites; meanwhile, our souls go hungry."

We did not expect to tear up last Sunday night during out final session of LAUNCH into the teen years. The last scene, around a campfire, spoke to the amazing gift of sex and marriage within godly boundaries.

We so deeply desire this joy and freedom for our children and our hearts ached with this hope and prayer as we closed out the session.

I know—sharpened pencils and crisp books tease. Maybe this year we can do all the things and with happy hearts!  Experiments and reports.  Poetry tea time with homemade muffins.

Then history haunts us with our dark moments.

Whether at home, at school, or some new hybrid:

Impatience blending letter sounds, frustration long dividing, confusion logging in, and despair sopping up toddler disasters or a teen’s tears...

We feel the tightness in our backs, stomachs or heads as we try to decide on the right educational opportunities for our children and family in the midst of overwhelm and worldwide uncertainty. 

After you have chosen the path to home educate you may start searching for resources and discover how bountiful the materials are—decision fatigue could easily set in!

I've seen looks of pity, confusion and also admiration when people hear that we educate our children at home.   When the COVID-19 crisis started, families became homeschoolers overnight, and goodness we all know being pushed onto a path you didn't choose is frustrating.

If you are celebrating your district’s reopening of schools or are in a totally different season of life, please translate this conversation to a situation where you need to define your WHY.

After our trip, we started the process of unloading our travel trailer and I ran wild throwing kids in the bath, starting the laundry, ordering the dishwasher cleared, plants watered, grass cut, van vacuumed and everything put away NOW—anything to help me feel a sense of control after a season of change!

My inner baggage busted out with each new item thrown into the house. I was a mess and rather than accepting where my mind, body, and soul was at, and taking a pause, I kept pushing.

I used to be self-conscious of the scar by my eye from a childhood accident. I suppose it looks like a deep smile line as I creep closer to 40.

From surgeries, injuries, self-harm and accidents to c-sections, stretch marks and age spots; we adapt, cover-up, rehabilitate, and carry on as wounded warriors.

Some may appear to make it through life unscathed on the outside but none of us do on the inside.