The start of our school year

Today was an exciting day.  We went to sign Alia up for classes at our area homeschool co-op.  She is so excited to get to take a music class, PE, and an art workshop there once a week.   Until about 2 1/2 years ago, I NEVER...and I mean NEVER thought we would homeschool.  I had absolutely zero desire to homeschool.  But one Sunday at church a couple years ago the pastor was preaching about being the primary influence in your childrens' lives.  They weren't a homeschooling family, so it wasn't like he was saying that you had to homeschool to do that.  But I sat there listening, and really felt God laying this on my heart.  Even as I felt this, I thought to myself, "I do NOT want to homeschool."  But God knew better.  It was on my mind a lot for several weeks, then I talked with a friend whose husband was homeschooled, and at the time, they were thinking about homeschooling.  After talking to her, I really started feeling like this was something I should look into.  So I got a book from the library by Lisa Welchell called "So You're Thinking About Homeschooling."  Not far into the book, I knew this was something I wanted to try.  I talked to Rob about it, and really expected him to say, "No way!"  But he was open to it.  He did waiver about it.  Mainly because at the time I was suffering from chronic fatigue and headaches.  His main concern was how I would be able to do this right when I was so tired all the time.  I told him I didn't know.  I just knew it was where God was leading me.  God later provided the right direction for me to figure out what the problem was, and now we are on our first official year of homeschooling.  We definitely have our challenging days, but I love it!  I love when we read about something and weeks or months later, something will trigger their minds and they will tell someone about it.  I love getting to spend my days snuggling with them, creating things with them, and learning things that I forgot, or maybe never knew.  I love watching the wonder in their eyes when we are learning about something that really interests them.  I love that with Rob's unpredictable work schedule that we can usually make ourselves available to go to the farm or be here at the house to see him for bits and pieces throughout some of the days when he is at his busy times of year, and I love that we can work on our own schedule, and at our own pace. Homeschooling really was one of those "never will I"  things, but I'm so glad that God knows better than me and that he laid it on my heart to do this.  I'm so thankful for this responsibility and this joy!

Tempted

Do you ever wish it was easier to do the wrong thing?  I don't mean anything really big, but yesterday and today were just long days.  Nothing really bad happened, but yesterday Karaline was scheduled to have an endoscopy done.  What started out as one test, turned into an endoscopy, 2 rectal exams, another thing similar to a colonoscopy, but I can't remember what they called it, a urinalisis/urine culture, and a pelvic ultrasound.  I went in feeling fine about things, but they had us go in with her when they put her under, which I think was probably better for her, but harder for me.  There is just something about seeing your little one fall asleep like that on a table in a hospital that is just really hard.  Then, about 2 minutes after we left the room, we got a call at the desk in the waiting area where the Dr. asked for our consent to do the first additional procedure.  I knew it was fine, but it freaked me out.  Rob had gone down to get something to eat and drink, so I sat there snuggling Ethan.  It was one of those times where I felt like I couldn't pray.  Part of it was that I didn't want to start bawling in the waiting room, because I really did feel like everything was fine.  So I sat there, tears in my eyes, and I just had that quiet time.  I knew that the Holy Spirit would speak on my behalf.  I couldn't think where the verse was, but I knew that my sighs would be translated for me.  After her the first 3 tests were done, they brought us in to meet with the doctor, who said as far as he could tell, everything looked fine.  It will be 2 weeks for the biopsies, but he felt something during the 1st rectal exam, which was why they wanted to do the colonoscopy-like procedure.  He still wanted to do another exam though, to see if he still felt whatever it was, which he did still feel it, prompthing the urinalisis and ultrasound.  Apparently it was just a very full bladder that he was feeling.  It made for a long day though!  So then today, we were all very tired from having to get up early, the driving, etc. from yesterday.  But Ethan had his 6 month check-up today, and we were getting pretty low on groceries, so we headed to Fort Wayne first thing this morning.  Alia and I both woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, so it just started off as another one of those days.  At the end of getting groceries, Alia asked if they could ride the pony at Meijer.  I told her they could if I had a penny for each of them.   They had been pretty good (for the most part), but Ethan was fussy, and to be honest, the only reason I said that was because I really didn't think I had any change in my purse.  But of course, I open my wallet, and there were several pennies staring up at me.  I was so tempted to close it and say  "Sorry, Honey...I don't have any pennies."  I paused, closed my eyes momentarily and dug out the pennies.  It's not like the rides are that long, but I just wanted to come home.  But I wasn't going to lie or break my word to them.  I was so tempted though! 

Character

It must be something that God is wanting me to focus on right now.  My character as a wife, a mom, and a child of God.  And my children's character, and the job of raising them to love God.  Today in Sunday school, one of the passages we read was in Luke 16.  The story of the rich man and Lazarus and how when they died, Lazarus was by Abraham's side, and the rich man called up to them and said "have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue..."  One thing our teacher today asked, was "How did Lazarus and the rich man know that it was Abraham by Lazarus' side?"  Abraham had died hundreds of years earlier.  They had obviously never met him, so how did they know it was him.  It was by his character. 
Maybe I'm vain, but I don't want to be considered an ugly person.  I like it when I get dressed up, have my hair and make-up done and Rob looks at me and says, "You are so beautiful."  It makes me feel good.  But I know that it is far more important to be beautiful on the inside.  Did you ever see the movie "Shallow Hal"  with Gweneth Paltrow and Jack Black?  If not, I'll give a quick summary.  Jack's character is shallow, and will only date women who are tall, thin, and gorgeous women.  I don't remember how this happens, but something happens to him, and he starts seeing women according to their inner beauty.  I'll try to keep it short, but basically, he falls for a woman who is very large and "unattractive," but since he only sees her by her inner beauty, he thinks she's a supermodel.  Thinking of that movie made me wonder what my character says about me.  If others saw me only by my character, if God sees me only by my character, what would they see?  What would Rob see?  What would my kids see?  I hope that the larger portion of the time, my character would be beautiful, but I know there are definitely days, where my character would look much more like I do on those far to often days where I'm lucky to get my teeth brushed, let alone have my hair and make-up done. 

Where do I begin???

Wow, so my first posting!  I'm new to blogging.  Not just for my own, but even to other people's blogs.  It has really just been in the last year the I ever looked at a blog, and just in the last few months that I read any of them regularly.  I became an official follower of a friends blog just a couple weeks ago, so this is new.  My mind is racing, and going a hundred miles a minute with things I want to write.  I tried coming up with a cool name for my blog, but I'm not very witty, so it was kind of a struggle.  Rob suggested "Musings of a Domestic Goddess," which I thought had a cool ring to it, but didn't want it to sound like I thought I was some sort of goddess, so I prayed, did devotions, tried to come up with something that went with Schuman, or mom or wife...something, but couldn't find anything I liked.  I went to my Bible for direction, reading about parenting, discipline, blessings.  Then I found the passage in Proverbs 31 about a wife of noble character.  Being a wife of noble character is not always something that comes easily to me.  Rob and I celebrated our 7th anniversary in July.  I try my hardest to be a godly wife and mother, but I know I fail.  I hope that this blog will help me grow, help me reflect, hold me accountable.  Even if noone else in the world reads this, I'm excited to have a place to write down my thoughts, emotions and the things God is laying on my heart.  I liked the background I chose for this blog...partly because of it's title:  "Ready to Learn."   I thought it was fitting for a couple of different reasons.  One is that with us homeschooling the kids, learning is a daily process for all of us.  I'm learning fun new facts with them all the time.  The other reason is that I thought about how often we have lessons in life that we need to learn, but how many times it takes us to be ready to hear, how long it takes us to listen, and be ready to learn.  Seven years of marriage.  I've tried to be that wife of noble character, but think I'm just now in that place of truly being ready to learn.  Better late than never, I guess!