Pink

Who Knew? Pink repeats in my ears over and over. Something about that song kinda has me smitten. I turn around to view all four of my children perfectly content and yet all in their own worlds while we travel up to visit relatives in Oregon. My husband is at the wheel and it occurs to me that everything I need is in this car with me. I breathe. Deep. Lay my head back, close my eyes, and stop thinking. First stop, Salem.

It’s less than ideal to drive 12 hours in a car with 4 kids, but you stop at a gas station and eat triscuits and peanut butter on a curb while your son serenades you with a ukelele and then you think, “what on earth do I have to complain about?”. #onethousandgifts. I am grateful for a husband who is chill. Who will stop multiple times for a bathroom whenever someone utters the words, “I need to go”. A husband who will drive 4 miles off the freeway for a DQ peanut buster parfait because eating those on road trips rocks. One who will snatch up his two year old and run out of that same DQ because a choo choo is speeding through the parking lot nearby and my boy will straight up pee in his diaper to be that up close and personal with his beloved choo choos.

I used to spend New Years thinking about goals and such. What I want to change in my life and what I need to focus on with the kids. Since homeschooling became our gig, I spend the summer thinking those things through. Actually that is not even true, I think about them constantly, but when it comes to what our school year will look like, these thoughts stay at the forefront.

As Pink blares in my ear, I wonder why I even have this song on repeat. Why do I even love it so much? Then I realize it is her passion that has me captivated and I start to wonder what passion really looks like. Furthermore, who in my life shows true passion for life and how do I instill that in my kids? I want them to dance like nobody is watching, sing in the rain, live like there’s no tomorrow, and all of those things. Every single plaque, canvas, and hand crafted item of those sayings. Lord, let them explode and become one big super nova of inspiration in the hearts of my children.

This school year I have cut out some of the extras to allow more time for some character studies. I am so grateful for the time homeschool allows my husband and I to work on these values with our kids. It’s hands down the best part of this education choice and I recognize it and I am grateful for it. We prayerfully intend to make the most of it.

Who knew, begins for the 546,856 time, and I make a decision. When we get home. NOTHING new is being added to the calendar for the time being. Nothing. Nothing and I want to write a song and have Pink sing it for me with all the passion that she has. I pull an ear plug out and tell my husband that when we get back home, if the queen herself asks to come over for tea, I am telling her no. He half smiles and shakes his head ok, as if it is an actual possibility and a perfectly normal sentence.

You know what? If there is one thing I have learned from homeschool, it is this. Eclectic, Charlotte Mason, workbox lovin’, kitchen table user…it doesn’t matter. For the love of an A beka worksheet, when you find what you need to pull off this amazing job we have been blessed to do, you better just embrace it and move forward. AND this mama needs to be prepared. I need to start the year with a bouquet of sharpened pencils, new systems, a fresh coat of paint on the craigslist school table and binders…there must be new binders. Cute ones. I need to have a BIG understanding of a BIG picture of the year. I need my lesson planner filled in, my worksheets filed and ready, and my Pinterest boards overflowing with possibilities. It’s how I roll.

* Waterfalls are my favorite and look what I got to see?

*Standing under a waterfall may just be my favorite new place to be. See my littles over on the bridge.

I sulk for a bit and become frustrated again over the lack of control I have been able to achieve with our schedule this summer and wish I were further ahead. It seems there is so much work and not enough play and certainly not enough help. Then I remember my sweet friend, who said, “HOW CAN I HELP?”. She added my four children added to her three, so that I could go home and be alone and get some stuff done. I had 6 hours alone in my house. I can’t remember the last time that has happened. A beautiful reminder that it is o.k. God provides. People who put other’s needs before their own. How awesome. How priceless. How fabulous. Then I ask God’s forgiveness yet again for my crappy attitude and give a rock concert to a sell out crowd as Pink’s back up girl…and drift off to sleep.