School Starts Tomorrow!

Really.  I'm both amazed and excited.  How did another summer pass so quickly?  How are my kids another year older and a few inches taller?  How is that we are beginning our fifth year homeschooling?

Just as a reminder to myself, this is how it all began.  Emily, our oldest, went to public school during K & 1st grades.  We were about half way through 1st grade with her when I started seriously entertaining the idea of homeschooling.  Kindergarten went fine.  She had a great teacher and I was in the classroom all the time helping out.  But I remember that first day, dropping her off.  How sad I was to see her tiny frame walk into that school building.  I still tear up just thinking about it.

Before Emily was even born, I had thoughts of homeschooling.  But when the time came, I didn't know what to do, where to go, how to start.  I felt so inadequate. Unqualified.  A number of other circumstances wore on me: a complicated pregnancy, cancer and chemo, just to name a few.  I just wasn't sure I'd be able to do it.

But through some trying circumstances, God gave me the courage.  He told me over and over that He doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.  God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.  What a powerful statment.

I believe that if I had just trusted Him in the beginning, I would have saved myself from the sorrow I felt that first day of kindergarten.  The sorrow I felt for two years.  In the end, the result is the same.  But I know I could have gotten here sooner.  Sometimes we choose our own path.  But when we choose God's way, it's always better.

So, tomorrow officially begins our fifth year of homeschooling.  Do I still feel unqualified?  Of course.  But God is in control of that.  Inadequacy is what forces me to rely on Him.  And I'm excited to start this fifth year.  I'm also nervous.  But that forces me to rely more on God too! 

This will be a great year.  I don't have a special morning planned with fun decorations and tasty treats.  But I have the love that only a teaching mother can give.  And I have faith that God will see us through.  That's what will make our day special.  That's what will make our year great.  Ok - maybe I'll make the kids their  favorite cinnamon struesel pancakes for breakfast. :)