Squeezing in Schooling Into Our Day

Now that I'm working several days a week, I am finding it increasingly hard to get work done . Many activities compete for my few hours at home. I have to juggle desk work, teaching kids, paying bills, laundry, cleaning house, meal planning, meal preparation, organizing and sorting, and planning. Today I really felt the crunch. I had to take the kids to buy new clothes at the Goodwill store, since especially Joshua is growing so fast, and then try to cram 2 days of school into one, since I'm working an extra day this week for a friend in exchange for a weekend day off. So today Joshua and Katie pitched in and helped teach Gabriel while I doubled up subjects with Aisha.

God's little reminders sometimes hit hard

Yesterday I started the day thankful to finally have four days off of work, and finally able to spend time with my kids homeschooling and catching up on a bunch of other things. However, I ended up losing most of the day to an unfortunate turn of events that I believe now may have been preventable if I had just stopped and prayed about it.

Early into the morning Jim was checking our bank account and noticed an unknown charge on our credit card. Hmm, I thought it sounded vaguely familiar. I wondered if it was a promotion deal I was going to sign up for about two weeks ago online, but backed out of. I knew that I had not signed up for it, and had "abandoned ship" so to speak before I got in too deep, but not before they got my credit card number, apparently. A guy from their company even called me the next day to see if I wanted to complete my application and finish signing up for the deal. I made it very clear that I wasn't interested and wanted to cancel any service that they might think I signed up for. And that was the end of it...or so I thought. Apparently not, since there was now a charge for $79.90 on my credit card.

So I called the phone number on the charge and tried to inquire about how do get the charge credited to my account - after all, I never even received a product of any kind that I knew of. However, the only person I could get in touch with at that number was a whole plethera of foreign telephone operators in the Phillippines who said it was too late, that the 7 days to cancel had passed and that I was bound by the legal terms of and conditions of what I had agreed to. Hmmm. Sounded fishy to me, since I clearly remember backing out before signing on, and telling the guy on the phone I didn't want the service. After calling them back dozens of times and getting hung up on while on hold waiting to talk to their manager, who apparently was "on break" for over two hours, I started getting really angry. Each time I spoke with someone, the tone in my voice got more desperate, more irritated. No one would give me any information as to how I could dispute the charge, talk to a manager or get the charge removed from my account.

While all of this was going on, my husband was browsing the web for the name of the company - and he not only found it, but found hundreds of complaints from people who had gone through an almost identical ordeal to mine. Now we were both fuming - an injustice had been done, we had been scammed and we weren't going to let it just roll off our backs. Jim got on the phone and insisted this time, but to no avail. I continued to browse the web for information, and finally found a different phone number to call, this time in the US. The lady, this time not foreign, was not any more helpful, and even though she was a supervisor, was not helping us out at all and said it was "impossible" to credit the amount to us.

I could hear Jim getting more and more angry as he talked with her, so I took the phone again and gave it another try, hoping to explain things more clearly so she could understand. While I was doing this, the other phone rang, and it was a friend on the line. Jim explained to him that we couldn't chat right now, we were in the middle of an ordeal of getting out of a scam that had begun that morning and was now dragging out late into the afternoon. The friend said he would pray, and Jim hung up. As I talked to the woman on the other line, she kept interrupting me, saying there was nothing I could do. Then Jim turned to me and whispered to me "Bob said he would pray". A few seconds later the women's voice on the other line went silent, and she let me talk. I was able to clearly state what happened, and to my surprise, she said in a subdued tone that she would refund the whole amount. Tears came to my eyes as I took down the information, thanked her and hung up. We got a confirmation email today that the charge would be credited to us.

It took me a whole day of adrenaline, frustration, a few more gray hairs and perhaps even a few years off my life to realize and be reminded that a prayer could resolve this mess much quicker and more easily than my angry voice crying out injustice ever could. God forgive us for the times when we forget to let go and let God.

Today I learned that a dear woman, Cindy Adams, that I have come to know via the internet, the MOMYS yahoo group and her blog, has lost her battle with Colon cancer. She is the mother of 10 children, 9 of which were adopted from various countries. Her life and view of adversity has so inspired me, and her passing has impacted me deeply. Please visit her website at:

http://faithfulpromises.blogspot.com/2009/07/what-week.html

All things Nature

One of the hardest things about leaving Africa for me was leaving my garden. Over the years it had become a place of rest and solice, away from the stress and craziness of cross-cultural ministry. Learning to tame and and marvel at the tropical lushness and beauty of Africa's rainy season, and at other times nurturing, watering and sustaining the life of living things in the 6 months of Africa's dry season gave me such a great wonder at God's perfection in every flower that came out of the dust when the rains began and thrived, and a great respect for God's balance in nature when despite my best efforts things sometimes didn't make it. When we left, I dug up what I could, potted it and moved it to a shady spot in a colleague's garden where it could be cared for until someone else could take charge of the plants and carry on and enjoy God's miracles.

Now back in the US, there is something inside of me driving me to find little ways to bring life out of the dirt. I have already begun to nurture numerous potted plants in my room, and the back porch of my mom's villa where we are temporarily staying. And little by little we have begun to plant some flowers on our farm and tame the wilderness that it has become after decades of resting fallow, and the woods which as far as we can tell have never been lived in except for animals.

Nothing Sacred

I have been working now for about a month. After so many years of living in a foreign culture and being out of American culture, or just being among God-fearing Christian Americans most of the time, and the rest of the time speaking foreign languages with people of foreign cultures to my own, I have been plunged back into the "real world" of the secular culture whenever I go to work each day. I am saddened by the state of people's lives who don't have Christ as their hope. I know it will be a struggle to fight against synicism and apathy that is all around me. I pray for the strength not to lose hope in people and in God's ability to transform even the most hopeless of lives. I know He can and has for me and for so many. I am amazed at the choices people have made in the American culture, a culture that offers more than any other for realizing one's greatest potential. I am saddened by how others waste money and giftedness, settling for less than their greatest potential. I am reminded of the lyrics of Billy Sprague's song "Nothing Sacred" which resounds more than a decade later as a true picture of the sad state which our society has become:

"People need true love, but chase infatuation,
they need a hope, but live on short supply,
People need wisdom, but get more education,
People need forgiveness, but settle things eye-for-eye.

People need identity, but are satisfied with titles,
They need true courage, but bravado looks sincere,
People need a living God, but seem content with idols,
People need destiny, but settle for careers,

And the soul remains unsettled,
and the world a wilderness,
In a time where nothing's sacred,
and souls settle for less.

People need faith, but place their bets on science,
They need a refuge, but stay out in the rain,
People need eachother but rely on self reliance,
People need a Christmas, but settle for a holiday,

People need dignity but survive on ego,
They need the truth, but will take an alibi,
People need a savior, but much prefer a hero,
Most long for heaven, but have settled for the sky.

And the soul remains unsettled,
and the world a wilderness,
In a time where nothing's sacred,
and souls settle for less.

My first week at work

This has been a busy week for me as I have adjusted to my new job working as an RN. It is challenging, but something that I'm excited about. It is a big change from the schedule I have kept for so long, mostly working out of the home. I miss working with the kids most of the day, but my schedule should soon change so that I will be working late evenings and home during part of the day when I can help homeschool my kids. My husband works out of the home, so he is there all day to help them along with their asignments and keep things going while I am gone.

So why am I doing this? well, for me, I would rather stay home, but frankly we need the means to make it in the US, and Jim's job does not earn enough to keep us afloat. We are currently living with my mom, but are hoping to save enough money for a down payment on a house. Such is life in this economy and in the US. I'm thankful Jim can work from home so our kids can continue to follow their homeschool studies. Our kids seem to be transitioning to this well, and it is less traumatic for them than to have to put them in public school, something they have never done. In the Fall we will be able to enroll them in a few homeschool co-op classes, like Music and Drama.

Big savings on Homeschool books!

I just got back from another homeschool used book sale. There are several homeschool co-op groups in the St. Louis area, and this is that time of year when the sales are on! Over the past two weeks I have gotten some great deals and probably saved around $250! Now I can shop on Amazon and get what is left for next year's curriculum.

Two other groups where I often find good used homeschool book deals: I subscribe to the Homeschool Lounge, and have joined their "Buy/Sell Used Curriculum" sub-group. I also am part of the MOMYS yahoo group, a group for larger families, which sends out emails on line regarding items members have for sale.