This week has proven to me once again what a privilege it is to be able to spend this time with my children teaching them and watching them as they grow. I can't believe I "get" to do this! Sure, there are trying times but then there are moments that are filled with an abundance of grace. People often say things like, "What a lot of work!", "You are a glutten for punishment", and the comments can range from the curious to the crude, but they can never know the moments of joy that I know. How can I begin to explain the feeling of a toddler's hand in mine carefully descending stairs for the first time, the excitement of seeing a dark stare of cluelessness suddenly illumined with the light of understanding and the accompanying broad smile, or the feeling of witnessing the defiant teenager, tearfully grumbling one moment about "having to do this stupid Latin", transform into a happy child moments later because she persevered finishing what now seems so easy. They can't know the joy I know when I consider that I "get to" experience these things many times a day sometimes reliving the wonderful moments of older children in the younger ones that follow.
My children may never win the national spelling bee, my house may never be featured in "Good Housekeeping", my cooking may always be only good enough, and people may be sorely disappointed when finally meeting me as their inflated idea of this "homeschooling mother of nine" bursts in the face of the absolutely ordinary. How can I explain to them in a moment when they are staring at me, wondering at how much WORK it all is, that sometimes the treasure must be dug up from the muddy field, the diamond must be cut carefully from a deep, dirty mine, and panning for bits of gold in a stream is back breaking work?! I get to experience the thrill of finding treasure in the sometimes mucky field of homeschooling! It is wonderful!
So now I have to go because I "get" to teach P that E is not a "big, yucky poo poo."
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