The word for this picture is: UNUSUAL.

 Lately I have been basking in the peace of freedom.
Freedom from the fear of men - from fearing how others perceive and value me.

Freedom to know my family best
and then serve them accordingly.

Freedom to decide what we eat
(chocolate covered cherries?)
and when
(10am breakfast?)

Freedom to make oatmeal every morning 
or something different every day of the week.
Freedom to bake freshly-ground whole wheat bread
or buy corn dogs and french fries for dinner.

Freedom to wear rubber boots all year
... even with skirts
and jammies all day during the Winter
...if I want to.

Freedom to wear a LITTLE blush,
big dangly earrings,
and a silk scarf
...without any place to go.
and just because I can.

Freedom to make another new schedule
only to throw it out before the weeks end.

Freedom to design the perfect chore list
only to discover that the list wasn't the problem
...when it came to actually getting the chores done.

Freedom to buy another kind of pencil
another bucket for organizing pens
one more binder,
copy book,
or personal sharpener
because it's okay not to know what will work
until I try it
...sometimes over and over again.

Freedom to start our school at the same time every morning of the week
...except one.
That "one" is subject to change on my whim.
...and sometimes I change it up every day.

Freedom to use Saxon Math, Abeka Math, or Math U See.
Or maybe just write problems on blank binder paper
and count loose change.

Freedom to not call "playing in the snow" Physical Education, but
...plain ol' "playing in the snow".

Freedom to be a Round Peg
when most the holes are square.

Freedom to collect clutter
and enjoy it.

Freedom to like bright colors 
and not shades of gray or off-white.

Freedom to make mistakes 
and laugh at myself
...and let others laugh at me too.

Freedom to know that God does not exist in a box,
I can't put Him in one
and He has given me His salvation
precisely
so that
I 
can be
FREE in HIM!

.......................................

Can I say again; How unusual to see all my children 
huddled around the table 
doing their various works and creations  
at the same time!!!

........................................


Oh lovely friends~

My household is dynamic.
ever-changing.
I set many goals;
many come to no account.
I often forget to notice the few things
we are succeeding at!
What a shame.

Your house is dynamic too
and totally different than mine.
You are succeeding in ways I envy,
and shouldn't forget to look there
instead of at the places where you feel you are drowning. 

You are FREE too, to be a friend of God
because of His grace and salvation
and  by His power!
Never use someone elses success for your measuring stick.
Only worship HIM 
with what you have, 
...and what you broke
...and what He has restored.

True Freedom is found only in Jesus.
Rest there with me.