Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Festival and Reflections on What the Lord Has Done



Time for Music Festival has arrived again.  We only have two from our family participating this time, but JT is ready for next year! Much of the year, the kids work on perfecting two challenging pieces for this competition. Our wonderful teacher is Mrs. Ann Hoots. For 10 years, she has taught them not only music theory and piano, but also character and deportment. Ann loves and serves the Lord in all she does, and her students learn their piano and music theory from this perspective. She has changed their lives in so many ways. I can't imagine not having her influence in our family. As this time of year rolls around again, I have thought quite a bit about the last few years here in Cleveland. 
We have been here in NE Georgia now for almost 11 years. When we left Tennessee, the move was difficult in many ways. We left a Church that we loved very much, and I loved my teaching job (even though I drove across 5 counties to get there every day).  I was afraid of the move, but it was the what the Lord told us to do.  Following Him here placed us within 3 minutes of our College, across the street from Mrs. Ann, and eventually into the loving Congregation of our Church at Glade Creek. Here, we were able to make the decision to homeschool the children--we wouldn't have been able to do that where we were. To be truthful, I had no idea I would ever homeschool. I remember when we were in Tennessee reading an article about homeschooling by Lisa Whelchel in a Homelife magazine. To be honest, I wondered how that could possibly work. Hubby and I had jumped through all kinds of hoops to keep the kids at home with  us rather than in daycare, and that was hard enough! How in the world could we teach them at home? When we arrived in Georgia, we enrolled them in the school system here. After a couple of years, it became clear to us that we could and should homeschool them. The Lord made it possible at every turn--I even believe He brought that original article to me years before. Lisa's book on homeschooling later helped to convince me that we could do this. 
I am so grateful for what He has done and continues to do in this life.

5 comments:

  1. I am happy for your - thank you for your testimony.

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  2. Homeschooling is rare here in England, but I do believe it has tremendous value.

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  3. Thanks, Becky. THe Lord has been with us both, hasn't He!
    Elizabeth, I think our President has declared war on a German family that came to the US to homeschool. We have thousands of illegal visitors who come to sell and buy drugs, and that doesn't seem to trouble him the way this "renegade" homeschooling family does. He declared that homeschooling was not a "right" and they had no right to remain here in order to homeschool. Hmmm . . . . We are counting the days until he is out of office.

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  4. How interesting, I kind of assumed your kids had been homeschooled from the start. Thanks for sharing these insights.
    Blessings
    Diane

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  5. Diane, it's amazing how we fell into it. I think it is the best decision we have made for them other than teaching them about the Lord. And of course, when decisions go this well, we know WHO really made them for us.Our strongest support came from Michael's sister who is one of the best school teachers I have ever known. She was so encouraging.

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