When the storms of life hit,,,,,,

they usually take you by surpirse, for the most part. It is kind of like a storm on the prairies,, you can see it far away, but you don't really worry about it. You go about your daily tasks and forget all about it. Then when you least expect it the storm hits! The wind whips up, the leaves of life are swirling up and you are not sure where they are going to land. That is how I have been feeling this past month. We have been in the middle of the wind. Everything we thought was in place was picked up,
shaken and is slowly settling back into place. It is hard to see the big picture when you are in the middle of life's storms, but as things settle the picture does become clearer. Sometimes in the storms of life we are asked to make some hard decisions that will forever change our live.

We were at a fork in the road with our son. We had two choices, the known and the unknown. We could do nothing, stay the course, leave him in public school and see what happened with his life and his heart, or we could withdraw him from the traditional and more acceptable place to be schooled and bring him back home. Standing at that fork in the road was a hard place to be. To look between the two roads, not sure which one to choose. One road is tried and true,, worked for my other three kids, why not this one? Why did he struggle so much in the class setting? Why was he getting into so much trouble? Why was it not working? What was I doing wrong? Why was he not like all the other littel boys? Why could he not just sit still and do his work? Every day was a struggle for him and for us as parents. Each day he came home from school defeated because he got into trouble frustrated him and us,,, and it was not pleasant those homecomings. He was in trouble at school, in trouble at home and even in trouble at sunday school. It was a constant, horrible, saddening cycle of actions and consequeces, that made everyone miserable. I was spent,,, I could not do it anymore, if my heart was breaking for him,,,, how was he feeling inside?

The other fork in the road was a mystery, it was a road never travelled. It was a road that would require me to be brave, to go against the grain and to stand and fight for my son. It was a road I had scorned and scoffed myself in the past. It was a road that would go against family expectations and be different. After much discussion, we chose this road. After his suspension from school he attended school for one more day. We withdrew him the next day, went to the homeschool supply store and bought some curriculum and got started. Sounds easy, doesn't it?

Ha ha ha ha, now the hard work began! It took me hours and days to get his subjects all organized, and then on top of that have to learn how to teach my son... A very steep learning curve. The last month it has been very interesting and exciting for the most part. It has brought more business to our lives, but it has also brought alot of peace and less stress. My house is not as clean, dinners are not as fancy, laundry and household chores have been divided up more and I have had to let go of some of my need to have everything just so.

I am happier, more at peace and so is my son and the rest of the family. I know each day we made the right choice for our son. It is giving us more opportunity to work on his character and to actively mold him into the young man he will one day become. I felt like I was loosing my son. That he was being taken away from me. Since we started homeschooling a month ago,, I have found him again! How exciting to watch God put back together what was slowly being broken down by life, and I get to be a part of it. I am being taken to places I have never been before and I am loving it. I should have done this years ago.

SeekingHIM