Puzzling is an addictive pastime if there ever was one, but it nags at
me that these hours could produce something a little longer-lasting than the 1000-piece
puzzles that come and go almost daily from the sheet of plywood in our living
room.
In my creative ambition I got as far as unburying my old sketch pads.
That’s when I realized that past creative endeavors haven’t actually fared
much better than my puzzles. They, too, have just been shut up to molder away
in a closet.
So now I’m thinking, why embark on new endeavors when I can dust off the
old?
Rather than start afresh, I thought I’d make a series of posts about the
early days of this family o’mine, using a menagerie of old sketches and snippets
from emails and blog posts. Call it a Covid diversion. Or the beginnings of a
book I can pass down to my kids. Or... a memorial of God’s grace.
When the Israelites miraculously crossed the Jordan, they were told to
take up twelve stones from the riverbed to set up as a memorial. Joshua 4:6-7
says, “When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do
those stones mean to you?’ then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan
were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these
stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”
In our family journey we didn’t encounter any raging
streams blockading the way. But we did face boiling-over oatmeal pots, at least
one near-drowning experience in a turtle pool, and lots of runny noses.
And grace will lead me home”
That’s as true for the simple-living, run-of-the-mill
homeschool family as it is for the adventurer, so I think we have as good a
reason as any to stop and raise up stones in memorial.
For now, a sneak peak:
A Day in the Life 2008
It’s another wet, November day, and the home school family is at breakfast.
A: “Hey, Jo – guess what?”
J: “What?”
A (breathlessly): “I saw mommy bring home the groceries last night... and they were in green bags instead of yellow ones!”
J: “Oh! I wish I could have seen them...”
(A few bitefuls of oatmeal later): “Mommy, is anyone coming over today?”
R: “No.”
A (always the optimist): “Oh, but maybe someone will come to the door to sell something!"
J (brightening instantly and chortling gleefully): “Yeah! Maybe!”
J: “What?”
A (breathlessly): “I saw mommy bring home the groceries last night... and they were in green bags instead of yellow ones!”
J: “Oh! I wish I could have seen them...”
(A few bitefuls of oatmeal later): “Mommy, is anyone coming over today?”
R: “No.”
A (always the optimist): “Oh, but maybe someone will come to the door to sell something!"
J (brightening instantly and chortling gleefully): “Yeah! Maybe!”
(Sounds like we were living through a pandemic... :z) Stay tuned for more such riveting stuff. :)
