It is so important to teach your son about home repairs. Yes, girls can definitely benefit from this too! At our house, we just happen to only have boys, so I tend to focus on raising boys.

This is a guest post that I think brings an awesome point: training up your sons on how to work with their hands. I want to make sure we use these tips at our house more too, and I hope you find this as helpful as I did.

Teaching your sons how to fix their broken stuff will help your finances and teach the boys valuable skills that will be useful later in life.

Who doesn’t respect a handy man (or woman) who is capable of doing his own home repairs?

One thing every parent would agree with is that raising kids can be challenging.  It can be tougher if your children are all boys.

There is a limitation to applying the parenting methods we learned from our parents years ago. Things have changed. 

The perception of manhood some years back includes working hard and respecting and protecting the family at any cost. Men who watch their fathers act this way grew up with the same characteristics.

Over time, as innovation presents new job opportunities, there is almost no need to showcase fitness. Companies now operate hybrid workplaces; hence no need to rush to work. With a smartphone, you can order virtually anything and have it delivered to your doorstep, including booking a repairman.

Nevertheless, your children need to understand certain Do It Yourself (DIY) repairs around the home.

Think they do not need it? Well, what happens if the technician fails to show up? Would you encourage them to call a technician to change a bulb that can be replaced within a few minutes?

Giving them an all-around education, both book knowledge and practical experiences, is essential.

For instance, take them along or involve them when purchasing Shower Door Hardware. Let them know how to choose the right hardware for a shower door.

How to inspire your boys to be kid-fixers

Repairs can be a boring task for someone with no interest; below are ways to make it fun:

Engage and educate

Kids are more intelligent and braver than you think. When supervised, they can safely handle most repair tools, including sharp ones.

Invite your son whenever you are fixing anything. Educate them on what you are fixing and why you perform certain actions.

Explain why you handle the fixing yourself instead of hiring a technician.

Explore

Take them along on your next car routine maintenance trip. You may also visit a repair shop or repair café in the neighborhood to show them the beauty of machines.

Let them see first-hand that the appliances they use at home are not powered by magic but made up of different parts designed to sync.

Supervise

Kids need supervision when working with tools. Teach them about safety features, correct their mistakes, and show them better ways to do it. Only allow them to repair plugged or powered appliances with supervision, except those that use batteries.

5 easy steps to teach your son about home repairs

You do not have to be handy yourself before teaching your kids how to do minor repairs around the house. There are lots of videos online to watch.

It would be fun to watch it along with your sons while you try out the recommended steps. However, here are five easy steps you can use to teach your kids about home repairs;

Introduce them to the tools

Familiarize them with the required tools for the repair you are willing to train them. If you are unfamiliar with the tools and their functions, watch videos to learn what they are used for, and then pass the knowledge on to your kids.

Teach them safety

Once they are familiar with the tools and their uses, the next thing to do is train them on safety. Do this irrespective of your boy’s age.

Also, teach with examples. For instance, narrate how you got injured while repairing something.

Make it fun instead of being similar to their typical school class.

Create a workshop

Purchase a child-size toolset and set up a workshop if you do not have one already in your garage.

Make them write out the names of the tools and have them added to the toolbox. This will help to memorize the names of the tools.

Buying them tools and creating a garage will give them a sense of ownership and could pique their interest in the lesson.

Allow them to practice with the tools

Assign them tasks that will require the use of one of the tools. Instead of loosening a screw yourself, ask them to do it.

Finding the right tool for the task will help them become more familiar with the tools.

Design a project

The project should be age-appropriate. You can start by loosening the screws of the drawer and instructing them to screw it back.

Painting is another project you can make them execute but ensure all necessary areas, such as floors and furniture, are well covered using drop cloths.

Home maintenance and repair skills to teach your children

Plumbing

You can teach kids how to fix a blocked toilet or sink. Direct them to fix a leaking tap and educate them on the importance of conserving water. Let them know about the water bill.

Electrical fittings

There could be a time you may not be around to change a faulty bulb or fix a socket that does not work. Teach them how to do this safely. Show them the circuit breaker box and how to operate it.

Let them know it is safer to switch off the power before performing any electrical repair.

Woodwork

Woodwork encourages creativity. Let them build anything of their choice or something they will find amusing. This may be a birdhouse or a doll house for their sister.

Likewise, you can show your kids how to fix home furniture with minor issues, like removing stains and discoloration.

Painting

Painting is a fun activity that your kids will surely like. Give them the brush and watch them unleash their creativity.

Auto mechanic

Train your son on basic car repairs, such as changing a flat tire and car oil.

Show them the normal car maintenance routine and how to interpret warning signs such as dashboard indicators.

Repairing fences and patching drywall

Your boys might not be strong enough at the moment to help you with repairing the fences. But watching you do it will undoubtedly help them later.

Cleaning

Reinforce in your kids the importance of cleaning. Establish a routine. You may mandate all used dishes are washed after dinner, before they go to bed. They should be able to vacuum and dust furniture.

At an appropriate age, make them take out the trash and wash the trash can when needed.

If you have a lawn, teach them how to operate the mower.

Other repair skills to teach your children include:

• Cleaning gutters
• Tightening or replacing a doorknob
• Vacuuming
• Changing air filter
• Hanging pictures
• Washing windows
• Watering plants
• Washing car
• Gardening

When you teach your sons home repairs, everyone benefits. Your kids become more confident in their own abilities, and your future daughter-in-law will thank you for sure.

The post 5 Important Things to Teach Your Son About Home Repairs appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

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Do any of you ever feel so subconsciously overwhelmed that you just feel like doing nothing?

This week I definitely did not do “absolutely nothing.” In fact, I picked up all the boys’ school-issued materials for virtual school, set up and then re-set up work areas, and figured out how to work these new Chromebooks. That was a lot of things that I DID accomplish.

But it didn’t feel like I was getting so much stuff done, even though I was. I had so little energy most of the time.

And this morning, now that all the obvious things are done, I find myself wanting to seriously do absolutely nothing at all. My head feels sleepy, though I am not sleep deprived. There is almost zero energy in me, and I cannot think of any reasonable explanation for feeling so bleh.

My best guess is that my mind is more stressed than I realize, so my body is acting tired. Have any of you felt that lately?

Another monumental life change is charging towards our house like a bull charging towards a matador. Virtual School!!! I am over here feeling like I am standing with the red cape, bracing for impact, because no way do I actually know how to manage this bull…

Only the funny thing is we are all more prepared than we think we are. We did a bigger version of this back in the spring. Back then, there were no live classes, but we had to coach our children through their assigned tasks.

See, it is important to think these positive kind of thoughts because the fact is that I am sure there will be days when none of this goes right, and we NEED to scream.

This morning I was watching my husband out in the backyard, weed-eating, trimming shrubs, and coaching the boys through the lawn mowing. I thought, “He isn’t sitting on the sofa reading the same posts on Facebook over and over again. Where does he find this energy? What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I feel like that?”

Comparing yourself to others is always a terrible idea.

Yes, Alan scaled mountains this morning and had 12,000 steps logged by 11 am. He is not facing the enormous changes the rest of us are here this week. Yes, the boys are his kids too, but during virtual school, Alan does not even know what website they go to to log in each day. Nor does he already have the attendance start times memorized for each boy, along with their teachers’ names. I do not say this to knock Alan. We have equally important roles, but we don’t both try to do all the same things. That would be counterproductive.

Alan will be spending the first day of school working hard in our master bedroom-turned-home office. He makes enough money for both of us, and we need that. Team work makes the dream work. This week matters to Alan, but he is not the matador in the virtual school situation. He has different bulls to worry about, though he does support me in my bull-managing role as well.

I take comfort in the fact that back when Alan was facing returning to work after our two-week vacation, he too was sitting on the sofa all day, playing his Township app.

I’m telling you, doing nothing is a natural human response when facing a large, dreaded task.

Don’t feel bad if you find yourself playing seemingly useless apps or sitting on your porch staring at your flowers. This is how we cope! Letting your mind have time to think, process, and prepare is a very healthy thing to do.

There are actual research studies that support the health benefits of doing nothing, but I was too tired to read very much of them. haaaa! But you can read all about it here at Ivy Exec or here at Elle magazine.

I thought Pooh’s words said it well enough.

You guys take the time to enjoy your Labor Day weekend! The week with all of its demands will be waiting for us on Tuesday, and we will handle that then. Happy Labor Day, friends!

We are all going to find a way to make this work, and when things get rough, we will pray! I never cease to be amazed with how quickly God answers my prayers.

If you haven’t joined our Virtual School and Newbies’ Home School Support Group on Facebook , be sure to join us! It is called Schooling at Home. We are a safe place to talk about this new reality of education that we are all facing together, and we’d love to have you pull up a seat at our table.

The post It’s Okay to Do Absolutely Nothing When Facing Big Changes appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

A few months ago, just out of curiosity, I googled the distance from my new house to Valley Forge. I probably didn’t even know Valley Forge was in Pennsylvania, but I knew it was the site of the Revolutionary Army’s famous winter encampment of 1777-78. Much to my delight, I discovered that I live only an HOUR away! One hour!

My first thought was, “Awesome!” My second thought was, “Oh no, just how cold is this winter going to be?” because that winter of 1777 is infamous for being snow covered and freezing. I did not realize I was living quite that close to such a location.

The perfect opportunity came to drag my entire family over to Valley Forge just a week ago. They were a reluctant lot I am sorry to tell you, as they did not share my zeal for American history in the cold.

I am also sorry to report that I do not in fact live only an hour from Valley Forge. Either Google maps was wrong, or I remembered incorrectly, but the trip turned out to be more like an hour and a half. Ah well, it was a lovely trip through pretty countryside anyway. Maryland and Pennsylvania, once you leave the large cities, are beautiful states of rolling hills of farms with barns and silos.

It was cold and windy the day that we went, with snow from the last snowstorm still on the ground, which all added up to make it the perfect day to visit such a place.

We pulled into a large parking lot of the Valley Forge National Historic Park, bundled up tightly in our coats and gloves, and headed down a windy path to see General George Washington’s headquarters. I should also mention that right away we were all having a good time. My family can be strongly resistant to heading out on adventures that I want to take them on, but once they get there, they always have fun.

Valley Forge is a national park, and everything we saw was free. There is an official visitor’s center, but it was closed for construction until spring, so we did miss out on that.

You walk down this long, windy sidewalk ramp path to the large building at the bottom. At first, we thought that was Washington’s headquarters, but it is not. The first large building is actually the old Reading Railroad train station, and it has a plaque or two up about that.

Going places as a family is always amusing. I heard Alan command the boys, “Don’t throw snow. There are small children ahead.” I think someone who wasn’t listening still threw snow, which thankfully didn’t hit anyone. It was old, hard, and crunchy snow. Alan also had to say, I mean he truly had to say it because someone must have tasted it, “Don’t eat snow that is this old.” Sigh. The things we have to say!

Then we went inside the old train station, and it has several information stations about Washington’s winter at Valley Forge, complete with documentary/ reenactment videos. The boys watched the videos with a surprising level of interest. Although, at one point, John David did look up at me and ask, “Can we just go? I don’t know what they’re talking about.”

Daniel, who is like our little general, he is so thoroughly interested in all things military and police, soaked this up like a sponge. He actually came home and asked to watch more YouTube videos about Valley Forge.

I read a plaque to the boys about Billy Lee, and John David waved it off saying, “Okay. I know,” to which I said, “No. You did not know that Billy Lee was the only slave that Washington freed.”

There was more information there than our troop had patience to take in, but we browsed it all, and then marched on to the actual headquarters.

One of the best things to me about the headquarters is that this is the actual building, not a reconstructed symbol, but the real deal. This house is around 250 years old, and by American standards, that is a rare find.

“…it is very certain that half the army is almost naked, in a great measure bare-footed.”

Johann de Kalb to Comte de Broglie, Valley Forge, Christmas Day 1777

The Huts

General Washington instructed all the men in his army to construct for themselves huts according to this exact pattern. They had to be uniform, and these were much nicer than tents for keeping out the cold. A whole forest was taken down to build these, and when the war was over, local farmers quickly deconstructed the little houses to use the wood, and the farm land became farm land again. Washington later visited the site and was pleased to see that it had not been permanently ruined but was once again usable for farming.

After this, we hiked back to our car. During the hike, my feet reminded me that I do still have plantar fasciitis and heel spurs. Oh well, you can’t keep a good man down, right?

We loaded up in the car and drove up an area that was either a seriously large hill or a mountain, but it was the center of where the regular soldiers camped that winter of 1777-78, and it was the extremely cold, shaded, unmelted snow side of the mountain too.

Driving Through the Entrenchments

I would say things like, “What mound? I mean, I don’t really see a mound, but whatever.”

Training for War

During that winter at Valley Forge, the men fought disease like small pox and shortages of clothes and food, but they also trained to become a better fighting Army. Washington brought in a man named Baron von Steuben to train his Army. Here is what von Steuben had to say about them, according to the Valley Forge historic park website:

the entire system of drill, evolutions, maneuvers, discipline, tactics, and Prussian formation into our Army. I should have been pelted had I attempted it, and should inevitably have failed. The genius of this nation is not in the least to be compared with that of the Prussians, Austrians, or French. You say to your soldier [in Europe], “Do this” and he doeth it; but [at Valley Forge] I am obliged to say, “This is the reason why you ought to do that,” and then he does it. 

— Baron von Steuben to Baron de Gaudy, 1787-88

Then we came to this one area that had a cannon and a pavilion with information, so we all got out there and checked it out. This one was highly visible. You could easily tell where the giant trenches had been dug. The soldiers dug all sorts of things, but most of it was restored to normalcy after the war. In this particular area, it was left alone.

This park would be a wonderful place to go walking, as it has miles of paths, well tended and paved, but we were not looking to make a whole day of it, so we mostly drove.

After seeing the cannons, we drove around to see a few more historical markers and then headed back home, with a nice stop for ice cream on the way, of course.

Want to learn more or plan a trip to Valley Forge for yourself? Click here to visit the official park website.

The post 46 Photos and Facts of Valley Forge National Historic Park appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Yesterday was my volunteer day. That’s the one day per week where I basically go into work like most American adults. Ha! I put on my grown-up clothes–things like trousers instead of yoga pants–and I work for someone besides my family. I mean, I’m a mom, so of course I do work everyday, but on volunteer day I do a different kind of work.

I love it. I re-shelf books at the boys’ school library, and I help Mrs. Dubose with her current project. And once all that is done, I do my favorite part of all. I catalog, label, dot, stamp, and tape new books to go on our library shelves, all while being available to check out books for kids.

These are a few of my favorites for early readers, all on a 1st grade reading level.

This is the best job I’ve had in ages, and I do it all for free. Volunteering or trying out different jobs has been the only way for me to figure out what I enjoy doing and what I don’t.

Don’t wait around for someone to ask you to do a volunteer job. Figure out what you’d like to try and go ask to do that thing.

Otherwise, I’ve always found that if you don’t busy yourself with what you enjoy doing, other people will find work that you may NOT enjoy doing for you to do!

That’s happened to me a few times too. Nursery duty, anyone?? Aughhhhh!!! Every time I’ve ever been given church nursery duty, I lived in dread that week of Sunday because I didn’t want to do it. We all do a better job and help more people when we do what we’re good at, not what we just couldn’t say no to.

You may think it’s ironic that I love working in the library since I wrote this post: How We Got Banned From the Library, but my inability to return things I borrow on time actually doesn’t at all affect how much I love books and cataloging new ones and bringing order to shelves ransacked by tiny hands. How I love it!

I wish I could love restoring order to my house as much as I love tidying up the library. What is that? Why is it that it’s more fun to do things away from home? I got nothing. I can’t explain that phenomenon.

My VBS class made this this summer, and that’s when I realized I could totally be okay with teaching Sunday school. This was fun too! The older I get the more things I find that I enjoy.

So you know what I fell in love with this year? The library. Again. It’s a love I’ve had since childhood, though it worked so much better when I had my ever-responsible mother to make me return the books on time.

This time I’m loving being on the other side of the desk. I even have my own account at the school library now. You know why? You’ll laugh–I hope. See, I checked out a book on Caleb’s account, without his knowledge, and then I lost that book. I know. I still can’t find it!!

Well, my boys, believe it or not, never lose books and rarely acquire fines, so when Caleb went to check out a book and discovered that he couldn’t because he had a way overdue book, he was pretty upset with me…..So Mrs. Dubose did us a solid, and switched that book to my account.

Working in the library has also helped me find more ideas of good books to share with my boys.

That was a month ago. I still can’t find that book. It won’t be the first time I’ve bought a book that I’ve lost. Life will go on. The library is still a great privilege. It’s still saving us money to check out most of our books rather than buying most of our books.

Remember when I was a young adult, and I tried job after job, and felt like such a flake because I couldn’t find one that fit? Well, I’m 36 now, and I’m happy to report that I’ve found several.

Mom. Blogger. Writer. Librarian. Sunday School teacher.

I officially love all of these jobs. How blessed am I!? Sometimes you just have to give things time and trial and error, right?

How about you? Have you ever found your passion through volunteering? What jobs do you love?

The post The Job I Fell in Love with this Year appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

***This post is part of the Real Army Wives series, which runs every Monday on storiesofourboys.com. For last week’s chapter click here.***

Sunday, Aug. 17, 2003

Oh, Alan,

I missed you the MOST today!

We had “Back to School” night, where we meet the parents. Everything was fine except instead of 22, I now have 25, and also this grandparent with two children in my class stayed after and basically threatened me.

Yeah. This ignorant, toothless wonder, with a strong cigarette odor about her, told me, in a menacing tone, that her kids will break all my rules, and if I get on to them too much or hurt their feelings, she will come down to the school and yell at me, and she assured me she will yell so loudly that everyone will hear. (Yes, I only wish I were kidding.)

Well, I didn’t say anything in response to that. I dryly and quietly said, “Well, hopefully we won’t have any problems. Did you see their homework folders?”

I drove away from school bawling, not just because of that one parent, but also from so many emotions. After coming home and talking to both of our mothers on the phone, I started feeling better. Then I actually got a lot of work done.

But I’m so exhausted, and I have to get up at 5:30 tomorrow. It’s 11 already, so I’m going to bed. I wish you could give me a massage tonight! I need you! I love you.

Love, April

Tues., Aug. 19, 2003

Alan,

Hey! This was the 2nd day of school, and I survived! It wasn’t even torture! It was fine. Yay!!!

I’m so exhausted though.

Today was SO much better. The administration has just been incredibly supportive. I had my kids write about their first day of school today, and that was very interesting. They thought they just had a fun day of school. No one said that I had no idea what I was doing or anything.

But Alan, out of 25 students, I have 20 BOYS!

I wonder if God is preparing me to have lots of sons! Oh, dear! But you know what? Out of 20 boys & 5 girls, I have already seen THREE kids cry, and they were ALL boys.

Andrew cried because he’s just whiny. Michael cried because he didn’t have his breakfast money..Oh!.. Make that 4! Chris cried because he didn’t know if he was supposed to ride the bus or not, and Matthew cried because I gave him a “warning.”

The student that really breaks my heart is my reading L.D. student, Tyler, who sits quietly in my class everyday and when asked what he wants to learn this year, he will tell you the same answer every time:

“I want to learn how to read.”

He tries so hard. Oh, it just breaks my heart. He needs one-on-one help so badly, and no one will give it to him. He is a fourth grader, the age of a fifth grader, and I wish he were spending a reading hour each day with the special ed teacher. That is what he needs, but she seems to have no plans to work with him at all.

Meanwhile, Alan, my friends and family are all being so supportive, and I’m thankful.

Most of all, I’m thankful for the prayers that you and others were saying for me. Let me tell you, God was all over my class today–all over. I have never felt such sincere gratitude towards my Heavenly Father as I do today.

And to you, Alan. Your phone call last night was on my mind all day long. You are just like one of my angels, no matter how far away you may be. I love you so much.

But it’s 10:50 pm, so I HAVE to get to bed. I love you!

Your silly wife,

April

I had little time to spend with my Army Wife pals during this phase, but Sarah would often show up in my classroom after school and help me get everything ready for the next day. I don’t know what I would have done without her!!

That First Week

It seemed like I couldn’t get anything right that first week. I had about three boys who were so unruly, I did not know how to keep them under control. All day I felt like I was having miniature heart attacks. I would get all worked up, my heart would pound wildly, and I’d have these adrenaline surges, but there was nothing I could do with all that energy, which left me just wanting to scream.

This was probably the beginning of my heart problem, but I did not know that then, so life without beta blockers went on..

There were two AmeriCorps workers put in my classroom to observe, or maybe to help, but I had no clue as to how to utilize their help because I was only figuring things out myself. AmeriCorps is an organization much like Peace Corps, only they work here in the U.S.

The sweet AmeriCorps lady, probably in her late 30s, reassured me day after day.

“I feel so bad for you. I know you’re struggling, but you are so nice to them. They need this. Many of them don’t have anyone like you, who is sweet to them. Don’t be discouraged.”

That was true, and it should have been encouraging, but instead I felt like I was drowning in this job. I only had the AmeriCorps workers that first week. After that, they moved on to help in the high school.

There was no planning period, so I was with the children all day long. They didn’t even leave the classroom for lunch. Trays were brought to them, and they ate at their desks.

Alan had been right when he’d said I had not actually spent much time with children.

I enjoyed reading to them and even teaching wasn’t bad, but keeping order felt impossible.

From the very beginning, every single day was a countdown until summer and freedom from this misery. Why had I ever thought I wanted to teach???

Each night I’d stay at school until 6:45 or so, trying to get caught up. Then when the weekend came, I still needed to grade papers and work on lesson plans.

That first week my washing machine also quit working and flooded my kitchen completely. With my work schedule, it took me 14 hours to get it completely cleaned up.

Are there really people who love teaching? I wondered.

I was literally a square peg trying to shove myself into a round hole.

But it was only the first week. Surely things would improve, right?

When it rains, it pours.

My teacher gig did not improve much as the weeks went by. The toothless wonder turned out to not be too big of a problem since half the time she didn’t even bother to send her children to school. Naturally, their grades were suffering.

Another parent kept grilling me with questions about “the curriculum”. Gracious, I barely even knew what curriculum meant. I was making up my lesson plans as I went, which is definitely not what I figured I should tell her…This was my student teaching year! Only because Texas had a teacher shortage, I was a student teacher with no overseer, other than the assistant principal.

The Second Week

The second week of school, Mrs. Brown started sitting with my class during lunch. I was so ecstatic for this 30 minute break from the classroom!! I practically leaped into my Grand Am and sped off to the Dairy Queen for a cheeseburger, feeling like a convict being let out of prison.

Meanwhile, the phone calls from Iraq slid to a screeching halt. Casualty rates were rising, and something was going on with the phones. Almost every time Alan tried to call me, he was cut off after “Hello.” It was heart-breaking.

My neighbor, Shelby, must have been going through something too because she was screaming and cussing people out on the phone even more than usual, so I got to go to bed to the sound of that coming through my paper-thin master bedroom wall each night.

I rarely had any time to spend with my friends anymore. It felt like the lights had gone out on me, and I was suffocating and losing 5 pounds/week, when I was already considered “underweight.”

When you find a job that is your calling in life, or you’ve always known it was something you wanted to do, or you have a knack for it and enjoy the challenge, I think you are better able to handle the negatives of that job. Part of my problem was that I had no true desire to even be a teacher. I knew going into this that trying to control other people stresses me out. Managing people is not my gift.

The truth was that I never actually wanted this career in the first place.

Teaching doesn’t bother me, it’s the crowd control that was killing me, but that’s a big part of being a successful classroom teacher. I wrestled with this in my heart. I hated my job and missed my husband so much, but I had no idea what to do about it.

Come back next week to see how I handled this!

Click here to read last week’s chapter of this story.

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The post Miserable Teaching with 20 boys & the Toothless Wonder appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

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I’ve been dealing with my own feelings of failure for a while now. Have you ever felt that way? I read this story this week, and I poured tears as I contemplated my own “failure.”

There was this man. He was from out-of-town. He wanted to teach people about Jesus. That landed him in prison, and not just prison. First, he was stripped and beaten, and then they put him in prison.
He got out though.
And then you know what he said about that trip? He said, “It was not a failure.”

Public humiliation. Beaten! Imprisoned!

That was not a failure?? He was basically chased out of town. He can’t go back there.

But that man was Paul, and that town was Philippi. You can read more about that story in Acts 16:16-25 and 1 Thessalonians 2, all of chapter 2.

“You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure. We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition.”    1 Thessalonians 2:1-2

It was not a failure because they STILL did share the gospel, as they set out to do. When we tell people the good news, that Jesus loves ALL of us and wants to save and be a friend to ALL of us, we aren’t responsible for how people respond to that. That doesn’t mean be a jerk and don’t care. That means don’t be obnoxious. Share it, and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.

Public disgrace does not equal failure.

Things not ending as planned does not mean we failed.

Being physically destroyed is not failure. It’s not.

You are not a failure either. Think of your most recent failure, and then consider. What did you learn? What good came out of that?

I was reading about all of these things in Children of the Day, by Beth Moore. It takes books like these to help me understand things like Acts 16 being tied to 1 Thessalonians. Believe me, I’d never figure that out on my own. Every single Beth Moore Bible study workbook I have ever read has been a massive blessing to me.

This one is no exception. She just HAD to go and ask us what our most recent failure is. She left a little blank space for us to write about it. Ha! I got out my spiral notebook and filled up a whole PAGE.

I wrote, and I thought, and I cried, and I prayed, and in the end I was reminded.

“Though a righteous man falls 7 times, he will get up, but the wicked will stumble into ruin.”  Proverbs 24:16

Failure stings when it’s something that means the world to you. It stings like getting stung by a HIVE OF BEES  or 50 fire ants.

I set out to home school those two years with two objectives:

1. I wanted to give them that one-on-one boost with their academics.
2. I wanted to improve their character. No, I can’t improve it myself, but I wanted to promote it. I wanted to provide the right environment and the right tools for the boys and God to work that out.

I was not able to accomplish what I wanted, academically, and to make it worse trying to be a teacher, homemaker, blogger, and mom all at once made me MISERABLE. It was heart-breaking. Even as I write about it again, it’s like my heart is all ripped up and bleeding. I want to pound my fists to the wall and then lay my head against it and cry until there’s no water left because no matter how hard I tried, everything felt like failure.

I love these children with such intensity, I want to fix every single problem that they have, but that’s not possible, is it? The ability to fix everything was so far beyond my control.

So I failed. Or so I thought. But you know what? I did not fail. They didn’t fail either. Nothing failed. There was nothing wasted here.

In those two years, I saw their character bloom. I saw love, humility, honesty, justice, kindness, and goodness in my boys.

Caleb was saved and baptized, of his free choosing during that time at home with me. I even heard him teaching his friends about Jesus.

There was spiritual warfare waged over the souls of my children those two years, and God won.

I grew to understand the boys’ strengths and weaknesses. I came to terms with my own limitations. We emerged a different family than when we went into this.

I failed in some ways in order to learn. Sometimes we have to fall to learn, to grow, to become.

We saw it happen with my children too. We watched them overcome the kind of adversity that would have CRUSHED me at their age. I would not have handled it with the strength, dignity, and courage that I watched my son display.

That’s not actually failure is it? But it sure feels like it when you’re laying in a wad on the ground.

So no, we have not failed. We have only fallen and gotten back up again, and we too shared the gospel in the process.

All of these thoughts led me to this song, and I can’t get it out of my head. Its “fall down and get back up” message resonated with me. Yes, we are trying EVERYTHING. It’s a fun song, and my favorite line is this one:

“Birds don’t just fly. They fall down and get up.”

You’ll have to click the link below to go to YouTube to see the lyrics and hear this song. It’s worth it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92h9xWDLllg

Ok. Your turn to answer Beth Moore’s heart-wrenching question. Failure. When did you last feel it?

“Ask yourself: Did we do the will of God as best we perceived it? Were we authentic before God and man?”    —Children of the Day, page 41, Beth Moore

And I would add, what did you learn? Then maybe it’s not such a failure after all, and even if it is, get back up again.

The post It was not a failure, though I thought it was at the time. appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Yes, my dad let my three-year-old drive his wheelchair. But boy, did he have fun!

We just finished the longest Christmas vacation ever. 3 weeks!!! Full weeks!! It was a blast.  It was genuinely fun because we didn’t spend the whole 3 weeks in any one place. We went south, then we went north, then we went home, then we went back south, then back home. We had a good time with it!

We watched pretty much every Christmas movie ever made.

And we were terrible.

Truly terrible.

We let the kids stay up as late as 10 some nights. I know. The shame! Other nights we put them to bed at 8, but there was one night we were at a big reunion party. It was an hour and a half from home, and by the time we got home and got the boys all in bed, it was after midnight!

I know!!! We are never this shocking. We are such boring people normally.

Some people skip stones…..we chunk boulders. (Don’t worry. Only into the water, and no one got hurt.)

I don’t think I got out of bed before 7:30am a single morning.

Discipline? I would say we were the opposite of disciplined…

We took the kids to two different movies. We let the boys sleep as late as they wanted, and for some of them that was actually until 8 or 8:30am!!

A disproportionate amount of corn dogs, candy canes, and chicken fingers was consumed.

JD has about quit napping completely.

The boys played so much Skylanders they’ve already beaten the new game twice.

decorating the Christmas tree cookie cake

We built Lego creations, we colored, we ate ice cream, we played with cousins and friends. We got spoiled by grandparents. We completely forgot about reality.

I kept saying things like, “Tomorrow we HAVE to get back on schedule. Tomorrow we’ll all go to bed at 8, and I’ll set alarms and get up at 6….”

Never happened. Never.

Dan and I found this centipede(?) on a walk. I’m not a bug expert. Centipede was my best guess.

And so tonight we didn’t even bother to put everyone to bed until 9 or 9:30. I made coffee and did the dishes. You will be happy to know that we did actually make them shower.

Alan is furiously re-immersing himself in work emails. He took a ton of time off too.

I laid out my clothes but totally forgot to lay out THE BOYS’ clothes. Who knows if we’ll be able to find anyone’s shoes or belts tomorrow.

I set my alarm for 5:30am…..but you know I’m the worst EVER at getting up when my alarm goes off. I set my alarm, and Alan actually laughed. Sigh.

I’m scared y’all. I think we actually had too much fun on our break. I don’t think we can go back to real life. I’m afraid no one will be able to wake up tomorrow morning!!!

I don’t think this is an irrational fear.

We played Star Wars. Ha! Just kidding. THEY played Star Wars. I’m not that cool.

Why does real life have to be so very very real and strict and work-like???

Ah, but it does. You can’t train children for the world without upholding standards in their childhood. You can’t expect them to go to college if you don’t first teach them elementary math. And have you seen elementary math??? It’s not all that easy!

Tomorrow is the big day! Are you ready?? Were any of you as big of slackers as we were??? Tell me we are not alone!!!

Well, if you were, we would like to wish you all the best of luck. I’m sure everyone’s shoes will be clean, dry, and easily found. Everyone will be on time, and no one will cry. Well, maybe me at 5:30am. I might cry. I’m just not so sure I “got this”!!!

Okay. Deep breaths. We’ll be fine. What’s a good verse we can recite to ourselves?? Oh yeah.

Joshua 1:9

 

Have not I commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Gotta go. The Benadryl I took to make myself go to sleep earlier is finally starting to kick in…

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