There came in the twilight a message to me;
It's quaint Saxon legend, deeply engraven,
Hath, as it seems to me, teaching from Heaven.
And on through the hours the quiet words ring
Like a low inspiration--"DO THE NEXT THING"
Many a question, many of fear,
Many a doubt, ath its quieting here.
Moment by moment, let down from Heaven,
Time, opportunity, guidance, are given.
Fear not tomorrow, Child of the King,
Trust them with Jesus, "DO THE NEXT THING"
Do it immediately; do it with prayer;
Do it reliantly, casting all care;
Do it with reverence, tracing His Hand
Who placed it before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on Omnipotence, safe 'neath His wing,
Leave all resultings, "DO THE NEXT THING"
Looking to Jesus, ever serener,
Working or suffering be thy demeanor,
In His dear presence, the rest of His calm,
The light of His countenance be thy psalm,
Stron in His faithfulness, praise and sing,
Then, as He beckons thee, "DO THE NEXT THING."
No one knows who wrote this well known poem, but it's words have been resonating throughtout my scattered brain this morning, as I seek guidance from Our Father for what needs to get done. When life gets crazy, and it seems to never end, sometimes it's all you can do to put one foot in front of the other, to keep moving the direction God has called you, even if that movement is a shuffle-step. So what does this look like for our little(ish) crew?
Well, for starters we moved 645 miles away from almost everything ours kids knew, and where two of them were born, back to hubby and my's homestate. When we first arrived it was a mad dash to unpack all the boxes just to get them out of the way; after the dust settled we did a better job of organizing, while finishing off last year's school year. Who knew we had so much stuff!! Two months later the teenager is still adjusting, but we have found an excellent youth group based in the truth of God's Word for him to be invovled in. Otherwise it's been a very smooth transition! It helps to have family nearby :)
Also, in about 6-8 weeks we will have a new baby brother to dote on! We are beyond happy and excited, but it hasn't helped my scattered brain!! Right now the next thing is to start a list of what will need to get done in the next few weeks so I can keep it from bouncing around in my head and onto paper! My oldest daughter has been letting everyone she encounters know that she gets to be there when he's born; it warms my heart to know how much this means to her!
Finally, we are starting a new curriculum for this school year-which we will start super early (next week) so we have plenty of margin to enjoy the new baby. We're going to begin using Ambleside Online, which uses the ideals and practices of early 20th century educator Charlotte Mason. Charlotte Mason (or CM) ideals have been near and dear to my heart since we first began this homeschool journey seven years ago, but I had it on the backburner during our time in Texas. I'm so grateful to have my passion renewed as I've taken back my time from that which was distracting me (looking at you facebook) and I'm excited to start this new journey! I'll share more about how I've been planning and what that looks like later on. :D
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| Our new backyard viw |
