This Was Not Part of the Plan!

Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21 (NIV)

When my oldest granddaughter came to live with us in May, I was both grateful that I could be of help in a time of crisis, but also a little upset that my life was going to change in ways I wasn’t prepared to deal with. For one, I am set in my ways and Tovah and I have developed a rhythm of sort over the years. She knows that in the evenings I like peace and quiet, and often go to bed early. Therefore she keeps her TV volume down and is careful about closing and opening doors. Why? To top it all off, I’m a very light sleeper. So now here comes an 11 year old who turns the volume of her TV up to a disimal that only someone who is hard of hearing would listen to, and she slams doors. Oh, and did I mention that the older I get the more I can’t stand clutter. Well, again she is 11, so we all know where I’m going with this…LOL!! These might seem like minor things to some, but they were huge to me because all of a sudden I was not sleeping well at night, my bathroom wasn’t the way I like it and I lost some of my freedom.

Tovah is having a very social and fun filled summer, and usually when she is out of the house it is a special time for me. Tovah’s not going to be home for dinner….okay, I’m not cooking, so I eat whatever. And at times, “whatever” is a bowl of cereal or even cold leftover pizza. But now I have someone who can’t cook and I have to make sure her needs are taken care of. I also can’t decide to jump up and go out because I can’t leave her alone but for a certain length of time. My gratefulness soon turned to anger and disappointment. Who was I angry with? God, my family? And why was I so upset? It turns out because I didn’t care for the direction my life was going. I felt like God had pulled a bad joke on me in the fact that it seemed He allowed me to dream and hope only to snatch it away. Now is this true…..no, of course not! He hasn’t snatched anything away, and He hasn’t said, that I will not have or be able to do the things I desire, it seems more like a “not now or not yet” type of thing. But like my 5 year old granddaughter I too can pout when I don’t get my way with God, and for a minute I had to cry and pout about things. But then I took my “big girl pill” and have since made the adjustments needed.

Once I was over the initial shock of how things would be for awhile, the Lord began to call me away from all distractions such as facebook, television, conversations with others, so that I could hear His voice. As I spent more time with Him through His Word and music, I began to find peace in my soul and spirit as to what I needed to do for Him. I wish I could tell you, it was something I was longing to hear, but that was not the case. Yet, it really didn’t matter at this point because I remembered who I am and that my life is not my own and I’ve been bought with a price. So when He asked me if I would be willing to do whatever was necessary for my granddaughter I quickly agreed. It turned out that I will be homeschooling her this coming school year. I am an experienced homeschool mom and I did enjoy the 6 years I homeschooled Tovah, but I really thought that was all behind me. Yeah, I did. ~Smile~

God willing this will be Tovah’s last year at home, because this time next year she should be on her way to college and I had plans! I was going to start making a lot of changes this year, so that when she did leave I would have certain things in place for me. I doubt very seriously this year will look anything like my inital plans, but I do believe it will be a good year nonetheless.

So now my dear sisters, I have gone from a “Homeschool Mom” to a “Homeschool Granny” what a wild ride this is going to be. ~Smile~ Once a month you will get a blog from me on how homeschooling is going, and I pray that it will reflect the power of God in our lives, and how His purpose for life always prevails over our plans and wants.

Thursdays will now be our homeschool day. Cheryl..."Diary of a Home School Mom", Sasha...."Single Homeschool Mom," and Ponnie..."Homeschooling Granny!"



Blessings
Ponnie

Next Thursday August 19th, Cheryl will be up with "Diary of a Home School Mom."



Friday's Blog: Tovah's back! "Life of a High School Senior!"