Slip a Ham Sandwich Under the Door

Nora used to tell us that.

Nora is a friend on an old mom's email list I attended for years. She has a son, whom she homeschooled. As we talked on our list, she would talk about how he would be so involved as a teen in his projects and her role was to:

"Slip a ham sandwich under the door.." as he worked.

Nora, I have thought of you so often and slipped many a sandwich, metaphorically or actually!

Buddy

We have dog-sat Buddy since his puppyhood. When his family needed to find him a new place to live, we stepped right up.

He goes back to his 'first family' when we travel. One dog- two loving homes. Lucky dog!

His favorite hang out is in our 'window room'. At the front of our 70's two story house we have this odd little room that is actually a hallway between two bedrooms, but has floor to ceiling windows.

There Buddy does sentry duty. He watches the front yard and neighborhood most day and night. We feel safe.

He is a great dog, very sweet. Only dog I ever had who asks permission before coming in a room, jumping on a bed or taking a treat out of my hand. Love you, Buddy!

A Little Way of Homeschooling

I think a big part of my spiritual journey, and the ongoing journey of raising children has been beautifully summarized in , St. Therese' Liseiux- "Little Way"

Now it has come back to me, gently, with love and friendships in a new book, just published

A Little Way of Homeschooling:
Thirteen Families Discover Catholic Unschooling

I wish you could see what went on the the background of the creation of this book. I only have a small glimpse of it, the glimpse of being one of the homeschool moms Suzie Andres approached to see if we could 'write a chapter'. I have known Suzie through email lists and forums for years and we *almost* met a few times, :)

The other 11 moms and I have known each other for years and years as well. Some I know just as fellow posters on various lists, others I have become very dear friends with and met in person. We all have one thing in common. We are in love with our faith, in love with our vocation and struggling mightily each day to raise our children, understand them and help them be who the are called to be.

Well, in addition to that, in one way or another we were drawn to unschooling. My chapter ended up being an autobiography of sorts. I had all these great ideas to really make this incredible insightful, power-packed chapter. But, St. Terese stepped in. Little. Be little. That is what homeschooling for 15 years has finally impressed upon me... I am so little. Life is little. Little is sweet and where the most humongous sweetness is. Bigger love than mighty things can ever bring.

This was hard for me because I was raised in the ME generation of the 70s and 80s and went to business school to learn how to be a VP of something one day.

Big big big.

I am continuing to learn that God does expect big things of us, but we have to be little to let him determine how we are to be big.

Big-little-big-little.. this explains a recurring dream since childhood I have had- almost like an Alice in Wonderland thing.. feeling very tiny, then growing big, then feeling tiny.

Back to the book- Suzie asked, we each wrote a chapter, some of us with more trepidation than others. I had grand ideas, ended up with a rather simple account then I wondered 'who would buy this book'? But, when I read the whole thing, I saw the stories, some simple as mine, were powerful in their simplicity and honesty.

Then, we have the beautiful insights from Suzie and her husband Tony who is a professor at St. Thomas Aquinas Academy in California. I wish he had explained unschooling to me, as he has done in the chapter he contributed, years ago as I struggled with the entire concept, wondering if I was truly loving my kids or ruining them... but then, I think it is all about the journey.

Oh.. good blog title!

I have loved this journey.

I invite you all to read our little book. I will post more about the behind the scenes of how it came together in another post.

But for now, please read, enjoy, share. Your stories are part of this, too.

Date with my 16yo son to Casting Crowns Concerts

I was in San Antonio all week with the absolutely wonderful people at College Plus!, but bee-lined it home Friday afternoon to catch the Casting Crowns concert with my son.

What mom could resist an invitation from their teen son to attend a concert?  Plus I am a huge fan of Casting Crowns.   Awesome music, enough edge and some 80s rock feel to me, plus the message is awesome. Mark Hall the lead singer and songwriter knows about the cross.. and how we have to embrace it every day to find the pure joy.

He cracked me up when he said he not only had ADHD but dyslexia... how school was so hard for him but God can do anything with any of us.... all us imperfect people running around here.  He said his double-whammy LD was so cruel.. even if he could read (dyslexia), it would not matter because he could not pay attention! (ADHD)

If they come to town go see them (Cay, this means you!)---  humble, funny, great music.

Oh and Bryan and I laughed that this crowd was the nicest group of people you would ever want to see.  Polite, happy and just really kewl!