Reflecting

Last night while we watched the Bears have an amazing win in the playoffs, (note, I am a Bama fan by birth, a Bears fan by marriage) I finally checked off something that has been on my "to do" list for the last, oh, 5+ years.  I finally backed up  21, 686 images from my iphoto account onto my external hard-drive.  

21,686 images.  

I'm not a photographer ...  I just love my little family.  God has been so good to us.  We are not without our mistakes.  We are not without many failures ... many repeat failures.  We are not, in any way, pros at parenting, homeschooling or being military and handling deployments.  We are hard headed and slow learners and a family of foolishly independent people at times.  But God has been so faithful to us and has blessed us and protected us even when we haven't noticed.  One thing I love about looking through old images is that you not only remember things you've forgotten, but you notice blessings that you missed.  What a gift that is!  Again, I repeat, God has been and is so good to us.

Richard had the day off today and he took care of the little ones so that the older ones could get in a few hours of the subjects they like (homeschooling's so wonderful that way) and so that I could spend some much craved one on one time with them.  I spent most of that time with our little 110.  Oh, Patterson.  I used to tell Momma that if you wanted to love her, you had to catch her first!  She is the most intense individual I've ever met.  It is hard to calm her intensity down enough to really teach her something.  She is always already wanting to move to task 2, before you've even finished task 1.  She loves school, it's just really hard for her to, well, sit still:).  I remember reading to her when she was little and she knew when the story was about to be over and before I would finish, she would start grabbing another book and ask, "Can we read this one next?"  Patterson is our curious one, too.  She wants to know every night what we are doing the next day.  And when she wakes up in the morning, she wants to know if any of the plans have changed.  She wants to know when we're going to start school and when we're going to finish.  She wants to know what we're having for lunch and what Parker is doing upstairs:).  She wants to know when Daddy will be home and if I liked push pops when I was a little girl.  She has even mentioned several times that she just doesn't know what kind of car she should get when she grows up because she doesn't know how many kids she's going to have.  :):):)  I'm telling you, she's intense.  

Sitting today with her I just about lost my mind in wondering, "Will there ever be a time that she is just ready to start school when we sit down?!"  I feel like everyday it is not until I get to the "AGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" point, that she just sort of snaps out of her "I've never heard anything about anything that you are talking about" and starts answering questions like first grade is such a breeze.  I like to think that if she was my only student that things would be so different.  But I don't know.  She is who she is and I just hope that I am effective in teaching her to learn and love learning and to listen and discern what is right without causing too much frustration on her end.  God has given her a wonderful heart and sweetness about her ... as well as a lot of energy.

I look forward to seeing how she uses all of her energy for His kingdom and glory!