God's Story Book

As you all know, we are a homeschooling family. I love the fact that I get to be my children's teacher (although there are many days I wish I could just send them to school!) and the closeness our family shares from spending so much time together. As you probably know, homeschooling can turn into a very expensive venture, as there are tons of curriculum choices available, many costing almost as much as it would cost to send a child to private school. Because we are a family in ministry (which isn't exactly a high-earning income!), I've always been very frugal with our curriculum choices, spending lots of time online searching for free or inexpensive worksheets/activities, buying workbooks and manipulatives at yard sales, etc.

We began this 2010-2011 school year still living in North Carolina where I was a part of the local homeschool group. I didn't get too involved, but I was on the email loop and there would sometimes be a family giving away curriculum they no longer needed. That is how I got the Language Arts curriculum we ended up using this school year. I was so grateful to have gotten the reading books and the workbooks for free, yet the blessing of these books and the providence of God in supplying them was yet to be truly realized.

During the summer before school started is when Aron started looking for a new job. His job at TMobile did not hire him back after he returned from Wyoming and we were completely trusting God to show us exactly where He wanted us to be. We diligently prayed that God would open only the door (not doors...complete clarity is what we were seeking!) He wanted us to walk through and when He did, we would go. Over the summer is when the job here in Bakersfield started to look promising. Without complete surety, we began talking to the kids about the possibility of moving very far away. They were a little excited, but mostly concerned with how they would make new friends. We assured them as much as we could and prayed often that God would continue to be with us and bring us peace.

School started for the year and wouldn't you know, the first two stories of the year in our new Reading book were all about making new friends and how it can be scary and exciting at the same time, which allowed us the opportunity to talk about what it was going to be like if and when we moved to a new place. I remember thinking those first few weeks how neat it was that God had allowed me to get this curriculum and how it was just right for that time in our life. Well, that continued throughout the school year.

As we got into September, the committee that was interviewing Aron decided they wanted he and I to fly out for a weekend, which meant I had to coordinate childcare while we were gone. By this point, we were feeling more certain that Bakersfield, CA was going to be our new home so in faith, we loaded up all of our possessions in a trailer attached to our truck and temporarily moved back to Florida, waiting on God to make His will crystal clear. Being back with family made the childcare issue much easier and it worked out great since Aunt Fran, a teacher, was able to keep the kids on track with school while we were gone. I remember when we returned, now knowing for sure that we would be moving to California, Fran, with tears in her eyes, asked me if I had planned what story the kids would be reading that week for school. I let her know that I did not, that we were just doing a story-a-week and we were just following the book's schedule. She said the story she read with them, "My Name is Yoon," was the perfect story at the perfect time. It was all about a young Korean girl who had to move far, far away to America and how it was hard for her at first, but how she soon saw that it was just where she was supposed to be, which was pretty much exactly how we all were feeling! Maybe a little thing to some, but as we were watching God make our path clear, these little markers along the way were priceless!

So we made the long move to Bakersfield and settled into our new home and new church. The kids adjusted quickly and we've all made some great friends here. We've continued to have little "markers" along the way that have shown us over and over that we're exactly where we're supposed to be. Funny thing is, God continued to use our Reading books, remember, given to us in NORTH CAROLINA, to confirm in us that California was certainly our new home. A few months after living here, we read a super cute story in our Reading book called "Mice and Beans." It's one of our favorites now. Well, the next story in the book was an autobiography by the author of "Mice and Beans" and guess where she was born and raised......Bakersfield, CA!! What? We were given these books on the other side of the continent, never having heard of Bakersfield until the job offer came.....God, You are too cool!!!

I know there are many people who would say that these are just random circumstances, that God has absolutely nothing to do with our Reading book, but I don't care! When you purpose to look for God in the everyday details of your life, you will begin to notice so many little things that He does to bring Himself glory, to reassure you that every detail of your life matters to Him. What a blessing to be able to share that truth with my children as we did school this past year!

Oh, and there's one more "marker" that God posted through our Reading book. Back in February, I believe, our Director of Missions informed the congregation one Sunday morning that she was organizing a mission trip to Tanzania. I immediately knew that I was supposed to go, and most of you have already been supporting me in prayer and some even financially. So I'll give you one guess as to what the last story of our Reading book this year was about.....you got it, Tanzania!!! I mean, seriously, that is coincidence? I think not!!!

God is so good!!!