Creative Learning

I have always loved reading and learning. Those things often go hand in hand. When I got my Kindle I could hardly believe the free library at my finger tips (there is a TON of free content like classics, deals of the day, and so on).

I loved school for the classes. I am, for sure, an all out nerd. I took calculus for fun, and it turned out to be my favourite class in high school.  It might have helped there were only 6 of us in the class, but I actually believe it was because it stretched my mind and made me think.

I also loved taking French and German, and waaaaay back in fifth grade I took a tiny (TINY) bit of Spanish. Language is fascinating to me. Combine my love of learning with reading and languages and you have a perfect storm of geekdom. At one point in my senior year I bought the book 'Teach Yourself Hindi'. I worked through some of it and got to a place where I could ask what something was, tell you my name, and understand some vocab.  It came in handy on a month long visit to P-stan. By the end of that month, I could follow some conversations when I went visiting with some friends (not ALL of the conversation, but the jist).

Anyway, two summers ago S and I went to a language acquisition course. Once I got past the heat and the crazy amount of stairs (I have IT band syndrome - ouch!), I was in my glory! It was so much fun practicing all of the different sounds your mouth can make - I would giggle my way through half of them knowing I looked hilarious in my North American pronunciation.  My favourite thing to come out of that course was the practical learning aspect of it - how to fashion your own language learning course where there is no school.

That brings us to now! I have recently enlisted some of my new dear friends who have, only a year ago, moved to Canada to help me learn Farsi! I doubt she/ they knew what they were getting into when they said yes! HA!

We try to meet about twice a week. So far, this has mostly been over skype. In order to gain vocabulary, I've been cutting up magazines and making flash cards to hold up in front of the web came. It has nourished my creative streak as well as my intellectual side. Oh how good it feels!

Cards for colours!

The theory behind the method I'm using to learn this new language is listening, listening, listening to as much as you can before you speak. SO! In the first round of learning new vocab, like say those colors ^  , I'll hold up a card, my friend will tell me what it is. I'll do that until I think I mostly remember what they are. Next, I'll hold up a colour card and she'll say a colour. I'll have to tell her 'yes' or 'no'  as to whether it was the correct word or not.  THEN! She'll ask me to hold up a colour and I'll have to pick up the corresponding card.

It kind of feels like a game, but it is super useful. So far, we've done simple pronouns, colours, articles of clothing and some body parts. Once we get past some of the basic vocab, we can put them together.  Now, she'll tell me 'he is wearing a purple shirt and blue scarf' and I'll have to hold up the right cards! The next step will be using 'not' and having more complex sentences like 'she is not wearing a green coat, but she is wearing a blue scarf'.

God has given me this awesome opportunity, and I can't wait to see how He uses it!

Fun, no?
XO,
J

Soli Deo Gloria!

One Whole Year!

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of when we got the keys to our very own home!  It was such a relief. It was such a hard time. It was so wonderful to use that key to open a new door!

This year has held much for our little family. We've unpacked. We've started to put out some tentative roots. Buddy started school. We planted a garden. We put up pictures. We found books that had been stored away for years. We spread out. We purged. We have done so very much.

Most of all, we've grown.

When God opened our eyes to the possibility of staying in Canada for longer than either S or I had imagined, our hearts and minds went crazy. There were a lot of different situations and instances God used to PRY our eyes open, which hurt like mad, but we're ultimately grateful for them now.

 God used some of those same situations and instances to reveal deep, ingrained sins, fears, control vs. trust issues, and so much more. Through friends, wise counselors, books, the Bible, and, of course, the Holy Spirit, we've been able to take steps out of the mire and muck and onto some more solid footing.

We're not out of the woods yet, and some days it feels like we're barely out of quicksand, but we are gaining margin. We're using that margin to fortify ourselves (by God's grace) and our family.

I'm also starting to use that margin to write more, learn a new language, and work through some crippling fears I have (like getting lost!!).

We are so grateful God let us step back before we completely crashed and burned. We're also so entirely grateful for this peaceful haven He provided for us. Here's to as many years as God gives us here!!

Grateful,
XO
J

Soli Deo Gloria

Haze

There's a pretty large forest fire about 7 or so hours away from my house.  Quite people have had mandatory evacuation.More people are on evacuation notice. It's not a pretty picture. It's about 3,100 ha big and still growing. The crews are trying to contain it so as to prevent oil rigs and gas plants from going up in...more than smoke.

Here, we are not feeling any of the heat, seeing the flames, or inhaling the thick smoke. Right now, though, the haze has rolled in. It's eerie. There is a faint, and I mean FAINT, smell of smoke.

It's pretty crazy how the fire that's so 'far away' can have affects at this distance! This prompted my mind to  see an analogy for our lives.  How often do sins in our lives affect us like this fire is burning up the provinces?

We sit in spiritual dryness and then a careless spark gets fanned into devastating consequences. Sometimes, it is a chance to start over and rebuild our entire existence. Other times we find ourselves scrambling to find pieces to pick up and put back together. Many times, though, our wildfire is not in isolation. Those around us can get scorched, or choke on the smoke. Some may take precautions and flee, while others might soak themselves in life-giving Water and fight.

May our spiritual lives never get so dry!

In mulling over all of this, we need to pray. We need to be aware of the danger both in the physical sense from these insane fires in BC and Alberta, as well as the inner ones around us. May God pour down rain!

xo,
J

Soli Deo Gloria

Catching Up and Revising

It's once again time to update you on my resolution this year.  I'm about halfway through the second reading of my Bible.

This time, it is not going so smoothly. I found a reading plan online that I thought I would love. It breaks each day of the week into a different portion of the Bible that you get to read. Monday is Gospels; Tuesday -Poetry; Wednesday- Prophecy ...and so on.

As it turns out, I really dislike it. REALLY dislike it. It's super hard to get a feel of what's going on as you try to remember something from a week ago to build on. Mostly, I feel disjointed and frustrated.
Because of this feeling, I've found myself missing more readings than before. At one point, I was probably about 4 or five days behind! AH!

Yesterday, though, I caught up. Today, I'm still on track. BUT! I've decided to switch things up. Instead of reading one type of Biblical literature on a given day, I'm going to finish the category before I move on to the next one. SO - it'll look more like from now until the end of July will be Prophecy, then Epistles, then...then...then.  I think it'll be easier to pay attention and see the connection between the different books.

This time through I feel like I haven't learned much. I guess some of the themes like remembrance and grace have been reinforced again, but nothing has been an 'ah hah' moment or anything else.

Hopefully with this new switch up, it'll be easier to make sense of things again. I guess I have learned that context is an extremely important part of understanding!

How have your resolutions been going?
XO,
J

Soli Deo Gloria

Living With Mistakes

There have been so many blog posts and discussions surrounding the whole 'Mommy War' thing that happens.  Most of them focus on making sure you know that you are awesome at what you do, and others are awesome at what they do, so don't worry about it, it all evens out in the end. Others focused on things like Facebook being a false front to who we really are - meaning we don't post our bad pictures of when we're frustrated with out husbands or kids or when we burn the stew or so on. Facebook helps us (especially mothers who are house-bound in need of adult interaction) present our best as if it was what our lives are like all the time.

I think this is where the 'Mommy Wars' posts have fallen short for me. Many of them actually shame people who are honestly good at many different things and share about it - they assume that there is some area of their life that is completely lacking. It might not be true - they really might be good at everything and have their heads above water. Others shame people because they don't even comprehend how you can't get out of your pajamas and feed your kids something other than dry cheerios on the couch. These 'dry cheerio' moms might be the ones who are posting the fabulous pictures, or they might be silent bystanders wounded by unkind comments.

I'm guilty of perpetuating the 'War'. I've posted my knitting projects I've finished, or baking that has turned out delicious, or even pictures of my kids dressed for church on Easter.  I've posted one or two pictures that show a 'fail', but they are humorous and not telling about 'normal' life at my house.

I don't show off my mistakes. I don't post about how many movies my kids watch in a single week. I don't talk about how I get so frustrated with having to pull out knitting (again) that I throw it to the other couch.

What am I doing?! Honestly, if I break it down completely, I'm trying to show you how I am god and perfect in every way. ME? I don't need help - I've got this thing called life completely figured out - didn't you see that picture of Little Red's hair done up? Didn't you see that I made ravioli from scratch? ...c'mon, would a god need YOU?!

It's awful, isn't it? I do it, and then forget that I know nothing about life in anyone else's shoes. 
What I do know or at least think I know,(then promptly forget in the throws of war) is that how we tend to present ourselves is not at all how God sees us.  We try to define ourselves and put out on social media or where ever.  We hope no one sees the chink in our armor, and when they do we either run for cover, or draw our swords for an all out battle. What we need to do is not be afraid and say 'Yup here's the chink, and you know what, here's what's under the armor - me, a human marred by sin, saved by God, and important to Him.'

Maybe we struggle to see ourselves with God's eyes and that's why we hide in the spotlight (or backstage). We want to feel important or worthy or lovely, but we forget that we already are.

We let our mistakes, which show off our need for Jesus, define us instead of giving us a reason to praise. Example: I forgot an important appointment - I could fret and feel stupid, but Jesus saved me because he loves me and I can call for another appointment. OR  I yelled at my kids for spilling their milk AGAAAAAAAIN - I could feel like a bad mom and get more grumpy, but Jesus saved me out of my mistakes and I can be grateful I can ask Him and my kids for forgiveness and start fresh in a few minutes.

I may make mistakes, but I can acknowledge them, give them to Jesus, and get over them rather than get stuck and let them define me. It kind of reminds me of the AA - "Hi, I'm so-and-so, and I make mistakes"...."Hi so-and-so"...right? Instead of touting our success, though (I've gone x amount of days without making a mistake) we show off Jesus (It's more like Jesus saved me x amount of days ago, and He's still doing awesome work).

...now, if only I (and we) lived like this all of the time, what would that look like?

xo,
J

Soli Deo Gloria (to only God be glory)