Nuther Day

             I thought I'd post a quick note before the craziness of another day starts. I have about... 5 minutes!

Still not baby news, for those curious! Lots of good contraction type things happening though, which I'm thankful for! Hopefully they'll give me a head start on labor... It usually works that way for me, typically I'm at least 4 cm dilated before labor even starts. (too much information? hahaha) It's a little tricky this time since we'll be driving to Calgary though and having a quick labor might work against me. I just keep having to place this delivery in the Lord's hands and trust Him that He will work out the very best, which ever happens. I really really would love to make it to the city and try for a water birth.

Life is staying busy here though while we wait for that big event. School is back in full gear! Levi isn't overly impressed at having less play time, but he's sitting down and applying himself much better this year in spite of that! What a relief! I think I'm going into this year with more confidence too, which helps. I had been feeling like I didn't want to push the kids too hard and make them hate school, which, probably is fine for the first year or so, but I'm finding... in the end, some kids need a bit more structure and guidance. He seems to be ready for that, and so am I. I guess in the end, we're both growing into this homeschooling stuff and learning as we go.
I'm learning that as the kids get older, their needs are changing from each other too, and I can't just treat them the same way. I know.. you're probably thinking "uh DUH!"  but I hadn't applied that to everything. See, I'm finding Kayla needs more sleep then Levi. Since they're only 14 mths apart in age, we always put them to bed at the same time. Now I've been explaining to her that we need to go with her needs, not what the group is doing. So, she's going to bed at the same time as the little guys now, with a little more time to read and settle. We're all happier when Kayla's slept well! The difference is amazing! I feel silly that it's taken me so long to figure this out. But I realized she expresses her tiredness differently and I just didn't pin it down as tiredness.
Levi on the other hand needs more time to get his school work done. Again, I had started the kids at the same time and then was always frustrated with him for dilly-dallying. Instead, I'm starting him an hour sooner, and he's more motivated. It does bother him to see Kayla playing while he works, but then, he's realizing that it bothers her that he gets to stay up later at night too. I've been trying to explain to them that we need to learn to work with their strengths and needs, and they are simply different and as they get older we're going to find more differences.

   Hey, has anyone else read the biography of George Muller? I've really been inspired by it. His life was really run by placing his hands in the Lords and nothing else! And what God did through him, amazing! Maybe I'll get more time sometime to write a bit more about it.  For now, my 5 minutes is long gone and I've been typing in between instructing Levi with his math.

Hope your day goes well!