The Accidental Tradition Continues

We were a little late on the Marvel movie scene.  The Bru Crew did not express interest in the Marvel movies until the first Avengers movie came out.  Bru Crew Dad and I did not go see any of the Iron Man movies or Hulk.  We did watch the first Captain America movie, and the first Thor movie, but only on DVD.  We saw Avengers in theaters as part of my Mother's Day gift in May 2012.  I was a little surprised that was the plan, but I went with it, and we enjoyed the movie.

Somewhere in the process of watching Marvel movies, and then Star Wars movies, in theaters, my kids wanted to watch them as soon as possible, which meant the Friday they were released.  Some Fridays, that worked; many of those Fridays were already booked.  The May Marvel releases were always the night of our co-op concert, and the December Star Wars releases were always the weekend we celebrate Christmas with my family at my sister's house. We discovered that they were not advertised as such, but often released the Thursday night before.  It quickly became our tradition to see the movies on the Thursday of their release, which is the first day they are available in theaters.  We surprised the kids with IMAX tickets to see Rogue One in December of last year.

Standing at the bus stop with Ms. Quality Time and Tenderheart yesterday, Ms. QT reminded me that Thor: Ragnarok opens this weekend, and wanted to know if we were going last night.  I looked into it, and considered it.  Then, Little Man's soccer practice was canceled, Ms. Quality Time's Scholar's Bowl match was a single instead of a double, and I thought we could make it work.  Unfortunately, there was an event planned for the marching band after practice, that was mentioned a month ago, but not again, and Tenderheart had to miss it to go with us.  I felt a little badly about that because she would have enjoyed it, but all the memos said 4-6, and nothing else.  We went to the 7:00 showing at our local theater.  I made a few of my hard working soccer friends mad jealous because we have a tournament this weekend that they are hard at work on, but family comes before soccer.  My children do not get everything they want.  I do not have the desire or money to buy all the latest and greatest gadgets and clothing trends (not to say that it is wrong to do that for your children if you can and want to).  We strive to breed contentment into our children.  They ask for very few things.  Christmas lists are hard because they get what they need, and do not want much.  This, however, is important to my children.  Most of our traditions are intentional: ice cream for dinner one night when a parent is out of town for a week, pancakes for lunch on Sunday after church, reading the Christmas story from the Bible before we open gifts, praying before we eat or travel, praying when we see a wreck or an ambulance, just to name a few, but this one was not intentional.  However, in a world where my kids want to go do something as a family, I am glad to be able to say yes.  And so, our accidental tradition continued, and we went and watched Thor: Ragnarok last night as a family.  I won't give any spoilers, but we enjoyed it thoroughly, and I am sure that the DVD of it will be on someone's Christmas or birthday list next year.  :)

Update 2017

What is it about the cold weather that makes me contemplative?  I'm not sure, but I definitely see a pattern here.  I had high hopes of being a homeschool blogger, but the truth is, I don't post consistently enough.  Life has changed a lot in the last 5 yrs.  Ms. Quality Time no longer homeschools.  Tenderheart and Ms. Quality Time are both in high school now.  Little Man is not so little any more, and all 4 of my kids have moved into the youth group at church!  I also went back to school, finished my degree, and found a job that lets me work from home and continue to homeschool.  God moved us from our long-time church that we loved dearly to another church that we have learned to love as well.  We have joined and quit two homeschool co-ops.

We are in a transition.  I know that not everything about where we are will stay the same.  I know some will for a long time, some will for a season, and some things are probably on their way out the door.  I am picking this blog back up as a way to record our journey to simplifying and creating margin.  BruCrewDad says I am at my "midlife crisis" where I didn't grow up to be the marine biologist I always hoped I would be, so now what?  I am teaching higher levels of high school math online and loving it!  I also teach high school chemistry, which I enjoy, but not as much as the math.  I am still struggling to learn how to be a home maker.  I am trying to purge our clutter, develop good routines, and keep my sanity as I run here, there, and yon with 4 kids in 9 different activities.  We attempted to simplify by dropping co-ops this year, which helped, but not enough.

So, I sit at my computer, coffee in hand, think...and write.  I wish I knew where we were going.  Will Tenderheart be in marching band next year?  Will Little Man continue homeschool band?  Will we go back to co-op?  If so, which one?  Will some of my kids go to the online school I teach through rather than continue to homeschool?  What will soccer look like next year?  Will we find someone to teach Smiley Western horseback riding, or will she continue English?  Will emotional struggles continue at my house?  I don't know many answers.  I don't even know all the questions.  What I have learned as I have walked with God is that He knows it all, and sometimes knowing too much would make me crawl in a hole and never come out.  I would never have chosen some of the things for myself that He has allowed in my life, but he is growing me through them.  He gives me mercy for the day I am in, and has been gracious enough to give me friends who pray for me, with me, and over me, and also encourage me to remain faithful and true to Him who loves me so dearly.  Psalm 119:105 says that God's word is a lamp to our feet and light to our path.  I have used a light on my path when I am camping and it is dark.  It doesn't let me see very far in front of me.  I am striving to keep my eyes on God, stay in His word, and trust Him with what is outside of the light on my path.

One of my favorite Bible stories is in Matthew 14 when Jesus comes to the disciples in the middle of a stormy night walking on the water.  They completely freak out, thinking it is a ghost, and then Peter, who tends to think and act before he speaks (a lot like me), says, "Lord, it it's You, command me to come out to You on the water."  (Side note-I love how he doesn't tell Jesus to ask him to come.  Probably because he was scared and might have said no, but if Jesus commands it, you have to do it.)  Jesus commanded him to come, so he did.  Peter walked on the water as long as he was looking at Jesus.  The very second he took his eyes off of Jesus to look at the waves, he started sinking.  Nothing about the storm or sea changed, nothing about where Jesus was or where Peter was changed.  The only thing that changed was that Peter stopped looking at the Lord and started looking at his circumstances.  That change in focus was the difference between walking on water and sinking.  I am striving to be like Peter when he was walking on the water, and not Peter when he was looking at the waves.  Some of the things I am navigating are a little scary and my boat feels really small, but I know the Lord of the sea, and I'm trying to keep my eyes on Him.