Trim Down Tuesday

Well, I'm no longer trying to trim down physically, but I wanted to share a little bit about some other trimming down I've done in my life. It all came about around the time of the ICHE convention. I was feeling really overwhelmed and stressed and I of course didn't go to the one person I really needed at the time to really show me how I should be living my life. It took a convention to make me realize that I needed to trim down. I'm talking about my time online and more importantly my time on parenting forums. While I enjoyed the friendships I made on TBW, CMF and MGR... I realized that parenting forums were keeping me from going to God for advice and guidance. This is a personal problem for me and nothing against any of the forums at all or anyone I've gotten to know and love from those forums. I guess I realized that for me personally when I was having a parenting issue instead of going to God and trusting him to help me with parenting I was going to these forums. I needed the eye opener that God is the one and only person I should be going to for advice. I decided to take a break from the parenting forums to see how things went. I found that I'm not so stressed and overwhelmed anymore. I found that since I'm not comparing my children to any other children that I'm trusting God more and more that my kids are doing what they're supposed to do and it's ok if they are "late" learners.

I went to a Preschool/Kindergarten workshop at the convention that was the biggest eye opener to all of this... just all the neurological reasonings to wait until your child is ready to learn to read and the connections that are so important that come from just playing outside just blew me away. Really, it all made our call to homeschool our kids even more evident. I was finally "free". I was finally listening to what God was trying to tell me. God was trying to tell me to just be dependent on what he has to say and not on what everyone else expects or what everyone else says your child is supposed to be doing right now. It confirmed for me everything I knew in my heart. I was finally putting my children on the altar and totally trusting God with them, which you would think would be a daily reminder to me considering their names... but no, sigh...

Does this mean I won't frequent the parenting forums anymore? I'm not sure yet. For now I suppose not... but maybe one day again. Maybe one day when I don't feel that it personally takes me away from trusting God with everything... maybe one day when I feel strong enough to share with others my findings... maybe one day. It does make me thankful for Facebook... at least I can keep up with the good friends I've made from those forums. That has been the nice part of my time away... feeling like I still have a means to keep in touch... it makes me not miss the parenting forums as much. Facebook has been a great means for me to pray for those who need prayer, weep with those who weep, laugh with those who laugh and mourn with those who mourn, etc...

I love my kiddos and am so thankful for God's wonderful gifts to me!