heartofdakota.com

Hello fellow HODers!! I would like to take the time to invite you to my less than perfect blog "Breaking Free from the Village". I will be posting each Saturday about our week with Creation to Christ and Preparing. I will have pictures and encouraging words for you to soak up and enjoy. This week I started with a little piece that looks at the picture we paint about others and their homeschooling journey. I will post our first two weeks with CtC and Preparing on September 2nd but wanted you to be encouraged with my blog entitled "All Is Not As It Seems".

breakingfreefromthevillage.blogspot.com

Happy homeschooling!

Thanks for sharing that post! Yes, I do think we all choose our own envy and then when people comment on how you have one area of your life together (or so they think), you just have to laugh. I've thought myself about posting pictures of how my house ACTUALLY looks on a daily basis. Because when I take pictures, I try to frame them to crop out all of the clutter and mess in my house!

I hope you have a fabulous year with HOD!

Thanks, Mommybelle! The post came to me when I was out weeding for an hour! Hee, hee At first I was embarrassed at how the weeds had taken over and then I put on my envy hat and thought of a friend of mine whose garden is neatly kept. In the process of weeding and being envious I found bean after bean and so began thanking God that even though I didn't get the weeding done He still provided for us. And...I reminded myself that my friend's garden is smaller and her husband is home all summer because he is a teacher.

No more cropping the pictures, I am letting it be known...sometimes I just can't get it done! Have a wonderful day!!

mommybelle wrote: I've thought myself about posting pictures of how my house ACTUALLY looks on a daily basis. Because when I take pictures, I try to frame them to crop out all of the clutter and mess in my house!

I hope you have a fabulous year with HOD!

Hahahaha! So true. "How about standing in front of the french door for the picture?" (no clutter there.)

<can totally relate>

I enjoyed your post. It made me smile, because I can so relate to those weeds. It's been a tough year to keep a pretty garden, but you are so right God provides. I have been so blessed and have lots of preserving to do today myself. I appreciated the glimpse into your life and the insight. Thanks!

Patty,

Thanks! I had fun writing it. I live in Minnesota and we average low 90's and 80's during the summer, except this summer. We were in the high 90's to 100 for most of July! May and June were pretty wet. Needless to say the garden was overlooked much of the summer. By the time August rolled around I thought, "Forget it!"

I look forward to posting more about our school week this coming Saturday. I have some funny insights to share! I really want to encourage other moms out there with honest looks into my life. I know I am not perfect but I also know that God doesn't want me to stay in sin so I am seeking Him daily for the strength to overcome my shortcomings. Although, I am not sure that not weeding the garden is a sin, but I could use His help with that too!

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Wow, the weather in Minnesota was pretty much like ours as well. My garden is in the mountains and typically it isn't over 85 in the summer and this year we had intense heat with many days close to 100 followed by a lot of rain. The summer started out overly cool too. So it's been a weird growing season and very difficult to keep up with the weeds. God still has provided the increase and I feel very blessed. It is difficult at harvest time though to start school. I'm thankful for the flexibility and for the open and go nature of HOD because I find myself very busy in the fall.

I love that you are being "real" on your blog and letting others see into your real life. You are so right that often we think the other person has it so much more together than we do. I fall prey to that so easily. It's so easy to compare our short comings with others strengths. I know when I first started homeschooling, I thought all the other homeschool Moms had it all together. It really helped me when I found others who were willing to share and find out that they weren't perfect like they appeared. We all have our imperfections that God is smoothing out. I'm looking forward to following your journey and sharing our year in CTC together.