Ann has a splendid tradition of naming each new year. Last year I started that little exercise as well. You can read about that word here.

This year I have been carefully searching for the perfect moniker for 2012. It’s not an easy task, to be sure. Something about the process seems weighty and significant and it’s easy to become paralyzed as the word lies just out of reach.

Last year lives up to it’s name. I expect this year to as well. My word for this year is

Salient.

Salient–standing out conspicuously : prominent; especially : of notable significance

It is my aim this year to focus on the salient in my life, to always pay closest attention to the things that are most important and significant. It’s not easy to do in this world where everything—even the trivial—seems urgent and important.  I pray God will help me filter the salient in my life and place it prominently before me.

By shifting our focus from what we do to what God does, don’t we cancel out all our careful keeping of the rules and ways God commanded? Not at all. What happens, in fact, is that by putting that entire way of life in its proper place, we confirm it.                       Romans 3:31 The Message

Two days until we start our new school year! I am peacefully happy about how this is working out for us. In our homeschool we follow the calendar of the private school my daughters attend. They start on Thursday, so guess what. So do we.

My 7yo son has bugged me since Christmas break to homeschool him again. Once we decided to do just that he has never looked back. He hasn’t wavered or questioned his choice once, even when we registered the girls for school and went shopping for school supplies. I am so impressed with his quiet confidence in his choice.

Unlike him, I spend too much time rehashing and questioning and second guessing most every important choice I make. I don’t just let the decision hang out there, small and vulnerable. After I toss it out I quickly reel it back in, clutching it,  frantically searching for any perceived flaw. Upon closer inspection I deem it unworthy and toss it onto the heap with the rest of the changed decisions. Then I make another decision and start the process over again.

Those little decisions never reach maturity. They never see the light of day. I hang onto the familiar, even when it’s not in my (or my family’s) best interest. I pray Jack’s unknowing example will help me be braver as the months go on and that some of my wee decisions will have the chance to turn into great things.

Let your “Yes,” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No…” James 5:12 NKJV

It was in a nursing theory class a couple of weeks ago. It was another in a long line of Power Point presentations on theorists and their ideas. (I know, you probably had no idea nursing even had theories. Just stay with me.) We were discussing a particularly weird interesting theorist when the words popped up on the screen.

Human Becoming Theory

Hmmmmm. Not human being, human becoming. It took a moment for it to sink in. Her idea is that we are all growing, so becoming is a better word choice than being. I am quick to acknowledge that not everyone is growing, especially spiritually. But hopefully most of us are.

There wasn’t much I agreed with in her theory, but this is something I can really embrace. I like to think of meeting other people as a snapshot. People are a movie but all we get is a snapshot. If I see someone who’s not agreeable I think, well maybe they are struggling with something. It’s so easy to judge people in a second. No one wants to be sized up like that. There’s not much room for kindness or forgiveness that way.

I am a human becoming. I pray I am becoming–more like Jesus. I pray as I grow up in Him that I am less like my old nature and that I live as I have become a new creation in Christ.

And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him. 2 Cor 3:18 The Message

Okay so I’m really laying myself bare here. I’m going to say out loud what I  have been keeping under wraps for a while now.

I’m writing a book.

(ahem.)

I’m writing a book.

Okay, I’m not ready to shout it from the rooftops just yet but I am terrified excited to share this news with you here. Brooke, author of Warrior Prayers and Notes to Aspiring Writers: Your Dream, God’s Plan (due out next week), encouraged her blog readers to come up with an elevator pitch for our books, so here it goes:

The working title is “Bountiful: Cultivating a fruitful life in dry seasons”

Where can we look when find ourselves in a season that is painful or dry? Galatians 5 is a gift from God for a parched soul.  My book walks us through the lush garden of the fruit of the spirit, picking one fruit at a time and examining its healing properties for hurting lives. We can find that place of refreshing and renewal in Christ.

I pray this is only the beginning of great things. I am writing this book because someone (maybe you!) needs to read it. God has help for others on the other side of my faltering pen.

I’d appreciate your prayers as I struggle to complete what I feel God has placed on my heart to share.

I’m writing a book!

1. Reading. Teaching your own child to read is the first step on the road to lifelong learning. I call it the Golden Ticket. In my opinions it is the greatest gift you can give your children outside of salvation. And you can do it all by yourself (with some good phonics books).

2. Graduation. You homeschooled your own child. They made it. You made it. And you didn’t need a school system to pull it off. That’s pretty wonderful.

3. Affordability. It’s not expensive to educate your child yourself, unless you choose to spend the dough. It doesn’t take $4000 per child per year to educate your child. Score.

4. Individuality. There’s seemingly no end to this one. Individuality of lessons, religion, methods, children, diets, schedule etc. are but a few ways that you can customize each child’s learning experience. This is wonderful, not spoiling. Everyone should have the opportunity to learn in such an environment.

5. Rabbit trails. When something interests your family you can swerve your lessons right into it. You can’t do that in a classroom setting

6. Camaraderie. You are able to form close relationships with own family, a “values in action” exercise because your children see how you live day-to-day.  And home educators are a tight knit and friendly community. No one is more willing to share wisdom, information and materials than homeschoolers are.

7. Seamlessness. School and life are not separated, they are celebrated. All of life becomes learning and all the world becomes a classroom.

What’s on your “seven wonders” list?

Welcome! I’m so glad you took time out of your busy schedule to stop by.

image courtesy Horia Varlan

What good is a philosophy if you never put it into practice? That’s what I love about BPA–it’s so “everyday.” I wanted to share a post with you about science. It’s a subject that intimidates many families but it doesn’t have to. I hope this article on 10 Reasons to Study Science from a Biblical Principle Approach will inspire you to broach the subject with new excitement this fall. (And feel free to stop by my other blog, The Homeschool Nurse, for all sorts of medical-related goodness.)

Now for the freebie:

a free ebook! (update: free ebook time has expired. But you can still snag a copy  when you subscribe to my blog!)

So grab your free book and head back to BiblePrinciples for more great stuff already! There’s lots more fun going on over there.

BENEDIC’TION, n. [L. benedictio, from bene, well, and dictio, speaking. See Boon and Diction.]

Many people offer thanks before eating. That’s common enough. But Webster suggests something more in his definition. Something more beautiful even than a prayer of blessing.

Saying Grace after meals? Who does that?I can honestly say I have never heard of doing that until I read Webster’s definition. But it makes sense. Think of the ten lepers that Jesus healed (Luke 17). Only one returned to say thanks. Only one offered his grateful benediction after his provision of healing was supplied.

Am I quick to offer my benediction after my needs are met, or do I just pray a  desperate prayer and then run off like a happy child with an ice cream cone  when the moment has passed?

I like to try and write down things that I am thankful for in a notebook so I can recall them later. It’s another opportunity for benediction. For pouring. For quiet communion.

Paul understood this idea of benediction. His letters end with a lovely benediction and encouragement to the believers he is writing:

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.  Amen.

Jude 1:24,25

May my life be a continual outpouring of thanksgiving unto my God. My my days end in benediction and peaceful praise, for He is most worthy.

Okay this is the last day of my daily post experiment. It was challenging, to be sure. There are a few things I learned.

1. I am not very organized. I had no real plan or help with post topics, which now I wish I had benefit of. If I ever do this again I will make sure I have something to write about so I don’t have to grasp for an idea.
2. Posting on this blog, for me, is a reflective process. I don’t like posting every day because my posts are not day-in-the-life kinds of posts. I enjoy writing more about things I have been thinking on for a while.
3. My default seems to be lists. When I am stuck for a post idea I make a list. Not always, but often–like this post.
4. My life schedule does not lend itself to daily posts. Not easily, anyway. With a husband, four children, a full time job and school, there are precious few moments for writing posts, especially ones I don’t deem important. I would rather post less often and write things that are more eternal–or at least educational.
5. This month has helped me refine what this blog is for. It freshened my perspective, focus and ideas for future projects. Stay tuned for more details!

This was less fun than challenging but I’m glad I did it. Even though I wasn’t able to post every day it still set a high bar, and I always enjoy that. Now back to our regularly (un)scheduled posts…

Graduating with my BSN next year

Having a teenager in the house (next month!)

Teaching Micah to read

Going on a medical missions trip

Growing in Christ

Learning a foreign language

Grandchildren (a long time from now!)

The return of Christ (come quickly, Lord Jesus!)

My dad (he passed away in 2005)

Homeschooling (I love being with my children!)

Newborns (not that I want another but they sure do smell amazing)

Texas (it will always be home)

Sunrise (I’m at work before the sun comes up)

Jamaican jerk chicken by the ocean (mission trip)

My grampa’s sense of humor (he died in 1989)

Paula Zuniga’s Mexican food (nothing could touch it!)

Tomorrow: Things I’m looking forward to!