And The Sun Rises Again

Good morning! Isn’t that sunrise breathtaking! I got to witness that particular sunrise in person earlier this week. Sunrises are one of my best motivators for rising early and hitting the ground running (or maybe just walking briskly!).

I’ve been a little MIA here the last couple of weeks. I planned to get in a few posts last week, but a 3-day migraine derailed those plans. This week has been back-to-homeschool so I’m just getting around to hopping back on here and saying hello!

During the summer months my kids all sleep later—a perk that comes with having older kids (hang in there young mamas!)—but I continued to rise with the hubs at our regular 5A, which not only allowed me my usual morning Bible study and exercise, but also an additional 30-45 minutes for writing/blogging while the rest of house was still in it’s slumber. That meant lots of blog posts this summer. Woohoo!

Well, that little luxury is gone now. Mornings are back to our school-year routine which just barely allows for Bible and exercise for Mom. Once everyone else is up, I’m putting out breakfast, overseeing morning chores, and teaching school until the afternoon. Then it’s on to household duties, errands, and dinner prep.

And I love it all!!

We began homeschooling in 2008, so we’ve completed 11 years and have 10 more to go! Having our little guy come along as a surprise blessing a good bit later than our girls means we’ll be going strong in our homeschooling adventure for another decade. Wow, putting it that way seems so long! But again, I LOVE IT!

That’s certainly not to say that homeschooling has always been easy, but it has brought us family adventure, memories, and sweet bonding. It also offers us a different routine and flexibility, so we are still very much enjoying summer. Swimming is P.E. you know!

I can’t say that summer is my very favorite season of the year, but there’s so much I enjoy about it that I’m not ready to wish it away so quickly. It is part of my kids life, after all, and I sure don’t want to wish that away! I used to get really sad at the end of each season because it meant that I would not experience that season again with each of my children at the ages they were that year. But as each year passed, I learned that even while the sun is setting on one season of our lives, it’s always rising on a whole new one with more adventures and memories waiting to be made! The start of school brings anticipation of fall, and fall is an exciting and refreshing season!!

So just as getting to witness God’s glory and blessing in the morning sunrise motivates me to get out of bed and take my walk each day, it’s also motivating me in moving forward into the next season of life. There’s always a stunningly colorful sunrise on the horizon in our lives! I don’t want to miss! God is sovereign in our lives and whatever He has for us in the seasons ahead is the very best thing for us and for His glory. Do some sunrises bring seasons of trials? Yes, but there is blessing and growth even in the most challenging and heartbreaking of seasons. And if you are going through a tough season, the next one could very well be a brighter one of refreshment!

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1

Here’s to the next season and a great 2019-2020 school year for my college sophomore, my high school freshmen, and my little caboose 3rd grader!!

I’ll leave you with a few more photos of my sunrise walks.