Walk Boldly

     The metal cut quick and deep. Pen stumbled into the house and upstairs to the bathroom. Crimson drops splashed on the white sink as Ranger gently washed the cut. Grimly, Ranger and I exchanged an uneasy glace. "We need to take you to the hospital." Ranger stated matter-of-factly.  Fear spread like frost on a glass all over Pen's face. Pen is terrified of shots. As a result she harbors deep, uneasy feelings about doctors and hospitals. "No" she flatly said. Ranger then turned into a Marine Drill sergeant sharply telling panic stricken Pen in clipped tones she was going to the hospital.  My daughter, nearly immobilized by the thought of facing her worst fear, appealed to me for help. Some days it's so hard to be a parent.

     As I watched the car pull out of the drive I observed Fear is a merciless teacher. At best Fear's lessons teach us to avoid and hide from the dangerous things that would harm us. Our chances of survival would be fairly bleak without a healthy helping of fear. But besides our inborn instincts toward self preservation fear teaches other more insidious lessons. Fear teaches us to cower in the corner instead of risking a spot in the center of the room. Fear's lessons tell us to lock our thoughts and words away instead of speaking truth. Fear doesn't want us to forget and is a master replaying our failures while stoking the flames of self doubt. Fear knows that playing games makes for effective lessons. It's favorite game is "what if" and ensuring that the answers are always negative. Fear knows that it's lessons will be passed on from student to student and family to family until it has an entire community, nation or world locked in it's dark classroom. Indeed, fear's grip can be so tight that Jesus Christ asked his disciples on a storm tossed little boat, "Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?" (Mark 4:40).  How can we prevent Fear from becoming our master teacher?

Hire the right teacher
The Savior, Jesus Christ is the antidote to fear. His lessons save. He instructs us to move into the light, hold on to his word, and fear not. His light and courage give us strength beyond our own and even the strength to face and defeat our fears.

Learn from our mistakes and then let them go.
When we replay our mistakes and failures they end up being like the loud, annoying guy at the party. You can't hear anyone else over his brassy tones. Acknowledge failures and mistakes by learning from them and then move on.

Protect and defend everyone's right to God given free speech
Fear works best in silence. Silencing the thoughts and words of others, especially those we don't agree with, is one of Fear's best lessons. Pastor Martin Niemöller famous poem sharply illustrates this point.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Be defiant

It takes a lot of guts to smile right in the face of fear. Get up. Get moving. Surround yourself with uplifting music, words, art. Walk. Talk to friends and family. Get help if you need it. Remember the good things. Pray. No one ever needs to be a captive of fear. Defy this jailer daily.

Keep things in perspective

After Pen got home from the hospital she talked about her experience. I could tell she was reliving every moment in larger than life, technicolor, IMAX movie mode. Later that night I reminded her that she cut her finger, went to the hospital, got a shot that was over and done with in less than a second and had some medical glue put on her finger. We were blessed to live close to the hospital, blessed that skilled staff cared for her and blessed that she's going to be fine. Fear likes drama not perspective.

So, walk boldly with God and kick the fear to the curb.

Learning the Untidy Way

      As the "keeper" of the home here on our tiny spot of the world I sometimes sigh in dismay that the other members of the house hold aren't as "enthused" about tidying up as I am. To be sure, I'm not a place for everything and everything in it's place kinda person and my night side table is a testament to that little fact. However, from time to time I find myself grimacing at the untidiness that loves to encroach on my peace of mind.
     As a homeschooling family we live and learn in our house quite a bit. We're coming off of a three week track of winter weather and family illness so we've spent even more time "living and learning" indoors. It's easy to forget that learning is rarely tidy or contained. "Kid" clean is a concept I've learned to embrace. If Ranger and I want to teach our kids about helping out in the family we need to accept lumpy "made" beds, spilled milk and cereal as Scout gets his own breakfast, and the newly arranged family room complete with bed sheet couch covers designed by Pen. This doesn't include art projects, papers, books , toys and all the other things that go with homelearning.
      Last week I snapped this picture at the end of our school day.  The odds and ends of a day of memory work, art, math and science are scattered from the dining room all the way into our living room.  You can see Scout in there. He's holding a camera that he'd been using to take all kinds of pictures that day. Truly, at the end of the day (even though it was a great day for school) I was tired and ready for some recharge time that didn't included orchestrating and implementing a clean up plan. Instead I took a few moments with my camera to capture the buds of learning that happened that day.

Learning is rarely tidy.

Books, music, pictures and games are always being "checked out" from the family library.

Aunt Cara got Pen, our amateur gardener, a forced bulb kit for Christmas. She checks it daily.

Scout built this by following the picture directions. Way to go, Scout!

Typically this is where I find my kids after the school day. 

Following the Path of a Question

My kids  ask questions. Many, Many questions. As a parent it becomes so routine for me to briefly answer the questions and move on with the day that I almost missed this real gem of solid learning. Call me slow to pick up on things but I finally decided to have a school day based solely on the questions the kids asked. The result: A day of science with lots of questions and engaged learners.

It all started yesterday as I was baking some bread and Scout asked me why the yeast mixture I was proofing was so puffy. Instead of quickly dashing off an answer about yeast, sugar and fermentation I decided we'd all delve into the world of dough the next day.

That night I did some internet searches and found some great resources on You Tube and a few websites dedicated to science and kids. I simply posted them to my pearltrees page for the following day.

Today after our family devotional the kids were somewhat surprised when I told them to head into the kitchen. They were a little less surprised when the found out we were going to make bread, something they have seen me do many times. Groans changed into smiles when we proofed a mixture of yeast, water and sugar and the kids could touch it. Next Pen wanted to know what would happen if we put a lot of sugar and in yeast and water mixture. Scout asked about putting Captain Crunch in a water and yeast mixture instead.  We tried both experiments. For those of you who are curious the yeast really loved the Captain Crunch and we got a nice frothy head of foam on that bowl. Yeast like sugar but even they become sluggish and lazy with too much sugar.

We watched a great video on the chemistry behind breadmaking, learned about gluten and watched a sourdough starter being made.  The kids quickly figured out what would happen to the dough as our gluten "net" captured Co2 bubbles.  Pen predicted the dough would rise "like a balloon".

The kids loved the idea that the  yeast were living organisms and briefly considered making "yeast pets" until we learned that yeast and animals, while both living organisms, belong to different "classes or kingdoms" of living things. There was a moment of disappointment for my son when he realized that while yeast do amazing things with sugar and water it's about all they do.

We had a fantastic school day by simply following the path of a question.

Scout poses with his concoction of Captain Crunch, water and yeast.

This is the "before" picture of our newly mixed dough. Would it "rise" to the occasion? 

Even though the kids have seen me make bread plenty of times Scout was still  amazed at how much the dough had risen.

The finished results: Two tasty loves of bread. Scout didn't want to share his photographically or otherwise.