Friday, May 18, 2018

You're Gonna Be Ok



I met my husband shortly after becoming a Christian. If you knew him, you would totally get that he had a required reading list for me. I had never heard of C.S. Lewis until then, but fell in love with him through Narnia and have been a firm believer in Narnia since.
I have read it countless times out loud to my kids watched all the versions of all the movies, read the rest of Jack's books, read books about Jack and referenced Narnia in my life as a touch point for the real things.

I would say it's been a hard season, but aren't all seasons hard, even the good ones? No, this season has been heart wrenching and heart breaking. We have lived in faith-doing hard things, sometimes crazy things. But, I have believed through it all that Narnia was more real than this world. My Narnian belief has been that money, success, accolades are simply temporary and if we pour into people, family, our children, you know, the REAL things, all would be right in our world.

But we have been betrayed. We have been betrayed by those we have loved and sacrificed for. Heart broken barely touches the surface of what that means. I have lost faith in Narnia. I have questioned why. I have been angry at the sacrifices and counted us as fools. Not fools for Christ. Just simply fools.

In the movie, Paul, Apostle of Christ, Luke is in the dungeon below the Circus with fellow believers. A small child, who knows he is about to be fed to the lions, asks him, "Will it hurt." Luke gently says, "Yes, my child. it will hurt, but only for a minute, and then it will be O.k."

My husband told me this morning that line came from a recent event in Iraq, where Christians were being martyred. The church tried valiantly to get as many believers to safety as possible, but when it came to the point that many would be slain, the Bishop went among them and said, "it will be painful, but only for a moment, and then it will be o.k."

This world. Oh. It is painful. The more kids you have, the more people you love, the more you invest and sacrifice and give, the more potential loss and pain and hurt. And I honestly don't know how people who don't believe in God- believe in Narnia -manage it without drugs or denial or a good bit of both.

I know that Narnia is real. Hope is never lost. Hold on. Don't let go. Just stay one step closer, one step in front of the other. You'll get through this, just follow the light in the darkness. You are going to be ok. Narnia is real. True North exists and the Lion of Narnia, and Judah, knows your name. He knows my name. He catches every tear and promises peace and everlasting joy for those who continue to stand.

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

True North Homeschool Academy
Hey Friends! I wanted to share some thing super exciting that has been happening around here (hence the neglect of this blog)! We have been working to develop
 (formerly Homeschool Works4U) for folks just like you!We deliver live on-line classes for 6th-12th graders wherever you are, Guidance Counseling to ensure success throughout High School, on-line Homeschool Coaching and more!
You want classes? We have some amazing classes! History, Lit & Comp, Science, Math, Latin, Hebrew, Spanish, Logic, Computer Coding! Ahhhmazing classes!

Our classes are taught by some amazing people! Our teachers are experienced homeschoolers, have been educating their own and others for years- between us we literally have decades worth of educational experience. Many of us have worked diligently to ensure our educational rights as parents, have homeschooled and have worked professionally as educators, farmers, programmers, musicians, writers, business owners, linguists and missionaries. We are your kind of people!

Need homeschool coaching? Winning teams have experienced, passionate coaches and this can be true in our personal and homeschooling lives as well. We commonly feel like we are failing our kids, not educating them well enough, dropping balls and wonder if they wouldn't be better off in school.  We are offering 1:1, Group and email coaching. You don't have to go it alone- our years of experience, successes AND failures and our passion to help other families succeed is what makes our Homeschool Coaching unique.
Guidance Counseling are you unsure what direction to go for with high school classes, what a credit really is or how to transcribe your students passions so that they can graduate? We've got you covered. We've worked with hundreds of High School students around the world over the years and helped them gain admittance to college, the military, vocational training and into vocational careers. We are here to help you juggle the demands of High School!

And lastly, just another thing I am super excited about - CLUBs! So far, we are offering a C.S. Lewis Club (be still my heart!), a Classics Club (so your kiddo can rock the next NLE level!) and a Writing Club (yep, my baby, Creative Writing - we are going to have a blast!). These courses are designed to count as a 1/4 credit a semester, with lots of fun stuff, opportunity for student interaction, and more!

And if you still need to get your standardized testing in, no fear! We are offering Scranton Peformance Series tests, that we can personalize for your students grade level AND offer you amazing feed-back on. Sound too good to be true? It's just part of the great service you'll find at True North Homeschool Academy! 

My dd is super excited about taking Biblical Hebrew, along with Hebrew History, Culture and Conversation with our new friend, Rabbi Fischer, from Israel! She's continuing on with Latin as well, and will be taking Latin II and jumping into our Classics Club.

I am most excited about teaching Christian Psychology (a CLEP prep course!) as well as World, Literature and leading the Writing Club. Because, you know, writing and literature. I'll also be heading up the Guidance Counseling and Homeschool Coaching programs. Things I do already and love, using my counseling degree, professional experience and years of homeschooling. Happy sigh!

I hope you'll take a look at our new endeavor. And if you have any questions, or want to know more, please reach out! We'll be hosting specials and give-aways throughout the summer, so stay tuned for that as well!

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@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!