Comments on: Before the Beginning: Our Homeschool Journey

By: Tammy

Tammy — Sun, 06 May 2012 03:25:13 +0000

Praising God that He healed your mom!! Also praising God that you are able to share parts of your life with us to help us enjoy God too. Love your site!! Wish I could ask you a thousand questions to learn what works for your homeschool. I am interested in learning more about your methods. It seems to work and makes me want to know how and what you guys do on a daily basis. If you are able, please post more on your homeschool day. Thanks again for sharing!!

By: nina the mom

nina the mom — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:34:20 +0000

WOW! What an amazing story! I followed the link from SweetCheeksTastyTreats and I’m so glad I did! Lots of wonderful tutorials and encouragement for me and my future endeavors. Thank you!

By: Samantha

Samantha — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 18:30:16 +0000

So thankful you did not have to experience losing your mother at that young age.

When I was 12 yrs old, I woke up one morning and found my mother had passed away in her sleep after seeing my dad off to work. It was horrendous and awful and my heart still wants to break thinking of it.

Praise God that your mother is here and seeing her beautiful grandchildren!

Love Samantha

By: Tracy

Tracy — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:49:20 +0000

Wow…. I ran across your page after following links on Pinterest.com. And… I just want to say THANK YOU! I appreciate your tutorials, and I loved reading your first post.
Hugs,
Tracy

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 22:52:39 +0000

Thank you for your sweet words of encouragement. God is so very good to us.

By: Judie

Judie — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:09:18 +0000

What a blessing you are to this Grandma!I also home schooled my 3 children in the “dark ages”. What great stories to remember back then. I now have the wonderful blessing of watching my 2 daughters home school their children. As a grandmother of 12,I am ever amazed at how God loves to bless us through our children and grandchildren and to encourage us with moms like YOU. God bless you as you continue to train up your precious children in Gods ways!

By: Kayla Garcia

Kayla Garcia — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 01:16:08 +0000

Wow. What an inspiring story. My husband and I are still undecided on whether or not we will home school our kids. This is a good perspective on it.

By: Suzanne

Suzanne — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 18:48:29 +0000

Kimberly,
I have been enjoying your blog for what seems like a couple of years. It wasn’t until I clicked “like” on facebook that I saw this post. What a beautiful story! Thank you for sharing one of your “why’s” behind how you live. So inspiring!

By: Kari Anderson

Kari Anderson — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 13:12:13 +0000

Cathy,

From one cancer survivor to one who is fighting, May God bless you & keep you, may His face shine upon you & give you His peace. I continually marvel at all who manage to fight cancer. Mine was a mere Stage 2, but so God was good to me. Your faith inspires me, as all Cancer fighters inspire me. Truly trust in Him & He will see you to the end of your fight, whatever that end may be. (And I will pray for you that that end will be remission! ) God bless you! <3

By: Kari Anderson

Kari Anderson — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 13:05:54 +0000

I have had a similar journey, although my journey with cancer has been my own. I was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2006. I did not start homeschooling right away, but it was the beginning of a spiritual journey for my husband and I that led us to begin homeschooling our oldest in 2009. We then pulled out our youngest two for the last quarter of the school year this last year. What a journey this has been all starting with that infamous day when the doctor said, “Your biopsy said you have cancer”, August 10, 2006. I will be in full remission (five year mark) December 16 of this year. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness!

By: Frances

Frances — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 02:37:34 +0000

I truly enjoyed reading your story about home schooling. I love how you show the love for the Lord and for your children…so genuine. Thank you for sharing.

By: Misti

Misti — Fri, 06 May 2011 13:11:32 +0000

Your testimony made me cry!! Praise God that your mom is doing well, God is so good.
I appreciate your tone and how you explain your values and beliefs. Our family is not into extracurricular activities either, but you put it into perspective in a way I had never examined. Thank you for your ministry and God bless you and your family!

By: oh amanda

oh amanda — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 12:32:40 +0000

Kimberly! What an amazing story. Yes! Staring at death changes you. And then to see the miracle of your mother today. God is awesome.

Beautiful, beautiful story!

By: Judy

Judy — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 01:58:24 +0000

Wow! Your family’s story is incredible…it’s amazing to see the blessings you have found in your life despite the heart-wrenching cancer that led to them.

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 12:11:17 +0000

Cathy,

I grieve with and for you while at the same time rejoice in God’s goodness and sovereignty that He has blessed you and your family with this difficult journey.

I pray that God will continue to bless you with life and that God will bring you and your family ever closer to Him.

As hard and strange as it may seem, I believe that my mom’s cancer was one of the most precious gifts that God gave to our family. I do not wish to walk that path again, but am able to recognize the graciousness of God even in cancer. I pray the same for you.

With love and prayers to you and your family from ours

By: Cathy Williams

Cathy Williams — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 01:18:19 +0000

Oh, how I wish you could see the smile on my face! I read each sentence with intensity and rejoiced in seeing the words of the final paragraph! You see, I am a mother of five precious blessings that has been fighting stage 4 cancer for what will be six years at the end of this month. My home is walking a very real journey with faith in Him who is above all. My home is also experiencing a very real presence of Him who loves us more than we can comprehend! We have seen fantastic miracles during these years as He defies medical statistics! We stand trusting for His perfect will to be . . . no matter the outcome. Thank you for sharing your beautiful story. I have been encouraged! So many facets you shared of your family structure are the same in my home. We cherish each moment the Lord gives and daily strive to focus on what He has planned for us! Thank you again!

By: Letisha Reese

Letisha Reese — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 02:56:50 +0000

Thanks for sharing your story. My Mom was diagnosed with cancer last July. We were given weeks, maybe months but definitely not years. She is giving through chemo, tumors are shrinking, and she is getting stronger!!! God has taught us so much through it. To God be the glory is her theme! Thanks again. So good to hear about your Mom, and how God used cancer to work in your family!!!

By: jul

jul — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 23:19:24 +0000

oh – good Lord. i’m so grateful for your last paragraph. in one short entry, you have reached my heart, and touched upon so many of the things that are behind my heartbeat. seeking the ‘best’, and not getting wrapped up with the ‘good.’ family. doing the really important things. not missing opportunities to serve and minister. i’m not easily moved to tears, but i didn’t even know what suspense i was in reading your post to find out about your mother. i’m so grateful to the Lord for sparing her, and i don’t even know you. thank you for this story. i’m further spurred in the original pursuit that landed me on your site. how can i teach all these children and hit the truly important things? what plan can i come up with to really get us there with a solid education and a sane mommy? how can i end each day knowing we’ve honored the Lord, ministered to our children’s hearts, and really furthered the kingdom . . . accomplished the important things? anyhow, don’t know when i’ve left a comment somewhere before, but wow was i moved. and, Lord bless your brother. my hubby and i were both active duty; he deployed when we were firt married. so, we know . . . at least a little.

blessed,
jul

By: Michaela

Michaela — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 00:22:13 +0000

Wow, wow, wow. Your story has made me tear up. Bless your Mom & bless you for sharing this story!

By: Wendy Gunn

Wendy Gunn — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 18:04:36 +0000

Kimberly,
A powerful story, powerfully written. Thanks for not leaving us hanging! Having had cancer, I know that, “When you are faced with death your priorities are much more clear than during the daily grind of life.” I, too, would say that I am very thankful for having had cancer, but also that being thankful doesn’t mean I ever want to repeat the experience! However, thankful I am. I have so many thoughts after reading your story–too many to go into a comment box…
You were 11. That’s old enough to have been huge for you. I was 11 when my sister died, which followed my grandparents dying and my niece dying, and preceeded my brother-in-law being missing in action in Vietnam. Ok, enough about me. This piece thrust me back into my own history, thinking, remembering.
I would love to meet your mom.
Thank you for sharing your history in such a beautiful way. God works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform.
Abundant blessings to you,
Wendy

By: Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Kimberly @ Raising Olives — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 19:24:37 +0000

Pray, pray, pray. Accept God's standard for education, that we should fear the Lord and not the world's standard of tests, evaluations, checklists and subjects. I've written a lot about this in various homeschooling posts. I appreciated this article taken from the book "Teaching the Trivium" as a good guide for children younger than 10. They advocate delaying some of the formal subjects that most people introduce at age 5. May the Lord bless you as you learn alongside your children and as you all grow in the love and knowledge of Christ.

By: Melinda

Melinda — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 07:56:27 +0000

I am new to reading your blog. I’ve been looking around and found this. I’m teary, reasons. I had gone through a few seasons in life where I prayed to God that I never had to go back to school (I had Leukemia as a child and depression as a teen). I so longed to just be home with the people I loved. I now homeschool my 2 boys (5 and almost and I LOVE it…but lately I have been feeling like we’re missing something. Reading this, the second reason I’m teary is because I’m afraid I’m missing the mark. I do NOT want to do school at home but I find myself slipping back into that pattern without even realizing. I’m afraid that it’s happening at the expense of relationships. My almost 8 year old doesn’t really focus without my constant direction (and really I feel like that is fine in theory, yet I find myself yelling at him to “just finish. already!”). He “hates table time” (our name for the writing and math part of our learning). It’s a struggle almost everyday. I feel some of this is just an obeying problem. My 5 year old is eager to do his own work so I have math and phonics and some writing work for him and he is progressing quickly.

I would LOVE and o appreciate some advice on how to protect the relationships and still have some progression in our work.

Thanks for sharing your story!

By: Sue

Sue — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:42:43 +0000

What a touching story! When I got to the part that your mother is alive and remission, I broke out into tears! So glad she is still here! Thanks for sharing.

By: Beth

Beth — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 21:52:07 +0000

What a truly amazing story. Praise God! I’m so thankful your Mom has lived to see the fruit of her personal ministry into your life.

Beautiful!

I’m new here. I’m so glad I found your blog.

By: Sherry

Sherry — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:06:54 +0000

WOW! What an amazing story! I’m in tears. Praise God that the Physician healed her to see her children and children’s children. That is absolutely awesome!! Thank you so much for sharing!