So, I’ve been slowly reading a little book about Egypt because we’ve been studying ancient Egypt.

I finally put together the annual Nile River flooding with why/how there was a famine in Egypt–the famine that Pharaoh dreamed about. Every year, the crop was dependent upon the rains happening in the upper Nile regions, so the Nile would flood, the Egyptians would conserve the water in their irrigation system, be blessed by the rich silt that flowed down, and be able to grow crops.

Egyptians believed their god Hapi caused the flooding. They also believed their Pharaoh was a god.

A king who was a god could intercede with his brother god Hapi to make sure that the valley received a good flood each year. And this, in fact, became one of the Pharaoh’s most important duties. Every June, when the flood was due, he voyaged to Egypt’s upper borders, where the waters first began to rise. There, in solemn ceremony, Pharaoh “spoke” to his brother Hapi and exacted his promise to send the kemi-laden [kemi = rich, black silt] waters down into the valley once again. (The Pharaoh’s of Ancient Egypt, Elizabeth Payne, p.37)

All this becomes very significant cultural information surrounding the story of Joseph, and how God caused both the years of abundance and the years of famine.

Next, I was pondering the Egyptians’ beliefs about the afterlife, and the elaborate processes they went through to preserve bodies; the massive wealth they stored in the tombs with the mummies…. How it all must have seemed so real, so important, so impressive, so believable.

But still their bodies are destroyed– useless, disemboweled of their organs, examined and x-rayed. Robbers and museums enjoy their treasure.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. Matthew 6:21

So those are some lessons from studying this ancient culture. Now I’m very interested to start a timeline to see parallels of whose lives intersected.

Культура матери– это концепция Шарлотты Мейсон. Имеется ввиду, что мама (особенно когда ее дети маленькие) занимается своим “образованием”! Она продолжает рости интеллектуально. Примерно пол часа в день, она читает что-то для себя .

“Я слишком занят!” …  “А что с детьми?” …. ” Я тогда не могла бы все успеть по дому!” и т.д.

Честно говоря, мы успеем делать то, что мы хотим. И скоро, дети не будут маленькие– и нам нужно рости быстрее чем они. Также, материнство– это марафон, и когда мы инвестируем в своем “культуре матери,” мы можем избежать выгорание (или перегорание).

Шарлотта советует медленно читать несколько книг подряд– духовная, биография, роман … и читать то, что хочется или сможете в этот момент.

Я хочу остановиться здесь и сказать: последнее 10 лет, я забрала из моей жизни большие проекты и планы, чтобы успеть 1) на выполнение обязанностей миссионера и мамы, и чтобы 2) иметь время для себя– или лучше сказать, время заботиться о своей душе. Я безжалостно (даже скажу, неохотно) удаляла другие вещи из своей жизни, которые я люблю или могла бы эффективно делать.

Почему я это пишу? Потому, что это важно понять, что мы не просто как рабы, привязаны к делам материнства. Это не полезный вид, и строит здоровую жизнь с таким настрой невозможно. Да, материнские обязанности рисуют нам границы в жизни, но в них, у нас большой вид свободы, чтобы рости.  

Я читаю более сложную книгу о древнем Египте, чем моих дети читают. Это так увлекательно, я хочу писать блог-пост о некоторых интересных вещах, о которых узнала. Я больше сейчас понимаю историю про Иосифа и голод в Египете.  

Также я читаю эту книгу о духовной жизни. Она довольно скучная, но у нее есть захватывающие моменты. Читала главу о духовности слушания, и она рассказала о том, как один проект в одной африканской стране был успешным только в одном районе– там где было много христиан. И одна причина успеха была в том, что в этой культуре мужчины принимали решенье, и женщины считались неважными. Женщинам также не было доступ к их духам, которым они поклонялись. Но, благодаря христианству они чувствовали были слышимы Богом и могли намного активнее принимать участие в решениях страны.

Я никогда не думала благодарить Бога за то, насколько Он слушает меня, когда я молюсь (не только когда Он отвечает а также, когда Он просто меня выслушивает). Я даже не подумала, что Он может не обращать на меня внимания, потому что я женщина. Благодарна за христианство!

Несколько недель назад, когда мне нужно было отдохнуть, я прочитала роман Дии Хендерсона (христианка). Мне нравятся ее романы. И в этой серии были хорошие объяснения того, почему Бог допускает зло в мире. Меня долго беспокоило, как мы обвиняем Бога в наших собственных грехах. Божья праведность не обязывает Его не допускать нашего злого выбора. … В этой книге были некоторые отличные мысли по этому вопросу.

Я включаю свое физическое здоровье в свою Культуру Матери. Я очень благодарна за фитнес центр, который предложил нам семейную скидку.

Еще одна большая часть моей личной материнской культуры– писание. В этом я включаю физический акт движения ручки по странице. Я скопировала этот сладкий, мощный гимн в мой журнал. Мы пели его в группе изучения Библии пожилых женщин. Я очень люблю эту группу. Мне нравится быть рядом с пожилыми женщинами. Они так лелеют.

Вот, “культура матеры” и свой пример. Мне интересно, думали ли вы об этом, и что вы делаете 🙂

I’ve had a complicated relationship with homeschooling, but it’s finally becoming something I’m enjoying.

There are reasons why it’s becoming this way– choices I’m making. Over the years, when we’ve found ourselves with uncomfortable and unavoidable adult responsibilities, Vitaliy’s recommended to, “make it your hobby.”

You know, there are a lot of things I like about education and learning, and I’m having to bring those things to the surface. I have a history-literature-focused curriculum. I love history and literature.

I also love Charlotte Mason’s idea of Mother Culture. Mother Culture is when you invest in your own continuing growth and education.

I want to pause here and say: With time, from listening to others, I realize that I have cut out major stuff from my life to have time for 1) my responsibilities of being a missionary and mom and 2) myself. Perhaps I should say “for my soul.” I have ruthlessly, even unwillingly, deleted other things I love or could effectively do from my life.

So, here’s a bit of my current Mother Culture investment:

I’m reading a more advanced-than-my-kids book about ancient Egypt. It’s so fascinating, I want to blog about some things I’ve learned.

I’m reading this book about spiritual life. It’s still rather slow and a bit boring, but it has fascinating moments. Like recently, in her chapter about listening, she talked about how the govt in an African country was trying to encourage women to use birth control. The one place it was successful was in a highly evangelized place. And why? One reason was because God “empowers” (please, someone give me a more original, less politically laden word!) women by listening to them, in a culture where they are not included in decision-making.

I have never given God credit for how much He listens to me when I pray. Nor have I even thought that He might not pay attention to me because I’m female. Thank you, Christianity.

Then, a few weeks back, when I really needed a break, I read a billion Dee Henderson novels. I love her novels. And in this series, there were fabulous explanations of why God allows evil in the world. It’s bugged me for a long time how we blame and accuse God for our own sins, you know? Does God’s righteousness obligate Him to not allow our evil choices? … No. This book in particular had a few good insights into that question.

I’m including my physical health in my Mother Culture. I’m very thankful for the YMCA offering us a discounted family membership!

Another big part of my personal Mother Culture is writing. In that, I include the physical act of moving a pen over a page. So I copied this sweet, powerful hymn into my journal. We sang it at the older-ladies’ Bible study, which I love. I love being around older ladies. They are so nurturing.

If you want to read more about Mother Culture:

• Here is the brief, original article: https://www.amblesideonline.org/PR/PR03p092MotherCulture.shtml 
• https://www.joyinthehome.com/mother-culture-the-what-why-and-how/
• https://afterthoughtsblog.net/2014/07/on-mother-culture.html
• thatmom.com has great podcasts and posts that build a nice Mother Culture.

So Una likes to make манка (cream of wheat).

I left for ladies’ Bible study, and Andre and Una were playing in the hammock

Then, I was JUST READING in Pocketful of Pinecones about how nature should be experienced, like actually going out in a rainstorm. And LO AND BEHOLD, we had an ENORMOUS thunderstorm, buckets of rain! So the kids got out and got wet. I’m glad I didn’t try to make the play structured or “educational.” I just let it happen and handed out towels.

Now we’re watching the Nancy Drew movie.

So, I’m trying to focus myself on enjoying these homeschooling days because God seems to put this before me year after year, and I want to start learning all the lessons I can from it.

I wonder sometimes about the childhood He is giving my children. It’s a subject I have to trust Him with. We all do, right? Our kids can’t choose their childhoods– nobody chooses it. I was thinking this AM about the Royal Family– so many rules and constraints to live by, and they didn’t choose it– they were born into it. A spouse– well, that feels more like choosing.

Also, a general theme in my life at this time is learning: That all the results/consequences that I live out now from choosing God’s will at certain earlier moments of my life–those results are also God’s will for my life. And I need to embrace those things, too, as God’s meaningful, purposeful, exact. good will for my life. Even though I feel like I didn’t directly CHOOSE these factors of my life, I actually DID choose them. I was actively choosing the life I have now when I was making particular, large decisions about “God’s will” for my life. Like choosing to live in Ukraine. Like choosing to marry. Like choosing to marry a Ukrainian. Like choosing to have our children. Like choosing to be employed as missionaries.

Those are choices I/we have made according to God’s will. Accepting that the fall-out of those choices is just as much God’s will … that is my life lesson right now.

So, I’m learning to value and even enjoy the fall-out. 🙂 It’s a process. I could just grit my teeth and endure it. But who wants to live like that? I’d rather spend the effort learning to enjoy it. So I’m watching how I live my days a little more. Trying to count the moments a little more.

In the spirit of that, here are some photos from today:

reading a book with Una

Andre and Vika played Legos for a bit

Working through The Armor of God (Shirer) Bible study our ladies’ SS class is going through

Andre wanted to make a pyramid yesterday, so we did

After our trip to Walmart, I saw this funny scene on our kitchen counter

I love how our kids just get tired and put themselves down for naps, and while they slept, Vika and I restfully read; she finished Little Women and I read A Pocketful of Pinecones.

Vitaliy and Skyla went fishing today

These are from yesterday

A nice day to remember.

I know Creation/Evolution is something that some folks are very emotional about. I’m not terribly emotional about this topic, personally. So, I’m saying that to say: I want to talk about creation in the light of childbirth and childrearing, but as I’ve said before, I hate conflict. I’m not writing this to stir up arguments, especially online. So please don’t comment.

I myself have been surprised at how convinced I’ve become about creationism, without even really studying the issue. I don’t read books about it, watch shows, whatever. I’m biased towards believing creationism, and I “see” things that support my view. If I were biased to believe evolution (as a Christian), I’d probably find things that support that view, too. I do believe that “evolution” happens, but not in the way Evolutionists explain it. I guess I see evolution more as adaptations and changes. I don’t see unlike creatures evolving from the same source.

Anyway, that’s not where I’m going here. I want to tell you about my experience that really got me to thinking about creation/evolution  in my own way.

I had a couple I was a doula for, and the man once commented about how human babies are born very undeveloped (compared to animals) because their heads have to fit through the female pelvis. So human babies are born very “early” because it evolved that way. That was his point.

I thought about that a lot.

You know, I don’t think anything about childbirth is a work of evolution. I see design throughout the entire process of pregnancy and childbirth. The hormones alone! are enough to convince me of this. . I think pregnancy and childbirth was designed so exactly to work: the hormones (preventing contractions, then causing contractions, relaxing the human tissues, etc), the pelvis design, the bones of the baby’s head, and on and on. It is so exactly designed to work. I mean, it’s awesome, in the truest sense of that word. Pregnancy and birth is not a catastrophe waiting to happen- it’s a well-designed process that sometimes has variations, and in a few cases something goes wrong (usually explain-ably).

I also don’t think human babies are born “early” as evolution teaches. I think God exactly designed them to be born at the exact time they are born. To be uber-dependent on parents for a very long time, compared to animals. I believe that all the stages of child development are planned. By God. For very specific reasons. I think it goes back to the fact that we are made in God’s image, why our children have such an “extended” time of development. I don’t think this evolved. I think it’s always from the start been made to be this way.

I will close with the reminder, no arguing. I don’t really want to talk about this, I’m just sharing, and this is my space in which to do so 🙂

It’s probably interesting what Andre actually is learning in conjunction with what we do in “school.” Chef school?

We made salt/flour/water dough to make a little map with certain geographical features.

We’ll paint it later, I think, when it dries.

a cliff

labeling continents and some features of Egypt

He and Una really love the dough! We made three batches extra just for them to play with.

Yesterday we wrote a thank-you card together. Here he’s tracing his name:

So, end of April, Andre just turned six, and I’m inspired to start our first year of home school. It’s actually really nice to be starting this child, I guess because I’m more experienced. We’re going through Tapestry of Grace, year one. I did this year with Skyla and Vika once already, maybe for 2nd or 3rd grade, and it was enjoyable, too. They have lots of hands-on options, reading, etc.

So we’re starting with ancient Egypt. I made the craft a group activity: make a paddle doll.  I switched it to Styrofoam, rather than corrugated cardboard. We cut and painted and put the heads on. They’re drying now and tomorrow we’ll decorate them.

I took Andre out to dinner and we did his book work. He’s flying through the first grade math so far. I like that I was able to teach him a little technique important for future handwriting. In his math pages, he was supposed to circle the correct number, but he circles in the wrong direction and starts the circle in a random place, and it’s not a great habit for handwriting later. (He’s done no writing so far.)

So I put four dots in a rectangle around the number, and showed him which dot to start on and in which direction to move around them. It was very simple and he caught on immediately. I small thing, but it showed me that I am thinking more like a teacher. I wasn’t like this when I started home school 6 years ago. 

It was a good start.

Vitaliy made a card game with the girls to help them all memorize verses. For now, they’ve reduced it to memorizing the reference and verse theme.

Cool idea 🙂