Chrysalis (n) a protected stage of development

Though St. Therese’s feast day is past, after finding this awesome photo of her at

Mary Evans Picture Library , I couldn’t help but post it here. I am very moved by this photo of Therese, though I am not exactly certain why. Maybe it is the serenity and peace that seem to emanate from her…even in a photo. There seems, at least to me, to be an incredible sense of strength and beauty in her face. Not necessarily “earthly” beauty, but a beauty that comes from grace and Wisdom and Truth.

My quote for this week is taken from St. Therese (on the sidebar). I find it to be so true in my life and also in the lives of so many homeschoolers with whom I come into contact. Our parish priest, a very wise man, has told me often that neurosis comes from not living in the present…or as he would say, “in the presence”!

If we spend too much time mulling over the past or likewise, too much time anticipating and having anxiety about the future, we will lose emotional stability and find ourselves in a funk. Therese seems to have known this. We, homeschool mothers, need to heed her advice. We must be cautious about spending too much time worrying about our past mistakes – what we didn’t do for Johnny in 3rd grade; what we didn’t know about when Bobbie was in Kindergarten – as well as watching that we don’t exhaust ourselves worrying about what is yet to come – will I be able to teach algebra and chemistry; will Susie be ready for high school or college; I am doing too little…or too much?

We can and will cause ourselves what has been coined as “burn out” if we allow ourselves to reside in the past or the future for too long. The remedy?  Faith.

St. Therese, pray for us. Teach us your “Little Way”. Help us learn to stay present to the Presence, knowing that His grace is sufficient.

We are taking a trip around the world this year, using bits and pieces from several different resources, including Around the World in 180 Days, Galloping the Globe, Runkle Geography, and other tidbits we have found on the web. The Runkle Geography has a method of memorizing the countries of Africa that has been fun for everyone. We all know 10 of them now…only 40 to go!

Today we have had a great time watching this watering hole in Botswana, Africa Webcam. We were able to see an entire herd of elephants watering before it got too dark! There were even several very small babies in the group. They are amazing to watch. Tonight, we had it on and saw a crocodile in the pond.  We also got to see the sun come up in Africa before going to bed in Wyoming.  The elephants returned as well as wildebeasts, guineas and more.  Everyone wants to make the webcam a daily event during our study.

In preparation for our tour we did a little redecorating with maps! I have been amazed at how much time the children have spent discovering since putting these out.

This is actually a shower curtain that I found at Target this summer. I wanted to hang it in the bathroom, but dh thought it was a bit too much. Yesterday, we put it and a white liner on the table. It works pretty well as a tablecloth and is wonderful for spills!

On Saturday, I purchased this new world map which we decided to hang on the wall in the dining/school room. All of the world flags are on the bottom of the map and everyone has enjoyed looking at the differences between them. It was a unanimous decision that Libya has the most boring flag….just a plain green rectangle!

Last week we watched “The African Queen” with Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. I had never seen this move before so it was a treat for me to watch it for the first time with the children. We all thoroughly enjoyed it and everyone now knows where Lake Victoria is.

Each of the children will be making a book, a report w/ pictures or a poster about an African country of their choice. Slim is doing South Africa; Bubba, Kenya; Anne w/ an “e”, Nigeria; Squeaker and I will be working on Morroco. Everyone will include information about the animals, climate, resources, culture and whatever else they find interesting. We are also including a study of Saints from Africa – St. Augustine, St. Monica and St. Charles Lwanga.

Another week or two in Africa and then on to Australia!

In keeping with the quote of the week from St. Jerome, I decided to post about we are doing to remedy our ignorance of Scripture.

Understanding The Scripture This year, Slim, Bubba and I are working through this second book of the Didache Series. We are only on Chapter 2, but so far I am very impressed with the content and the beauty of this book. It is filled with charts, maps, photographs and full color art masterpieces. It even has a satin ribbon bookmark attached! Just looking at the book inspires you to read it and learn.

Written by Scott Hahn, this chronological study of Scripture teaches salvation history through the theory of covenants. I remember hearing a tape series on convenant theology by Hahn just after my conversion. I was very moved by it and thought it explained so many of the beautiful teachings and doctrines of the Catholic Church. I am really looking forward to this…I only hope and pray that the boys are as enthusiastic as mom!

Magnificat I requested a sample copy of this monthly prayer book so we will be trying it out for the month of October. I subscribed to it when it was first released several years ago, but eventually it slipped into disuse (or maybe I slipped into bad habits of not using it!) I am dedicated to praying at least Morning Prayer and daily Mass readings with the children this year. I own the 4 volume Divine Office, but again I seem to use it in spurts rather than with any consistency. I thought having everything in one volume might simplify things and keep us on the right path.

My Daily Catholic Bible is another resource I have used, but it didn’t work well for me. I didn’t really want to just “read” the Bible, I wanted to “understand” it. I found myself just reading it like I was reading some piece of fiction. I know there is something called “self discipline” that I could have used to remedy that problem, but for now, I will enlist the aid of Scripture scholars to help me with the deeper study I am desiring.

I have put links to several online Bibles as well as other resources for Scripture study on the sidebar for anyone who might be interested. If you have a PDA and would like to have readings-to-go, check out Mobile Gabriel (Mass readings and reflections exclusively for PDAs), the Divine Office and Sacred Space (both online reading and PDA available) and the Catholic Bible-PDA.

With all of these resources available, none of us should be ignorant of Scripture!

I have been considering starting a blog for over a year now, but never seemed to get started. I am not really sure why, although I could make lots of excuses!

The Lord kept leading me back to the idea over the past months, then just a week or so ago while praying about taking the blogging leap and pondering what to call it if I did start, I heard the word “chrysalis”. Though I have a background in science and spend time outdoors on the ranch, I am more of a computer-nut or book-nut, than a nature-nut. I wasn’t even sure what a chrysalis was! So…what does any good surfer do?

Google it!!

The first site I found had this definition:

Before it becomes a butterfly, a caterpillar goes through a growth stage during which it is called a “chrysalis.” On the surface it may not look like much is happening, but the delicate chrysalis process changes the fuzzy caterpillar into an awesome butterfly with wings of intricate designs and intense colors. The chrysalis process symbolizes how Christ can transform you into something beyond your dreams. It happens when you grow beyond yourself, opening your life to Jesus’ power and love.

This touched me deeply as I am going through some very intense healing in my life and a good friend had just given me two beautiful pictures of a butterfly saying, “This butterfly is you, transformed”. WOW! Isn’t it awesome when you really ’see’ the hand of God at work!

Then, I looked up the word in the dictionary and found the definition that is beside the blog title – “a protected stage of development” – and realized how perfect ‘Chrysalis’ was in describing our lives as homeschoolers, too. Isn’t this time with our children “a protected stage of development“? It is just for a time, a stage of life….we nurture, we train, we teach, we feed them on Truth…then this stage is over and they go out into the world.

The more I meditated on this word, the more I saw. I realized how much the first definition also fits our homeschool lives. Over the 16 years we have been at this, I can’t even begin to count how many times I could have said… “on the surface it may not look like much is happening…”. Actually, I have to admit that it wasn’t as filled with hope as this quote implies. There were tears, there were prayers, there were those days when I questioned my sanity in thinking I could do this at all and there were more prayers. Then the questions: “Am I really getting through to them?” “Am I really making a difference?” And maybe even that fleeting thought…”Am I ruining them?”

But then in a minute, an hour, a day, a month, a year…you see the fruits of your labors and you praise God for His consolations and for calling you on this incredible journey!

A chrysalis, by the grace of God, does indeed yield something beautiful!