A Little Clarification

After I published my post yesterday I realized that it can be read in ways that I did not intend.  I do not want to criticize friends that are working very hard to provide the very best education possible of their children in many different ways.  I have met some brilliant students at our school, at our local public school, in our home school groups, and I am awed at what motivated students can accomplish during high school.  Those that get accepted to Harvard, my hat is off to you!  I also hope that I did not come across as making Uof I sound like a second class institution.  I know many brilliant students that attend there and many who have gone on to amazing careers.  I meant to acknowledge that I had been caught up in a very narrow view of what a good education entailed, and that I am trying to broaden my own perspective.  It is a work in progress and I'm not sure where it is going at this point.  This coming year will be the most educational for me, and I am hopeful that my kids might get something out of it as well.  I don't want to be overly confident going into this project and make any bold claims that I will regret by Christmas.

I had also made a comment about not all friendships being equal.  What I meant is that not all friendships are between folks who have many things in common.  We have some friends that don't seem at first sight to be people we would automatically gravitate to, not that one is superior to the other, just that they are very different.  Those friendships have been the ones that have brought me the most growth in my life.  As my children get older I find myself having more opportunities to meet people that are outside my usual social circles.  I have also met some amazing families through our adoption processes that have blessed me beyond words.

I also wanted to make sure that I did not sound ungrateful for the all of the folks who have offered to help us out with our homeschooling.  I am so very thankful to everyone who recognizes that this is a monumental task, and that I am weak.  I appreciate your wisdom, advice, prayers, books, and support.  I will have a better idea of what I need by the end of September, I promise.

What I really wanted to say is that asking for help is hard.  When you really need it, you need someone close to reach out to.  Usually you save those moments for your immediate family, but they are not always close enough to help.  God gives us more family when we come into his kingdom.  Our churches should be like extended family.  It takes time and effort to build up those relationships, and it takes time to maintain them.  I have thrown out offers of help to folks in the past, and I have had literally a couple of takers.  I was very grateful for the moms who asked me to run to the store for them.  I know that it was a blessing to them, and honestly it was a blessing to me too.  I have had a couple of moms need last minute babysitters.  It is good for my girls to get out and bless other families.  They were smiling when they got home, so I know it did them good as well.  I know that it seems like the older families are busy and we forget to offer our time, but I for one do not mind a bit being asked for help.  It is a delight to me.  When I try to figure out how to be helpful without being asked is usually when I run into trouble.  Good friends are in the position to be most helpful, but sometimes you need something that is beyond what they can give.  Part of the network is having them support you when you have to get other people involved in your life.  We need people.  We need lots of people with lots of different skills and experiences.  I guess what I wanted to say was don't be afraid to offer help, and don't be offended if what is needed is not what you offered.  Be flexible, and be observant.