By Brenda Kelly

It’s Mother’s Day week! The day of so many mixed emotions. It’s a day to be honored and made to feel special, a day for a favorite meal or activity, cards and flowers, phone calls and visits from children no longer at home … but it’s also a day to be reminded of THAT GAL! You know her … the one on the pedestal in Proverbs 31. How can I accept the honor of this day when I can’t even begin to measure up to her?

Especially with that one verse. You’ve already thought of it! You know, the one that says, “Her children rise up and call her blessed.” Ughhh …  I’m a homeschool mom! I’m the one that must make those kids sit down and do their math, learn cursive, write papers, and listen to hundreds and hundreds of read-alouds. I’m the one that requires them to eat green things, do household chores, and reminds them that just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t mean that our family will. After all of that, they will never “rise up and call me blessed!”

By guest author Patricia Dotten

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t homeschool so that my kids could get into an Ivy League school. I didn’t homeschool so they’d be super geeks and land a 1500 on the SAT. I didn’t homeschool so my friends and family would be impressed or so my kids would excel at music, sports, math, or speech and debate. And I didn’t homeschool so I could parade my kids around as perfectly obedient miniature versions of ME. 

Well, okay, to be honest, some of these ambitions were rattling around in my head early on in my homeschool journey. But then I had the privilege of hearing Tedd Tripp speak at a conference. I was intrigued by this man’s love for Jesus. He spoke about wanting his kids to be dazzled by the Lord Jesus. There are so many things in this world to tempt and attract our children. How many of our children are smitten with God? How many of the young people around us are lured, seduced, and ensnared by the bright lights and tempting glitter of “Vanity Fair?” Admittedly, the world does have something to offer but it is not lasting, it always disappoints, and eventually it destroys.