Advent, Fairies and Philosophy!

And what have these three things to do with each other you ask? and I say "not a thing, they are all simply at the forefront of our lives right now".

Advent
I took micro retreats for myself this advent........ five minute snatches of time where I ponder Mary and her surrender to God's will and the smaller similarities of my vocation as mother to our precious four.

I was caused in one of these times to revisit something which has affected me deeply......... When we began our home educating journey, I became aware of this overwhelming sense of completeness and fulfillment in my vocation to motherhood. It wasn't that I'd recognised a lack before, I think it was that in accepting God's call to home school, I grasped and embraced the vocation more fully than before...... made a surrender that opened a door.
I recognise that when we surrender to Gods will that act of self sacrifice opens the door to "abundant life" such as we could never imagine before we respond to his calling.

More basic Advent preparations include making our own christmas cards, Isaac 7 and Reuben 5 have great fun with this and write with pride "Handmade by....." on the backs. Each one has to get shown to Dad once he's home, and to any visitors we may have. They have very independent spirits, so I don't get to chip in ideas, but I do enjoy filling out the insides with lovely messages and mailing them. They get more beautiful every year, such creative boys!


Fairies
Today as the boys were making cards and I was scribing, Zipporah 3 was busying herself with drawing, "Mummy, How do you spell Fairy?"

F - A - I - R - Y say I. A minute later I look up and begin to ask her if she knows what F looks like, only to see she had the whole word written beautifully (for a 3 year old hand) and was beginning her picture.

The last couple of days she has been wandering round with my scrapbooking alphabet stencil, thank goodness I hadn't thought to retrieve it for fear of it being mislaid. I would have completely disrupted this big lotta learning that's been happening quietly and invisibly.
How I love unschooling!

Philosophy
Life the universe and all that Jazz!
Our children have always loved exploring big issues and asking profound questions............. Recently we've taken to writing those questions down (or up), on a poster on the wall in the dining room and exploring them together over dinner or occasional deserts. It's proving to be a lot more fun than when I give an answer on the spot, it's also given my sleep deprived brain a chance to think !