“And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” Deuteronomy 6:7
Life gets busy. We plan a normal routine and something comes up to change that. The joys of homeschooling mean we can work around life’s changes.
Mellie and I left on September 23 for a great trip to Iowa and then Wyoming via train. What an education this child got without opening a textbook. Sometimes the best lessons ARE taught without a schoolbook in hand.
This journey started in Orlando, Florida as we made our way up the east coast towards our layover in Chicago. It was pretty exciting to see the changing scenery and as we pulled into Washington DC, I was thrilled to see the Washington Monument and the Capitol Building from our train window. This became an opportunity to explain some of our nation’s capitol buildings. Governmental talk ensued and there, on the train, we accomplished a civics lesson. We didn’t open a book!
When we finally arrived in Iowa, we were so excited to see the mighty Mississippi. As we crossed over it, I could only think of the beauty of God’s earth and the power of that water. Our final destination in Iowa was Fort Madison. Pierre and Stephanie (our 17 year old daughter) arrived the next day. We had one full weekend with Pierre in Iowa before he headed back to Florida.
My girls served God in music at Joy Baptist Church and learned another great lesson. There IS joy in serving Jesus. The girls and I were in Iowa until October 13, where we had the best vacation yet. Fort Madison is home. The pace is slower (for the most part) and we just insert ourselves fully back into the church life there. We were able to pass tracts and flyers inviting people to the revival services. The girls sang and I played my clarinet. We stayed in the church’s house and so were able to invite people over. We just had joy in our surroundings.
Of course when it came time to leave we loaded our belongings up and headed to Fort Madison’s train depot to carry on our journey west. I will tell you more about that part of the trip in future blogs but today I want to focus on Iowa.
A state that many think is just corn but to me is home. A state where we moved to for Pierre’s first job in the USA in 2004. Two of our children were born in Iowa. Joy Baptist became home and the people in it family. I couldn’t be more grateful for the pastor who was and remains our pastor to this day. Earl Beal is pretty special. He has been pastoring the same church for over 31 years. Pastor Beal has been a beacon in the community bringing people into the church and seeing lives changed. He has led the church members by example and we are all grateful to have had him as our pastor.
Melanie only worked on her math course while we were there in Iowa. So great to have an online course that travels with us. But, Melanie learned so much just in Iowa alone. She developed deeper friendships with my friend’s children. Melanie learned how to mini putt. She had her first professional hair cut. School in Iowa wasn’t about accomplishing some paperwork but about making connections, learning the history of the town and learning to care about people.
I’ll never stop visiting Fort Madison. It is home. I’ll also never stop learning or encouraging my children to learn through the simple experiences of life.