Mason for Me - Fall (aka brutally honest) Edition

I'm including my own personal update in with this post instead of separately because it's not got a lot in it. My brain slowly faded and faded over the end of my pregnancy. By my last month or two I was barely even reading at all let alone adding to my commonplace book or reviewing my Latin flashcards. I was so tired (measuring 4-5 weeks ahead hugely pregnant, hot and anemic is not an energetic combo!) and my brain just wasn't working. Listening to Brandi Vencel talk about her anemia on a podcast reminded me that it was probably mostly the anemia and that would go away did help because I was feeling pretty defeated with even what I thought were low key goals.

So I re-evaluated. I picked up super light books and tried to read for 10 minutes a day. By super light I mean, barely above twaddle level novels or re-read old favorites that I know so well by know that I can pretty much pick the book up at any spot and read a page or two. Anything I could just to keep the habit of picking up a book instead of turning on netflix at naptime. Even if I did end up falling asleep 10 minutes 2 minutes in.

And I don't talk much about bible reading here because I assume that any of you Christian homeschooling parents out there already realize the vital need for Bible reading apart from Mother Culture, but I do consider to be one of the most important forms of Mother Culture. Let's not be planning elaborate self-education plans to read through the classics if you aren't at least reading your Bible daily. First things first. And this needed to be addresses in my life. We were going through the Psalms in church so I defaulted to that. I started at Psalm 1 and read one a day. I normally like to get out a physical bible instead of relying on my phone but that rarely happened. And sometimes, I even let the ESV website read the Psalm to me. Then I wrote down my favorite verse and tried to pray that - either as a request or a thanksgiving or praise and keep thinking over it throughout the day. Now, just like poetry hasn't always been my favorite form of literature, Psalms haven't been my go-to part of the Bible. But having pushed myself in the area of poetry, I can see pay-off when it comes to the Psalms. I was actually enjoying them!

I've often heard people encourage moms to give themselves grace when it comes to their Bible reading and prayer time when they are deep in the little people stage of life. And yes, there are times and places for elaborate Bible studies and Greek and Hebrew dictionaries and there are times when those aren't the right choice. But you have to be careful because too often it comes out sounding like "don't worry about making that a priority."

To me, not making God and his words a priority is not "giving myself grace." Choosing to do what I can, even when it is just a little, is giving myself grace. Or actually, it's letting God give me grace.  I came to him saying "This is it, God. This is all the time/energy/brain power I have right now in the circumstances you have put me in so please use it to grow me."  And he does. Which is good because I don't know how I'd deal with all the ups and downs of this stage without having His words flowing through my mind. I'm trying, not just keep my children alive until adulthood, but to have them actually turn out to be virtuous, God-fearing men and women by then - that's not an easy task! I need God!

And to a lesser degree, that can mostly apply to my desire for Mother Culture as a whole. I need the
quality ideas running through my brain to give me something to ponder at 2am when Jude decides he has slept enough or when my brain feels like it will explode if have to answer another question about Star Wars (especially since they all end with "I'm actually not really sure what that particular robot/droid/guy in a suit is called")

I'm 9 weeks post-partum right now and Jude is, for the time being at least, a good sleeper and a decent napper, but my hormones are giving me quite a bit of emotional trouble this time around. I'm starting to come out of the fog but its slow going. I am getting there though.  I want to read more, I want to get back into really studying things, I want to clean the dust bunnies on my ceiling fans that I've been looking at the for the last 2 months but physically unable to fix (oh wait, different topic).

I've started my slightly more intense Bible reading plan, am actually making progress in books, and finished two (You Are What You Love by James K. A. Smith and The Harvester by Gene Stratton-Porter both of which I'd recommend. Not too difficult but full of ideas to get your brain going) and I've finally started Giants in the Earth which has been on my to-be-read pile for several years so just starting it and going slowly feels like a big accomplishment. I know I'll be able to bring out my big Mason for Me plan from earlier soon  and I'll keep trucking along. But either way, God is good...and so are books :-)

Now, onto the link-ups. How are you going with your plans? Soaring with the energy of a new school year and a mug full of newly sharpened pencils? Or plodding along? Either way, we'd all love to hear about it!