Karen's Clan

Ha! That almost sounds like I'm about to get all Eastern and mystical on you, doesn't it? Truth is I'm not, although I am reading an interesting book about using yoga poses to describe a mother's journey - and considering I've never done yoga it requires a bit of imagination :) I am finding it amusing, because for the first time in a really long time the author is managing to remind me that I am really not alone in this motherhood thing, and that the daily things I face as a mother, face EVERY mother, even in rainy Seattle! Now I digress. Back to the point.

The last month or so has been pretty quiet on the blogging front. As I said before, Life kind of became busier and other things (launch will be soon!) have been taking up my creative thought flow. I've also spent the last few weeks de-cluterring again, this time not my physical environment, but my inner thought life. The more I simplify my inner life the more I can see clearly...and I love the sharpness that returns when I keep on top of my thought life. I can also cope better with the busy-ness of my daily life. The seasons in my life are shifting, and I need head space to be able to fully embrace all that God has in store for me now.

Over the years leading up to my decision to homeshool I subsrcibed to a NUMBER of really great newsletters, blogs and other helpful forums. These were actual blogs of moms who were personally doing this "homeschooling" thing, or blogs supporting the curriculum I was interested in, or ones on learning styles I would really like to embrace, or great forums of like minded people etc. And honestly? I learnt a great deal. I was encouraged. God used them instrumentally in my life to help me to find my way, to set my feet on a path I could follow, and I would not turn back the clock. I would not change all that I have learnt, all that I have been exposed to.

But you know what? That season, reading that kind of material has drawn to an end. I am on this path of homeschooling and I am confident. I am certain that I am following God and all that he wants for this family. Perhaps there will be another season like it in the future, that's possible. But for now, in this time and place,  I have unsubscribed.

I've also discovered the beauty of a reader - and although I'm still figuring out how to use and manage Google Reader (yes I know, it's taken me a bit long to figure this out! I'm a bit technologically challenged). It means that I am not getting bombarded my blog posts in my inbox. They are collecting in for me on the web, and rather than being distracted whilst supposedly checking only my email during school, I can now organize a time when I can withdraw and spend time reading and absorbing without doing it in a rush or at the expenese of something else.

I'm sure you've seen those pins or wall photos cleverly joking about how distracted Pinterest or Facebook can make you - see, I've just spent a good 10 minutes trying to find one of those darn images to illustrate my point...and failed. Distraction. Drives. Me. DILLY. I've also come to realize that Pinterest is supposed to serve me, I'm not supposed to spend my time serving it. I'm choosing to use Pinterest to do what I initially wanted it to do - to serve me as a way of pinning things I wanted to remember or one day come back to, as my visual pinboard. For a while, I loved following other people's pins, and being inspired by them. But now? Now it's overload, and so I'm scaling back. Too much distraction!

So. Onto a sharper few months, in a new season....