{This week’s Spotlight on the Crew article is brought to you from Susan, at Slightly Nerdy, Sometimes Cool.}
It was a one day only 50% off coupon sale at the craft store. I was so going to use that coupon to stock up on popsicle sticks, tacky glue, and googly eyes. I am a woman after a deal. Even if it only amounts to 43 cents, I’m all in.
So there I am in the store, the glitter glue section to be exact, and a sales lady comes up to me, in a tizzy mind you.
“Um, Mam….what are all these kids doing here? Why aren’t they in school? Is school out or something?”
“Oh. NO. She. Did. Not. Just. Ask. Me. That. Question,” I thought. Then I prayed, hard and quick. Sass was just waiting to tumble out of my mouth.
“Well, these children are all mine and we homeschool,” I replied sweetly, giving my best homeschooling mothers genteel smile, while secretly gritting my teeth.
She responded with a quizzical look, then stormed off while muttering, “Well, there are just so many kids here in the store today!
Here is the part where I tell you that it was the middle of the day, a school day mind you, and I had all five of my kids with me. Let me just add, that there were NO other children in the store that I saw. Nothing gets people like seeing a gaggle of kids out in public during “school” hours.
Oh, and I left out the little part that our family does not exactly match, some of us are brown and some of us are white.
Our family is a conversation starter at the park, an icebreaker in a waiting room, and a walking conundrum that sometimes people just don’t get no matter how simple adoption, homeschooling, and having a large family are to understand.
When the Lord called us to adopt we really didn’t think about anything except being a Mom or Dad to someone who needed one. We didn’t think about how in the future people would stare at us in the mall, ask if we are running a daycare, or have complete strangers reach out and touch our baby’s curly afro puffs. We blindly jumped into the murky waters of the transracial adoption world with absolute and giddy abandon.
It was strikingly similar when we started homeschooling as well. We had the blinders on, yet again. I lived in La La Land that first summer before we started homeschooling. I didn’t really think about what homeschooling would look like long term for us. I was just tickled pink that we said, “yes Lord”, we’ll be homeschoolers and live happily ever after.
We would come to find in the future, that along with the happy naiveté in our adoption and homeschooling journey came some bumps and curves that we were not prepared for and certainly were not always pleasant.
We would also come to find that the hardest roads were the ones were our hearts grew not only closer to the Lord, but closer to each other as a family.
In Mathew 5:14, Jesus told his followers that they are to be the light in the world, and be like a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. Much like our families past, present, and future trek through transracial adoption and homeschooling we have become that city on a hill whether we wanted to or not. When we get questions like, “Why aren’t they in school? “or “Are they all yours?”, I just have to smile and thank the Lord that he choose us, despite our blind jumping and leaping off of great cliffs into the unknown, that He is using us for His purpose every day. We are a City on the Hill…..a city that is a touch crazy and loud, but His City nonetheless.
Susan aka “ Mrs. Nerdy” blogs at Slightly Nerdy, Sometimes Cool. She is wife to one hunky Scientist, homeschooling Mama to 5 wild, yet terribly sweet children, has an addiction to pepsi, an affinity towards witty banter, and a heart set in a breathtaking Joy from the Lord.