homeschooling,floods and a burned-up Christmas tree

I have seen devastation by fire, and I have seen devastation by flood. Both are tragic, and destroy most everything in their paths--and especially memories. The destruction by fire I personally witnessed was my parent's home of over 40 years burning on Christmas Day from a broken candlestick on a dinner table. This was a horrible day to experience such devastation--and the entire extended family of my parents, all 5 siblings and their spouses, grandkids and great-grandkids were within minutes of arriving to have Christmas lunch together. And what we came to instead was a scene of firetrucks, neighbors trying to get Christmas presents and family pictures out, and smoke and fire engulfing their beautiful home--followed by the media, because this was the only house to burn down on Christmas Day 2005.
Sometimes the devastation happens to everyone in a neighborhood. Obviously, we all witnessed the flooding of 2010--and our son,daughter-in-law and their two boys were flooded out of Section 6 in Bellevue's River Plantation. The true rivers of mud left behind when the 6 feet of water receded threatened to leave all of us with a heavy,hopeless,sick feeling.
(However, our kiddoes have been amazing examples of remaining grateful for what they do have left, and totally trusting God to take care of them no matter what--and that is SOME trust, because she is due any minute with son # 3!!)
So, WHAT does this have to do with homeschooling? Only that if we continue obeying in the small and mundane routines of teaching, that God WILL meet us there.
After we moved their family in with us and got a little organized, the VERY next time Luke & I did school, we had Isaiah 43 for our Bible reading!! I mean, stop right here and find an online translation--and read it to the VERY end to see what I am talking about :)!! And if THAT weren't enough, that day in one of our read-alouds called "Torches of Joy" (LOVE it)..where the Deckers'(missionaries in New Guinea) house burned down, and because they didn't cry, the natives said,"The Deckers have a big house in Jesus' yard. The things that really count cannot be destroyed."
What an incredibly Providential lesson for Luke and for me that day! My dad,mom, Will, & Sarah had all lived that out in front of our family. I too often get detoured by the details of the work that needs to be done--but that day,in order for both of us to hear God, I needed to step forward in faith and just keep going according to the lesson plan. So keep on--and listen!