Our First Ten Years in the Ministry!!

It was ten years ago that we received a call from a friend who told us that they had visited a small country church that was in desperate need of a pastor. We had never been in that role in the ministry before but decided to attend their business meeting to see what we could do to help.   My husband offered to be a guest speaker until they could find a pastor. Two weeks they hired my husband and that was all she wrote.

There are honestly still people out there that believe a pastor only works one day a week. However, I have been witness to the long hours my husband has worked. It is amazing the things that fall under the job duty as “Pastor”. Of course there is the marrying and the burying of people which comes with planning the details of those ceremonies on top of the counseling that is required for both. People have brought race cars to our church to be prayed over. Numerous calls from people outside the church come in for financial aid. People need odds and ends jobs done, but can't afford to really hire anybody so they call the pastor and he goes. The church needs cleaned and the grounds need kept. Questions need answered during the day and at times it seems the phone is glued to his ear. Last year, twice he was called on to bury the dogs of people that do not even attend the church. He consoles the owners over the lost pets. One of those nights included my sons (who usually end up being his right hand men) and their friend who was staying the night to go out at 9 p.m. with my husband during a storm to dig a hole for a woman who had to have her dog put down. The ground was hard as a rock and digging well past 10 o'clock, they had to use the lights of the truck in order to see.

That’s not all though. Truth needs spoken and that is not always received well. Relationships need building. The youth need supported in their events so there are always wrestling matches and softball games, etc. to attend outside of attending our own children's sports. Putting on the counselor's hat at 2 a.m. or 5:30 a.m. happens as he is still rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Protection of the flock has been revealed in many different forms and it is never easy finding that balance.

Oh! But wait! That's not all! Now the pastor, through all that, has to make sure to make time to put a Bible study together and a Sunday morning message and figure out the children's program so we can secure the future of the church. He has to keep people excited about the work that needs to be done for the Lord. He needs to be gentle no matter what attitudes he comes up against.   

I have seen my husband overjoyed with the opportunity that has been laid before him and I have seen my husband shed many tears  over numerous situations.   I have seen him wrestle in prayer over those in our church.  I have never met a man with a deeper passion for the Lord.  Yes, my husband works one day…one day at a time that is. He is the first to say, “Here am I,  send me!”  To quote his very first sermon he has been able to master "Keep on Keepin' On!" With all of this on his plate, he has been able to keep a healthy balance of family and church. My husband rocks!

What kind of cake would you like?

My husband and I had gone to the doctor one day and we were filling out the dreaded paperwork. However, this day of filling out papers proved to be entertaining for the whole day! I got down to the section that wanted us to check the box as to what our race was. It had the typical options: Native American, African American, White, Other (?)…and Pacific Islander. Pacific Islander?! That was a new one! I pointed it out to my husband and said, “How cool would it be to be able to choose THAT option!”  I had never seen that as an option before and wasn’t even really sure what it covered. 

The option of White had my mother up in arms when I was telling her the story. She said that she returns her forms back to the front desk and they always hand it back and ask her to fill out the race. She tells them that she refuses to do it until they type the word Caucasian in the place of White and explained that she is considered offensive if she calls a Native American an Indian or an African American a Black so she wanted the same respect.  Now I know where my feistiness comes from. 

Later that day, my husband had taken me out for a cup of coffee.  He received a text from one of the women from our church asking what kind of cake I liked. My birthday was coming up and they were wanting to bless me.   So I was presented with the question, “What kind of cake do you want? Should I tell them German Chocolate?” German Chocolate, of course, is HIS favorite cake. I laughed and told him I would prefer white cake with white frosting.  Apparently, that answer was too simple and no fun. He sends a text message back stating, “She would like white cake with white frosting. She’s racist like that.” He giggles and shows me what he sent.

With a slap to his arm, I said, “Why did you do that? Now I feel like I have to choose something else!”  Pretending to be disgusted as I know he likes to get a rise out of me, I start gathering my things to leave.  Then I stopped and told him, “Text her back. I changed my mind.”  He pulls his phone out and asked what I wanted instead.  “Pacific Islander! I wonder what color that would be? Tell her that’s what I want.”  It didn’t work. I got the white with white.

Paper Listens Well

I woke one morning, digging through the covers of my bed. My husband asked me what I was looking for and I replied, "I think I wrote a poem in the middle of the night. Oh, yep! Here it is!" I exclaimed as I found the crumpled piece of notebook paper.  I took a minute to read it, surprised that I could decipher my handwriting as I knew I had not turned on the lights.   I have talked in my sleep and I have walked in my sleep, but never (until now) have I written poetry in my sleep!

Paper listens well.

Within it I can hide;

Confide in it my deepest thoughts 

And know it's on my side

I know it will not judge me

As I relay my hopes and dreams. 

It cries with me, hopes with me 

And rejoices...or so it seems

Paper listens well 

So silent and so bold.

It waits intently as I speak.

My secrets it does hold

A loyal friend it has been 

Encouraging me to be true

Trusting and supporting friend

Offering a new point of view

Paper listens well

I think I'll keep it near

No other can take on the role 

Our friendship is so dear

And when it sits there empty

Just waiting for me to talk,

I will answer its beckoning

It will no longer have to knock.

Paper listens well

I enjoy its company

And then it takes its own turn

And shares its heart with me.

It sorts out all of my thoughts

Listening to what I did tell

Its advice to me is priceless.

My paper listens well. 

By JoEllen Claypool

Start Small

Writing a book has been a life-long dream.  Once my kids became teenagers and our schedule started slowing down a bit, I became restless. I worried about what I would do when my kids left home and my husband was working. My whole world had revolved around the school and sports schedules of my sons. I started writing a bit again; poetry and journaling helped me get my thoughts sorted.

Then one day, I had been approached at church about doing a women's Bible study on The Fine Art of Female Friendship by Jane Freund. I started reading it on my own and was overwhelmed with the content. I saw that the author was local and she had provided her contact information in the book. I wrote to her and let her know the impact that her book was making in my life. She wrote back and offered to be a part of our study. I was thrilled to and have author in our midst!

Jane and I exchanged contact information and one day I received an email from her inviting me to submit poetry or short stories for a chance of being chosen to be a contributing author to a new book, An Eclectic Collage Volume 2: Relationships of Life. I submitted two poems and a short story and then I waited on pins and needles to hear back. Finally, the day came when I found out that my work had been accepted and I would be a published author!

It is still amazing to me the timeliness of this whole scenario. Just a few short months before, I was of the mindset that I had to pay in order to get my work published.  One of the first very valuable lessons I learned was that "Money flows TO the author not FROM the author". By being a part of that first book, I learned what was involved in a book signing and how to promote and market a book. Through additional workshops that were available through Jane, I learned the steps of writing, formating and publishing a book.

Because of the thrill that comes with being a first-time author, my heart has been to see other new authors experience that feeling.   I have mentored and edited for two young women as well as edited for more seasoned authors. Becoming a book coach has had me on cloud nine as I am covering all of the things I love: reading and structuring to see a book come to completion, reliving my first moments as an author as I witness the emotions of the people I work with as they complete each step, guiding them in having their first book signings, and sitting back as I watch them beam while they talk about their new book to prospective buyers.

To expand even further now, I have been able to team up with a group of women with the same heart and passion. Together we formed the Idaho Creative Authors Network and we use our skills of speaking and our knowledge of the step by step process, social media and administration to offer workshops and contests for others who want to write but do not know where to go from there. We host writing events, inviting talented speakers with a wealth of information, as well as make ourselves available for conferences and individual consults.

If you are interested in writing a book, but that seems like an overwhelming task, I would offer a suggestion:  start small by journaling then look for contests in the area, write articles for a local newspaper or church newsletter or anywhere that you can practice your writing skills. Then dive into that book you have been wanting to write!  You have something to offer that the world needs to hear!

Find out more about our upcoming Spring Writers Symposium and Writing Contest!

Getting Off the Bus

The CHOIS homeschool  convention every June has been such an encouragement to me. It is the highlight of my year. The speakers that we have the privilege of listening to serve to remind me why we do what we do. I come away renewed and with fresh ideas.

I shared before that I struggled  with feeling that our schooling had to look just like public school. I was concerned that people would judge me if it didn't. I thought both boys should be doing the same hours of instruction...until I heard a workshop about homeschooled kids getting off the bus at different times of the day. Wait a minute! Homeschool? Bus? I wanted to know more.

The speaker of the workshop was my hero as she shared about schooling four boys. She explained how all of the kids got on the bus at the same time every morning. As the day wore on, however, the younger ones would begin getting antsy and she could no longer hold their attention; they "got off the bus".

I knew exactly what she meant! She let me know that this was okay! My youngest boy, when he was little, could not last very long. After attending that workshop I was able to change my tactics; instead of fighting with him, I said to myself, "Okay, Eli is getting off the bus." Some days he would last longer and I just learned to get as much out of him as I could.

Another trick I learned as the boys got older: we had to do math first!  Math was something on which all three of us had to concentrate . If we waited until our minds were tired and bogged down from our other subjects, there was a higher level of frustration. The boys had a harder time grasping the new concepts of the day. Easy fix; do math first.

The other thing that made life easy was knowing my boys. They are complete opposites on practically everything, especially their schedules. Eli performs best early in the morning. He loved setting his alarm and getting up about 7 a.m. to start on his work so he could be done early and have the rest of the day to do as he pleased. Chris, on the hand,  treasured his sleep. When he did get up, he took his sweet time getting ready for the day, doing his chores, and eating breakfast. He didn't mind doing school work all day long though so I didn't harp on him unless we needed to be done earlier for some reason. He knew what had to be done for the day. Many times he would still have work to do in the evening after sports practice.

I have learned that it is okay if the kids get off the bus early, even the older ones. In fact, there are times that I have to get off the busy early.  In those situations, we have a game day. I have a ton of board games, dice and card games that we can incorporate into the learning process.   Scrabble and Yahtzee are great! I have many spelling and history board games as well. There is nothing wrong with a fun day!

Homeschooling does not have to be a stressful situation. Learn to savor the freedom and the flexibility. The more you enjoy it, the happier your children will be!

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Dad's Role

My husband, Dallas,  was actually the one who wanted to homeschool to begin with so I count myself blessed that he has been on board from the beginning.   He has worked very hard to make sure that I could stay home and focus on the kids.

I had been a working mom for many years and always cut myself some slack if the house wasn't very tidy. After I chose to come home, however,  I felt that my house should always be clean and my laundry folded (even the socks) and dishes done, but found myself falling so short.  I would try to make sure I started straightening up the house before my husband got home so that he could walk into a clean home. I knew the frustration of walking into a messy house after working all day.
Dallas came home one day and I was still on the floor with the kids, books scattered all around us. I looked up at him and said, "I am so sorry that the the house has not been clean lately when you come home."

He made a statement that day to me that made me rethink my priorities. His response was, "I would much rather come home and see you spending time with our children than seeing you neglecting them in order to have a clean house."  It was like a whole weight had been lifted off my shoulders!

As time went on, Dallas started getting in the habit of calling me early in the day and needing some errands run.  The boys and I would put our stuff away for the day because I knew I would not be able to get their full attention back after running around.  I never said anything to my husband. In June, he decided to come to the homeschool convention with me and I strategically planned for him to attend certain workshops. There were some topics specifically for homeschooling fathers and I thought it might give my him more of an idea of what I do with the boys during the day.   This was something that definitely worked in my favor!

We got in the car to head home that first night and before even turning the car on, my husband looked at me and said, "I really disrupt your schedule during the week, don't I?" I was not prepared for that, but I looked at him and nodded my head.  He said, "I want to apologize for that first of all. Do you think it could work if you schooled the boys Monday through Thursday and we used Fridays for appointments and errands?" I was so thankful that he was able to see the importance of what we did during the day and was willing to come up with an alternative.

Dallas has become very protective of the time I spend schooling and he has been able to set some boundaries when I have a hard time setting them. These rules aren't so much for the kids but for my friends who think that since I am a stay-at-home mom, I am available at all hours.  It was getting out of hand at one point so my husband assisted me in letting others know that if they called before 2:00 p.m., they would have to leave a message and I would call them back when we were finished with school for the day.

I love that my husband looks for opportunities for teachable moments with our boys as well.   He loves history and loves engaging in conversations about that. If there is a building project or a side job that he knows will teach them some life skills, he takes them along.  The most valuable role I have seen my husband take on though is teaching our sons the importance of being men of God and men of their word. He has taught them to respect their elders and to respect women.  He holds them accountable  and always brings them back to God's Word. He has had to discipline them but always comes back and loves on them and they are able to discuss the issue at hand. He has been able to come alongside me and see what their talents are so that we can nurture those gifts. He supports them in their sports but is also able to guide them in their relationships with friends and girlfriends.

My husband plays such an important role as a homeschool dad. I am so thankful for the opportunity he provided for us to do this.   It is fun to share a passion such as this with him and have one more thing as common ground. WE love homeschooling together!

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