Back to School Blessing 2019

This is one very special evening for my family. Years ago God placed on our hearts a need to start off the school year together with a purpose -- a theme -- a link to Him. And so the Back to School Blessing began.

2018 is here

2017 is here

2016 is here

2015 is here

This year was my favorite. It's really hard to put into words. I'll do the best I can to show how my heart feels from our evening last night.

The stars were ordered way ahead of time and Scott and I both wanted our dinner to be on our new porch. It's been in a different place every year -- part of what makes it special is the location.

The menu was picked earlier that week and I had a huge pot of sauce on the stove simmering since the morning. My mom's sauce recipe is the best -- it tastes like home to me.

I started the dessert when the sauce was simmering.

This cooler first of September called for a fall dessert.



Cranberry Apple Crisp from Susan Branch --





The blessing is of course the most important part but the food is really really important to me.



On the porch I set up the table and added the flowers.



On one of the many extra grocery runs that day Scott brought home these amazing sunflowers that brought such sunshine to the space!

















I don't let the girls see the room once I start setting up -- this is where they entered and what they saw.









After the food was done, the dessert cooling, and everything set up -- the guests, our precious daughters arrived!











We took a few family pictures before dinner.



Daddy and his girls --



Mama and her girls --





And one with the tree I love so much



We ate the most amazing baked ziti with warmed extra sauce on the side, yummy bread and butter -- such comfort fall food.



The leaves were starting to turn and were just what we needed to look out and see.



After lingering over dinner it was time for the girls to open their stars!



I love that from where we sat we could see the stars from past years hanging in the dining room window.



Since we had every color of the rainbow it was time for some clear stars and they were spectacular.











Anna Jiang Qian 2019-2020 11th grade





Abigail Mei 2019-2020 7th grade



We came back into the porch after capturing the stars in the last of the sunlight. Time for dishing out dessert and pouring tea.





And now the blessing.

Our family verse -- guiding principle for the year is from Proverbs 16:3

Roll your works upon the Lord {commit and trust wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will and} so shall your plans be established and succeed.



It is truly impossible to fit into words how the next hour and a half went on that porch. The air was cool. The girls were attentive and the Holy Spirit was with Scott and I as we spoke. Oh how I wanted to record our talk and the deep conversation that followed after sharing this verse with the girls, but I just couldn't. I didn't even want to move to take a picture. (I did take just a few) but it felt like we were on holy ground.

• I read the verse very slowly several times 
• I shared how God showed this verse to me in my quiet time over the summer and how I brought it to daddy as an idea
• In the same summer God was showing Scott (not the same verse) but relating to it how we can come up higher this school year as a family -- God fit it all together so well 
• I shared that when we tell the Lord in prayer what is going on {roll your works upon the Lord} and we "give" {commit them wholly to Him} and trust our works {our plans} to Him - -He will cause our thoughts to become agreeable to His will and our plans will succeed. 
• I shared how it's almost like a bridge: one side is that we tell our plans, give our days to the Lord and trust him. On the other side of the bridge is that our plans will be established and succeed. The bridge that gets us from one side to the other is that He causes our thoughts to become agreeable to Him. 
• I love how practical Scott made it for our family. Our "works" are the moment by moment decisions we make all day long. From choosing to do homework instead of being on the phone etc. 
• We talked a long time how this verse applies to each of us. We talked about Scott and his now {second year as principal of the middle school} and how over last year he needed to go through the process of trusting God -- it was a long process. 
• We talked about Anna and how this verse relates to walking with God toward the right college He would have her in.  
• We talked about Abigail and how the verse relates to 6th grade and 7th grade
• We talked about how God led me suddenly back into teaching but that it was God's plan all along and how He prepared me daily in my small literacy tutoring position I did part time for 3 years. How it looked like suddenly back into the classroom but really it was this verse. 
• We talked about how we trusted God and His plan when I left teaching and stayed home for 13 years. 
• Each day that we trust in God in the little things and choose to listen to the Holy Spirit He is causing our thoughts to line up with His plan for our life and there we find ourselves on the other side of the bridge where our plans are established and succeed.
• It was such a beautiful, beautiful conversation and we talked until late in the evening. 

Our life is hard and messy {just like all families} but when we choose to put God first and teach the Word in to our children it makes us stronger. There is nothing I love more than this precious family of mine. Not one little thing.