My New Neighbor

[fourbygrace]

I was SO excited to find out that a "large" homeschooling family moved in down the block a couple of months ago. I didn't knot it becasue they are aroungd the corner and we never go that way, but another neighbor told me about them. We went to meet them today and they were so nice and the kids are close in age to mine. We have so much in common, it was frightening.

WHY, oh, WHY did the Pearls have to come up 5 minutes later? You know . . ."I read this great book by Michael and Debi Pearl . . . ". :banghead

I was so happy and now what?? I am trying to stay away from punitive people. I am so disappointed, but now I am at a loss. She was so excited to find out that there was another homeschooling family nearby too. :( What to do??

Mary

[hey mommy]

Well, sounds like God has put you in a great place to show them GBD. :) If she 'just' read it, maybe they don't really use it yet.. I don't know....

good luck..

[TulipMama]

*hug*

[hsgbdmama]

You know . . ."I read this great book by Michael and Debi Pearl . . . ".

You can respond with one or more of the following:

"I read some great books by Pastor Crystal Lutton/Jeff Van Vonderen/Tim Kimmel/Scott Turansky & Joanne Miller and found it blessed my family very much, much more than Pearl ever did."

:shifty ;) :hug

[Titus2Momof4]

I like Jodi's reply :) And see, this is where I am familiar enough w/Pearl's methods (and what it looks like in practice :blush) that for me personally, this would be a great conversation starter! Do not dismay- give the family a chance, go have a playdate, get together now and then, see how "heavily" into it they are, and also be sure to talk about GD, and see how it goes :) You never know- she could become your new best friend! :)

[fourbygrace]

Thanks for the encouragement. She was actually talking about Created to Be His Helpmeet at that time, but I usually assume they go together. Me . . . jumping to conclusions. :chill I just get jumpy when I hear the name.

They had an "If/Then" chart (by Doorposts) on the fridge, but I did not get close enough to look at it to see what the "Then's" were. I will look more carefully the next time. We dropped by while out on a walk and were only there a few minutes. The children seems very nice, but not so overly polite and robotic as I have observed in other families. They were fairly spirited. She did however, notice how "obedient" my son was when I called him to leave. (Not that that is a sin. :mrgreen )

I will give it a chance.

Blessings,
Mary

[Soliloquy]

:hug2 I understand the anxiety. I would have knots in my stomach. What everyone wrote is so true, though. Get to know her and you'd be surprised what God can accomplish in your relationship!!

[katiekind]

:pray

I hope it will go ok. They're probably wonderful people and wonderful kids. We had a Pearl family in our church who were all of that. There were a lot of problems with relating to them because of their intensity about discipline...and yet they were truly sweet people who loved the Lord, and I really wish it had gone differently with them. I'd really hoped they would benefit from our culture of graceful parenting.