Welcome
I'm Sara, the voice behind Chasing Jupiter, wife to my best friend, and homeschool mom to our two young boys.
Instagram
  • “...I’m not trying to con kids into optimism or false confidence. I really believe this stuff. My view of violence and victory in children’s stories hinges entirely on my faith. Samson lost his eyes and died … but he has new eyes in the resurrection. Israel was enslaved in Egypt, but God sent a wizard far more powerful than Gandalf to save His people. Christ took the world’s darkness on his shoulders and died in agony. But then … Easter. In the end, good wins. Always.” N.D. Wilson 🌿 • • • How do you celebrate Easter in your home? 🌷
  • Ever since becoming a parent I’ve always described it as “unexpected”. Because for me that’s what it’s always been. No parenting book could have prepared me for what was in store for our family. This is another one of those “wonderfully unexpected” moments and we can’t keep the news to ourselves anymore. Baby No.3 due in October. 💛
  • “We can best help children learn, not by deciding what we think they should learn and thinking of ingenious ways to teach it to them, but by making the world, as far as we can, accessible to them, paying serious attention to what they do, answering their questions—if they have any— and helping them explore the things they are most interested in.” -John Holt 🌿
  • I have to admit, there are days when that yellow bus drives by our house early in the morning, I think, “wouldn’t that be easier... even better?” The thought is short lived but honestly there are days when the weight of homeschooling can be overwhelming. • • • As I plan my budget for next year and make lists of what worked and what didn’t over the last few months feelings of doubt crept in. Am I really the best teacher for these differently-wired, outside-the-box, thinking kiddos? What are they missing out on with our eclectic approach to homeschooling? • • • And then the boys spent a morning with their dad. Taking apart an old Xbox to fix it up and learn how everything works and runs inside the console. One on one learning with someone they love most, at a time when most kids would just be getting ready to eat lunch at their desks. You won’t find this in the traditional classroom. It’s the ordinary moments like this that make homeschooling the best choice for our family. • • • What is something ordinary (or extraordinary) in your days recently that reminded you why you chose this life for your family? ❤️
  • “May you grow up to be righteous, may you grow up to be true. May you always know the truth and see the lights surrounding you. May you always be courageous, stand upright and be strong. May you stay forever young.” -Bob Dylan 🌿 • • • Birthdays are a common place. Everybody has one. They roll by year after year. We celebrate our loved ones birthdays from their very beginning. • • • But a child’s birthday, well those in my opinion, are the really special ones. Simply because childhood is short. The days of a bright eyed child jumping out of bed and waking the house up bright and early proclaiming his birthday, his new year, are limited. • • • Today, we’re celebrating my newly turned eight-year-old son. The boy who turned me into a mother and forced me into the realization that parenthood is unequivocally, and absolutely, unexpected. • • • As I watch my son excitedly open his presents of lego and books, I know that time is the greatest gift. And birthdays are a reminder to me just how blessed I truly am to be his mom. 💙
  • “I just want to be five!” My youngest son said, or rather groaned when I was putting him to bed for the night. I lied down next to him and asked, why do you want to be five? Turns out he just wanted a later bedtime, knowing his older brother was still up playing in his room. • • • I made a deal with him that he could stay up late with us one night this week. That brought a smile to his face. So he said goodnight and quietly reminded me that he wanted a superhero party for his 5th birthday... which is well over three months away. What a kid. • • • Though the story is simply born of innocence, we never really stop rushing to the next big thing as we grow up. We rush to finish school, to graduate, to go to university, start a career, get married, have kids... even once we have kids the waiting never really stops. We wait for the next milestone, crawling, walking, potty training, independence... • • • Rushing and waiting for what comes next is easy. It’s almost like we’re wired for it. It’s contentment that takes work, it takes time, experience, and practice. • • • I heard a quote once that stated “My goal isn’t to raise happy kids.” It really made me stop and think, and I realized they were right. Our level of happiness is often a result of circumstance, but contentment, comes from within no matter what circumstance we find ourselves in. • • • How do we pass this on to our children? How do we teach our children to be present in each stage, to find joy, and to be content wherever they are. It’s something we’ve been working in our home this year, but I would love to hear from you. How do you exemplify contentment for your children day to day? 🌿
  • “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” -Henry David Thoreau 🌿
  • Today my son asked about feminism, a word he read on a International Women’s Day post. I have no desire to be associated with today’s feminism. But conveying that to my son was a different matter. I want my boys to grow up respecting women for their differences without apologizing for their masculinity. Which is opposite to what mainstream feminism is today and what international women’s day has become. • • • I love my sons for who they are. In all their boyness, for their differences and for the men they’ll become while today’s feminism wants to step on them. To see their masculinity diminish while shouting slogans like “the future is female!” No, this isn’t the kind of feminism I want my children to know or embrace. • • • So after thinking for a moment, I told him that for me, today I am reminded how lucky I am to have been born in this country, to be a wife, and a mother, and how lucky I am to have been given the gift of raising men. I explained that the freedom and respect women have in this country is because of the women who came before me and we celebrate them. We celebrate the champions of womanhood who have fought and will fight for the rights of women both born and unborn. Women who are raising the next generation with strong values and who can celebrate the uniqueness of both women and men. • • • I told him just as I was proud to have been born a woman and to celebrate women, he should be just as proud to be a man, for his differences and his strengths. I told him together we can celebrate women of the past and today without diminishing what makes him a man. • • • With that covered, I asked him what women he respected in his life. He mentioned aunts, grandmothers, friends, and me. He then added Marie Curie and Helen Keller. • • • Our boys are going to learn about feminism. Give them good role models, both men and women. Ask them about women in their own lives and what qualities they admire. Let them know what real feminism looks like because like many things today, the worlds version has been twisted up and is barely recognizable anymore. Let’s learn to celebrate it for what it should be. 💕 #internationalwomensday
  • The sun came out and the temperature went up to 0 today and it was so incredibly welcome and refreshing. We took a drive along the coast and explored the beach along the way. It was a whole new world to explore for the boys even though we’ve spent summer days at this beach many times before. I know I talk a lot about being present and not rushing time along but during these last few weeks of winter my mind is on spring... and it cannot get here soon enough. We need these days outside. Have you begun counting down the days until spring yet? 🌦🌷

Follow Me!

Facebook
Facebook