Month: August 2022

Armor of God

WOW! Just wow, personal study and crazy writer’s brain thoughts on a recent Sunday School lesson!

Armor of God

August 31, 2022 (Timewarp from August 8, 2022)

At Sunday School yesterday, the study was on the Armor of God (Ephesians 6, if you want to check it out).  When I was ten (approximate age of my class), I loved studying different cultures, their people, ways of life, weapons, costumes, you name it.  This armor of God passage clicked for me because I had just been reading of how the armor of the Etruscans, Greeks, Romans, Babylonians, and Egyptians had invaded or defended and defeated greater numbers due to their armor – either a superior weapon, superior body armor, superior tools (like chariots), superior tactics (like phalanx). 

It was pretty easy to get the first part; our enemies aren’t other people walking around even though we’re tricked into thinking so and shove all our energy into being mad instead of focusing on the real enemy.  It was the rest about all the cool armor that glowed to life with my recent understanding:

With all your armor on, you will stand strong; only with your armor (through Jesus), will you stand. 

(The Bible repeats this for emphasis!)  Super neat!  Only with this armor (all of it requires Jesus, like He’s the master Creator who designed all this stuff in the first place, you know!) can you stand tall in victory!

Having your loins girt about with truth…

(My thoughts, again) Having is one of those multi-tense verbs in Greek, meaning have, having, and has had, aka always having or continually having.  Girt = girded, or strapped around.  In the body armor symbolism, being “girt about” or “girded” was having a belt/sash/rope tied tightly around your clothing to keep it in place and as a holder for weapons.  Most sheathes were looped or tied onto the belt.  The truth is the Word of God.  (My ten-year-old brain already got this from Sleeping Beauty as the Sword of Truth is the Word of God – the voice of Light with the power to defeat darkness.)

(Still my thoughts) This translates to: continually having the Word of God in your mind.

…and having the breastplate of righteousness…

(My Thoughts) Same sentence, so this is still in the cool multi-tense of Greek.  A breastplate was a thick piece of padded armor covering the front and back – most types connected at the top of the shoulders, and covered both the front and back, sometimes the front was more heavily padded.  The strongest of these deflected arrows!  All of them lessened the impact of bodily attacks.  The purpose is to protect vital organs, like the heart, lungs, stomach, etc. 

…and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace…

(My thoughts again – remember, same sentence, same tense) Wow!  The preparation of the gospel of peace is like when John the Baptist is preparing the way for Jesus!  It is the telling of everyone without regard to our own life and safety!  It is the understanding that the eternal is the most real and that this life is temporal; a vapor, the Bible says!  “Shod” is an old word that means “covering the feet.”  Our most common use today is when we say a horse is “shod” – his feet are protected!  My feet are being protected so I can share the gospel to prepare others to come to love Jesus as I do!

…above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked.

(thoughts…) Oh my!  This one!  Just wow!  First off: this is “above all” so primary!  Our defense is primary (of course, so we can continue to be effective, a wounded soldier isn’t effective).  Then: fiery darts can be translated to arrows, flaming arrows, projectile, etc.  “Fiery darts” in the Roman era when Paul is writing were the most devastating weapons because they were usually arrows or spears with the ends coated in a pitch/tar mixture that was lit before tossing or shooting and did its job effectively by sticking into the target, spreading, and burning.  Quench means “to put out.”  Basically, this shield can smother any fiery dart and since elsewhere the Bible warns of the devil throwing “darts” at us, it means everything the devil could throw at us is extinguished!  Translated in my brain I saw the shield of virtue (yes, I’m reverting to my ten-year-old brain again) that the evil dragon breathes fire on and not even the heat burns his hand!

…and take the helmet of salvation…

(again) Helmets were to protect the head and later, the neck, one of the most vulnerable points.  I think of the helmet protecting the brain; keeping fiery darts from our minds – the place most unseen attacks start for me.  Salvation is the only way.  Jesus is our salvation so He is the only way.  Putting on the helmet of salvation puts us under Jesus and therefore our mind is protected!

…and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

(my crazy thoughts again!) Finally!  A weapon!  The sword of the spirit is the Word of God.  That can’t be more plainly spelled out, can it?  The only weapon we wield that can do any damage is the Word of God!  Isn’t that cool?  Jesus used scripture to combat the devil when He was being tempted in the wilderness, when the Pharisees tried to trick Him, in answering His disciples, and anytime someone questioned something He did (you know, like healing on the Sabbath).  If that sword is the one Jesus chose to use, we should follow His example!  

…praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching with all perseverance and supplication for the saints.

Challenge accepted! (My thoughts again)  Anyway, that translates to always having communication with Jesus and (prayer = talking, communicating) and asking everything (supplication = like begging or pleading) in the Spirit watching out with perseverance (perseverance = standing strong) and pleading or asking for every other brother (saints = followers of Jesus).  So I took this / take this as a challenge from Jesus – He just told us this armor was so we can stand strong!  Remember, “In this world, we will have trouble” but He has already overcome the world!  Putting on all of His armor, which is tried and true, tested already for us, will enable us to stand strong and exterminate the attacks of the enemy!

This passage study is a little glimpse into my crazy writer’s brain that connects everything from cartoons to real life to old culture study to word origin and entomology.  I use all of these things to analyze and interpret literature – including the Bible!  When someone sends us a letter, we read it in his voice, so when I read the Bible, I read it as a letter from Jesus.  The only way I know His voice is by reading and using the miracle of intelligence He gave us; I analyze and step into the time then and translate it to now.  Crazy, I know, but still super cool! 

Our weapons are a sweet total covering of armor for defense, a shield of ultimate defense (nothing gets through it!), and the best weapon ever made! 

Thank you for reading,

Type at you later!

~Nancy Tart

Stretching Her Eagles’ Wings

Enjoy each moment! We know our children are “on loan” from God for a little while & then they take flight! Enjoy this adventure, Becky!

Stretching Her Eagles’ Wings

August 28, 2022

Part of our educational philosophy is never to hold anyone back.  That is sometimes the hardest part of being a homeschool mom, at least for me. 

Friday, Christina, Louis, Thea, and I drove Becky to Pensacola Christian College for the start of her next level.

The car trip was fun.  Louis and Christina kept playing songs Becky likes and saying, “oops, that’s not classical or hymns” which made everyone laugh and several discussions of songs and lyrics and morality erupt.  We didn’t stop as often for potty or snack breaks as Louis thought we’d have to (Thea was too entertained with her big sisters and Christina, Thea, and I packed a bunch of snacks). 

The campus was huge and iconic.  Beautiful brick and magnificent stately trees reflected tradition and integration.  I’m a bit nerdy; I loved the architecture and old fashioned style.  Everything was electronic though!  I had received an email asking for a physical copy of a specific document – and being leery of electronic access as I am, I brought the actual paper.  Didn’t need it.  The electronic version of the printed paper in my purse “transferred” perfectly from St Johns River without a thing from me.  As Becky’s “authorized parent,” I was able to load into a portal on my phone that allowed me access to maps, her mailbox information, orientation information, even schedules and everything as if I were the student – Becky said it was creepy, I thought it was cool!

After crossing off the seven things (five on the “welcome” list, but with Becky under eighteen there were two paperwork drop offs and as she’s in the work program, she had a task for that as well) Becky had to do and being as much help (okay, Becky would call it hindrance) as possible, we decided (not precisely accurate, Louis decided) to go have a late lunch together just off campus. 

Someone likes Becky’s new spot!

Mellow Mushroom.  In Pensacola?  I thought the one on Anastasia Island was the only…  oops.

Finally, I ended up with a picture of my college girls.  They thought it cool because both are Eagles and blue & gold & white.  (Kimberly got in on that because she took her SAT at Pedro Menendez High School so she considers herself a “Falcon” and even has a Pedro Menendez Vystar card!  She pulled it out and showed them the blue & yellow colors – “A falcon is a type of eagle” Kimberly claims.)  Becky laughed because she and Kimberly plan on being Gators when they head for their Masters & Doctorate.  (“trading the gold for orange” they claim) Remember that mustard yellow skirt?  Becky’s pairing it with her beautiful navy blue blouse turns her outfit into her college colors!

I’ve been listening a lot to college plans since we encourage studying the path to what they want to do and finding various ways to access that final goal.  There was a lot of path and plan discussion on that road trip. 

I’m so proud of Becky for taking flight!  I pray she has a wonderful experience and learns a lot.  I pray she makes friends and connections that will last a lifetime!  I pray she does her best.  Her best right now is amazing me.  I’m truly excited for her entering this stage. 

Thank you, Jesus, for making it possible for us to help our children pursue their dreams!  Thank you that each of them wants to help the other.  Thank you that each wants to invest in their own education by working for it both financially and mentally.  I’m so thankful for the blessing of Becky in my life!  Thank you, Jesus, for allowing me the honor of being her mother! 

As I’m driving back home, chatting with Christina as Thea and Louis sleep in the back, I think on how parents only really get to father or mother their children for a few years – they are on loan from God anyway as all of them are God’s children entrusted to us.   “21 years” by TobyMac came on the radio followed by “Cinderella” by Stephen Curtis Chapman… God knows how music touches me.  One bit in the “21 years” song that makes me smile is “21 years, what a beautiful loan,” (I thank you Jesus, for trusting us and “loaning” Becky – and the others, but this thought was really about Becky – to us) and in “Cinderella” the bit is “but I know something the prince never knew,” [meaning they grow up and go] and yes, girls become young women, make their own decisions, and I pray mine know they can still talk to me about anything. 

Enjoy your “loans” with your littles!  Enjoy every bit you can.  God has trusted us with training and raising His beautiful children!  Just like I love watching “my little gymnasts” (those I’ve coached, usually as preschoolers) as they rise, I love watching my girls become young ladies. 

I love you, Becky!  Let your light shine!  Enjoy this adventure called life!  Every day is a gift from God; that’s why it’s called the present!

Thank you for reading.

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

Once Upon a Date

Now, though… I understand the insane shock that caused by parents not to jump with joy when I showed off my ring and announced I was engaged. #TotalAndCompleteShock

Once Upon a Date

August 2, 2022

Nineteen year old me was crazy with excitement at 10pm at a bowling alley until 1am, (cosmic bowling in 2002) but my dad looked like he’d been shot with bright headlights in the dead of a new moon night.  Now, though – I understand the insane shock that caused my parents not to jump with joy when I showed off my ring and announced I was engaged.  Total and complete shock.  At 10pm after a long day at work, hearing the same news from one of my kids overloaded my tired brain; I bet I looked like they’d shone ultra-blue headlights in my face on a new moon night!

Now I’m praying I can be a godly mentor for my daughters (all of them, but especially Christina at this moment) and my son.  I am so super thankful for those I consider mentors I’ve learned from in my life.  Sometimes they were longtime friends, my moms (one God gave me at birth, the other God gifted me when I married Louis), and some were in my life for a few days, one meeting, or a season. 

I’m listening to Christina with her planning (wedding once she has her masters in 2025) and discussing life plans for the future, and I’m smiling because I remember me twenty years ago and “We’ve Only Just Begun” by The Carpenters was filling my brain on repeat.

Really odd little tidbit?  I was engaged on July 20, 2002 & Christina’s engagement date was “Anastasia’s birthday” but 1am – aka July 20, 2022.  And time?  Cosmic bowling ended at 1am on really July 21…  I don’t do coincidence (haha).   

Thank you for reading!

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

Becky: The Second Story

Becky: The Second Story

July 30, 2022

Part of our educational philosophy is never to hold anyone back but also, not to push so hard that they begin to think of learning as a chore.  Learning is a life-long pursuit of knowledge that branches into everything that God has gifted us on our planet.  We learn about Jesus, we learn about His creation, we learn about people, we learn about animals, we learn about our amazing interconnecting tapestry that is our Earth, we learn about ourselves and about others.  We are consistently learning.   Sometimes we learn at a fast pace and sometimes slower than a snail in quicksand. 

Becky has been through phases of learning.  Her thirst for knowledge ebbs and flows but is always there, driving her to learn.  She has dropped everything to study anatomy, shading, artistic styles, and all about sketching, illustrating, and painting as an artform and practical applications in our commercial world.  She’s been on medical stints and animal explorations for days to years at a time.  She is always learning but not always traditionally. 

Her latest discovery was about self.  She is not a good hybrid or online learner.  She wants interaction with an actual teacher or professor and hands-on training, manipulation, and the ability to see and touch what she is learning.  She loves laboratories and field study. 

She got a bit disheartened about college classes when our local St Johns River went hybrid online after the whole government-required shutdown debacle.  She was finally old enough to attend a pre-med camp she had been salivating over since she first learned about it at twelve years old.  We sent her.  She came back with a renewed vigor and excitement about learning and declared happily, “I want to go to college there!”

Fast forward nine months. 

She’s going to college there.  Stop.  My sixteen year old is getting in my car in August, and I’m driving her six and a half hours away to a college campus.  Stop.  My heart soars for her because I wanted to do the same thing when I was sixteen.  My heart beats a little fast because she is the first of my littles to actually go live away.  Yes, she’s the same one who has been a nanny and lived in North Carolina for three weeks at a time in stints, but that was with family.  Yes, she’s been on extended Grandma Joanne trips, again, family.  I’m literally dropping her off at a college dorm to see her again at Christmas (or maybe Thanksgiving). 

Part of me isn’t ready for this. 

The largest part of me is over-the-moon excited for her.  I can only step in her shoes and imagine myself when I was sixteen, trying my best to get into that same college – and two years later trying to get enough money for the other college I wanted.  I would have been thrilled!

So I did what I had planned to do as a teenager for myself; I took her shopping (I know, I hate shopping – and Becky isn’t on the “I-love-shopping” club either) to buy items for her dress code.  We found a whole wardrobe minus the “formal dress” and “suit jacket” for her to mix and match into a few outfits. 

“Whole wardrobe” sounds like a lot.  Her wardrobe consists of three new blouses and three new skirts to match her two button-up long-sleeve blouses creating quite a few outfits.  Long ago, I had planned a wardrobe for myself with pretty much the same things (I would have exchanged the mustard skirt for a Hawaiian floral print, however).  It was super cool to just be me and Becky.  Although our shopping was squeezed into about forty-five minutes on a Wednesday at the outlets… we walked in and out of three or four stores just browsing yet seeing nothing she liked that fit the dress code like army soldiers.  I almost felt sorry or wanted to laugh at the salespeople we left standing there after we marched in, around the store, and out without stopping.  Through the window of the last store I figured this would be where we found stuff and I reminded Becky of what I recall as “Aunt Katy’s shopping advice” – “If you don’t absolutely love it, don’t buy it.” (I don’t know if my sister ever said those words exactly, but that I remember from shopping with her once ages ago.)

Even though part of me isn’t ready for Becky to be gone for months at a time, I have learned life is full of changes.  I embrace the changes as they come.  I love this stage for Becky!  I’m excited for her!  I pray she has an amazing college journey, meets encouraging friends, and thrives in the hands-on, Biblical environment at Pensacola Christian College.  Becky has always tossed things at me before I’m ready… college classes at twelve, disappearing with Grandma for multiple weeks, volunteering to nanny four states away, and other things I won’t mention, so getting early admitted to a college and living in a dorm doesn’t surprise me too much.  (No, she didn’t get to “skip” graduation announcement at church… shh… she’ll be home next year when they do “graduation Sunday” and her cutest goofy baby picture will be up there with everyone else from that year.) 

Enjoy this adventure called life!  Every day is a gift from God; that’s why it’s called the present!

Thank you for reading.

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

Boy Statues and Flips

Where my crazy boy can safely do his flips and workouts #NotMyHardwoodFloor #WatchingMyLittelBoyGetStrong #WGVGymnastics #WGVG #BoyGymnastics #Flips #Fun #Family #Strength #LittleBoy #LucasLovesGymnastics

Boy Statues and Flips

June 15, 2022

At WGV Gymnastics, Lucas was begging me to let him “do the show” (aka sign him up for our “Back to the 80s” annual show) when it was still in the planning stages!  Lucas loves his gymnastics.  He watches routines from the Olympics and JO boy’s meets and aspires to be like them.  He tells me “I’m going to do that one day!”  Lucas was super excited about his show t-shirt!  (When he saw the girls’ leotards, and they didn’t have the boy’s t-shirt in yet, he asked if he could wear a leotard with black gym shorts over it and “turn it into a unitard.”) 

Anastasia loves the bar!
Jaquline (left), Anastasia (right)
Lucas’ group (Jillian is in there too)
Jaquline & Anastasia’s group

Kimberly, Jaquline, Jillian, and Anastasia joined him as show gymnasts! 

He said his group did “excellent listening” and when he grows up, he wants to be a trashman (shocker, I thought it was a football player or a professional gymnast).  I was working the desk and as his session finished, he ran up super excited, showing me his trophy – a statue of a boy gymnast with “Lucas Tart” printed on the nameplate.  “Mom!  Mom!  It’s a boy statue!”  I’ve never seen his little eyes glittering so!  He has it right next to his Olympic gold medal (from last year’s show) that shows a boy gymnast.  Lucas put his medal and trophy next to his Dad’s trophies for guitar performances in high school. 

He keeps showing us all the flips and his routine outside where his hands land on the bit of carpet-bonded foam Coach Paul gave him for helping one day.

I’m so thankful for his patient coaches and the fact that our gym offers the boys ability to be part of our gymnastics family!

Thank you for reading.

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

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