Capture Their Hearts

I have said this statement to several different people over the last week. I guess it's prevalent in my thoughts lately. "Capture their hearts...." What does that mean to you? To me lately, it has been my main reason and motivation for homeschooling my kids. We are in our ninth year of homeschooling....has it really been that long? Some days I feel like it is my first month...and then on other days there doesn't seem to be an end in sight.

But the true reason to have my kids here with me every day...to lose a huge income that I could be producing every year...is to capture the hearts of my kids. This is my main motivation and my main goal. Now, don't get me wrong. I believe that my kids should get a quality education. That is just a requirement. But in the end of the day, the most important thing to me is for me to capture their hearts..to have a relationship with them...to introduce them to Christ and the abundant life that He has for them...to show them how to love others...to love their siblings and bring out the best in them. That's what homeschooling is all about. And me, being their mother, is the most qualified person to do it. I know their ins and outs...what makes them tick...the idiosyncrasies that a teacher won't have time to figure out.
I am in this for the long haul...to love on them each and every day. To open up the world to them and all that is out there. What a gift from the Lord to me...and for me to give it to them.