| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
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| Date: From: Subject: | 6/7/2002 2:18:32 PM Chuck Hurst, Executive Director, Home School Foundation Introducing the Foundation Report |
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- June 7, 2002 Dear HSLDA Members and Friends, If you're like most folks, you find it encouraging hearing how one person's generosity was used to bless someone in need. Through our new email newsletter, Foundation Report, we'll keep you up to date on how the Home School Foundation has helped many home school families Over the last 25 years or more, home schooling has become successful due in large part to home schoolers' strong sense of community. When one home schooling family is in need, others come along side them to help bear their burdens. If you would like to learn more about what you can do to help the Home School Foundation assist struggling home school families, please visit our web site at: http://www.homeschoolfoundation.org If you would like to receive our monthly newsletter, please visit http://www.hslda.org/elert/default.asp. Each month we will send you an update on the Foundation's progress and activities. Below is the story of the Finch family. Because home schooling families like you seek help to home schoolers who have come upon hard times, families like the Finches can continue teaching their children at home. JOAN FINCH: A STORY OF HOPE Joan Finch's story, from a worldly perspective, would be considered one of despair. From the perspective of heaven, and of God's people, it is full of hope. Joan lives in Sacramento with her daughters Chelsea, 8, and Natalie, 6. Joan was pregnant with Natalie when Kevin, her husband of nearly four years, died of a heart attack in August of 1995. Kevin had previously undergone bypass surgery, and was on a list to receive a heart transplant due to numerous disorders; but a suitable donor was never found. Talk to Joan Finch today and you won't hear bitterness or resentment. Rather, hers is a tale of trust, of a child of God being strengthened by the Providence of God, and of a family encouraged by the love of the saints. One very tangible way that the Lord has used His people to help Joan and her children is through the Home School Foundation's Widows Curriculum Scholarship Fund. The fund seeks to carry out the admonition of James 1:27, which reads "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." Joan Finch was faced with many decisions in the aftermath of Kevin's death, but one of the more momentous was over how she would educate her children. The couple's intent had been to home educate, providing their children with the intensive, hands-on attention that only a stay-at-home parent can provide. But Joan was faced with the prospect of becoming the family breadwinner as well. Juggling the two seemed impossible. Joan felt led by the Spirit of God to continue as planned when it came to her children's education. While she would seek ways to earn income from her home, she was casting all her needs upon the Lord, trusting in Him to care for her. The Home School Foundation was one important avenue of that Divine care. Through the Widows' Fund, most of Joan's expenses for curriculum and other educational activities have been met, freeing up tight household finances for other things. "Of course home schooling is a full time job," Joan said. "So we knew that if we were to keep doing this we would need God's provision. It has been clear in so many cases that what we were receiving was straight from God's Hand. He gets the credit." Joan said the decision to continue home schooling was just one example of how God has led her to put her complete trust in him. "Here I am now, a single mom, and I was thinking 'What am I going to do?' I need to go out and get a job. I was thinking too much about what I have to do to fix this," she said. "But God has shown me how to trust in Him. The Lord has taught me how to really come to Him for guidance, and there's a great peace in that. I guess I needed a big shove to start doing that." Joan said the Home School Foundation is a good example of God using His people to accomplish His ends. "It is overwhelming to think that someone even cared about whether we could continue home schooling. We have times where we can feel forgotten, and wonder 'Where do I belong?' But here someone took the time to think about us and really meet some needs in our lives. I just think it's awesome." Visit our website at http://www.homeschoolfoundation.org For more information on the Widow's Curriculum Scholarship Fund, see http://www.homeschoolfoundation.org/funds/widows.asp If you know a home schooling widow, please forward this article and encourage her to give us a call at 540-338-8899. We count it a privilege to extend God's Hand to these families. Very truly yours, Chuck Hurst, Executive Director Home School Foundation {{JoinAd}} ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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