A Very Special Day

Today is my wonderful dh's birthday!

Happy Birthday, honey. I am so blessed to have you in my life. You put up with more than anyone else will ever know.

I can't believe that we will celebrate 16 years together on Friday.

You have made my life wonderful and helped me to be a better person.

I love you.

145

History Comes Alive!

Our oldest did a project that just totally excited her!

She made mummies!

She took some Barbies and wrapped them up and put them in a sarcophagus.

She had so much fun doing it that the rest want to as well!


The container at the top of the picture is the canopic jar for the internal organs, and the object at the bottom of the picture is a cat!

She decided not to do death masks because little sister desperately wanted her Barbies back! The younger sister also would not let her use the doll house furniture to put in the tomb. She was worried that she wouldn't get them back. ;)

WOOHOO!!

THE TESTS CAME BACK AND EVERYTHING IS FINE!!!!

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO PRAYED AND STOOD WITH ME.

PRAISE GOD FOR HIS MERCIES.

I AM GOING TO GO AND EAT SOME CHOCOLATE NOW!

A New Visitor

Our bird feeder is working out famously!

We had another visitor.


It was so peaceful to listen to it cooing.

As most of you know, the television signals are changing next year. We have been planning on buying a new t.v. sometime in the next year because ours was going south.

Now, we don't have cable and rarely watch much t.v.; but, we do watch a lot of movies. So, the t.v. going out was causing subtle murmurs around the house.

We started a fund for the new t.v. since we were determined to pay cash for it. We assumed that it would take many months of saving to be able to afford what we wanted. (read what dh wanted!) Since we had recently been to the movies and forked over $45 for tickets alone, we figured that we could spend a little more on the t.v. and save money on movie tickets, snacks, and gas!

Well, we saved the money a little quicker than we expected, so we got a new t.v. WOOHOO!

Here is the new t.v. We have already watched family night movies on it! It was cool.

We also watched The Ten Commandments on it for school.

It kind of makes us wish that we had satellite again so that we could use it more often! Not enough to actually do it, mind you.

We will just have to have more family movie watching nights and more movies for school!

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow I go in for some testing that has me scared to death. I have only told two or three people about it and just the thought of it has started a panic attack.

How do you face your own mortality? What do you think about? Does it really change you?

I am having such a hard time with these tests coming up, that I am finding it hard to pray. I know that God is in control and all that Christian-ese talk; but, down in the dirt of life does it help?

When we tell someone that is facing a difficult situation these sayings or Scriptures that have been used over and over again that they begin to lose their effectiveness, do they help? Can the person in the midst of the trouble really take to heart what is being said and let it help them?

Sometimes I wonder. Sometimes I say those things because it makes me feel better to be able to say something to them. Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut and hug them.

Ahh, Kansas

A beautiful day in Kansas!

Egyptian Arts and Crafts

We finished some of the Arts and Crafts for the TOG Y1U1.


The girls had a ball with these Paddle Dolls. We didn't have beads for the hair, so they used yarn and tied knots in them.


Another one!



This is the Step Pyramid that our oldest built out of sugar cubes. She did a great job with it.

A Light Has Come On!

I love it when I can see a light come on in my children's understanding. It is exciting to me when they really 'get' something. It is one of the big perks of Homeschooling, in my opinion. :)

As you know, we have been Tapestry of Grace Year 1 Unit 1. We have been studying Ancient Egypt, which has been fascinating to say the least. Well, I read the story of Moses in Exodus 1-5 when we started studying the Pharaohs and the lights started coming on.

As we were studying the Pharaohs, the girls started making connections about the things they already knew about Egypt. For instance, the pyramids are actually real and were built by the Egyptians! Simple, I know, but they understood it.

THEN, while I was reading Exodus, one of the girls shot up her hand and exclaimed that the Pharaoh in the Bible story was the same one that was in our history book. 'MOSES *KNEW* A PHARAOH'!!!! It was a HUGE moment for them to see history come alive alongside the Bible. It was a monumental moment in our house that day.

Since this discovery, there has been an extra push to learn more history and to read more of the Exodus story. What better desire could there be from an education than the desire to study the Bible?

The day was finally over

At least the dog is smiling!



Can you tell what she is doing?


Why, singing, of course!

Delightful Surprises

Since we moved into this house in the Fall, we didn't know what kind of plants and flowers there were.

It is exciting to see what is coming up!


I always wanted one of these purple trees! Anyone know what it is?!



Aren't these sweet?



I liked the perspective of this picture.



Are these Sweet Williams? They are cute.

Rejection, anyone?

How do you handle rejection?

Does it matter who it comes from or why you were rejected? Does it matter if you understand why you were rejected?

Does it change the way you think about yourself?

I have been grappling with these thoughts for the last week or so. You see, I was rejected for something that I wanted very badly. I thought that I was the perfect candidate for the 'job' and then they chose someone else.

Ouch. That didn't feel good at all. What made it harder was that I didn't/don't understand why I was not chosen. I thought that I had the qualifications and the desire to fulfill the responsibilities; evidently, they did not.

Ouch, again.

Why is it that when someone 'rejects' us, we let it change what we believe about ourselves? Mind you, I am not saying that we should think higher of ourselves than we ought, I am just saying that you start believing that you are not good enough anymore.

I am struggling with this. I 'think' that I know my strengths and weaknesses and how to overcome them -mostly-, then get shot down. I start questioning my abilities and even my opinions about things.

I don't like to admit it, but what I think about myself largely depends on what others think of me. Sad, but true. I know that it is wrong and I know that I should only look to Christ for my identity; BUT, my flesh cries out to be honored by others here on Earth. I want others to think that I am worthy of their respect and that I am smart, funny, pretty, etc.

How do I reconcile this with my faith? I cannot. It will not. It should not.

It is a flaw in my own heart that drives me to want others to think well of me. It is not one I am proud of and it is not one that is easily done away with. My old self craves the approval of those around me and demands to be fed at the cost of my heart and my relationship with the Jesus.

My focus should not be, 'Why didn't they like me or think that I was good enough' it should be facing the Cross and asking the Lord what He thinks of me.

Only His opinion should matter.

These speak for themselves!!!


Open wide!

What is that growing in there?

We made our bird feeder and evidently there was some water in the bottom, because today we found some things sprouting in the feeder. EEWWW



My 6yodd was so excited to find this moth because after we moved into this house she found one exactly like it and tried to keep it in a very small box. Well, you can imagine what happened. Then when she saw this, she was just sure that he survived and was coming back to visit her!

Can you see it?



Here is a close-up of her visitor!

I haven't forgotten that I am supposed to be decorating my house! It has just taken me a while to find the perfect curtains for our bedroom.

But I *did* find them and here they are.


Aren't they beautiful? Now I just have to find a comforter to match!!!

Some pics of 6yodds soccer game.


This is a great action shot of her kicking the ball in.


I can't tell if we made the shot or if the other girl did. But, she is right in there!


Our 3yodd just had to get in on the picture taking! This is the pose the 'big girls' used to have their soccer pics taken.

Okay, I thought that today was the 21st and that I was behind so I got this all ready only to discover that it was really only the 20th!!!

My sister came over last week and we planned a trip to the zoo. Then the day before we were going I got a call from a friend asking if we could baby sit her little guy. Sure, I said we'll just take him along.

Then, the morning of said trip, my sil called and asked if I could pick up her dd from preschool. Sure, I said we'll just take her along!

We spent almost 4 hours at the zoo. (I think!) We had a blast.


Here is the crew, minus Aunt Bobbie.




Shortly after we arrived at the zoo, a cow was giving birth and not only did we get to see it, but the zoo keeper brought it out so that we could pet it!!! It was so cool. The calf's name is Mad Mardigan from the movie Willow!


This is just a friendly cow that was talking to us!



We got to feed the giraffes! It was amazing and a little slimy. :)



The chimpanzees were very active when we went and they left this hand print on the glass.

In our Zoology 1 book we were to make birdhouses.

Well, we didn't exactly make two and we kind of just improvised; but, it is working wonderfully!

We hung it on the Weeping Mulberry tree right outside the front door and now we can watch the birds while we do school.


We have been able to listen to the different calls and songs of all the birds and watch them take baths in the fountain on the porch.

Week in a Nutshell

Our week has been crazy! It has been full and wonderful. We had a Dad's Night for our home school group that turned out really well. I will have to post pictures tomorrow.

For now, here are some pictures that were taken this week.


This is the tree in our front yard. It was so startling white.



My 8yodd hit her shin on the steps to the slide and wound up with this beauty of a bruise!



I have been trying for months to get a picture of the moon and my 10yodd tries one time and gets this. That is *so* not fair!


I made a yellow cake from scratch with cream cheese frosting, from scratch. It doesn't happen that often. Then my 6yodd wanted me to put red hearts on it. I did.

When we went into the kitchen a little later, this is what I saw.

Guess who took a little sample? No, guess again!

Okay, I will tell you. THE DOG. Maggie stood on her hind legs and ever so gently took two bites out of my homemade cake. UGH

Dh said that at least she didn't touch the hearts!!!