We love Awanas. Our children learn an amazing amount of scripture, biblical truths and discipline of the mind, all while having loads of fun. Here is my "widow with her two mites"  on October 31st "Bible Heroes Night" at Awanas :
and here are the two cars my children raced in the Awanas Gran Prix:
Emma's "Jewel-y" truck (note "bed of roses" in truck bed!) got 3rd place for design (yes, that's google eyes and purple sunglasses!)
and Ethan's got 3rd place for speed (note the "guns" on top - what a difference between boys and girls!)
out of all of these cars: 
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Oct. 8, 2007 HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Twenty-one years ago this morning the Lord blessed us with our second son. It's amazing to think that he is 21 and yet somehow he has been a grown-up man for quite a while so it's not so unthinkable. It's fun on birthdays to think about all the blessings we've gotten from being chosen by the Lord to be the parents of the birthday child so here's a few memories -
Right after birth he cried a soft, almost "calling" cry - very opposite from the cry of his older brother! Just a quick reminder to me that God created each of them very different, with their own special purpose and reason. At age 8 months he couldn't walk yet but would climb the slide from bottom to top, turn around and slide down (talk about giving a mother a heart attack!!). From an early age to even now he loves to observe and analyze anything in nature - rocks, flowers, spiderwebs, frogs, anything ... and then of course bring it into the house to keep :) . At age 5 he didn't want to even learn the alphabet because it kept him from being outside but by age 7 he was reading 2 years ahead of his age.  At age 8 he announced to us that he wanted to be a "volcanologist" and study volcanoes up close (ayeeee!!!), had grown his own experimental cotton plants, had 2 guinea pigs as pets, and had a vast array of "collections" under his bed! At age 11 or 12 he and a friend started collecting computer parts and he self-taught himself more about computers than most programmers with advanced degrees. (Check out his website). At age 14 he developed an intense interest in all things military and begged us to join Civil Air Patrol.  He excelled there and went on to two successful years at West Point before deciding that military life wasn't his calling after all. Now I look and see a very loving son with a smart mind, willing and working hands, a big heart and a strong desire to do God's will. Mighty proud to call you son and wish you a very Happy Birthday, Russ!!! Thanks for making 21 years of our lives a true blessing! |
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Apr. 20, 2007 A Brief Update...
...on many issues!
1 - Son #2 is working for a friend, adjusting to non-military life, enjoying being near friends and family and trying to decide what to do from this point forward - pray for God's guidance
2 - Son #1 is still undecided about whether to finish with his masters or keep going for PhD; very busy at work, too and still needs to find a wonderful wife!!
3 - Daughter #1 is finally set on college choice, looking for a Godly lady to room with, has been blessed with a partial scholarship (yipppeee!), and staying extremely busy working 30-45 hours/week while trying to finish school and still taking Chinese classes on Sat mornings
4 - DH & I are counting down the days until our trip and dh's graduation, too - some days it feels like running a marathon! We are also praying about how to be involved with a potential orphans ministry at our church... and my MIL may consider selling us part of her farm so how in the world are we going to swing that... lots of praying going on here!
5 - Son #3 has taken an intense interest in all things musical - not sure if this is normal for a just-turned-five-year-old boy (the older two boys never went through this?) but spends hours and hours every day banging on pots, piano, guitar, anything that can be beaten or plucked or made to extract a sound. May be looking for some kind of music lessons soon?
6 - Daughter #2 is still drawing like crazy and has loved our science lessons on songbirds for the past week. Wants to do "acro" classes this summer or fall and drawing or watercolor. Gotta get busy finding what these two younger ones need as soon as I get back from my trip and graduate child #3.....!
What about your family?
-F |
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Apr. 5, 2007 Happy Resurrection Weekend!!
We are making Easter rolls this afternoon - using crescent rolls and marshmallows the rolls come out "empty inside". Find the recipe here.
We also are trying to learn the old hymn "Up from The Grace He Arose" and this little song for the youngest ones:
(Sing to tune of "Jesus Loves Me")
Easter is a time of joy
For all people, girls and boys
Joyfully today we sing,
Jesus is our risen King.
Jesus is risen! Yes, Jesus is risen! Jesus is risen!
He lives in Heav'n on high.
Hear us as we sing Thy praise,
Happily our voices raise
Thank-you, Jesus for your love
And our home in Heav'n above.
Jesus is risen! Yes, Jesus is risen! Jesus is risen!
He lives in Heav'n on high.
We will sing these tonight after our "Passover supper" (get details here or here) and again on Sunday morning after worship service when we go to Grandma's to color eggs. What are you doing for Easter this year?
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Each year we start making valentines about the first of the month. This year my 8yo has even made herself a "calendar" that counts down the days from the 1st to the 14th. You probably think it's because she likes getting candy or valentines from friends/family but it's not. My children and 7-8 others meet each other each Feb. 14th at the entrance to the local nursing home to go from room-to-room and hand out their cards. Each one is handmade by the children and includes at least one scripture. A former church we went to started this and even though the families have all gone their separate ways we still keep this tradition. It is amazing to me to see how excited they get! And it is a good reminder to me that Love, true love, not the stuff sold on TV or movies, is from the heart of God passed along to others through His people. These children remind me of that - may I remember it not just on Valentines Day but every day. "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39
And for a great sermon about "God's definition of Love" go here.
Happy Valentines!!!! |
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Jan. 7, 2007 Eight - how can she be eight already??!!
Yesterday we celebrated my 8yo's bday and since she is a lover of all things "butterfly" we of course had a butterfly-themed party. Very easy to do since Dollar Tree had lots of decorations and paper goods with butterflies and there are lots of great ideas online. We started the morning by baking and decorating (together - isn't this age fun?!) a cake like this one - 
and then made the "butterfly nectar" (aka KoolAid) to drink. We then proceeded to prepare our crafts for our fridge magnet butterflies like these made from old magazines and pipe cleaners -
and the old faithful craft of butterflies made from coffee filters and either clothes pins or pipe cleaners (note to others - do this craft first so the filters can dry before the party is over  ).
We then filled up small balloons to play "pass the butterfly" with two butterfly nets we got from the Dollar store (doesn't do too great on a blustery day by the way  but they laughed a lot at not being able to catch them before they popped in the orchard!) and of course the "cocoon race" (aka mummy race) where they had to roll each other in toilet paper and race across the yard, with the winners being the ones who did that AND picked up all their paper before the others (thanks for idea, Katy!!). Overall a gorgeous day (more like May than January) and perfect for a child's party with lots of good friends, family and good food. Gotta love being a Mom on those kinds of days. Hope that each of you had a beautiful and friend-filled weekend, and if not, that you will count all of your other blessings. Have a great week -
-F
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Dec. 28, 2006 Those Christmas Cards
Today we packed up the tree and decorations and sorted the Christmas cards. Sorted? you ask... Yes, we go through and pull out all of the cards that have photos in or on them and add them to our "stack" of photos of missionaries that we "invite" to dinner. I'm a very visual person so it helps me a lot to have photos or at least names written on index cards to remind me to pray for friends, family, missionaries (and some of them fit into all three categories  ). So we add new or replacement photos to our "stack", some of the other cards go into our craft drawer to be used in future masterpieces and some cards go into the decorations box to be used next year to be cut into gift tags. "Tightwad Gazette" would be proud!!
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Dec. 18, 2006 More Christmas Advent ...
| This week we are doing more Advent subjects (we are up to the wise men and will spend 3 days talking about wisdom, gifts, and how Jesus is worth searching for, how we need to watch out for the "King Herod's" who try to sabatoge our search for Jesus and how we can give the best gift - our time, energy and lives. We are trying to finish all our homemade gifts (can't describe them here because some son-to-be-recipients read this ) and then on Thursday and Friday we will do our annual "bake the nativity scene cookies"
so that we can decorate them and give them to the neighbors along with a few other goodies and the best goody of all - a tract - like this one from ICR :
Have a wonderful week!! |
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Nov. 16, 2006 Having dinner "with" our family...
| OK, a few blogs ago I made reference to how we have "guests" from around the world at our dinner table each night. Here's what we do: we gather pictures (or sometimes just notecards with names) of everyone we can find who is in ministry. Each night the 4yo choses one card from the stack on the side of the fridge to see who we are having to dinner that night. We pray for them during our prayer and during the meal talk about where they are located, what they might be doing, what time it is wherever they are, what they might be eating, what we think they might need prayer for, etc. It is so wonderful - we get to enjoy the thought of them without them having to suffer through my cooking! Think I'm exaggerating? Just ask Brian - when he was younger and at our home for Sunday lunch I placed on the table a turkey breast that squirted uncooked juice out when my husband carved into it!! Talk about embarrassing moments! For now Brian and his lovely wife (and lots of others) can be our guests without having to wait at the table while a very red-faced mother tries to finish cooking the turkey!! And maybe as the days and years go by we will have many of these precious people into our home for real (I'll cook the turkey ahead of time - or maybe we'll take them out to eat!).
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Nov. 14, 2006 More Thanksgiving
My friend Beth has put lots of great links to sites for the Holidays. This week we watched "William Bradford" (I bought the VHS with accompanying workbook for $5 at a used book store in the spring).  The 7yo and 4yo have really enjoyed doing the activities and it has been fun to talk about the true story of the Pilgrims. We also have been doing "leaf" pictures with wax paper - tradition in our family!  The 4yo made about 6 more today (our windows are covered and now we are using them to make place mats) after going for another walk down the path and a 4wheel ride to the river to gather even more leaves!
Tomorrow they will make finger puppets of the characters from "The Little Red Hen"  from a craft book I got from the free table at another book store last year (yeah, I'm cheap!!). The same book also has a pattern for a pilgrim hat that we will make to wear to Awanas. We're going to try to do all this and have a graduation meeting, too! Oh well, there's always Thursday if we don't get done.... Oh, the joys of homeschooling flexibility (and cheap Moms!!)
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Nov. 9, 2006 Thanksgiving Themes
Even though I'm doing Rod & Staff with my 7yo and 4yo I still "supplement" it with short thematic units. Over the years I've done a bit of every kind of approach and method imaginable and so we "meander" into themes as life happens (no, I'm not a true blue unschooler by any stretch). Anyway, R&S science this week is on "Winter Birds" and so we began studying birds, including the infamous turkey (this is from last year!)  Social Studies was "oceans" so of course that lead into who crossed the oceans and when, which led into the Mayflower  and Pilgrims. Our Bible story today was about manna and we talked about how God provides food for us, even if we get it from the grocery instead of it falling from the sky. (My 4yo was amazed to learn of these "wafers" and asked "God made vanilla wafers fall from the sky?!"). It never ceases to amaze me how God pulls everything together if I just stay open-minded (and open-hearted!).  Each person in the family writes one thing on their leaf they are thankful for and tapes it onto the french door where we taped the "trunk". On Thanksgiving Day we will read all of the leaves out loud before prayers. And a special family will be chosen from across the world to "have dinner with us" (I'll explain this in a later blog). Hope you are having a fun November and remembering to be thankful in all the little things like vanilla wafers!
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Nov. 3, 2006 "FEAR NOT" Party
Well, friends are a blessing. Good friends are even better. And good Christian Homeschooling friends are the best!! My friend Beth put together an awesome "Fear Not" party on the night of the 31st. She explains a lot of fun and meaningful things we did in her blogs but I just have to add a little ... one of the Dads did a great explanation of how light is so much more powerful than darkness, using the bonfire, flashlights and even a spotlight. My 7yo was quite impressed and do you know how good God is - the very next day her reading story was the plague of DARKNESS! I hadn't even realized that was next but God orchestrated such a great lesson for her, following up on the night before. We have talked all week about how Jesus is the light, the ONLY light, the CREATOR of light, and how much more powerful He is than our sins and the darkness of the world. She has had a multitude of questions and I am so much in awe of how God weaves together things to teach our children (and us!) spiritual lessons!!
Here's my "Little house" girl and "Pet tiger":
And here's the "Feeding of the 5,000" !!
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Oct. 26, 2006 From Preschool to Graduate School
Matt (my oldest - a GaTech grad who took the picture above) was "officially" accepted into the graduate program at NCState yesterday - yippee!! His 12 hours he's already taken there will be counted toward his degree so it won't take him too long, even while working a 40+ hour-a-week job, and he will get to stay close to home! Now we have children from preschool to graduate school - isn't GOD GOOD?!!!
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Oct. 23, 2006 If you give a mouse a cookie!
We love these books and a few days ago we went with our HS group to see the play! Cleverly done with "people size" half of stage and "mouse-size" half to match. The actors were very good and the children all belted out their laughter. Great intro to the stage for Preschoolers and young elementary - and learning that "play" has more than one meaning!!
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Oct. 16, 2006 What is the State Fair? Oct. 4, 2006 Me - a Soccer Mom???!!
Somewhere along the line I really balk at the title "soccer Mom" and all that it makes people assume! However, currently I am a soccer Mom to one very happy, very energetic 4yo soccer player! Yes, it is SOOOOO much fun to watch 3,4 and 5yo children try to decide if they want to look for more bird feathers on the grass or watch the ball; if they want to see if their shirt will actually go all the way to their knees or run after the ball; if they want to think about which goal to run toward or just see if they can pull up more grass than last time.... well, I think you get the gist of it! I truly enjoy it - every night we have a "game" (term used very loosely here!) I come home exhausted from the smiles and laughter of trying to get 8 children to decide whether to kick the ball or just run to Mom for another drink from that nifty new water bottle. Gotta love it!!
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Last weekend we went to a town nearby for their 100th anniversary celebration. Performing there was THE WELLS FAMILY a HOMESCHOOLED family from nearby who are friends with some friends of ours. We had heard about them for a while and being good bluegrass fans we had to go see them. Wow!! Can those girls sing and play! My 7yo and 4yo got tshirts for getting up close to listen and now they are bluegrass fans for life (yeah!!). My fav song of theirs is "Sandy Ridge" because I like the message (Matt. 7:24-26) but I also like the tune of several others, like "By the Mark". If you get a chance to see them, GO!!! You will truly be blessed!
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A couple of weeks ago my 4yo heard about a "see-saw" on a PBS show and asked his Dad to build him one. We looked at a few pics on the internet and he (Dad) drew up plans and built it Saturday. It's nifty!! Becuase it's on a pedestal, it can be moved around (like when you need to mow!) and it has 7 different grooves on the bottom of the board so that the sides can be adjusted further to one side to compensate for a heavier or lighter child (or Mom!!!) We have all really enjoyed it already and it's the type of project that I think will outlast even my grandchildren (if I ever have any :) !). Oh, how blessed I am to have a man who loves to build almost as much as he loves his children! 
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Sep. 21, 2006 All My children...
Several friends and family have been asking about how school is going for each, so here's a rundown:
M - taking 2 classes at NCSU master's (computer techie stuff that I don't even understand the title of the course!!); did very well on his GRE and is now in the process of completing his application to "formally" be admitted into the masters. (BTW - he just recently pruchased an electric guitar, too, for his "relaxation" time!)
R - taking a full load (plus Boxing that he had to do since he got a concusion during last spring and was required to stop the class). If you're not aware, a "full load" at USMA is =21 semester hours at a reg. college, plus they have duties, PT, inter-mural sports and military drills. This year is very, very busy but he says it's much better than plebe (first) year! He has declared his major - Physics!!
J - loving her senior year and taking classes at Southeastern as well as homeschool. (I wish I could take "Personal Evangelism" with her but I probably couldn't keep up!). She's also taking an English composition class and is doing well in both. For Chinese, she's continuing her classes at RACL on Saturday, and at home we have Chemistry, Bible, World Religions, and Math. She's taking advantage of the facilities at SECWF for work outs and still running here in the countryside. Extra time is spent prepping for her SAT and ACT tests. On Wednesday she is a lead teacher for an Awana's "Sparks" Kindergarten class.
EK - 2nd grade - we are doing Rod&Staff curriculum which I coordinate with reading time for her & 4yo as well as their art and science projects. For instance, last week in R&S science she studied about trees and in R&S Soc studies she studied mountains and British Columbia. We went for a "collect a leaf" walk around the farm, identified the leaves and compared what we found with what would grow in the mountains and in British Columbia. It's great for the 4yo, too. Art was a leaf pattern using rubbings of leaves and learning to "feather" with crayons on a leaf outline.
E - 4yo. Toys, balls, cars, running, once in a while draws or colors. Likes to "find letters" in books and magazines. I let him take an old page of a magazine and circle with a red marker all the "letters of the day". It's his favorite "school game". He & EK are both in Awanas, too.
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