Aug. 21, 2008
S&T Fri -- Little Man's Birthday Extravaganza

Join the rest of us over at Mary aka CanadaGirl as we share our weekly Show&Tells.  

Our Little Man turned five last Friday, so we celebrated in our traditional family way -- A week-long BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA!!!!!

As the birthday boy, he chose the breakfast and then played all day with his new workbench.  (When he sees you next time, he'll be ready to help you, Grandpa Mel & Grandpa Farmer!)

On Saturday, we went up to the city where we went to the park as a family...

After a stop at Barnes and Nobles to read some books and play with their Thomas the Train table, it was time to eat. 

"So, Little Man, where should we go to eat for your special birthday dinner?"

"Should we go to Saigon?  Or Manila?  Hanoi ?  Or Seoul?"

"No?   Hummm... well all those did seem terribly far away.  Oh, what did you say?  The white sign on the bottom tells us where you would like to go?   Well, sure!  Indochine it is!"

Our family's pick of "bday dinner" restaraunts (so far this year -- 3 out of 4 of us have chosen it, and the fourth person hasn't had his birthday yet) has been a delightful place called Indochine.  The owner is half Vietnamese and half French, and has created a place that pleases all of your senses.

The rickshaw, the beautiful lush vegetation and fish ponds, the artistry of the decor, even the little bathroom made us feel like we really had travel thousands of miles to Vietnam.

It was nice enough for us to eat in the garden in one of the little outdoor "houses."   Everything is good here and we ordered pad thai, mamsaman curry, and chicken with basil.  YUM!   We came hungry and enjoyed every bite!

As our tummies were getting contented and the leftover food was ready to be boxed up, the birthday boy was not shy about letting the waiter know, when asked, "Are you folks going to have any dessert?", that it was his birthday.  Our excellent server laughed and then graciously brought out Little Man's chocolate cake topped with five lit candles for him to make a wish with.

[And, his week is not quite over yet. After all, it's not every day/year you turn five. This Saturday, we are having a few families over to swim at our neighborhood pool and join us for lunch.  Little Man even planned the menu for his friends:  grilled hamburgers, baked beans, homemade strawberry lemonade, grapes, watermelon, and ice cream cake.]

Last Friday, while he was playing, I looked back through the pictures of him through the years and reminised...

Jun. 20, 2008
S&T Fri -- Darling Daughter's Riding Lessons

Our daughter has loved horses for years, and it isn't just a young girl's passing fancy.  She's read books on horses.  Watched moives about horses.  Asked for a unit study on horses.  Made her brother play horse games.  Dreamed of horses.   

She's wanted riding lessons, but we wanted to make sure she was old enough and that we could also find the right trainer for her.

So when she made "Memory Master" this spring with our Classical Conversations group, her father and I decided to reward her by fulfilling her dream.  We've found an wonderful woman near us who has the perfect riding program for our daughter.  She teaches all ages, uses the CHA program, and also runs a riding program for disabled children.  DD has to groom the horse, put on its tack, and study worksheets each week to take tests (written and physical) to pass up through the levels.  So far, she has loved it! 

The only thing she needs to work on making sure the horse knows that she as the rider is the boss.  DD is a soft-spoken, gentle soul and her riding instructor has to keep encouraging her to speak louder to the horse and be a little more firm.  This experience has been so very good for our little girl, in so many ways...

 Learning to groom.

Working on balance and other basics with fun and games.

 

Please join the rest of the crowd for Show&Tell every Friday! Get all the information over at:

Feb. 29, 2008
S&T Fri -- More Indian Treasures

DH brought home some lovely gifts from India last month for our family...

A sari for me and a suit for him (their suits are different.  Lighter fabric with a special top only.  He had both his suit and my sari specially tailored.  He went with our friends from the ministery and she and the children helped pick out my sari colors.  Below is an example of the amazing detail of the embordiery.)  We wore them the Sunday the team shared with the church about their trip.  I recieved many compliments; I said that I wonder if we will wear something like this in heaven -- it so beautiful, light, and elegant.

Darling Daughter loves her 2 outfits her daddy got for her.  She wore the princess dress for the India Missions Sunday, and the punjabi to our Classical Conversations co-op as part of her presentation one week. (A punjabi is a tunic with pants.)

Example of the amazing beadwork, etc.

Below is what DH calls his "man dress." He hasn't worn it, but thinks it will make a perfect wise man costume someday.

Another punjabi for me fas a gift rom the sweet wife of the man who runs the minstry.  We love this couple so much and are blessed to know them.  We are praying that they & their children will come to visit us this summer during their annual time in the States.

This is the neatest bowl.  It is a flat peice of wood cut in a spiraling star to creat the "bowl"...

A fruit bowl whose base is cut from one single piece of wood.  Through all the items DH brought back, I've come to appreciate the amazing craftmanship of those who made them.

DH brought back 3 spreads for "his girls."  Two are not shown; one is a beautiful tableclothe/spread for DD when she gets older and another is a summer spread for our bed.  The one below has its home over the back of our couch and I love it everytime I see it...

Please join the rest of the crowd for Show&Tell every Friday! Get all the information over at:

and...

...along with what this week's participants are sharing.

Feb. 15, 2008
S&T Fri -- Darling Daughter's Tea Set

Favorite things of my eight year-old daughter...

...Her new tea set that we found yesterday at the thrift store*

...Lace gloves from Vision Forum that she purchased with her Liberty doll

...Mini garden tools from our dear friend who sees and encourages God's gifts in DD

...Birds and flowers -- she loves to be outside, gathering flowers and seeing God's creation

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Our sweet daughter adores all things "girly."  She is our creative, artistic dreamer.  Over the last few weeks, I really have been blessed with a prayer answered -- to have my daughter's heart.  It has been such a joy to see her grow and to know that we are walking together as a mother and daughter should.  We've (darling hubby & I) read about it and for the last eight years we've worked on developing that foundation of obedience, love, respect, honor, and closeness with her.  And over the last few weeks, we've really see the fruit of doing so. 

As a parent, I can only describe the process in our particular family's life as finding a manual on proper growing of a "tree" (or in this case, a godly child).  Then taking the steps to "plant" the seed.  Then to care and nurture it.  Then to see the tree start to bud, then open up and blossom.  We see now the fruit forming, and it is sweet and good.  God's word is faithful and I can only encourage all of you to take the time to really know your kids.  This is a journey and we are still near the beginning.  But it hits me deeply every once in a while, that we are almost half-way done raising our little girl, and we want to do all we can to obey the Lord in raising her.  He's been full of grace where we've failed and has encouraged us as we see the blessing of doing things according to His Word and wisdom.

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*Darling Daughter has taken the responsibility to be in charge of our afternoon tea times that we have a couple of times a week.  She has learned to put the water in the kettle and boil it.  She is very talented at gathering the tea items and making the table a delightful presentation.  She likes to do it "in secret" and then call me into our living room where she has it all laid out on our coffe table.

She has been using my mismatched tea cups.  One is from my grandmother and other is one I picked up.  She also is desiring a "Tea Party" themed birthday this summer.  All of this made my mothering wheels turn... "How my daughter would benefit from her own tea set," a thought that was planted by Rebekah Anast in an article in No Greater Joy.  

So whenever we are in a thrift store, my eyes are searching for a tea pot and/or a tea set.  Yesterday we were in town, so we stopped in to one of our favorite second-hand shops.  And there was a 32 (!!!) peice set, with 6 cups for only $8! .  I was amazed at the price and how pretty they were.  No tea pot was with it, but she is delighted with her set.  We will be taking 4 of the settings to a friend's today.  They just started homeschooling and we've been wanting to get together.  Since they have a young son who needs his nap, we are going over to their home and told them we'd bring the tea things.  And now darling daughter has the "perfect set" for this special day and many special days to come.

Please join the rest of the crowd for Show&Tell every Friday! Get all the information over at:

and...

...along with what this week's participants are sharing.

Jan. 11, 2008
S&T Fri--India on my Mind

DH is going to India very soon!!!  We are so excited!!!

(read below to find out more about the trip)

So for this Friday, I wanted to share a few treasures we've received from our family and friends from there in the past....

• The hand-carved table was from his cousin.  It is so lovely & intricate.  It has 3 legs which fold together and the top detatches -- what a great design to take home in his suitcase to surprise us with.  You can see elephants on the bottom.
• Hand-carved box (everything is hand made ).
• Vase is a lovely mix of different colored metals.
• The wooden elephant and the stone-carved elephants were gifts to our children from our friends.
• The little wooden bowl is a favorite of our DD's.  It has a little wooden spoon also, but I forgot to include it in the picture.

Please join the rest of the crowd for Show&Tell every Friday! Get all the information over at:

and...

...along with what this week's participants are sharing.

More about the trip....

A team is going from our church to help our friends with their ministry,Love N Care.  (To read more about how we met them, etc, please read HERE)  It is the first time a team from our church is going, so we are all very excited.  I've helped coordinated the trip for them, since we are the ones who know the Padems, and I've learned great things like working with a travel agent, vaccinations, passports, visas, travel restrictions, etc, etc, etc.  We considered having me go too, but since it's the first time one of us has gone overseas for a length of time, we were concerned about the kids, etc.  My friend (whose husband is also going) and I have talked about how it's just not our time or season to go -- we both would love to go, but with little ones now, we know that someday we will have the opportunity and are currently doing all we can do help our husbands prepare for their trips.

We've put in (& received) on-line orders for bulk crayons and huge poster-sized corloring books for the school children at the ministry, and extra Grapefruit Seed Extract for hubby to take (It is honestly some of the best stuff in the world!  We take it every day and it's helped keep us healthy.  A drop with some Vit E oil made the kids' rare earaches disappear in 5-10 minutes.  It's a disinfectant, etc.  Marvey stuff!)  DH even found a ministry on-line that is blessing us with some free Bible software for them!

DH is in the computer field, so he's gotten some laptops donated to help the ministry's computer center, and will be helping them with that.  Two dear ladies are going that were/are in the education field, so they will be helping at the school and are bringing wonderful crafts, school supplies, etc.  I need to run by the store and pick up a few requests from our friends who have the ministry (vitamins, soap, etc). 

Here are some prayer requests, if my sweet blogging friends would like to share in this with us...

• Pray that God would go before them and prepare those they  will be ministering to.
• Pray that God would prepare and protect their hearts, minds, souls & bodies.
• Pray that God would use them to spread His Gospel, and both encourage -- and be encouraged by -- the brothers & sisters in the Lord there.
• Pray that God's hand of protection would cover them throughout the trip

Dec. 28, 2007
S&T Fri -- Our Family's Christmas

Make a postcard - it's easy!

Dec. 21, 2007
S&T Fri -- Twas the Week Before Christmas

A "snapshot", via poetry, of what our week was like....

Twas the week before Christmas,

and all through my house,

the kids spent a relaxing time playing,

while I scurried around like a busy mouse.

The last of the goodies are made,

thanks to some helpful hands.

Cards & packages finally mailed out,

to family & friends around the land.

The grandparents are coming,

they will be here late tomorrow,

my dishwasher has been broken,

and caused me great sorrow.

I didn't complete everything on my list,

but that has been alright --

My family & I are still blessed,

for our hearts are filled with the Lord's joyful light.

DH & I have been married 10 years, so DD & I took the cards that we have received over the years and cut them apart and put them on white cardstock to send out as our cards this year.  It was a fun project and it was so fun to look through all the different ones.

Every year, we make a gingerbread house and DD is the official “Gingerbread House Designer."  This year she led creating “A Mouse House Wedding” themed one.  We are pleased to announce that Mr. & Mrs. Gum E. Mouse were married in the front garden of their new home by Rev. Horse.  Mr. Moose spent time sipping from the well, while Mr. Pole R. Bear peeked from around the corner trying to crash the wedding.

 My mother-in-law gave me some neat jello molds a few years back, but we don't really eat jello.  I decided to take the broken crayons we had, melt them down in the oven, and them pour them into the molds.  They turned out great, and they will be one of Little Man's stocking stuffers.

Please join the rest of the crowd for Show&Tell every Friday! Canadagirl has all the information right HERE, along with this week's participants.

Dec. 14, 2007
S&T Fri -- Someone From Hope, AK

We went to Charleston, SC for a quick day trip last Saturday.  We had spent the day at the plantations that we had memberships to, and were walking around the city late in the afternoon after playing with the kids at Battery Park.  As we headed into the Market St. area, we noticed a state police car and a much lager crowd than normal.  Someone said, "Yeah, Bill Clinton is over there!"

We've never had the opportunity to see a president, current or past -- so when we were faced with the possiblity, we took it!  Telling the kids to hold our hands tightly, we went into the first Market building (exactly what it was used for 100's of years ago -- several long brick buildings in the middle of Market St where people currently come and sell assorted items). 

Well, he wasn't in the Market itself; he was on the street to one side of it.  I kept the kids as hubby tried to get through the crowd to zoom-in to get a picture.  He saw him, but had difficulty getting a good one, while the kids and I had a harder time seeing through the crowd (the perils of being short).

Finally, it dawned on us that if we moved up further, to a place where he would eventually come, we may get a chance to see him better.  So with each of us carrying a kid, we made our way through the crowd and found a spot near the street.  It was exciting to see how the secret service kept everything moving and protected him.  He only went a total of about a block, shaking hands, signing autographs, working the crowd (we saw Hillary's people there); it took him probably about an hour we are guessing, as when we first came, he was only 1/3 of the way up the street.  We got several good pics, were all able to see him pretty well, and the kids got a quick history lesson from us. 

After he was almost to the end of the block, we heard, "He's in," from one of his people in dark suits, and then his entourage was off in its line of black SUV's and police cars.  As we walked away and up the street back to Battery Park where we had parked, hubby and I talked about what a neat experience it was, and the significance of it with the kids. 

It was a "once-in-a-lifetime" experience to just stumble on it like that, but I lamented to hubby, "I really wish it was the OTHER person from Hope, Arkansas," as Mike Huckabee is my favorite candidate for 2008, and the thought of Hillary becoming president sends shivers down my spine.

When we were at our hometown parade at the end of October this year, this person was in the parade and I just had to snap a picture.  I wanted to share it, and this seems like the perfect entry to do so.

We had a relaxing day over all during our day trip to Charleston, and here are some pictures that I snapped...

Kids at Battery Park -- we had fun playing tag, Marco Polo, and just enjoying the beautiful day.

Middleton Plantation ready for Christmas

I love having kids that are the type who love nature and take time "to stop and smell the flowers."  I learn so much about how to live and enjoy life from my kids.

Darling Daughter took this picture of us, sitting among the camilla blossoms.  She's getting to be a pretty good photographer and the camillas were beautiful that day.

NO WATER, NO PROBLEM......    Usually this Pineapple Fountain is on, welcoming people to the city of Charleston.  Whenever we go there, the kids splash around it in.  As they were running through the harbor park towards it, hubby & I called, "Don't go in -- we don't want you wet today!"  To our surprise -- and the kids' sorrow -- we found it off.  Not ones to be daunted, they went in and we didn't mind. 

Please join the rest of the crowd for Show&Tell every Friday! Canadagirl has all the information right HERE, along with this week's participants.

Dec. 7, 2007
S&T Fri -- Brief Synopsis of Past Few Weeks

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last couple of weeks.  We've been a bit busy and there's been a nagging stressful thing that has been on my mind.  But on a sweeter, happier side, here are some things we've been up...

 Picked out our Christmas Tree

Went on field trip to a Railroad Museum with our county co-op group

Birds invaded our yard. 

I had a flashback to 2 things the morning I took this picture.  One was the movie "Birds" and the second was growing up on my parents farm.  Every fall & spring, black birds would rest in our large cottonwood tree and others during their migratory trek.  As I called the kids over to see all of the birds that decended in our back yard, I told them of how they used to do the same thing (but in larger numbers) at Grandma & Grandpa's

Nov. 9, 2007
S&T Fri -- Thankful Tree

This week, we started our Thanksgiving Activities.  One thing we are doing this year is a "Thankful Tree."  We've traced the kids' hands and they write something they are thankful for on one-two "leaves" per day and we put them on a branch from our backyard for our "tree. 

So far, they are thankful for...

God (Darling Daughter said it had to be white and go on the very top)

Jesus

Trees

Daddy

Mommy

Soccer & Soccerballs (we've been playing it in our backyard)

Trains (this one was Little Man's)

Horses (this one was Darling Daughter's)

It has been such a great project and the kids LOVE doing it.  It is also a great penmanship activity.  Little Man, age 4, is learning to write his name (you can see his hard work on the yellow "leaf" to the bottom right).  Darling Daughter is taking great care with hers and is even adding in fancy letters.  I love seeing their little hands and I know I will treasure them all the more when they are grown!

Come & see what we've been up to this week with our Holiday Planning and Thanksgiving Activities for the year. CLICK HERE!

Please joins the rest of the crowd for Show&Tell every Friday! Canadagirl has all the information right HERE, along with this week's participants.

Nov. 1, 2007
S&T Fri -- Our 95 Theses MOVIE!

This mama had a fun time learning how to create a movie of our footage of the kids' reinactment of Martin Luther putting his 95 Theses on the church door.....  and Pope Leo's reaction.  Enjoy!

Our kids had a fun time learning about the Reformation this week, and we all learned so much.  On the evening of the 31st, Darling Daughter & Little Man donned their homemade costumes, acted out some history, and greeted trick-or-treaters.  They enjoyed handing out the little tract booklets even more than the candy.  Their costumes and our sign were great conversations starters, and we were able to invite several people to our church.  What a fun week of learning & serving!

Our "Sharing Table" for the evening.

Between guests, we went over to our next-door neighbors to take them some Runzas I had made for supper to celebrate our German heritage.  (I had talked to her earlier in the day, and she said that they had never heard of them, so I promised her I would bring some over for them to try.)  They asked if we would take the kids over to their parents a few doors down so they could see them too, and I had a great time chatting with them too.  Have a great Friday!

Please joins the rest of the crowd for Show&Tell every Friday! Canadagirl has all the information right HERE, along with this week's participants.

Oct. 26, 2007
S&T Fri--DD's Version of 95 Thesis

We are having fun on our projects that we started this week about Reformation Day.  Darling Daughter worked Thursday on her version of Luther's 95 Thesis. 

It was so much fun to see her excitement as she worked, and to listen to her narrate what she had learned during our reading time on Wednesday.  Over the next few days, we are going to read-aloud as a family from "Trial & Triumph" as we learn more about other church reformers during that time. 

(I was taught a little bit about Luther during my Methodist confirmation class when I was 12, but that's about it.  There is so much I didn't know and am so glad that we are studying it this year.  I don't think I will ever take reading the Word for granted again!)

She wants to put it on our front door on the 31st, so we did a "trial run."  It's hanging on her bedroom door right now and on the morning of October 31st, we are going to re-inact what happened 490 years ago.  We are also going to get some movies to watch next week on Luther, the Reformation, etc to watch. 

(Anybody have any favorites?  We would love some suggestions.)

Please joins the rest of the crowd for Show&Tell every Friday! Canadagirl has all the information right HERE, along with this week's participants.

Oct. 19, 2007
Show&Tell Friday (Charleston Trip)

Sunday night, we got home from a wonderful, relaxing four days in one of our favorite cities, Charleston, SC, which is about 3 hours or so away.  DH took Thursday and Friday off, so we headed out early and our first stop was the USS Yorktown.

  DH was not able to go last time, when I took my parents down, so the kids had fun showing him parts of the ship.  If you ever go to this wonderful experience, be prepared to spend the entire day!  With my parents, we only saw about 1/3 of the ship and ran out of time to see the additional things on the site, such as the submarine, coast guard cutter, destroyer, Vietnam area, or the Cold War memorial.  This time, we did different sections of the carrier’s tour and still only saw another 1/3 before heading over to see the sub and coast guard cutter.  A homeschool group we’re involved in went there a few years ago and had a sleep-over on the ship – DD was too young at that time, but maybe in a few years…

On Friday, we spent the day at Middleton Place and Magnolia Plantation, which we purchased family memberships to this spring (every year, we pick one or two places, museums, etc to get memberships to so we can go back every few months to see the changing seasons/displays, experience all of it, etc.).

ABOVE:  Home on Magnolia Plantation that was rebuilt after being burned by Sherman's troops.

BELOW:  The horses came right up to be petted, which the kids gladly did.

Later that night, we shared & savored the largest banana split we've ever had!

Oct. 12, 2007
Show&Tell Friday -- USS Yorktown

From a trip to the USS Yorktown with my parents when they visited last month....

This could also be a homeschooling mother's mantra.....

      Can you imagine ten thousand cookies in YOUR kitchen?????

Aug. 17, 2007
Show&Tell Friday -- Grandma's Sewing Machine

My grandma's sewing machine is dear to me, and it's the first thing you will see when you step into our home, as it has the place of honor in our entry.