P365 – Day 31 (Wed w/DJ)

January 31, 2007 KME 2 Comments

Today is Daniel’s (age 9) Special Day. The ‘special’ part of his Special Day (ie. where he gets to spend time with Tim) is moved to Saturday (again). Wednesdays are awfully crowded with school, PE, piano lessons, work, and then AWANA/ROCK at church. As Rachel says, “That’s a lot of things.” Rachel is sitting beside me, helping me blog. Oh wait, I think she just fell asleep. You can tell it’s not HER Special Day I’m writing about. Lol!

The day was foggy at the onset but the clouds eventually cleared and the sun came out. Hooray! The children all went outside after lunch to play and enjoy the (fleeting) sunshine. Daniel and Joshua have an elaborate game involving two large sticks and an Aerobie. Hmmm. Sounds interesting, doesn’t it?

Daniel in action!

The game continues with David riding his scooter amidst the boys’ game.

One joy of homeschooling is the children’s recess playmates are their siblings. Sweet.

At lunch time today we had the pleasure of seeing Tim’s parents. They are often in town on Wednesdays and come by to say hello or deliver mail/packages/etc. They are usually busy so we don’t get much of their time but today they brought their own lunches and ate with us. What a treat to have some time with them. I quickly grabbed my camera and got some pictures.

All the children enjoy the occasional hot cocoa or hot apple cider break in the afternoon. Daniel and Rachel are also fond of tea. They fix their hot drinks in big travel mugs and bring them to our school/couch time. Daniel’s favorite tea is French Vanilla. Today he added some pumpkin spice creamer.

Ah, living the good life. Happy Special Day, Daniel. We love you!

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Skype is Great!

January 30, 2007 KME 3 Comments

I must admit I LOVE Skype!!! Go to www.skype.com to read more about this amazing internet phone service. This evening Tim and Joshua were lounging about in Cream Puff and her mother (the couch – needs a creative name) when Joshua suddenly jumped up, saying someone was trying to Skype us.

Don’t they look cozy!

Who could it be but my wonderful friend, Tina, calling from Thailand. What an astounding thing it is to be able to talk, over the computer, to someone who is halfway across the world. Not only that but to hear her clearly without hardly any delay in the transmission. I could even make out the dogs barking outside her house! Wow!!

It was school time so Rachel wasn’t able to talk to the girls. Zachary, however, was home, sick, so he and Daniel had a fun little chat.

It was 9:30 pm here and 12:30 pm there (but different days) which is mind boggling if you think too hard about it. Ha! I am so thankful for modern technology in times like this.

Kathy

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P365 – Day 30 (Tues w/RJ)

January 30, 2007 KME 6 Comments

The sun was out today – what a delight! The children took several short breaks throughout the day to go ride scooters and bikes or just run around outside.

Rachel (age 11) wants to grow her hair long but she struggles with tangles. I recommended she try braiding it or otherwise putting it up at night. She looked a bit ‘curly’ this morning.

The Sonlight Forum (we’re using Sonlight for much of our homeschooling studies this year) has a wonderful list of supplemental resources for each of the levels of study. We are working our way through SL5 Eastern Hemisphere and just finished up a big stack of books on Korea from the library. We finished Korea a week or two ago but I was late in requesting these books (or they were late in arriving) so our reading is a bit off from our schedule. Still, I think the books (some of them for the younger reader) add a wonderful richness to our study on Korea. Sarah and David love to read books so lately I’ve been including them in our Korean studies. One set of authors, sisters, Frances and Ginger Park, have written several books about their family’s experiences in Korea. Some of them are poignant and all the more moving knowing they are based on true stories.

As we continue our daily study of Proverbs – the three older children and I read one chapter of Proverbs aloud each day – I find our comprehension growing, along with our Bible collection. At the onset of this study I had each of the children find an NIV Bible – I found it MUCH easier if we were all reading out of the same translation. Well, today things expanded a bit. It all started when Daniel wanted to use his New King James and then Joshua wanted to read the study notes in his MacArthur Bible. I couldn’t resist – I had to get my Life Application study Bible. And so it went until I counted and realized we had seven Bibles opened on our laps. That seems a bit excessive between four people. Lol.

We also worked through a Bible quiz that I received from a friend, years ago. It was fun going through the questions and seeing how much the children could answer. I think we might work further on it and see if we can memorize the different scriptures and get all the way through the questions. We stopped at #106 and there were MANY still ahead of us.

Jodi C.- are you reading this blog??? Thanks for sending the Bible quiz to me. I think it’s an excellent teaching tool. Are you all still using it?

In the afternoon we met Tim at the Y for swim lessons and wallyball. I actually remembered to bring my camera this time so I have pictures to post. Hooray. I didn’t get any great ones of David but it’s not his special day so I have until the end of the week to do better.

Rachel often helps Tim and Joshua get the net set up.

Here she is, ready for the ball!

Digression into dinner rambling:

My green salsa chicken dish (basically boneless chicken breasts baked with salsa on top) turned out a little spicier than I had intended (should have realized “medium” salsa would be a little much for my ‘like it rather mild’ family) so I used the leftover sauce from the baking pan to create a tortilla soup. I poured the chicken drippings and salsa into a saucepan, added two cans of stewed tomatoes, some pinto beans and a little lime juice and let it simmer. Yum! At the last minute I tossed in some frozen sweet corn.

I served it with taco shells (didn’t have any tortilla chips – had to improvise) and sour cream. Joshua loved it! He added his chicken to the stew and had at least two bowls. Tim said it was a little too spicy for him and the rest of the family stuck to the stir-fry veggies and chicken which looked safe and totally ‘unspicy’.

The children are doing a great job of taking care of the kitchen clean up after meals. Daniel is on dinner duty this week and he handled all the mess – put the leftovers into containers, wiped up counters and the table, washed pots and pans, and loaded all the dishes into the dishwasher. Such a huge help to their Mama!!

Back to Rachel’s Special Day:

Rachel chose to play Five Crowns and Wizards for her Special Day Game. It was our first time playing Wizards and we all enjoyed it. We didn’t have time to play very many rounds – we’ll have to play it again soon. It’s a version of my family’s favorite, 7 Ups and Downs.

Five Crowns has already become a favorite. It’s easy enough to teach new people (very important at our house where we like to grab the random visitor and include them in our game) and the rounds are fairly short/quick.

Tim started The Silver Chair after the games were over. I have to admit that I’m a bit surprised that the children are so excited to read the Narnia series again. It seems like the stories are VERY familiar to them – we have almost all of them on tape or cd (produced by Focus on the Family), we’ve read all the books, and they’ve seen various movie productions of the different books. Still, they are wonderful books and the entire group (with the exception, perhaps, of Sarah) are captivated by the story. How delightful that they have a father who is willing to sit down and read to them.

The children are fighting sore throats. Rachel had hot tea and Daniel requested some Tylenol this evening before bed.

Another busy, full day here.

Kathy

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P365 – Day 29 (J’s Books)

January 29, 2007 KME 4 Comments

Joshua 1:8

Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Well, these books aren’t exactly the Book of Law – okay, none of them come anywhere close to being the Book of Law but they are ones that Joshua is reading day and night.

He has quite a stack going of “current books” – some for school, others for pleasure. I should also note that, to his credit, Joshua reads 2 or 3 chapters of the Bible a day.

As Rachel says, “Only six, Joshua? I’m disappointed in you.” What would (cousin) Rebecca say?? Let’s ask her. Rebecca, how many books are you in the middle of right now? Do post a comment and tell us.

Rachel and I had fun posing Joshua with his latest collection of books.

What book shall I pick?

Bwahahah – These books are mine, all mine!

And I’m going to read them all right now!

Joshua and Tim convinced me to join them in a game of Thurn and Taxis. We started it right before dinner and picked up the game after dinner was over. It is not a very complicated game and focuses more on individual building of mail lines rather than competing against the other players. As it so happens, I beat them both. I guess I managed to figure out the rules enough to come out victorious. Fun.

Shall we play again, boys? Do you think you can beat me next time?

“Beginners luck, Mom!” Says Joshua. Hmmm. We’ll see. I happen to recall the winner from Saturday’s Puerto Rico game.

Oh yes, that would be me … again.

Side note: Check out Carl’s blog for an amazing sunset picture taken in Olympia near the airport. Truly spectacular.

Kathy

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Project 365 – Day 28 (Here & There)

January 29, 2007 KME 9 Comments

I woke up feeling very down and discouraged this morning (which seems sad since it’s the Lord’s Day and should be filled with rejoicing). I went to bed at a decent hour so it wasn’t a sleep-deprivation reaction. I think I was disappointed at how little I had accomplished on Saturday, weary with thoughts of a busy day, and overwhelmed that Monday was rapidly approaching and with it, a week full of homeschooling and life’s activities.

After a hot shower (which, alone, practically makes life bearable) I was pleased to see Tim in the bedroom, reading his book. I walked over to him, sat down, and probably looked as lifeless as I felt. Without me saying anything, Tim took my hand and said, “Shall we pray for the day?” I tried to ask him later how he knew that was just what I needed and he didn’t have a concrete answer. It was an action, I think, that comes out of a sensitivity to his role as spiritual leader of our family. He knows how to cheer me up with words – I’ve often asked for a ‘Tim Pep Talk’ – and he is a great listener but the thing that had real power to change my attitude and situation was not words or a listening ear but PRAYER! Tim recognized that and met my unspoken request with authority and leadership.

What a blessing!

Did I immediately feel cheerful and bouncy? No. Did my “To Do” list magically disappear? No. Did my heart tune in to God’s purpose for the day? Yes. Did the Lord renew my spirit and give me a peace about the day? Absolutely.

We went on to have a great Sunday. It was full of people and Bible study and little ones. Sunday School was excellent. Tim led us through the second half of I Corinthians 6. I worked in the preschool room during the church service. Daniel came in and helped me – another blessing. Having him there brings an extra energy to the hour. He plays with the children, separates trouble makers, passes out snacks, and is just all around a tremendous helper. I am always glad to have him assist me in the class.

Sarah had a blast in her class.

After church, Tim and the children did all the lunch preparation so I could tackle the Christmas decorations. The Lord answered my prayers for a joyful spirit and I cheerfully (and speedily) got everything put away. Joshua hauled all the bins out the garage, helped me move the couch away from the wall, and then loaded Christmas containers into place. He also put away the folding table that was cluttering up the living room. Tim found spots for the smaller ornament boxes. The work on the garage continues.

We watched Savannah Smiles during lunch – an old movie, made in the early 1980′s. It’s a sweet story with a poignant ending that had us all in tears.

What caught us all completely off guard was Sarah. After the movie was over and we were cleaning up, I saw Sarah on Cream Puff crying. Thinking she had pinched her finger or hurt herself, I went over to find out what was wrong. Finally she told me, in strangled words, “The movie!” What a sweetie pie! She was sad about the ending when the men have to say goodbye to the little girl and end up going back to prison. Personally, I wasn’t aware that she was cognizant enough of the movie’s plot to have such a tender reaction. Tim hugged her tight and gave her his “happy ending” version which cheered us all up.

Tim managed to get a smile out of Sarah.

Tim and I decided to preview the Love and Respect dvd for the evening’s Bible study. It worked out perfectly – I cleaned the kitchen and made pizza dough while Tim took notes on this week’s marriage session. We’ve been rather unsatisfied with the discussion questions in the workbook (although it does have some great supplemental scripture passages which I think are worth reading) so we thought we would write some of our own. Tim was planning to work in the nursery during the video time so it was an opportunity for him to watch the DVD and keep up with the material.

We had a potluck and ‘business’ meeting before Small Group. I made 6 full size pizzas (if I was Emily in FL I would have pictures of all of this – I really need to be better about grabbing my camera) and the rest of the group brought desserts and side dishes. Unfortunately several members of our group were unable to attend so we had a smaller group. Not so unfortunately, that meant we ended up lots of leftover pizza. Hooray! I was even able to send a whole unbaked pizza home with Holly. My family is ALWAYS thrilled with leftover pizza. Of course, with a 13 year old boy in the house, leftovers don’t survive quite as long as they used to. Ha!

Give this starving boy some pizza!

I continue to be convicted in the area of respecting my husband. Tonight we discussed the idea of men needing unconditional respect just as women need unconditional love. You would never tell your wife, “I will love you as soon as you are worthy of it.” And yet do we tell men, “I will respect you once you show yourself worthy.”??

Ephesians 5:33

However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

It has been fascinating going through the series with other couples. After viewing the DVD, we split up into groups (men in one room and women in the other) and talk about what we watched and what we are learning. I think all of the wives are truly surprised to hear how important respect is to our husbands and how much they crave and need it. Tonight we made a list of 5 ways our husband/wife could show respect/love to us. The whole series is certainly creating a lot of discussion in our home. So far the men have all heartily agreed with the points Dr. Eggerich makes. Now to put what we are learning into practice and get off the Crazy Cycle!

I have to share one last set of pictures (that are completely unrelated to today’s blog). I think each of the children have, at one point or another, fallen asleep while reading/holding a book. I don’t know how many I have captured on film (would take some serious searching to find them). It always brings a rush of tender feelings to see the children as it reminds me so much of my father. He is, literally, never without a book so there have been many times when we’ve caught him holding his book upright with his eyes shut. I would love for my children to be like my father and to enjoy reading as much as he does so it tickles me to catch moments like this.