A Time For Every Season....

Honor & Heroism - that is what we talked about on September 11th around our house. I wrestled a lot with what to tell the boys about 9/11. John and I didn't talk too much about the events from a decade past with the boys, they are still so little its very hard to explain all that went on that frightful day. We didn't watch any of the 9/11 tributes until that evening after the boys went to bed - hatred and death are subjects that I know will be talked about, but I just didn't feel that they were ready to hear about it yet. Their hearts are still innocent and I didn't like the idea of all the "why" and "how" questions I knew I'd get from our big 6 year old Drew. So..... Instead we focused  on the heroism and honoring the firemen and women who sacrificed their lives for people they did not know. We talked about how Christ sacrificed his life for ours so we could be saved from our sins. The firemen on 9/11 scrificed their lives to help st...

(No squamate reptiles were harmed while studying about lizards!)

I am in awe - I've been reading through the first 3 chapters of Revelation over the past month, diving head first into my next Precept course. I have been humbled by the sheer amount of perfection written in just the first chapter. Seriously - I have 10 pages of notes on just chapter 1. There is so much in Revelation 1 - so many thematic elements, analogies, simile's, metaphors and descriptive words bringing to light the magnificence to Jesus and His divine marriage to the Father. I sit in awe trying to  grapple with my God/Jesus box and trying to allow my thoughts to encompass the whole divinity of Jesus and God the Father and the Holy Spirit. I've been meditating this week on  who Jesus is. In all the old testament books Jesus was foreshadowed, He is made known through dreams, visions, revelations. It is written that Jesus was present with God at Creation and followed the Israelites through the desert, Jesus protected Shadrack, Meshack and Abendago from being burned i...

A Cricket, A Lesson, & 11 cents - Originally Posted 9/25/2010 - I was re-reading last years post and remembered how much I loved this lesson! To this day when we talk about grace, Drew always reminds me of our .11 cent cricket! Today as a  family we cleaned out our frog tank, we do that every time we buy a new round of crickets for the frogs to devour. For those who haven't visited, we have three frogs; their names are: Riley, Wilbur, and Rosco. They are Fire Belly Toads and they love to eat crickets. We usually buy them 15-20 crickets every few weeks - they are very inexpensive, just .11 cents a cricket. Our frogs can go up to two weeks without eating, so its fun to add a new batch of crickets because we sit and watch them hunt down their prey for endless hours of fun. What wonderful lessons we're teaching on the life cycle ... right?  Toads are quite fun to have around, they sing, interact with each other and eat tons of crickets for our viewing pleasure! At night th...

My how things have changed over the last decade of my life.  I remember waking up, 21 years young and alone, in my Wilsonville Oregon apartment on that September 11th morning. I awoke to a call from my boyfriend John telling me that something was going on and I needed to turn on the news. I walked into my living room, snuggled my Siamese cat, turned on the big screen TV and could not believe my eyes. I sat and watched the twin towers fall - then I decided I wasn't going to work, classes were soon cancelled for that evening. I spent the rest of the day in a state of depressed shock, I think I met John sometime that  afternoon. I just remember thinking - I wonder what my life will look like in a decade? At this point in my life I was a Christian, but was going through a rebellious time - if you would call it that. I was questioning why I believed what I believed, I was asking tough questions and dealing with anger and bitterness that had haunted me for the last 2-3 years. Look...

FOR BRAIDS! Yes! Our little girl's hair is finally long enough for braids! She is getting to look like a big girl ~ Attitude and All!

Over labor day I grabbed all the Fall boxes and decorated the house while sipping a Pumpkin Spice Latte - one of my many traditions centered around thanks and cooler weather! I snapped a few pictures today and noticed that our Fall blanket has a magical effect - it causes pets and humans to fall asleep!  See for yourself! The dog was caught on camera early this morning, how did she cover herself up? So much for not being tired! We had settled down for our quiet reading time and I found Gabe like this when the timer went off. I love fall!!!! This cold weather is just delighting me to tears, all I want to do is play outside!

"Lets fly!" I guess Fun Friday also includes not getting dressed until 11 am? Can you see it is an air and space museum? Drew's version of a church!

This week we learned about things we can't see - we did a science experiment and studied the inside of an egg - what is in there, where do chickens come from, are they mammals or birds? Would you like to live inside that egg? Do you think it is soft or hard? Will it feel soft like a pillow or hard like a rock? Did God design a world where things change even though you can't see it with your eyes? If a chicken were growing in there, could you see its body form with your eyes? How long does it take for the chicken to form? What do you think will happen when we put the vinegar in with the egg? (Drew said a baby chick would come out, Gabe said egg plant would grow!) These were the science questions we asked and discussed. Drew, then drew a picture in his journal and wrote about what he saw." I found the experiment here . The kids LOVED it, they especially enjoyed watching the reaction between the vinegar and the egg shell. I actually used this experiment for our ...