Comments(4)Trading places
From a bit ago when we still had some snow…
A boy walking his dog.
A dog walking his boy.
Grace Anna is here!!
OK. It’s been so long since I posted that it took me quite awhile to remember how to do this. 
Grace Anna was born on 10-26-09 at 7:27 PM. She was 8 lbs and 20 1/4 inches long.
We are having so much fun getting to know her. Yesterday Laura decided she wanted to have a Baby Welcome party. For lunch, she had special desserts made up and then after supper she had our school room all set up with 5 different games for us all to play and a little snack. Of course it also included the decorating with balloons and such.
It’s been cloudy and/or rainy here for the most part of October, but the sun is shining inside!
rocking with Daddy
Sucking on my finger
Our trip to North and South Dakota
Playing prisoner’s base at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Keith and I still don’t understand the rules, but there is a lot of running involved which is a good thing.
Lots of buffalo.
Petrified wood which took millions of years to form. Yea right. It doesn’t have to be millions of years old to be neat.
Hiking in the Badlands. It was cooler this day, but we had a lot of fun tromping around. You can’t really see it on this picture, but there were little yellow posts to guide this trail.
At Mt. Rushmore, the children did a “Junior Ranger” program. You get a booklet of questions regarding the park . Once you fill in the answers, a park ranger goes over it all with the child and then they get a badge. It is a good program that forces helping parents to learn more about the park too. My understanding is that they have these programs at quite a few national parks and monuments. Anyway, after they got their badges, we asked about a trail and the ranger animatedly told the children that if we went down the trail, they would be able to look up the President’s noses.
Spearfish canyon.
Why is it that children *must* throw rocks into water?
Wind Cave.
Needles Highway. You can barely see the one-lane tunnel through the rock.
These are wild horses, but they obviously are used to seeing lots of people.
Our guest
I love it when I look out the window above my kitchen sink and see our springtime visitor.
Discovery Learning
A couple weeks ago my husband and I went to our state’s homeschool convention. We attended a few different classes in which the speaker emphasized various types of learning. One of the most brain-developing types is what she called discovery learning in which there are few parameters to the learning exercise, the outcome is unpredictable and the students are given few or no instructions.
Today we got a bit of discovery learning in. The boys were estatic to go into our pond and get tadpoles. I have an aquarium for just such finds that I got last fall at a second-hand store. I thought, “This is great. We’ll put some pond water, rocks and sticks in it and watch the tadpoles grow.” I even looked up online what to feed them for the grand learning experience.
When the boys came up with their containers of pond water to show me their tadpoles, something looked wrong.
Back to the computer we went. Sure enough. Mosquito larve.
The boys were disappointed, but I showed them what they needed to look for in the pond to find tadpole eggs. Then my son said, “I know what we’re going to do. We’re going to catch all the mosquito larve we can and throw them on the ground so they die!”
Go get ‘um boys!
Remembering
Rarely do I come up with original ideas. These are no exception. When I was a teenager, I remember our pastor making many little crosses for those in our congregation. Over Lent, sins of pride, lust, greed were nailed to the crosses. A visual reminder that it was our sins that nailed Jesus to the cross.
Yesterday we worked together to make a large cross with a base. Then we each wrote our sins, some folded shut to keep between them and the Lord. Others open for all to see. These were nailed to the cross.
My daughter was upset. “The cross looks so ugly with all those sins on it!” I couldn’t agree more.
Then we made our annual “hill”.
Make a hill of rice krispie bars. Carve out tomb. Cover that side with green frosting.
Cover the other side with chocolate frosting.
Add crushed Oreos or chocolate cookies for rocky ground going up to three crosses.
Color coconut green to make grass on the tomb side and then add “flowers” in the garden.
Close the tomb with a stone. I printed off a picture of a rock and laminated it to use multiple years.
Lots of discussion. Much reflection. Remembering what He did for us.
Life
Today I drove through a snowstorm to an appointment. It wasn’t supposed to be until late in the afternoon, but with the inclement weather only getting worse, I called. Would there be any way to fit me in this morning? A returned call said, yes come as soon as you can.
I hastily gather toasted waffles, carrot sticks and pickles for the trip and head out into flurries, with husband reminding me to drive safely and making sure I had the cell phone.
The trip wasn’t easy, but God was there guiding my tires to keep me safe.
But it was *so* worth it. Today I was able to look at a screen that showed a new little bundle. Though still very small, a tiny consistent blink of a beating heart showed forth a miracle. That little heart touched mine.
I’m pretty wimpy when it comes to discomfort and this morningsick all-day sick mama was blessed to see the gift that we are all eagerly awaiting.
Asking for a little help
*Update: as of 9:00Am on 3-12-09, 92 people have voted for me. Wow. I am blessed and humbled. Even though I am currently at 61st place, I am encouraged by the number of people that have taken the time to go and cast a vote. Thank you ever so much. Voting continues until April 3rd. Thank you to all who have passed the word along to others. I know some people, but not enough personally…but collectively, you all do. Regardless of the outcome, my heart soars to know that so many of you have supported me in this. It means a great deal. God is still in the work of miracles and many times He used people in that process. May God’s ultimate will be done and may He be glorified. Hosanna!
Hello! I’m going out on a limb here asking for your help. I’ve spent the last few weeks preparing a submission to a contest. It is sponsored by Microsoft and Lenovo. They asked people to submit a dream photoshoot anywhere in the world. After you submit your idea, then people vote on which idea they like best. The top 20 ideas then go to a panel of judges for a final decision. The winner gets $50,000 to fulfill this dream.
A brief excerpt of what I submitted…
“We would coordinate with our charity of choice, donating some of the winnings for large items of need. It may be a set of water buffalo, allowing a rice farmer in Myanmar to again support his family after Cyclone Nargis. We could provide funds to build a large greenhouse in the Ukraine to employ and support many needy families. It could be financing a water well in Kenya to reduce sickness and disease where they often use a waterhole alongside cattle.
Then our family would travel to these areas to see these needs being met, meet the people, experience the culture, allow ourselves to be changed…and capture it all with photos.”
So what I need now is votes. In order to vote, you need to register. It doesn’t take long and is necessary to keep the contest honest.
If you are willing to help, please go to this link: http://www.nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/desiringtogive/giving-helping-others-ourselves-changed-capturing-it-all-with-photos/
If you have trouble with the above link, try copying it and pasting it in your web browser.
You will notice that my “name” is desiringtogive and the title of my submission is “Giving: Helping others. Ourselves changed. Capturing it all with photos.” You can read through my entire submission there.
Clicking on the box to the black box to the left of my title will bring you to the page to register.
After registering, click on “The Ideas” at the top of the page. You will need to scroll through a number of pages to find the title of my submission. (Some have had success just clicking on the above link to find my page faster.) Click on my title and then click on the black box to the left of my title to vote. That’s it. If spouses register and vote separately (they need separate email addresses), that would be 2 votes! I’m just saying…
Thank you for your time and consideration! Let me know if you have questions. And if you feel so inclined, please pass the word.