November Thankfuls

On every day in November up to the Thanksgiving Holiday, I'm going to write one specific thing for which I'm thankful.

I already posted the past 2 days on Facebook... so here they were.

Nov 1: I'm very thankful for all of my kids Bible class teachers...In this picture Kellyn has all her babies sitting nicely in their spot for Bible class.
A few minutes later she was patting a book and singing "Jesus Loves Me"

 



Nov 2: Today I'm thankful for homemade, banana muffins... yummy.

I may not even bother with dinner since the kids are filling up on them right now :D
Kellyn asked for another one, and before I got there to get another for her, she'd already used the step stool to get one down from the counter.

Nov 3: I'm thankful for the technology in my mini-van and this automobile era I live in.

Today the gas light reminded me to fill up with gas before I went too far. It said I had 16 miles left, so I might have made it to the community breakfast and back to my house, but on my next trip I might not have even made it to a gas station.

I'm also currently reading a novel set in 1916, and the main character owns a Ford Model-T, and drove it from D.C. to Idaho at about 20 miles an hour. They also have to have gasoline sent by train to their town so they don't run out.

So I am thankful for my local gas stations and their supply for my mini-van.

In Remembering ... 9/11

As I sat down this morning at the first fall meeting of my Ladies Bible Class, I wrote this at the top of my notes page.

9/11/2012
*Remember*

But then I stopped and thought about our topic for the class this fall... "Forgiveness".

So I added on to the heading

9/11/2012
*Remember*  ...but also Forgive.

That was a hard thought for me to write down.
I believe it is important for us to learn from things that happen to us, and things that happen in our world. In order to learn from those larger things in our history we MUST remember.

But we must also forgive. Jesus taught us to pray to God by saying, "forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us." Wow. I sure want God to forgive me, so I need to learn to extend that grace to others as well. It is for my own spiritual health that I have to let go of the hurt.

On 9/11/2001, there were specific people who hurt other specific people. I hope those vicitms and their families have learned to forgive, even in the remembering. I also see that our entire nation, and perhaps the entire non-muslim world was hurt by the actions of a handful of people. Have we forgiven them?

I don't want you to think of this as a political issue right now, remember that it's a personal one.

So I'll ask again. In remembering the events 11 years ago, have you fully forgiven?

To color or not to color...

I'm going to a meeting on this Saturday with the homeschool group from our county. It's just a roundtable discussion of ideas, but I'm excited.
Barry and I are still not sure what our choice will be for next fall, but it's one of our top options. Alyna and Ryan won't turn 5 until mid-September so our only options are private schools that will test and allow them early entrance, or homeschooling them.

We've already had an experience with their preschool that makes me consider homeschooling even more, which is partly how I got invited to the meeting this weekend, because of discussions with other moms on Facebook about it.

Alyna came home with a worksheet where they used a pencil to draw a stem down from the flower bud to the base stem at the bottom of the paper. She did excellent lines and even drew some extra leaves herself that looked just like the ones printed on the paper.
I had said as I looked at it that I bet she colored some of the flowers in too, and then looking at it said, "Oh, she did a couple."
But then she said to us, "We don't color with pencils."

Her teacher had stopped her from coloring with her pencil. She's been so excited since getting a pack of pencils  from her Sunday school teacher last month, and colors pictures with them all the time. I think she's going to follow in her Daddy's footsteps with a love for creating charcoal drawings.
I was astounded that the teacher would halt her creativity by limiting her to coloring with crayons. I told her, "Well, you don't color with school pencils, but you can color with home pencils."
Since that day, that flower worksheet is almost completely colored in with pencil shading  (within the lines). It may not be colorful, but she uses color in other pictures regularly. This is a different kind of creative outlet for her.

Other moms have suggested to me that "maybe there wasn't time for coloring", or "maybe they are worried that kids will switch their grip to color and not hold the pencil properly." So, I understand. If it's time to move on, just tell her that she can finish it later. And her grip doesn't change. She paints, colors, and writes with the correct finger positions on the item, and has done that since she was 2 1/2.

Another mom suggested that maybe it wasn't a "correct" color for a flower, so the teacher didn't appreciate it.
My response to that was, "Well, that kind of talk just makes me want to home-school. Why do we suck the creativity out of our kids?"

That's when another mom invited me to the meeting, and I'm glad she did. I'm anxious to see what kind of outings/special activities the group here does together.

Today, Ryan and Alyna and I worked on some sight words and putting them together to make different sentences. We had cards with our family names: Daddy, Mommy, Alyna, Ryan, and Kellyn... they already mostly recognized those. Then we learned "loves" and "me."
They had big smiles as they read the sentences I put together for them. "Daddy loves me", "Alyna loves Mommy", "Kellyn loves Ryan", etc.
Then they both played on www.starfall.com for about 40 minutes.

And oh yes, it's a holiday, so we went to a park early this morning before it got hot.

Like a child...

Tonight, my daughter Alyna, who is almost 4, was sitting at her little picnic table eating a snack. She turned around toward me and randomly said, "Mom, God is even in Strawberry Shortcake Land. God is everywhere," and she spread her arms out wide.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Matthew 19:14

But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
Luke 18:16-17

Thank you God for the creativity and imagination you have blessed us with. May we use it to grow our faith, and receive your kingdom.

Road Trip 2012 - Part 1, Headed East

20 days, 5 states, 4404 miles

Trip Outline - Hobbs, NM --> Keller, TX --> Columbia, TN --> Roanoke, VA--> Gordonsville,VA --> Virginia Beach, VA --> Gordonsville, VA --> Washington, DC --> Lexington, VA --> Columbia, TN --> Searcy, AR --> Gurdon, AR --> Hobbs, NM (home sweet home)

Day 1 - May 31, Just me and the kids, pack up and head out by 8:30 central time, 5 minutes later it was already 9:35 as we crossed the border from New Mexico into Texas.
We stayed in Keller, TX (suburb north of Fort Worth) that night with my cousin's family for the night. 30 minutes from her house we stopped at a Chick-fil-a because the weren't at their house yet. We played and ate ice cream.
5 minutes away from my cousin's house, Kellyn threw up. She's been known to get car sick since she was 4 months old, but had done much better not getting car sick since we moved her car seat to the middle where she can see out the windshield.
The next week when we were eating at Chick-fil-a again, I thought to check the ingredients of their ice cream. The cashier printed out a full list of ingredients on the cash register, and sure enough, whole eggs is listed in both the ice cream and the ice cream cone. So she wasn't car sick after all, it was her allergy to eggs that did it.
The kids had fun playing with their extended cousins, 2 girls of elementary school age. We also had dinner with my aunt and uncle who live in the area. It's always great to keep those family connections alive.

Day 2 - left my cousin's house at 8:30 central time, and drove through Arkansas to my parent's house in Columbia, TN (just south of Nashville).
The kids traveled great, and we made great time until we got stuck for an hour in construction on I-40 between Little Rock and Nashville.
My parents actually met us about 2 hours from thier home, so my mom could drive the rest of the way. Being tired from driving that far by myself with the kids, I didn't want to drive that last hour on the windy, hilly TN back highway in the dark, watching for deer.

Day 3 - Saturday, lazy day at Grandma's... it's so much fun to watch the kids play with the toys I grew up with. I love the old style of Fisher Price little people sets.

Day 4 - Sunday, church with Grandma and Grandpa, except I stayed home with Ryan who had a 100 degree fever all night. He seemed fine by lunch time.

Day 5 - play date at McDonald's in Spring Hill, TN with a friend of mine from college and her 5 year old boy. We mostly just keep in touch with Facebook, so it was fun to catch up face to face.
That evening, I went out shopping, and had dinner and a movie all by myself. It was nice to just go on my own schedule, and not have to take anyone else to the bathroom or share my food.

Day 6 - Nashville Zoo at Grassmere with Grandma - they had a dinosaur exhibit that scared the kids some, but that's what they still talk about from the zoo.

  Here's how we traversed the zoo... double stroller with a hitch hiker board attached to the back for one of the big kids to stand on.

They also enjoyed seeing the elephants, giraffes, gibbons, and petting the goats.

Day 7, 8, and 9 - lazy days at Grandparents' house because the kids all had constant coughs. Grandpa got it too.

Day 10- Saturday, left at 8:30 am to drive to hotel in Roanoke, Virginia. Grandma rode with me in the van, and Grandpa followed behind in his car.
I had ridden through VA as a teenager, but never realized how beautiful it is there. The thick woods around everywhere give a small town feel even to the bigger cities.
We went to Panera Bread for dinner but found out that just about everything there that kids will eat has egg in it (breads and mac 'n cheese). So we left and went to a Cheddar's restaurant around the corner. It was delicious food, and had lots to order that Kellyn could eat.

Day 11 - played at a park, and then at the indoor play area at the mall in Charlottesville, VA wasting time until checkin at our resort later in the afternoon.
We did grocery shopping just before going to the resort and I cooked chili for all of our arriving family in our cabin.
Barry (my husband) flew into Charlottesville that night, and my brother-in-law graciously picked him up. The kids and I were very glad to have him with us on the rest of our adventure.

... To be continued...