Birthday Cake for Jesus

A Birthday Cake for Jesus

 I mentioned in my previous post about the Birthday cake for Jesus that I made and presented.  I thought I would share with you how I make this special cake.

It is a four layer cake.  I make the bottom layer chocolate (I use a Devils food cake).  The layer on top of the chocolate is Red (I use a Red Velvet
cake mix).  The layer above that is green (I mix green food coloring in a yellow cake mix.)  Then the top layer is yellow (I use the other have of the yellow cake mix for the top layer.)  It is iced with white icing and has a star of David on the top. With a red candle on top of that.

The children at church are waiting patiently for me to
cut the cake. 

I start off by asking the children if they can tell what is inside the cake by the outside.  The answer is no.  We can't see what's inside because of the icing.  Only God knows what is inside our hearts.  Then I go into what each color represents. 

The Bottom layer represents our sins and how filthy we are on the inside.  On our own we cannot get ourselves clean enough to be worthy of God's mercy.  The second layer from the bottom represents how that Christ died on the cross for our sins.  It is only through Jesus sacrifice that we are able to be forgiven of our sins.  Then once we are saved, we are covered by Christ's blood and we are washed white as snow (the icing).  After we are saved we are able to grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.



Elijah enjoying a small piece of yellow cake.





Then one day when Christ calls us home we will be able to live eternally with Him in Heaven which is represented by the yellow layer.   The light on the top of the cake represents the fact that Jesus is the light of the world. 

It was a good cake and we had a good number of people present.  The skit had gone well and we were able to share the gospel which each one that visited. 

It's been a good week.  I will try to post more as the week progresses. 

Have a Merry Christmas!

A Happy Birthday



Scott and I eating out for our 14th anniversary
at the Olive Garden.


 We had such a busy weekend.  Friday night, we went Christmas Caroling.  Saturday morning, we had karate class.  Saturday afternoon, we sang at two nursing homes followed by dress rehearsal for the skit our youth were putting on for our church. 
Then Saturday night I stayed up late baking and decorating a birthday cake for Jesus. 

Sunday everything went well.  The kids did well with their skit.  Scott presented a short sermon after skit and then I presented the Birthday cake for Jesus. 

Monday was my birthday and I had scheduled to take Elijah to his Doctor's appointment and we planned to leave straight from his Doctor's appointment to go visit my parents.  It was so busy and it's easy to have my birthday forgotten.  Scott had taken the van into town that morning to fill it with gas and to get the van registered.



My Birthday Cake shows a true Texas Snow.
All it needs is some brown leaves mixed in with the snow.

He never told me, "Happy Birthday." I thought maybe he just forgot and would remember later on.  He finally got back home barely in time for me to load Elijah in the van and get to his Doctor's appointment.  He told me to go on and that he and the kids would finish packing and we could leave sometime after I got back with Elijah.   Elijah appointment went well.  I had to hold him while they drew a little blood to check his iron.  He did very well and the nurse seemed to be impressed that he did as well as he did. 

I then called Scott to let him know I was coming home.  He still never mentioned my birthday and sounded like he was in the middle of getting things together.  I felt a little sad driving home and thought how easy it would be to just forget my birthday myself. I had tried to pass it off thinking how I'm a grown up and don't have to do anything special but I thought it would be nice to at least be noticed on my birthday. 

I arrived home and saw Jonathan's face looking through the window.  As soon as I opened my car door he was yelling, "Hi, Mommy!"   I went up to the window and spoke with him and Hannah through the closed window.  Then I got Elijah and walked up the steps to our front door.  I opened the door and suddenly the kids and Scott hollerd, "SURPRISE!"    They had a Birthday cake and presents on my clean desk. (My desk is rarely clean.)  They had cleaned up the kitchen and the livingroom while I was gone.  I was speechless.  All I could say was, "Ah!  How sweet!"  

Scott said, "I bet you thought I forgot."  And he was right, I did.   I think this was the biggest time I've been surprised on my Birthday.  Anyone with a late December birthday can probably relate to how easy it is to get so busy that your Birthday gets hidden in the holiday rush.  I had resigned myself to another uneventful birthday, only to find it to be one of the best.  The kids all made cards for me. I'll post pictures of those cards at a later time.  

God has truly blessed me with a sweet, loving family. 

My Best Friend



My Husband, Scott, holding Elijah

  It's been almost a month since I've posted.  So much happend in November that I just never took time to post.  But one of the biggest things my dear husband, Scott and I celebrated this Thanksgiving was our 14th anniversary.

We were married Thanksgiving day November 28, 1996.  He has been one of the best gifts God has given me. 

He is a wonderful, kind, patient, loving, and supportive husband and father.  He loves our children.  He is an excellent teacher and pastor. He's a hard worker. He's my best friend!

I am so blessed to have him.  

So many people mention to me how that every time they see me, I'm always smiling.  That's because I have so much to smile about.  I am very happy. 

But you know what?  I don't have to be the only happy person out there.  You can be happy, too.  It does take a little work, but it is well worth the effort. 

Here is a passage from the best marriage manual available:

Eph 5:22-33 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. (23) For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. (24) Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. (25) Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; (26) That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, (27) That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. (28) So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. (29) For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: (30) For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. (31) For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. (32) This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (33) Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

We need to be willing to give up our way of doing things and do it God's way.  It really does work. 

Catching Up, Again

 It's been a week since I've blogged.  Which means I have a lot of catching up to do.   I've been needing to post this picture of Jonathan with his "pup cakes" he had for his birthday at the beginning of this month. 

One of these days, I will have to make cupcakes that look like pups. 

The last time I blogged I posted pictures of an 18 wheeler accident.  It took two or three days for it to be cleaned up and there is still an orange plastic border around the area.  I have no idea how long they will leave that up.

The same day that happened, I took the kids to the park for our homeschool group's park day.  Elijah liked going down the slide.  He also wanted to eat the slide but I didn't quite let him go that far. 

 Speaking of which, he now has his third tooth.  We're now getting a little break from teething until that fourth tooth starts making it's appearance.  He isn't fussy right now but he sure wants to chew on everything.

This last picture was of Elijah crawling at our church.  He doesn't go very far yet but he will crawl a few steps for something he wants.  He does get a little upset with us expecting him to crawl when we're sitting right there able to hand it to him.  But I'm sure once he realizes  the joys of mobility he'll thank us for it. 

Well...at least maybe he'll think to thank me when he's in his thirties.  (Thanks, Mom, for encouraging me to crawl when I was a baby!  Love, Stacie)

An Accident

 This morning I had a dream that a bomb exploded at our neighbors.  It turned out that the bomb was actually an 18 wheeler that had an accident in front of our home.

Scott was cooking oatmeal this morning when he heard the explosions.  The man that was driving the truck had to climb out through the window.  Scott said he seemed okay but very shaken.  After calling 911 Scott came in to tell me about it then headed for work.

I have no clue how it happened, but it looks pretty bad.  I'm amazed that the church sign wasn't hit.  He may have run off the road and tried to dodge the church sign.  I'm just thankful no one was hurt.

This is why I don't let the kids play in the ditch in front of our yard. 

I'm also thankful that it wasn't my husband driving his school bus full of kids..

The Big Three

Today is Jonathan's birthday!  He is three years old today.  I took this picture of him practicing holding up three fingers.  Of course he says he's five.  Five is easier to say than three and it's easier to hold five fingers up than three fingers.  So this has me wondering, why can't a child turn five before three.  In a couple more years it will be a lot easier to say three. 

I know, I know, I'm a very deep thinker. 

We'll be having cake and ice cream and opening presents when Scott gets home.     I'll be taking more pictures.  So check back soon.  :)

Building Memories

Joshua, Ruth, and Hannah were invited to play over at their friends' house yesterday after church.  Scott and I decided that we would use that opportunity to take Elijah and Jonathan to the store.  We let Jonathan ride a bicycle around the toy section.  He was doing fairly well with it.  Then we let him try several toys.  We bought him a small school bus that he liked rolling on the floor.  He likes school buses because they are "just like what Daddy drives!" 

Then we let him pick the ice cream and we went home to make milk shakes.  

Jonathan is getting so big.  He will be turning three on Thursday.  Time goes by fast.  I don't want Jonathan and Elijah to feel like they are living in the shadows of their elder siblings.  So we use any opportunity we can to build happy memories for all of our children. 


This week will be another busy week full of memory building opportunities.  We will be doing a lot of fall cleaning in preparation for some furniture we will be receiving from my sister and her husband.  We have a field trip this week with some other families in our homeschool group.  I'll try to remember my camera and post some pictures.  We will be voting tomorrow.  Then there will be Jonathan's birthday on Thursday.  And our karate class will be meeting in a new location.

I should be able to find time to blog though.  Be watching for updates and pictures. 

E-mail

My older children have been having fun with their new e-mail addresses which their Papa (my dad) gave them.  Joshua has been sending me e-mails every day. 

I highly recommend every parent find some way to communicate privately with your children.   I've been amazed at some of the thoughts and my children have shown in just a few sentences they have typed to me.  If you are afraid of your children having e'mail, I would recommend setting up an in home mail box.  Where your children can write you a letter each day and maybe let each of them have their own mail boxes where you put their answered letters.  I may do that with my younger children where they can draw pictures for me. 

With my older children I used to have them write me letters in cursive.  It was a practice in reading and writing in cursive.  I would write them a letter to read in cursive and they were to write me back.  Now they are getting practice in typing while writing letters to me and their Papa.  Scott even plans to join in on the e'mails during his lunch break. 

 Hannah and Jonathan do not have complete understand of letter writing.  So I'll probably start working with them on mailing real letters and starting off with an in home mail box where they can "write" me and Daddy.

It's amazing how many subjects we have been adding to our homeschool without the kids even realizing it.  Who says work can't be fun?

High Speed!!!

We are sure moving up in the world.  We now have high speed internet.  This is a video of Elijah that I've loaded on here as a test.  I'm hoping that seeing this on my blog will make it seem more real.  I had a hard time finding a video because I'm usually more concerned about finding good pictures for my blog.  Now I am able to not only view videos but upload videos as well. 

High speed internet isn't the only improvement we made this week.  I also signed us up to recieve garbage service.  This was the first time I had heard of trash pick up called "garbage service".  I was glad that I found out what it was called.  I would have felt funny asking the lady on the phone, "Is this the place that collects trash?"  Instead I saw in the phone book that another company called it garbage service.  So I was able to be far more professional about it.  We will now have our garbage picked up once a week.  I'm very happy about that.  It was getting to be a problem trying to find a good time to take the garbage to the dump.  Scott went to work too early and got off too late to take it for me.  I used to burn the trash but there has been a burn ban and no sign of it being lifted any time soon. Then I tried to get all the trash loaded in the van with the kids and go out of our way to take it to the dump before we had to be at our karate class.  Finally I just made up my mind that I had to do something.  After several phone calls I finally got to the right place and we can have our trash picked up for only $20 a month.   That is well worth it to me. 

The high speed internet is definitely going to be a benefit not only to my own ability to blog and keep in touch with family and friends, but it will help me with homeschooling the kids as well.  We will be able to view more educational videos and not have to wait for everything to download before I'm able to use it.  Now I can just say, "Hey, let's look it up!"  and find the answer to many of our homeschool questions.  This also means I will be able to Skype my brother and his family in France. 

And for everyone else, this means y'all will get to see a few more videos on my blog.  I'll try to take some good ones.  :-)

Another Busy Week

Jonathan, Hannah, and Elijah watching Leap Frog Phonics video.

This has been another busy week and it's not over yet.  Monday, Elijah's second tooth came in right beside the first one.  Tuesday we had our usual karate class that evening. 

Wednesday, was a big day.  Scott was off Wednesday so we went to Houston and took the kids to see the Holocaust Museum.  It was a good learning experience for the kids to see some of the things that we've only talked about and shown them documentaries on before.  Hannah and Jonathan didn't really get a lot out of it, they were a little too young to understand it all, but Joshua and Ruth were old enough to benefit from the lesson.



We also visited a Thai Market that has a restaurant in it.  We ate lunch there and bought a few things from the store.  We finished up our trip with a visit to an accordion store to get a few accessories for Scott's accordion. 

Thursday, was back to work for all of us.  I only had to clean up the fragments of a coffee pot, before taking the kids to karate class.  I had asked before if anyone knew of an unbreakable crockpot, now I am wondering about coffemakers.  Better yet maybe I should replace all my dishes and cookware with unbreakable items.  Oh well, my children come by it honestly.  I told them that accidents happen and I'm sure that won't be the last dish broken.  (Unless I find a full line of unbreakable kitchenware.)  

Today, the kids have their normal school work.  I've been looking into garbage services.  I'm hoping to start having our trash picked up at least once a week.  Trash has really been a problem for me, since there has been a burn ban.  I'm hoping to hear back from the garbage service today and have that solved. 

Tomorrow, we have belt ceremony and cookout with our karate class.  Scott will be receiving a green belt.  Ruth and Joshua will be receiving yellow belts.  Hannah will be receiving her white/yellow belt.   

Then, I will be preparing my Sunday School lesson for Sunday.  That is pretty much this week in a nutshell.  I'll try to remember to post pictures of the belt ceremony tomorrow. 

First Tooth!!!

Elijah eating sweet peas with his first tooth.

Today, I felt Elijah's first tooth as he was chewing on my hand.  I quickly checked his mouth and then showed Scott.  Sure enough his first tooth has come in.  It is just about the same timing as Jonathan's first tooth.  You can check out my post for May 27, 2008 to see what Jonathan looked like back then.

I fed Elijah sweet peas today, which he seemed to enjoy. Towards the end of the jar he started playing with it and sputtering sweet peas at me.  It reminds me of my dad every time I get sweet peas sputtered at me.  My dad always tells the story of my spitting sweet peas at him.  He tells me that one day when he is in the nursing home and I feed him sweet peas that he will spit them at me.  So now whenever I feed my children sweet peas I think of him. 

Well it's been a good weekend now to begin a new week.  We'll be starting a new health class this week in our homeschool day.  I'll post more about how that goes later.

Living and Reliving Memories

Elijah has been growing so fast and it's hard to get enough pictures posted.  Wednesday, he had his first bath sitting in the bath tub instead of laying in a baby bath.  He really liked splashing the water with his feet.  He also liked chewing on bath toys and his brush and comb.

The neat thing for me with Elijah is we are still living in the same house as when Jonathan was a baby.  It's like going through some of the same memories.  I'm sure I have this same picture of Jonathan using the same bathring.  Before long I will take a picture of Elijah sitting in the same high chair as well.  It's hard to believe that when we first came here Jonathan wasn't walking yet. 

These repeat memories are kind of neat.  They may seem simple to some who have lived in the same house for most of their children's childhood, but as a Preacher's family we've moved around a lot.  The longest we have stayed at one church was five years and even then we moved into three different homes.  Now you may see why these repeat memories are exciting for me. 

The older three children and Scott passed their belt tests Tuesday.  Everyone there talked about how they can see Hannah being a Sinsei one day.  Jonathan has been enjoying the little kids class.  I've been enjoying helping in the class as well.  For a couple of weeks I wasn't able to participate in all the classes,  Scott's car wasn't running and we had to take turns between the classes.  We were very glad when Monday, Scott fixed the car.  It turned out being the starter that had gone out.  He fixed it at a very good time, since Tuesday we had park day with our homeschool group and karate class following.  Then Wednesday we had Elijah's doctor's appointment.  Then karate on Thursday.  Today, we finally stay home.  Tomorrow, there will be a visiting Sensei from another dojo.    Our Sensei invited the big kids class to participate with the adult class that day.  I will also be working on my Sunday School lesson tomorrow.

And right now Hannah has brought me her book and is ready for her reading lesson.  We are working on the letter E today.  This should be a good weekend.  I'll try to post more soon. 
 

NASA Homeschool Day

Yesterday, we went to visit the NASA spacecenter for their homeschool day.  I was so glad that Scott was able to take part of the day off to go with us.  The kids got a whole lot more out of it with his being there to point things out to them.  And I enjoyed being able to follow along and enjoy watching them soak in the information.

When we first arrived we thought we would be able to get the tickets for a discouted rate at the window.  However they informed us that had to be done online or we pay full price at the window.  I was glad I was able to call my parents who happened to be home to get their help with ordering the tickets online. All we needed was a confirmation number.

I was talking on the phone with my dad a lady came to us saying that their group had one unclaimed adult ticket and they wanted to give it to us.We thanked them and I told my dad make that one less adult ticket. Then right before I gave Dad our debit card information Scott waved tickets at me and I found out somebody gave us two unclaimed children's tickets from their group. I then had Dad redo the whole order and we only had to order two adult tickets. We went there expecting to spend $60 to $70 and wound up only having to pay $30. Our Lord is rich in blessings.

There were a lot of interesting things to see and do. There were some amazing Lego models of castles, knights, and even a dragon. Then we saw all the Rocket displays and lunar modules. We also watched a movie about the life of an astronaut. There were some scales that show your weight on different planets. I won't tell you my weight on Earth much less Jupiter. I think one of my favorite displays was of the inside of one of the space shuttles. It showed all the things they used to live on the shuttle.

We also got to go inside a small dome star display. It was kind of like a miniature planetarium. I think NASA should have a larger planetarium for people to see the stars. Scott and I weren't as impressed with the star presentation, since we had seen the bigger ones before.

We only lost Jonathan twice during the day. The first time he wondered off while we were looking at something he ran back to us scared and crying. I comforted him and told him he needed to stay with us. The second time he got lost Scott ran back to where we last saw him and found him smiling about it. I'm not sure whether I prefer him being scared of being lost or finding it funny. I guess I prefer him not getting lost to begin with.

We ended the trip allowing the kids to play in the play area. Then it was time to get Scott back to the school where he drives a school bus. Walking back to the car, I asked Jonathan which part he liked best, and he said, "I like the karate." I'm not sure which part he considers the karate part, but that was his opinion. I think the Movie might have been the rest of the kids favorite part. They listed several favorites.

Scott's and my favorite part was finding Jonathan and our least favorite was losing Jonathan. Although we both enjoyed seeing the displays. Next time we want to get back and take the Tram tour of NASA if we are able to go again.

Our week isn't over yet and that was just one of the many activities planned. I actually found out this morning by a church member who stopped by that there is one more activity on Saturday we would normally want to go to. Our local association meeting is Saturday, but again that is just one more thing we can't do at the same time as all of our other activities that are planned at the same time. I think things need to be planned in a more spread out manner but I guess we are the only ones involved with all these particular extracurricular activities.

I'll try to post more pictures tomorrow. If I don't get to then watch for them by Monday when I'll hopefully get to slow down.



Picture taken this morning of Elijah playing.

 Last week was busy, but this week will be even busier.  I don't know why activities seem to all fall on the busiest weeks.  We are actually not going to be able to do it all. There are just too many conflicting activities.  Thankfully I was able to reschedule Elijah's Dr's appointment this week.  His original appt. was the same day we have a homeschool field trip.  Then Saturday there are three separate activities taking place in three different directions.  I had to choose which one we go to.  Scott is a wonderful husband.  He knew exactly which of the activities I really wanted to do and just simply said, "We're going there and the rest can wait.  The kids will be okay."  He is right.  The kids though disappointed that they aren't able to do it all are still happy to be able to do the things we have planned.    I would list the whole itinerary but Scott doesn't like everything published beforehand to the world so I'll just tell about it as it happens.  I'll be posting pictures so keep checking back. 

Big smile for mommy.



Elijah is still growing.  He prefers being upright to laying down sometimes.  I took these two pictures this morning while he was playing on the floor.  I think he likes sitting better because he knows he's not being laid down to sleep and it's easier to see what's going on around him.  He is coming closer to crawling, which will probably be his next milestone.    Now to get his older siblings to quit picking him up as much and handing him everything. 

A New Comment



Four of my children in my Sunday School Class.

I took this picture during Sunday School a few weeks back.  Elijah was actually in the room as well but he wasn't sitting at the table.  Whenever the teacher for Hannah's and Jonathan's class is out they come to my class.

A few blogs back, I mentioned Jonathan making his usual comment during one of Scott's sermons.  His normal comment was "Jesus died on cwoss?"

Last night during our Bible study he made a new comment.  Scott asked if we had any comments, which of course is Jonathan's  cue.  Jonathan spoke up, "Jesus," then after a short pause, ":Jesus lay on the floor?"

Scott quoted the verse "(Matthew 8:20) 'And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.'  So yes, Jesus probably did have to sleep on the floor a few times."

It's interesting what kids come up with.  Although, we were informed by Hannah that a kid is an animal.  So I guess I should have said, "children".

Can't Forget Hannah

The first blog I posted this week was about Elijah and Jonathan.  Then yesterday I blogged about Joshua and Ruth. So today I'm going to talk about Hannah.

I took this picture today while Hannah was being a swimmer named Leum.  And, yes, Leum is a boy.  Hannah stuffed the dress she is wearing as a shirt into her blue pants which are rolled above the knees.  The belts wrapped around her arms are "floaties".  And the blue shoestring tied around her finger is a bandage because her finger got bit by a shark.

Last night as we gathered for devotional, Hannah was chewing on her hair.  Scott told her to stop chewing on her hair and asked her if she liked eating her hair.  She told him, "No, I was just getting the toothpaste taste off my hair." 

Hannah is still our little fireball of emotions.  She is either very happy or very upset.  There is rarely an in between with her.  One night she came to our room hollering and screaming that something was behind her ear.  Scott looked behind her ear and removed the little piece of dried fingernail polish.  It was the day I painted her fingernails.  She must have scratched behind her ear before the nail polish dried.  But from the sound of her hollering you would think she had a giant ant still attached to her ear.  She has given us quite a few scares that turned out being nothing.  I often wonder if some of her reflux cries as a baby were a little over reacted as most of her cries are today.  At the time though, I thought she was really suffering.  So much so that she got to sleep beside me on my firm pillow each night to keep her from having tummy troubles. 

One thing really wonderful about Hannah is that she is a "people person".  She never meets a stranger and will talk to just about anybody.   Hannah is always saying or doing something that makes us laugh.  Sometimes it may be that she is being completely serious but we can't help getting tickled.

Whatever Hannah puts her mind to do she does whole heartedly.  When we started the karate classes she was so determined to learn all the katas at once.  I had to insist that Hannah learn only one at a time.  She was getting so many in her head that she wound up inventing her own kata which changed from day to day.

That's our Hannah!  Now, if I could just bottle up even some of that energy we could sell it.

Shhhh...(Don't tell them it's work.)



Joshua Ironing

 I remember my Mom teaching me how to iron when I was a kid.  It was such an honor to be entrusted with a basketful of my Dad's work shirts.  Well I'm not quite ready to trust my children with Scott's shirts just yet.  Instead I started them on the living room curtains. 

The curtains came out of the dryer wrinkled.  I sighed because ironing curtains wasn't one of the chores I had planned to do today.  But then I had a bright idea, a home economics lesson for Joshua and Ruth!  They were excited.  They both got to iron two curtains each from the living room. 

Ruth ironing curtains.

They did a good job and the curtains weren't even singed.  I've been trying to teach Joshua and Ruth how to take on a little more responsibility around the house.  They are also learning how to teach Jonathan and Hannah to help out.

If we all work together chores should be a lot easier and quicker to get done in a day.  Hopefully that will mean I can get to bed at a better time and still have all the days dishes done.  The more the children are able to willingly help with household  chores the more time I have to teach them other exciting lessons. 

(Proverbs 22:6) "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

Firsts



Elijah enjoying his first bites of rice cereal.

 Elijah had his first meal of rice cereal on Friday.  He gave me a lot of trouble going to sleep.  Scott and I both agreed that it Elijah was good and ready for rice cereal.  Friday evening as the other children were eating Sandwiches, Joshua grabbed the camera and took this picture of Elijah having his first bites.

Of course I had to hold his arms down and keep him in order to keep him from grabbing the spoon and bowl.  He had several bites and learned to drink water from a sippy cup.  He did very well.

  After he started acting full, I told his siblings that they could have the rest of the rice cereal.  We didn't get a picture of the look on his face as they started eating his cereal in front of him.  I don't know which would have been a better picture his disturbed look as they were eating in front of him or Jonathan's surprised face as he realized there isn't any flavor to rice cereal.  Elijah slept much better Friday night.  



Jonathan participating in karate class

 Also this week, I started Jonathan in the little kids' karate class.  A week ago last Thursday, Jonathan joined me and Scott in the adult class.  He was having some troubles in the play area so I let him stay beside me while we were working on some kicks and punches.  He started doing everything I did.  He talked about that all weekend.  Tuesday, I asked the teacher if we could be in the little kids' class together.  Technically he's not old enough yet, but she agreed and he started Tuesday.  He has done really well.

We had a special karate class on Saturday in honor of Sensei John who was retiring from teaching at our Dojo.  He passed the class on to Sensei Patty who has been teaching the classes on the weekdays and weekends that he couldn't be with us.  Sensei Patty was also awarded her black belt on Saturday.  It was a great day.The big kids and little kids classes were invited to join the adult class that day.  This picture of Jonathan was taken during the class Saturday.  I was surprised at how well he behaved during the hour and a half class. 

Saturday evening we visited a Mission Rally at a church in our local association. Each of the churches present were asked to bring a history of how their church began.  It was interesting to hear how the Lord worked in the beginning of all those churches.  Scott presented a brief history of how our church was started back in 1931. 

We had a busy week this past week and I'm looking forward to seeing what all this week holds.

Nenodupe

A few months ago, Jonathan named his puppy Nenodupe and the name stuck.  It amazes me actually, since he is only two and yet he came up with a name he remembers.  Most of the names the kids would come up with at that age were long forgotten before they even had the toy a week.  Jonathan's puppy has kept its name several months.  We no longer even call it puppy it is Nenodupe.  He is getting so big and talking so much. 

We have devotionals at our home and after the devotion is over, Scott asks if anyone has any comments.  Jonathan's comment is usually, "Jesus died on the Cwoss."   Sunday, the air conditioner was out in the auditorium, so we had our services in the fellowship hall.  Jonathan must have thought that the short pause during his daddy's sermon was a spot for comments.  So he announced very loudly, "Jesus died on the cwoss."  No one seemed to mind and Scott just said, "Yes, Jesus died on the cross,"  and went on with his sermon.  

Children grow up so fast.   It won't be long and I'll be telling of the things Elijah will say. 

1,000 Strikes

"I feel like I've done a thousand strikes today," is the phrase Scott and I keep repeating.  The strike-a-thon went very well today.  We had this picture taken of our family right after the class was over.  Later we may get some good pictures of our class performing the 1,000 strikes.

Jonathan is not in old enough yet to be in the class but we let him wear his gi and I told him that he could participate today if he wanted to.  I think he mostly played  in the back of the room.

A mom of one of the kids participating watched Elijah for us so we worked on the strikes.  She is one of those wonderful fearless moms that can comfort a fussy baby. 

Speakimg of a fussy baby...  I better get him ready for bed.  I'll try to post more tomorrow.  Wow, my arms are soar.

Strike-a-thon for the American Cancer Society

My family and I will be participating in a strike-a-thon on Saturday, August 28.  We will be performing 1,000 strikes against cancer.  All donations will be going to support the American Cancer Society.  All those participating will be wearing the names of family and friends that have been affected by cancer.

If you would like to help us support the American Cancer Society please e-mail me at asmile76@gmail.com .  If you have a loved one that you would like us to honor by wearing their name please include their name in your e-mail.

I plan to bring my camera and have someone take a picture of us as we make our strikes against cancer.  I'll post a picture of my family wearing the bands with the names of those we are honoring through this.   

The man mentioned in the poster to the right is a friend of our Sensei.  Our family has several friends and family who have personally been affected by cancer.   We wish to honor them through this Strike-a-thon.

Even if you cannot make a donation toward the cause, please support us with prayers for the families who are still fighting the fight against cancer, and for those families who have lost a loved one to cancer.  Thank you.

All Work and No Play?

I'm letting the kids take a break today.  We went to the park this morning for a homeschool meeting.  When we got home I fed my children lunch and told them they could play in the water after they washed our van. 

The van is nice and clean and the kids are outside splashing around in a kiddy pool.  It was hard getting a good picture with them moving around so much. 

Elijah is growing.  My mom and I bought a play mat (pictured) for him about a month ago.  At that time he had a harder time reaching both the hanging toys and the kicking ball.  Now he is able to reach both at the same time..  He loves to play with this toy.  The only time he gets upset with it is when he wants to chew on the toys and they don't pull off.  But he has sweet siblings who will  help him out and give him toys to chew. 

Believe it or not, letting the kids take a break and play today has given me a little reprieve.  I decided to blog and then I hope to get my lesson plans organized for the month.  It's good to stop every once in a while and take a break.  Tomorrow we'll be getting back to work. 

Math Problems

IJoshua waiting to see if he got the answer correct.

Yesterday, I was grading Joshua's and Ruth's math work. I saw that despite all the drilling on division, Joshua was still not understanding long division.  I had given him many examples on the board.  I even began to wonder if someone else could explain it better than I can.  That is a dangerous worry that goes through many homeschooling moms' heads when faced with what feels like a road block in their child's education.

I always have to stop myself, and realize that if my child were in a classroom setting he would have the same difficulty.  I imagine the teacher would just give him homework and then either he would get behind and fail or bring the work home where I would have to teach it to him anyway.  So as all homeschooling Moms must do, I think of the best way to solve the problem. (Pun intended.)  

I knew that what Joshua needed was to do several problems himself.  I told him that division was a very systematic thing.  What you do to one number you do to the other numbers.   I had him go to the board and I gave him a problem to write down.  He wrote it on the board.  I then told him okay solve the problem.

He started tensing up and getting all worried about it.  I asked him what he was to do first.  He got that part right and then froze.  I asked him, "Okay, Now what do you do?"  

He then made a mistake and I very animatedly had the number he messed up complain, "No! Don't push that big number into me.  It won't fit!!!"  He at first wasn't sure if I was making fun of him or just making math fun.  I was helping him with the numbers talking, he started figuring out what he was doing wrong, and getting tickled at the animated numbers on the board.  At one point he accidently put a number that was suppose to go on top of the line under the numbers, that poor number hollered, "Aaahhh!!! I fell off the table!  Help!" 

Finally, after a few rounds of division he was making less mistakes and the numbers quit talking to him.  He started getting every problem right and he announced the very rewarding words, "Wow! Math is fun! Are there any more problems?"

Those words right there do a homeschooling mom's heart good.  I smiled and said, "See. I knew you could do it."

Roll Over

Elijah is now rolling over to his tummy.  One morning I went to get him out of his bed and he was on his tummy looking around his bed.  Later the same day after I changed his diaper he rolled over onto his tummy again.  That time he was on my bed.  It won't be long and he'll be crawling. 

Church camp was great.  We all discussed before bedtime prayers what our favorite parts of camp was.  The kids agreed that they enjoyed different sermons several of the pastors preached.  It's always a joy to hear your children retell sermons.  There were a few sermons I had to miss because I had to step outside with Elijah, but Friday evening my kids filled me in on all those sermons plus the sermons I didn't miss. 

Of course, the sermons weren't the only part of camp my children enjoyed.  Joshua also enjoyed buying lots of Sodas.  He brought his own money with him so instead of just having the drinks and snacks we bought him, he enjoyed the freedom of buying as much as he wanted.  Then he said he also enjoyed swimming. 

The girls enjoyed swimming also.  Hannah enjoyed having grandparents at camp.  Where her Daddy and I might not give her everything she wants, grandparents love to buy their grandchildren things.  The funny part is that even after camp was over she says now she wants a balloon from the gift shop.  All I can do is shake my head. 

It reminds me of a scene from Veggietales. Bob the Tomato asks Larry the Cucumber, "How much stuff do you need to be happy?" 

Larry replies, "I don't know. How much stuff is there?"

Hopefully she will figure that lesson out as she gets older and we continue to teach her.

Ruth enjoyed the swimming and enjoyed hearing people tell the story of when they were saved.  She also liked singing a special Friday morning before her daddy's devotional.  She sang a song she had written a few years ago entitled, "I Love You, Jesus."

Jonathan said that he enjoyed Wal-mart.  We can only assume he meant the gift shop.  I think favorite is a difficult concept for a two year old.  But I'm pretty sure he enjoyed all the time he got to spend with his Daddy this week.  Scott also mentioned that Jonathan enjoyed watching the boys that dived off the diving board durng swimming.  For Jonathan watching them splash was like getting to watch fireworks.

Scott enjoyed teaching the High School/ College class.  He also enjoyed spending a lot of time with Jonathan.

I enjoyed teaching the third grade class again this year.  I found I had quite a few of the same kids I had last year.  Several of the kids were 10 years old this year which is the age I was when I was saved.  I shared with them my testimony.  At the end of class on Wednesday, I told the students that if they wanted to talk to me they could stay after class was over.  One of the girls from my dorm stayed. I shared with her the same verses we talked about in class.  She then prayed her own prayer asking God to forgive her of her sins.  During testimony time that day, she gave her testimony and I believe from her testimony that she understood what I had shared with her. 

Over all we had a great camp.  The only problem I had at camp was getting stung by a bee.  I had stepped outside with Elijah during one of the services.  I went to sit down in a chair and my arm went down right on a bee.  I'm just glad it was me and not my baby that got stung.

God's Provisions

Scott made it home safe and sound.  The kids surprised me and were fairly easy to get up.  I however only got an hour of sleep that night.  But I managed to get up and get the kids out the door.  The kids were all pretty excited.  Hannah kept telling Scott about the bugs we bought for him to eat.  Of course, he didn't really understand what she was talking about until we got home and offered him some gummy bugs that they found at the store.  We didn't want him to miss Thailand too much. 

The picture above is Scott holding Elijah wrapped in a cloth Scott had given me.  When I nurse Elijah in public I needed a good breathable cloth to cover with.  Scott found a cloth for me.  The people there have multiple uses for it.  Elijah enjoyed being swaddled in it. 

The rest of the pictures are of Scott and the kids eating the gummy bugs we bought for him.   The kids are all gathered around on a blanket pretending to be in Thailand.  After seeing all the pictures of the people there sitting on mats on the ground they wanted to pretend to be there.  So they are coloring in the coloring books Scott bought them from Thailand and sitting on a makeshift mat.  They were using their new Thai pillows for desks. 

Scott said that these gummy bugs tasted much better than real bugs.  We all had fun watching his pictures and videos.  I'm glad that he went and that the team he went with were so good with the people there.  I hope that their will be much fruit for their labor there.  It was good to know that the missionaries there now have an open invitation to return. 

Scott is finally starting to get over his jet lag.  At noon he has been wanting to sleep and at midnight he wanted lunch.  But today he decided to go out and get some coffee at a local cafe.  He also drove to the post office to check our mail.  He returned late in the morning all hot and sweaty.  He had to walk home from the post office.  The ignition switch in our van wasn't working.   He first walked to the Dollar store to get some WD-40, but that didn't work so he walked home.  About halfway home someone that knew him offered him a ride.  He then did some calling around for the price of ignition switches.  He decided he would go try it again.  He went out to walk the 3 or 4 miles to the post office again.  Thankfully he was able to get it to crank and drove it home.  He thinks it will be okay for a while but he wants to get a new ignition switch soon.  I told Scott at least all the things we have to replace on our vehicles are still better than a car payment.  Let's see this month we've had to buy 3 windshield wipers, a new tire, a new brace for the back door of the van, and now we will be getting a new ignition switch.

Tomorrow we will be going to visit my sister and her husband.  We will be looking at buying a car to replace the one that had to be scrapped after an accident Scott had the week before he left.     We should be able to have the car paid for in full in just a few weeks.  We prefer to buy good running older cars for less and spend the money that would have been car payments on fixing them up.  It seems to work for us anyway and so far God has blessed us with being able to find good prices on parts most of the time. 

I know that is the question a lot of people have is how can we afford five kids.  It's only by God's grace that we do.  We depend on Him for our needs.  So far with each new addition we've made to our family God has provided in many ways that is hard to explain.  We try not to live over our means and find good prices whenever possible.  It's amazing how many times God has provided for our needs and even some of our wants.  He is truly awesome!

Php 4:19-20 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (20) Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

 

Early In the Morning...

This is probably my favorite picture of Jonathan from our trip.  I took this picture of him at the Kalamazoo Air-zoo.  He loved being inside a real cockpit with real buttons and switches to push. 

Real early tomorrow morning we will picking Scott up from the airport.  I will have to awaken the kids and at lunch today, I described to them how I imagine tomorrow morning will be. 

Joshua, I'll only have to tell twice and he'll be up and at 'em.  He'll probably even help get the others up.

Ruth will be a challenge since she usually sleeps so soundly.  I anticipate having to tell her loudly severral times and then shake her shoulder, or threaten to tickle her feet to finally get her up and moving.

Hannah, I will come into the room and quietly and sweetly as possible tell her to wake up. There are two possible reactions I expect from her. She'll either grumble and turn over covering her head with her pillow and then cry as I insist she get up, or she'll jump out of bed and squeal excitedly because we're going to get Daddy. . 

Jonathan, I'll probably have to carry out after trying to wake him up enough to at least go potty first.

Then Elijah should be the simplest to just feed and put in his car seat.  But I wouldn't be surprised if he chose that time to have the dirtiest diaper of the week.  Watch them all surprise me and give totally different reactions than I am anticipating.  We shall see.  I'll try to post again tomorrow if I get a chance.

One funny thing that from my confusion of Scott's arrival was I had rescheduled Elijah's 4 month check-up for Wednesday, thinking that we might be too tired from picking Scott  up on Tuesday.  Oh well maybe I'll leave the kids at home to watch a movie or something while Scott rests.  It will be different taking only Elijah to the doctor. 

This eveniung, I took the kids with me to the store to get some much needed groceries.  I found Hebrew National Beef Hot Dogs on sale for 75 cents a package.  That was 6.5 cents per ounce!  It was just about cheaper than the cheap stuff.  I bought just about every package they had.   I told the cashier that with a family our size you don't pass up a good deal like that.

Now I need to wash some dishes and then get some sleep.  Scott's flight will take him about 2 and a half to 3 hours to get all the way from Los Angeles to Houston.  It will take me a little over half that just  to drive to the airport.  Kind of funny isn't it? 

I'll try to post an update sometime tomorrow about Scott's arrival.  Thanks for all your prayers.