Sweetly Singing

At 6:20 this morning I heard singing. I hustled out of bed to silence the singer before she woke others. Thankfully, I paused before bursting into the room with a fierce shushing whisper. It wasn't one singer but two who were beautfully singing, "Lord of the universe be Lord of my heart. Not just a portion, but every part. Use me in Your way to give You the praise. Make my heart Your dwelling place now and always." I silently returned to my bed to listen as my two daughters echoed the prayer of my heart for me and my family.

Finally, here is Carie's Kindergarten class (with the first graders) performing at her school's Christmas chapel.

Maggie's Christmas program

And here is Maggie singing with two other girls. This was her major part of the Christmas program:

Christmas programs

David and Maggie were able to perform in our church Christmas program. Unfortunately, Carie was sick. But, we were able to go to her Christmas chapel at school and watch her sing and play bells.

Here is a video of David's part in the Christmas program:

Thanks

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name."

~Psalm 100:4

I'm thanking God for the return of my voice! I can almost speak and sing normally. I'm also thanking him for wonderful family and the great visits we've had with parents/grandparents over the past month. What a delight it is to have such loving, godly, prayerful parents/grandparents! I also appreciate how helpful they are when they come to visit. Thanks, Mom and Dad (all of you).

Today was my first day of working at the Bibles for Missions Thrift Center in town. If the Lord wills, I will continue to help out one Saturday a month. I appreciate having a have a thrift store in town, both for donating and for buying, and I appreciate that the proceeds go to buy Bibles for people in Haiti. While I worked this morning at BFM, Bob had the children straighten their rooms and then they all went grocery shopping. Now that's a loving husband! I'm so thankful for Bob and for our kids.

This afternoon Maggie had play time at a friends house while the rest of us went to Sioux City to do some shopping. We had a successful shopping day both at Sioux City and in Orange City -- new snow pants, shirts, and shoes for Carie, new socks and a sweater for Maggie, new undershirts and socks for David. I'm really thankful that we were able to get all that we set out to get today. We also had fun in the car listening to stories from the Wayside School collection.

For dinner/supper we went to Taco John's. That's a family first for us. We went for lunch one time when we were house hunting over five years ago, and the kids have been twice for ice cream, but tonight was the first time we had our evening meal there. The children ate every morsel of their meal without complaint! I was thankful that Bob had the idea of going out so that I didn't have to rush to make dinner after getting back late from Sioux City. It was a treat to have a fun family meal in a "new" place.

I'm thankful for God's goodness and His love that endures forever. I'm thankful that He forgives my sins, heals my diseases, rescues me from the pit, and crowns me with love and compassion (Psalm 103). I'm thankful that He satisfies my desires with good things. I may not always recognize the good things as good at the time, but I find that when I trust in God and His goodness and not my own perception of the circumstances, I experience His peace.

Yesterday I was focused on myself and my failures rather than on God and His goodness. I was grumpy, angry, sharp in my speech, overly sensitive, impatient, etc. Finally God got through to me. I realized that I turned every irritating action of my children into a personal accusation of my own failure as a mother. That only added to the list of my own personal failures in home management, time management, and self management. The more I thought of myself and my failures, the more unbearable I became to myself and my children. Thanks be to God for rescuing me from the downward spiral by showing me the truth and setting me free. How grateful I am for God's forgiveness through Jesus Christ when we confess our sins. I got a fresh start and had a better afternoon and evening.

This morning I greeted the girls with Maggie's memory verses for this week. I never took the time to review them with her yesterday and I certainly hadn't applied them during much of the day. How different my day could have been, and yet the failures of yesterday serve as a lesson to me and highlight the importance of God's words in Philippians 4:6-8

Don't worry about anything.

Instead, tell God about everything.

Ask and pray.

Give thanks to him.

Then God's peace will watch over your hearts and your minds

because you belong to Christ Jesus.

God's peace can never be completely understood.

Finally, my brothers and sisters,

always think about what is true.

Think about what is noble, right and pure.

Think about what is lovely and worthy of respect.

If anything is excellent or worthy of praise,

think about those kinds of things.

"Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

~Psalm 106:1

Favorite Photos

Funny Fall

"I'd like to try a worm sandwich," Carie said seriously as she stared down at the worm we discovered while sweeping the patio. Instead of eating it, we showed the almost dead worm some compassion by moving it to the dirt and grass and enriching its life with some water. A few minutes later it was gone. I assume it found a comfy spot in the soil.

Later that brisk Friday night as we sat around the fire pit warming ourselves and looking up at the stars, Carie said, "I think I prefer chicken from something bigger than a worm." She won't be trying worm sandwiches anytime soon. She'd rather have pork chicken or beef chicken or even chicken chicken.

That night Carie also kept us updated on the approach of a dark bank of clouds in the twilight of the western sky. "The snow clouds are coming. They are higher now," she'd say every few minutes.

Sure enough, a little after 10:00 PM the winds started blowing and when Bob and I peaked out, it was snowing. We awoke Saturday morning to a dusting of snow and a few inches of leaves in our back yard. Our ash tree was stripped nearly bare of its pale green leaves. So much for the nicely swept patio.

First thing in the morning the kids suited up for serious snow play -- snow pants, boots, extremity coverings. They poked around in the snow for a while. Later in the afternoon they used rakes to make a pile of leaves to jump into, but by the time I was ready to go out and join them, one flip flop clad youngster was done with the cold (I didn't check attire before they went out). Carie supervised and occasionally helped as Maggie and I built up the pile. Carie jumped with Maggie once into the pile of wet leaves and decided she had had enough. Maggie was sad that no one wanted to jump with her, so I offered my companionship. We flopped and twirled and jumped and fell into the great pile of leaves. I have green stains on my pants to prove it.

2-4 inches of snow is in the forecast for tonight, so Bob and I (mostly Bob) collected the leaves and disposed of them at the city compost pile. Maggie and I pulled up all the plants from the garden. Fall is here. Summer is gone. We enjoyed the last of it as we finished our homegrown watermelon today.

Farm Day

It's been two weeks now since Maggie, David and I went on our farm day field trip, but I just now got around to putting the photos on the computer. I'm trying something different this time. I made an album in Picasa and I am putting a link to it in my blog. We'll see if this works.

I learned many things that day, like what the word "farrowing" means (givng birth). Farrowing farms are farms dedicated to caring for productive sows and the birthing of baby pigs, from conception to weaning. I learned the gestation time for pigs s 30 weeks, 30 days, 30 hours. I found out that at birth pigs have their tails cut off and are given a shot of iron. We got information on the diet of sows and pigs at various stages of life and the importance of keeping the animals at a comfortable temperature. I also figured out why there aren't docks and boats on farm ponds : ) and how often they get drained.


All in all, it was an enlightening and enjoyable day. And no, I didn't have any trouble eating the pork sandwiches they fed us at "dinner"/lunch time.




Here's the link to the Farm Day photos:

Farm Day

Carie and Kindergarten

Carie has been a busy girl in kindergarten. She's been finding out about bees, reviewing her letters, practicing reading, learning Bible verses and hymns, and making new friends.

Watching a bee keeper.


Showing glasses for "G"



Alphabet puzzle and friends

With all Carie's bringing home, it is time for us to take down her papers from preschool to make room for her kindergarten work. She posed for a few pictures before her wall of rememberance.

The Beauty and Fun of "Yes"

Math
History
Observing bugs
Lunch
Rest

A beautiful day. Fun. Educational. We filled up on the sights, sounds, and feel of God's wondrous creation. We joined with all the living creatures in praising Him.

Thanks be to God.

Thanks for a difficult start

"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever." I'm thankful for a difficult start to our school day because I got to see God at work in me and in Maggie as He drew me to Himself and I surrendered to Him.

I had to give myself a time out today as I was faced with the "last straw" excuse regarding schoolwork.


Now I should say that overall this school year has been going 200% better than last year. Not that I really have any way of quantifying it, except perhaps in length of time it takes to complete school, number of times I need to redirect, and how many complaints, excuses, distractions, ailments, arguments or avoidance tactics I must deal with. This year has really been going well. We've had several days when we've finished school by lunch time and many when we've been done by early afternoon. I've heard few complaints about math, and Maggie has settled into our spelling program. We're enjoying our books. Maggie has been inspired by learning cursive and has risen to the challenge, sometimes wanting to write in cursive even when she has not yet learned some of the letters she needs to use. I've been having some good learning times with David and Carie. And Bob has started doing an hour of school with Maggie in his office on Tuesdays and Thursdays. What a blessing! I have given thanks to God frequently over the past few weeks for a great start to the school year.

This day was not one of those glorious days. It was a gray Monday with a little guy around the house who wanted his big sister to play with him while Mom wanted big sister to do school. Maggie was trying to be a loving big sister and didn't always stay focused on the tasks I gave. We had correction and instruction time where I was sorrowful, calm, firm. She seemed to understand and we went on to the next scheduled assignment -- copy Ephesians 4:32. Things didn't go as I had hoped and I felt rage rise up within me. I left Maggie with her assignment and told her I was taking a time out.

I threw myself onto my bed and cried out, "What does it mean to be a kind, tenderhearted and forgiving mom of a child who won't obey? of a child who won't stay focused? of a child who is avoiding what she's supposed to do?" I confessed my inner rage (which I had already confessed and named as wrong to Maggie), my lack of forgiveness, my pride, and I thanked God for His forgiveness. I asked Him to help me and give me wisdom.

As I lay there I was reminded that the Lord disciplines those He loves. Discipline can be (SHOULD be) kind and tenderhearted. Forgiveness doesn't eliminate the need for discipline. And discipline should be followed by complete forgiveness. After my prayer time I called Bob and asked him to pray for me. I shared with him the questions I had voiced in my prayer and he replied, "Your are being kind and tenderhearted by disciplining our children calmly and lovingly." I appreciated the affirmation.

Many Proverbs came to mind like "Discipline your child and save his soul from death." When we discipline our children in kindness and compassion, with a genuine concern for their souls and their future, and with our own hearts submitted to God, we are helping to shape our children's understandng of God. We are showing them the way of wisdom. We are helping them to understand their sinfulness, God's love, Christ's obedience and sacrifice, God's plan for saving them from eternal death and punishment. God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in love. He forgives sin and he punishes those who persist in sin and reject Him in hate.

If we allow rage or anger to be the power behind our discipline, if inconvenience or feeling a blow to our pride undergirds our discipline, we are giving our children a mistaken understanding of God. They may fail to understand God's grace and mercy, His kindness and compassion, His discipline and forgiveness, His righteousness and justice. God's love includes all that and more. If discipline is harsh and angry then we may be setting our children up for an unhealthy fear of God that keeps them from comprehending His love, that makes their faith unsure, or that may drive them to hate Him. We are not giving Him proper glory.

If we let our children have their way all the time and never provide boundaries, discipline or correction, we are equally misleading them in their understanding of God. We set them up for disappointment when God doesn't respond to them the way they want. Their faith may be crushed when He doesn't answer prayers as they pray them. We are training them to be their own god and to expect others to give them what they want. God disciplines those He loves. Children who don't experience loving discipline have a void in their understanding of God's love.

So what's a parent to do? What am I to do? Set my heart and mind on God's glory above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Humble myself before God. Pray. Confess. Rid myself of anger, rage, malice, slander, and corrupt communication. Be honest. Recognize I'm chosen by God, holy and dearly loved. Accept God's forgiveness in Christ. Be rooted and established in His love. Ask for wisdom. Clothe myself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with others. Forgive as God forgave me. Put on love. Let the peace of Christ rule in my heart. Let the word of Christ dwell in me richly. Teach and admonish with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in my heart to the Lord. Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Submit to my husband. Put on the armor of God. Pray. Obey God's direction to speak the Word of God to our children, to train them, to discipline them. Abide in God.

May it be so.

Third Day Photo

One tired boy

David started his morning with 25 minutes of outside play time with Maggie. While Maggie worked on some school work he and I played with colored shape lacing cards. He counted them. Named their colors. Named the shapes and asked the name of the pentagon. He counted edges and angles/points. He made waves with the laces. After an outside stretch break for the three of us, David was ready for a snack and a rest. He was in his room for a short time --long enough for some quality homeschooling time. When he came out he played a Noah game on the computer and selected the puzzle option. He was so excited when he did the puzzle all by himself.

Maggie finished all of her schoolwork by 12:00 noon!! We ate grilled cheese sandwiches and fruit for lunch and then walked to the elementary school for Maggie to go to art class. David and I headed to Bibles for Missions to use the restroom and browse while Maggie was in class. After we picked her up we went to Kinderspeeland, a big wooden playground, where Maggie and David did lots of climbing. Upon arriving home, Maggie went to play at the neighbors' house. David and I went home and were soon joined by Bob. David got out some puzzles to do with Bob, but before Bob and I were done talking, David had already gotten to the point that I captured in the photo above.

Homeschool is exhausting, especially without a nap.

First Day Photos

Trying out new thinigs

Carie is trying out bangs and chin length hair. I'm trying out really short hair (again). Today I tried my hand at canning dill pickles and tomatoes. I didn't have enough of either one to make all that boiling water worth it, so I decided to do both at the same time. Things got tense at times, particularly when the jars started inverting in the water bath. I have some things to learn, but we now have one pint of diced tomatoes, 2 pints of dill slices, and 1 quart of dill spears that seem to have sealed. One of the tomato jars looked like it wasn't going to seal after about a half hour, so I turned that into salsa that Bob and I enjoyed tonight. The other jar of dill pickles crashed into the floor. The lid opened and the contents when flying, but no glass broke.

Carie starts school on Monday. At 8:45 Monday morning there is a church service at First Cristian Reformed Church. Parents are encouraged to attend, so I will take Carie to the service and then drop her off at school. Maggie will go to work with Bob who has to be present for a panel discussion. Hopefully David will be able to go to a friend's house. I'm not sure he'd appreciate sitting through the church service. Carie has early dismissal at 12:00, so I don't think Maggie will be starting school on Monday as first planned. That plan was the plan when Bob thought he'd be able to take Carie on Monday morning.

I have to admit that with a mind affected by hormones I began to panic about all the external schedule keeping that is in store for us this year and wondered why we didn't just decide to homeschool Carie and not even mention to Maggie about the possibility of taking a class at school. Maggie will be taking art at the public elementary school, which operates on a six day cycle, so each week she will have art on a different day. Carie has some days that are early dismissal days at 2:00. Those days Bob won't be able to get her and ....aaaaah I'm losing my mind.

Bob asked me if I would like for him to be in charge of Carie's schedule and let me know any time I'll have to pick her up (most days he will be able to drop her off and pick her up). My first reaction was, with some thigh pounding and clenched teeth was, "No! I'll feel stupid if I have to have you keep track of the schedule. I should learn to do that myself and not get stressed about it." On second thought I realized that we all have our areas of weakness and we all need help. Better to get the help then to keep muddling along messing up, feeling guilty, and getting angry at oursleves. I agreed to have him be in charge of the schedule. What a feeling of relief.

That whole incident was a big reminder to me of how things work with me and God. He doesn't want me coming to Him saying, "I'm really working at it. Can't you see I'm improving. I'm going to learn how to avoid sinning. I don't need any help. I will learn this. If I can't do this on my own I'll feel stupid. I should be able to do this." No. God wants me to come to Him saying, "Lord, have mercy on me a sinner. I am weak. I am poor in spirit. I keep messing up and it makes me really sad. I really want to do what's right, but I can't do it. Please help me." When I'm ready to admit that I can't do it, He is there. He loves me no matter what. His power is available to me when I seek Him, trust Him, delight in Him, and know Him, but the truth is, I only seek Him, trust in Him, delight in Him or know Him because He has already sought me, proved Himself trustworthy, delighted in me, and known me.

"My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me."

"Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am meek and humble in heart. And you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

I'm toying with this defnition of humility: "The ability to say, 'I can't, but with your help I will.'"

Summer Fun

This morning was a delightfully rainy, gray morning. Before breakfast we all snuggled together in Mommy and Daddy's bed and recited Psalm 1, Psalm 23, and Psalm 100. Maggie started practicing piano without being asked and picked it up again after breakfast. Carie came and asked how she could help and proceeded to wipe the table and chairs, vacuum the floor, and wipe the bathroom mirror. She was pretending she was the maid. She also started to clear the walls of her preschool art work to make room for the kindergarten work to come.

We have been having a delightful summer. Our evenings have included watching the hot air balloon, going for a family bike ride (Carie can ride on her own and David tags along behind Bob), catching fire flies, watching bats flit through the air by the light of a full moon. We've been grilling food, eating sweet corn, and enjoying lots of cucumbers from our garden and a pepper and some cherry tomatoes. Swmming at the Orange City pool, playing with friends, and

Today may be the day we get fish.

Home Happenings

We had a fantastic time visitng family and friends in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Our ride home went well; nevertheless, we were delighted to extract ourselves from the car and enjoy the comforts of home. The children wasted no time in pulling out many of their toys. We could hardly see David's bedroom floor after ten minutes. That evening we enjoyed some Iowa sweet corn, cucumbers from our garden, and a tasty chicken pasta salad Bob put together. Yummmm.

Gardens

Our vegetable garden is spilling over into our yard. We have eaten at least four of our delicious cucumbers and picked several more. Our tomato plants are loaded with green tomatoes and we have watermelon, cantaloupes, and peppers getting bigger by the day. The flowers Dad W. planted took off and look wonderful. Maggie added to our patio landscape using birthday money to purchase a hand pump fountain that has provided hours of fun for the children and a nice focal point on our patio.
Bikes
Not long after we got out of our van, Carie started ridng her bike without the aid of training wheels. She's riding like a pro now! She attirbutes some of her success to riding the tag along bike at Oma and Grandad's house. David now proudly tags along behind Daddy. Bob and the kids rode bikes to church on Sunday. Just this evening we bought a new bike for me so now we hope to take some family bike rides.



Prayers
Lately David has been eagerly volunteering to pray at meals and bedtimes. His prayers are full of thanks. He thanks God for each of his family members and then for things he experienced during the day. One day last week he thanked God for fireflies and the next day he thanked God that we had a fire (in the fire pit). Listening to him pray is a great reminder of the importance of noticing and be thankful for simple every day things.

Flowers

It's amazing the changes that can happen in a plant in just over a week. Here are pictures of our hydrangea on 6/14 and again on 6/23.




The flowers on our back patio are thriving, too. Aren't those petunias gorgeous? Dad W. has great taste in flowers. Maggie is especially thrilled with the grass he chose for the center of the pot.

Busy June

I finished the skirts! I actually finished them before my homeschooling conference, but I have been busy since then and have been avoiding the computer to get other things done.

My conference was excellent and I had a good time with all the ladies. Bob and the children did all sorts of fun things together while I was gone. In one day they went to the library, the pool, two different play grounds and Pizza Ranch. I was delighted, though, to come home to children who ran into my arms with big hugs and who danced around the living room chanting, "Mommy's home! Mommy's home!" What a welcome!

Three days after I got back from the conference we met Aunt Joanne and cousin Paul at the Blue Bunny visitor's center and ice cream parlor in LeMars, IA. We were intrigued with all we learned about the history of ice cream and how Well's Dairy produces, stores, and distributes such massive quantities of ice cream. After filling up on ice cream we tried out a playground in LeMars. Joanne and Paul took a slight detour from I-80 to visit us in Orange City on their way back to Colorado from PA and Illinois. They stayed with us Tuesday night and for a good portion of Wednesday. Joanne and I had fun comparing homeschooling conference notes as she had just attended one in Illinois. Paul, Maggie, Carie, and David played imaginatively together and watched the launching of a hot air balloon. Before Joanne and Paul left we made sure they experienced Pizza Ranch's lunch buffet followed by a visit to Windmill Park. When it came time to say goodbye, Paul clung to Maggie with a big pout.

On June 8, Carie read her first book! She read Mat in the B.O.B. series.

She likes to read it several times a day now and has also read Sam. Carie is very excited about reading!

This week swimming lessons are supposed to start but have been postponed a few days. The heater in the swimming pool is broken and the past week it has been very cool. Today was a gray, rainy day so I doubt it did much to warm the water. The pool staff hope that by Wednesday the water temperature will be a little warmer and the kids can get started with lessons. We'll see.

Tulip Festival Pictures

It's been a while since you heard from me. A few days ago Bob saw me working on the blog and gently suggested to me that perhaps I shouldn't do any more blog posts until I finish the skirts I started sewing for the girls back in April. My machine, however, was giving me fits, breaking the top thread every six to twelve inches of sewing. It was frustrating. I gave up for a while after fully lubricating my machine and filing all nicks and burs off the needle plate only to have the thread break again. My attempt to arrange an alternative sewing location failed because my friend was using her machine and then her machine stopped working.

Later this week I had a breakthrough. I saw exactly where the thread was catching and breaking. A damaged screw was snagging and cutting my thread. I filed the screw head so it was smoother, and Bob turned the screw a bit so the thread couldn't catch. I started sewing a line of stitches to gather one tier of the skirt and I was able to sew really fast (speeding up was when I would have trouble before). Unfortunately when I was just inches from the end of a very long run, my bobbin thread ran out. For those of you who know anything about sewing, that wasn't good. To gather something you have to have a continuous chain of stitching all the way around. At 11:00 at night I wasn't feeling up to doing any more work. I let the skirt sit for a day before tearing out the stitching.

I must confess that the skirts are still not done. They are hemmed and have nicely finished side seems, but the tiers have not been gathered or sewn together. I am setting a goal for myself to finish before I go to Des Moines on Thursday for a homeschooling conference.

I asked Bob if even though I wasn't done with the skirts I could post these Tulip Festival pictures that I had uploaded a week ago (that's the really time consuming part of bloggiing). He conceded. I really wanted to share them with you before the month was through. So, here they are.

My prayers

My last entry about Carie wanting to be like me when she grows up got me thinking about some of the prayers I pray for my children. There are so many, but the ones I share here were at the forefront of my mind as I wrote about Carie.

My prayer for all of my children is that they will love the Lord their God with all of their heart and all of their soul and all of their strength and all of their mind and love their neighbor as themselves. I pray that they will follow Jesus and walk in humble obedience to God as Jesus did. I pray that they will be honest with themselves and with God that they are not perfect -- they don't love perfectly, not God or His creation, nor are they perfectly obedient. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). I pray that they will realize "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). I pray that they will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved, hold firmly to their faith, and abide in Him. I pray that when they mess up they will confess their sins and know God's forgiveness. I also pray that they will realize that Jesus can sympathize with their weakness as He was tempted in every way yet did not sin and because of this Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." I pray that they will be filled with the Holy Spirit and that the fruit of the spirit will abound in them.

As Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:14-21, so I pray for my children, family, and friends:

For this reason I kneel before the Father,

from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power

through his Spirit in your inner being,

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

And I pray that you,

being rooted and established in love,

may have power together with all the saints,

to grasp how wide

and long

and high

and deep

is the love of Christ,

and to know this love that surpasses knowledge

-- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more

than all we ask or imagine,

according to his power that is at work within us,

to him be glory in the church

and in Christ Jesus

throughout all generations,

for ever and ever!

Amen.

Just like you

"I want to grow up just like you," Carie said while we sat across from one another at the kitchen table.

"Do you mean you want to be grown up just like Mommy?" I queried.

"No, I mean I want to be just like Mommy when I grow up." What a great thing that was to hear when I was feeling sick, unkempt, and exhausted.

"Oh, you want to have three great children and a wonderful husband. And you want to take care of them and fix good meals for them."

"Hee, hee. I want to fix things they don't like like tomato sauce. All the time I want to fix things they don't like" responded Carie with a goofy grin. I was hoping for a more positive follow up statement.

Yesterday Carie's actions demonstrated beautifully her desire to be like Mommy. In the morning I was in the living room with my Bible on my lap. Carie pranced in and sat down for a minute. After exchanging greetings she said, "I need to go get my Bible." She ran out of the room, retrieved her Bible, plopped herself down on the love seat, and commenced a retelling of several Old Testament stories. I soon left the room to get breakfast for some hungry family members, but Carie remained "reading" her Bible for quite a while longer.

I hope that as Carie looks at me and desires to grow up to be like me, she will see me as one who abides in God, who relies on His mercy and grace, who walks by faith, who is filled with the Holy Spirit, and who loves others deeply from the heart. I pray that she will be an imitator of God.

"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children

and live a life of love,

just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us

as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

Ephesians 5:1 (NIV)

Wonderful Discoveries

Yesterday Maggie, Carie, and I had a lovely time at the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center in Sioux City. We joined with over 40 homechooling parents and children from Northwest Iowa to participate in a class on birds, a guided hike through the forest, and a scavenger hunt in the nature center to locate the various birds on display. We enjoyed lunch outside at picnic tables overlooking bird feeders and a beautiful wooded area. After lunch we had another class on reptiles and amphibians. The kids got to touch all sorts of things during the classes -- birds legs and feet, a turkey bone, a turkey wing, snake skins, a turtle shell, an alligator head, and a live ornate box turtle. Did you know that it is against the law to keep a box turtle as a pet in Iowa? Just across the border in Nebraska it is OK. Go figure.

Around the nature center were several trails, so we went hiking afterwards with our friends from Orange City with whom we had travelled. The steps got a little tricky with my friend's stroller; nothing the two of us couldn't handle, though. The children has a great time running ahead and making discoveries -- a tree fallen across a swale ("No one should climb across that tree."), a tree bereft of its branches and charred to its base, and many little white snail shells. What a delight it was to be walking around surrounded by beautiful sights, sounds, and smells! Birds were singing lustily, the wild flowers were blooming gloriously, and the trees were rich with new maturing leaves. God's creation is so wonderful!

Psalm 100 (NIV)

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

Worship the LORD with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God.

It is he who made us , and we are his;

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;

his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Caretaker Carie

Carie was also an outside helper today. She watered our new grass which really needed it as our temperatures soared into the 90's.

For a learning activity she, David and Maggie collected seeds from trees and flowers (the dandelions and violets we are happy to have in our yard). She tore into a yellow dandelion and showed me wear the fuzzy seeds would come from. When I took her to inspect our packaged birdseed she selected a sunflower seed that she wanted to plant. We found a bare spot from last year's garden and planted the seed. She watered it and told me it has all that it needs to grow -- sunshine and water.

Later in the day we read about the life cycle of a sugar maple tree and it echoed her words about the need for sunshine and water. As I read the book time she interrupted me numerous times to ask questions and share her knowledge, particularly about pollination and the role that butterflies play. She finished up her year at preschool with a unit on butterflies that included watching dozens of caterpillar in the classroom change into butterflies. She also got to take a trip to the Sertoma Butterfly house in Sioux Falls. We visited a couple of weeks later with our whole family and Grandma and Grandpop.

Bob the Builder and Handy Manny

Dad W., Bob, and David built a raised bed the other day. Today David and Bob finished the job by securing it into the ground before we get soil to fill it.