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.