Christmas Fashion Show

Our Jesse Tree

Well, Christmas is over now and it is time to take down the decorations (at least it is at our house). As I was taking down the tree, I decided to take a picture of our other tree, our Jesse Tree. What is a Jesse Tree? There are several different answers to that, but the one I like the most is that it is based on Isaiah 11:1 - "A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots" and is a way of teaching the Old Testament background for the Messiah, and showing how all of God's promises have been fulfilled. The Advent season is a wonderful time to reaffirm God's faithfulness, and the lessons of the Jesse tree help do so. I wanted each ornament on our tree to point to Jesus. That is a hard lesson. Some were rather easy, but some required much more thought and prayer. In the end it was a beautiful tree. My daughter loved the tree more than the regular tree. Each night(or every few nights, as the schedule permits) we would put on an ornament (or ornaments) and read out of the Bible and a bible story book. The story book took a long story and made it very short while keeping the main idea. We usually only read selected verses from the Bible, but sometimes the entire story came from it exclusively. This is a tradition we will keep and each year we will learn more and understand more as God opens our mind to his wisdom. Our list of ornaments came from http://ourjessetree.blogspot.com/ This lady has completely laid out the entire calendar with pictures of her ornaments. They are great ornaments, but you won't get them all in one year. It will take years of collecting to get them and that is great. It keeps our minds on the real reason for Christmas, Christ. Several ornaments you can make and we did. I did change one of her ornaments this year. Next year I might change more. I am seriously considering purchasing the devotional book from http://www.jesse-trees.com/devotional-book.html They also sell ornament kits, but they are pricey. I like the idea of making/collecting our own over the years. We printed out our own on cardstock as we needed them and just hung them with a hook. You can google Jesse tree ornaments and get lots of picture ideas.

Gymnastics Funmeet

Gymnastics Funmeet

Tyler "competed" in his first ever Gymnastics funmeet. He did quite well for to have only taken lesson for 3 months. There were 4 categories. He got a ribbon in each and a trophy at the end. We are so proud of him!!!

Singing Sweeties!!!!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Well, my friend, Amanda, is a genius!!!!! She took her video camera to Bible Study this week and captured the above video of our kids singing. They did awesome, even when the cd skipped. Thanks, Amanda, for sharing with us. Enjoy!!

When Chances Come Again

Here is a poem that my pastor read at our Sunday service. It speaks for itself. Now is the time to tell others about Him, Jesus. It is Christmas so we have a reason to be speaking about Christ. Strike up an conversation while standing in one of those long lines and see where it leads. Maybe it will lead to new life for the person.


"When Chances Come Again" by Willo Lou Clark

If you had been a lowly shepherd who heard the angels sing,
would you have left your sheep alone to find the baby King?

If you had been the innkeeper- pressed and hurried since the dawn,
would you have done the best you could or told them to move on?

If you had been a wiseman- due respect and courtly graces,
would you have left it all behind to search for Him in unknown places?

We cannot know what we'd have done if we had been there then.
We only know what we do now when chances come again!

Nature Walk

Today was a beautiful day! We took the opportunity to go on a nature walk not far from our house. The trees have very few leaves and we could see the outline of their branches. We took our nature journals and sketched some of God's handiwork.

It was a lot of fun. I then took the opportunity to take some picture of the kids. We all had such a good time.

Maybe next time we will take some paper and do some rubbing on the tree bark. Many of the trees are labeled so it would be great to learn how to identify a tree in the winter with no leaves. Some are pretty easy, but some are quite difficult.

Homeschool Open House

My new friend, Tammy, over at Lattes and Lollipops is having a homeschool open house today, so go on over and check out her blog. From there you can add your link and check out the blogs of other homeschoolers to see what goes on in their lives. Go on, Check it out. But, before you leave, scroll on down and check out what we have been up to.

Total Eclipse

We have recently began studying astronomy using Apologia's elementary book. It is just wonderful. Our latest experiment/demonstration was to create an eclipse. We are studying the sun. So we got out our globe. It is really just a ball that looks like a globe. It has been a great edition to our classroom for just a few bucks. Then we got our our moon globe and a flashlight (sun). We figured out that it works better in a completely dark room. We hung the moon on a string and passed it between the sun and the earth. Voila, an eclipse. It was amazing also to see the shadow the earth cast onto the wall/door behind it. I suppose the earth could be part of an eclipse on another planet, maybe? I guess so, if the orbits lined up just right. The kids loved it, possible because they got to play in the dark.

Science Display and Recitation

This month at our homeschool group we had a Science display. Everyone was encouraged to tell about what they had been studying in science. We could do it in anyway we chose. Some did experiments. Some did recitations of things they had memorized, like thier bones. Some did Bible science. It was really neat to see what others are learning. We spent the summer reading through Apologia's Swimming Creatures of the 5th day (Zoo II) and then going to Sea World. So, we wanted to use that as our subject. However, that is just too much to get together in a month. I looked for a pre-made lapbook, but after thinking about it, I decided the whole book was just a bit too ambitious. Then I stumbled across a sample at Live and Learn Press. It was just over the chapter on Whales. Well, that, I decided, was just the perfect amount. Plus, it would give me a chance to try out their lapbook series. I love Live and Learn Press' lapbooks. They have a series that has been created to go with the elementary Apologia series and it very thorough. I will definately use them again. But, I digress. Whales, hmm, we loved Shamu and have the video of the show. We could show that and make the lapbook and make a backboard of pictures. That is what we did.

The kids memorized a few lines to tell about the backboard. They did so good.

We can't wait until next years display, but right now we need to begin working on our Geography Fair display that is due in March. We will be studying Ancient Rome.

Harvest Candy Corn

I love candy corn!! I eat it this time of year until I make myself sick. So, when I learned that I could make it myself, I had to try it. I found the recipe at Recipezaar.com

I tried a batch myself and made some gigantic candy corn. They were delish. My kiddos then wanted to try to make them, so we made another batch. We made the three traditional colors of orange, yellow and plain white. Then we rolled each color into a rope and smashed them together. Then we used a butter knife to cut out triangle like the corn.

We took it to our homeschool group's harvest party and it was a hit.

Melting Chocolate

Is the sun, at 93,ooo,ooo miles away hot enough to melt frozen chocolate on a cold day of 34 degrees? That was our question. We are just getting started on the elementary Apologia Astronomy book. Chapter 2 is all about the sun and one of the experiments was melting chocolate. How could I deny my kids (and myself) this sweet treat?!! LOL So, with magnifying glasses in hand, we found a spot and hunkered down in the blowing, icy wind. Burrrr!!!

Tyler's magnifying glass focused the sun's light much better. Bobbi's didn't focus much smaller than a nickel and I wasn't sure it would work well. After a few minutes, Tyler checked his chocolate. It was melted and he got it all over his fingers, so why not just eat it.

Yum!!!

Bobbi, on the other hand, was still trying to focus her light beam. After a bit, she checked her chocolate. Turns out it was melted in a spot the size of a nickel.

After a few more seconds, she decided to check her chocolate. Turns out it was melted in a spot the size of the nickel.

Oh, well, experiment over. We must dispose of everything..... by eating it that is. De-lish!!

So, our conclusion is that the sun must be really powerful and hot to melt frozen chocolate on a freezing cold day. We have done the same experiment before except we burned holes in newspaper. Chocolate is much better!!!

RA Glider Race

My first grader is a RA (Royal Ambassador) at our church this year. He loves it. He has some awesome teachers. Last night they had their annual glider races.

Each boy is given a glider to assemble and decorate with their dad.

Then they take it to church and race it. They race for distance and speed down a fishing line strung from one end of the room to another.

Several boys participated. Tyler didn't win anything, but he loved the experience. Next year will be even better because we will be better prepared.

New Apologia Elementary Science Book!

I don't know how many of you use the elementary Apologia science books, but we do and we love them. Jeannie Fulbright is a gifted author and the books are filled with wonderful pictures and projects and experiments to do. They are not watered down, but they are on a child's level. They are also Christ centered, which we love. I am a science teacher, but I was not taught this way. So, the Exploring Creation series is perfect for me to use. I also subscribe to the Elementary Apologia Yahoo group and that is where I found this. Jeannie, herself, posts here and she just announced her newest, upcoming book. Read her post below and you will be amazed at how God is working to get this book out there.

(from Jeannie)
Hi Everyone!I wanted you to be the first to know the news. The Anatomy book is scheduled to be published sometime this summer. Allow me to tell you the story: I felt compelled to pray that God would bring me a co-author for the Anatomy book that was a physician. I did not wish to reinvent the wheel by doing all the research for Anatomy when I could have someone else, who already knew the intricacies of Anatomy, write the technical aspect of the book. I, then, could simply take the data and weave it into a living book, adding in analogies and the commentary and formatting that typify my science series. However, I wanted not only a physician, but a Christian physician. Not only that, I wanted a Christian physician that understood and followed a young earth model of origins. That's not asking too much, is it? Oh! I also had another requirement. This Christian physician that held to and understood the teachings of a young earth model also needed to be NOT WORKING so that he could write this book with me.One thing I've learned in my walk with God is that we should regularly being praying for things that ONLY God can do. This was something that only God could do.Well, I began praying. I called one of my best friends in Oregon who is a major prayer warrior to enlist her in the prayer battle. Within moments, God began to work His miracle. My friend mentioned that she had a good friendthat is a Christian, Young Earth, pediatrician, HOMESCHOOL MOM! "Now to him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us" Ephesians 3:20 Glory to God! This person, Brooke, has high school aged children and has taught Anatomy in great depth to them over the years. She has done many projects, experiments and activities associated with Anatomy. She is an EXPERT not only in Anatomy, but in teaching Anatomy to children. Even more amazing is that this person had been praying the week before and she felt God nudging her that she would be glorifying Him by teaching science to homeschoolers. Further, Brooke has time to write because her children are older, and she's not working as a doctor right now. Is anything impossible with God? So, I received the first lesson from Brooke this weekend and am almost finished with the rewrite and formatting. Thus, the progress will be rapid.We are projecting a summer publication date.Isn't God good?
Warmly,
Jeannie

Tagged

I have been tagged by http://gigglesgrinsandgrades.blogspot.com/.... and I consider it an honor.
The rules are.....
Link to the person who tagged you. Post the rules on your blog. Write six random things about yourself. Tag six people at the end of your post. Let each person know he or she has been tagged. Let the tagger know when your entry is up. So, here goes:

1. I love basketball and would love to play on a team again.
2. I can't stand for my house to be cluttered for very long and will cut school short just to get it back into some reasonable order.
3. I am rather photosensitive and have a fear of the shorter winter days with so many clouds blocking God's wonderful sun. (Glad I have the Son to get me through).
4. I am so addicted to reading my daily digest for the Spell to Write and Read Yahoo group. (it is very edumacational, LOL)
5. I have spoken at 2 of our states homeschool conventions.
6. I love photography.

Now I have to tag some other folks so consider yourself tagged:

http://countrygirlathome.blogspot.com/
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/SeekingJESUSnTeachingKIDS/
http://creasycrew.blogspot.com/

OK, so I know that isn't 6, but it will have to do.

Halloween?

As you noticed, the title has a question mark after it. The question is, “Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?” This subject has been a burden on my heart for a while and I feel that God would want me to share what I have learned. So, let’s think about holidays for a moment. Lets start near my birthday in May and think about Memorial Day. What do we celebrate? We celebrate all of those who God gave us that have fought and died for this wonderful country God has given us. What about Independence Day. Well we celebrate and give thanks to God who allowed us to be free from our mother country of England. This freedom was needed because we needed religious freedom. Thank you God. Then there is Thanksgiving. We should all give thanks to God for another day of life and health and for all the things, big and small, He has so freely given to us that we surely do not deserve. Then there is Christmas. It should celebrate the glorious birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Then there is New Years Eve when we get together and thank God for another year and ask him to bless our new year. Oh and then there is the most important holiday of all, Easter. We celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus so that we can have the salvation that we do not deserve but cannot earn on our own. Now let’s look at Halloween. It is a religious holiday. Really. It is just not a Christian holiday. It celebrates Satan. Everything about it points to Satan. Costumes? Oh yeah. To scare away evil spirits ancient Celtic people dressed up in animal skins and danced around a bonfire. Others would put out food on this day to appease the evil spirits. Others carved turnips and pumpkins and put a candle in them to keep evil spirits away. The roots of this holiday are almost entirely pagan; from the colors to black cats, to going door to door, it is all pagan. And it is still celebrated by those who worship the Enemy of this world today. So where is Jesus in all of this? I can’t see him. As Christians we are called to walk in the Light of Jesus. You can’t mix the light and the dark. The Bible says, "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." (Eph. 5:11)
"The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light." (Rom. 13:12)
I’ll admit that, as a kid, I whole heartedly celebrated Halloween. I love candy and dressing up. Even as an adult and as a Christian adult, I still celebrated it. But then I learned about the true origins of it. Satan is very sly, cunning even. He masquerades as an angel of light and he loves to see Christians celebrating Halloween, his holiday. Most Christians, “see no harm in it.” I didn’t either, until I learned the truth about it. How can I tell people of the love of Jesus and expect them to see me as a messenger of God’s word and then celebrate a Satanic holiday like Halloween. I can’t; not even one part of it. Why, because when I do, I totally lose my testimony. I can no longer expect people to see me as set apart from the world when I am doing as Satan desires. There are 364 other days for the kids to dress up. Halloween isn’t one of those. I don’t even put out fall decorations until after Halloween because I don’t want anyone to think it might be Halloween decorations. We don’t wear jack-o-lanterns or spiders or heaven forbid, witches on our clothes. We don’t even wear orange during October for the same reason. We are to be set apart.
Even my church celebrates Halloween. Oh, they call it Fall festival, or Trunk-or- treat, but it is the same. And while I know their intentions are good, the testimony of all those involved and the church itself is lost that night. There is not a child or adult that attends that will not go back to school or work and say they went to a Halloween thing at church. (It also doesn’t matter if your child was dressed as Jesus himself, it will still happen. The church is full of people who don’t know Christ and it is also filled with people who are backslidden Christians. Those folks will bring their children dressed as Satan or some other follower of him.) If you dress up and pass out candy or attend a “festival” you are celebrating just as the followers of Satan do. The church celebrates a satanic holiday. (My family doesn’t attend or donate to the event) We will have the “festival” on Friday and celebrate Satan and then go out on Sunday afternoon and tell people they need Jesus. Turn from sin and self and turn to Jesus. Oh, how did you like the satanic celebration Friday night? I just don’t get it. One friend asked me what I thought about her letting her kids dress up at home and just go to a relative’s and get candy. (She was sincerely searching for the truth and I love her for that) And I told her that her children do not live in a bubble and they will come in contact with the world. When the world asks what they do on Halloween, her children will tell them and their testimony will be gone. Our testimony is so hard to build, but so easy to lose. We must protect it at all times. So I urge you to research the origins of this holiday. Find the truth for yourself. Use the internet or if you need a book to explain it to your children I suggest a book called “Mommy, why don’t we celebrate Halloween.” It tells the origins and why Christians shouldn’t celebrate on a kid’s level. (However, it is a good read for an adult to) Ultimately it is your choice. God never makes us do right. That is up to us. He gave us fee will. My hope is to simply help Christians see the harm in this holiday. Here are some more verses you might meditate on:

Deut 18:10 Don't you dare sacrifice your son or daughter in the fire. Don't practice divination, sorcery, fortune telling, witchery,
Deut 18:11 casting spells, holding séances, or channeling with the dead."

"1Cor 10:21 And you can't have it both ways, banqueting with the Master one day and slumming with demons the next.
1Cor 10:22 Besides, the Master won't put up with it. He wants us--all or nothing. Do you think you can get off with anything less?"

" 2Kings 21:5 And he built shrines to the cosmic powers and placed them in both courtyards of The Temple of GOD.
2Kings 21:6 He burned his own son in a sacrificial offering. He practiced black magic and fortune telling. He held séances and consulted spirits from the underworld. Much evil--in GOD's judgment, a career in evil. And GOD was angry."

Cocoa Beach NASA

Our Vacation 2008

Earlier this month my family went to rainy Florida. I know it is the Sunshine state, but it wasn't while we were there. It rained every day. We got one pretty good day with only a couple of hours of light rain. We had fun. On the way down we stopped quite often to stretch our legs and let the kids play. We spent the night in Panama City. The next morning we spent a couple of hours on Mexico beach. It is only about 30 minutes up the road and it is beautiful. The sand was white and fine. There were very few people there. The beach had lots of shells and cute little baby birds. Tyler loved chasing the birds. I wan't to go back there real soon.

The next day we went to Sea World. It was beautiful and sunny for a while, then the bottom dropped out. It rained until the park closed. We were sooooo unprepared: no umbrella, no raincoats, no anything. We were drowned rats. The kids didn't mind because they had been playing in the water for an hour and were already soaked. Mom and Dad weren't as happy. Our shoes didn't dry out until after we were home 3 days later. The second day at SeaWorld was awesome. We started the day feeding Sting Rays. I fell in love!!!! They are soooo sweet. The just suck the fish out of your had. It is like getting a kiss. Then you could pet them. They are so soft. They swam around this tank and would come up to the side and flap their "wings" at you and stick their heads out as to say, "feed me, please."
The dolphins were just as awesome. We got to feed them also and pet them. Sweet. Then there is the Shamu show. What an emotional experience. The people who work with them are truly amazing! Shamu is HUGE! We have been studying ocean creatures for months and this trip was the icing on the cake. We have even decided to do a lapbook on whales for our science project at our homeschool group.

The last day we were there we went to Cocoa Beach. It was very cloudy. In fact you could watch the rain coming down the beach, but we stayed until it go to us. Then we went to the Kennedy Space Center. The beach was not as nice as the Gulf side of Florida. The sand isn't as pretty and there were no shells. The waves were wild that day due to the upcoming storm. The kids enjoyed splashing in them. Once a huge wave took them by suprise and down they went. Bobbi came up with seashells an sand in her cast. The both thought it was the coolest ride yet. I think they would have stayed even in the rain. The KSC was nice, but we were just way too tired to enjoy it. We took a bus tour and saw the Space Shuttle on the launching pad. However, it was raining so much we could barely see it. The next day we drove 13 hours straight to get home. We were all exhausted. Tyler ended us sleeping in a precarius way. Check out the slide show to see how I found him just an hour before we made it home. We can't wait until next year. We are going to go to the beach and just veg out for a few day. Check out the slide shows. They are in reverse order b/c I am still new to this blogging thing, but I am learning.

A New Cast, Finally!!!

Today Bobbi FINALLY got a new cast. She has worn the first one (this time) for 2 days shy of 6 weeks. PU!!

Today we went back to Campbell Clinic to see Dr. Sawyer. He is just the nicest doctor. His nurse is named Kim and we love her to.

First, they cut the cast off. That machine is very loud, but safe.

Crack the cast open and then cut the cotton inside to remove it.

I haven't seen that little arm in almost 6 weeks! It is a bit smaller and stinkier than the other. Her hand was covered with dead, scaley skin. We got most of that off.

Can you see the bow in her arm has a slight bow in it. Dr. Sawyer said it had about a 5 degree bow in it, but that kids will straighten out about a half to one inch per month. So, in about 6 months, she will have no more bow.

After seeing the doctor, we went to get a new short arm waterproof cast. Yeah!!!! First Bobbi gets a "sock" put over her arm with a thumb hole in it. Then it is wrapped in cotton. Next a layer of white cast material goes on

Then, on goes the the color, pink of course.

Twisting around the thumb. Maybe now we can play the piano again. We go back in two weeks and hopefully we will come home with a brace.

Cartesian Diver

This week we did an experiment that went with our Apologia science. It showed the way a nautilus and an octopus would move in the water. Submarines also use this to move up and down in the water. First, we took a small water bottle and filled it to the top. Then we took a water dropper and filled it as full as we could and it still float in a cup of water. Then we put the dropper in the bottle and closed the lid tightly. When we squeezed the bottle the dropper(diver, nautilus, sub..) sank to the bottom of the bottom.

Dropper at the top.

Squeeze. It is sinking.

All the way at the bottom.

This is because when you put pressure on the bottle, you also put pressure on the water inside and the dropper fills with more water making it heavier and it sinks. When we let go of the bottle the water came out of the dropper and it floated. Pretty cool.

Usually you see this experiment labeled as a Cartesian diver. It was pretty simple to do and the kids loved it. Apologia is great!