Brothers

My older boys:  Sam who’s 11 and Yakobe who’s 8, really hate photos and videos.  They are obedient and cooperative with me but I notice I don’t get as many of them.  Yakobe and Sam are such good friends.  When Mark asked the kids one day at dinner devotions what is one thing they wouldn’t want to lose, Sam pointed next to him and said, “Him”.  Here’s a photo from yesterday of them playing basketball.  God is so good to both of them to bring them together from different continents and make them brothers.  It’s kinda like a glimpse of heaven where believers will be gathered from all nations to be together as brothers and sisters in Christ.  I wonder what great sisters or brothers I have out there somewhere.

Here’s a link to see them play - for some reason you have to cut and paste - sorry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqDz4yOpU94

Sam and Yakobe Playing Basketball

Homeschooling Fun

Yesterday we had fun learning about and dressing up like beavers…well almost everyone.  Here are some photos.  We had to include the back of the beaver so you could see our rubber mouse-pad tail!  Earmufs are to represent ear flaps that the beaver uses to close it’s ears and protect them from water - they have a similar thing for their nose.  Goggles represent the transparent film that protects their eyes underwater.  Fur coat is for their fur coat.  Gloves represent their agile hands used to hold twigs and pack mud onto their dams.  Webbed feet are for swimming.  They also have cool orange teeth - color caused by extra iron in them for strength.  They can cut down a 5 inch diameter tree in 3 minutes and have been known to cut down trees with diameters as large as 5 feet across!

Yakobe the Beaver

Tom the Beaver

Katie the Beaver

Emily the Beaver

Showing off a Beaver Tail!

Knitting for the Homeless

We have been blessed to be able to join a Bright Lights / Bright Knights group in our area where the girls and boys study separately how to grow in their walk with Christ.  We decided on a project of knitting or sewing scarves for the homeless.  We spent our Thursday morning knitting while listening to our historical fiction cassettes and CD’s.  We finished Mandie and the Secret Tunnel and then listened to A Hundred Dresses.  Here are the oldest 4 knitting.

Knitting for the Homeless

Nature Center

Today we went to the Nature Center and Katie suggested a photo of all the kids on a bench in the sun.  Here they are!

Nature Center

Nathan is up on Two Feet!

Here’s the link.  I’m going to re-do the video because I messed up and held the camera vertically - then the quality gets mesed up from rotating it.  I’m sure my husband could do a better job!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlNstRUWlOQ

Clutter

I know everyone has some clutter.  I become quite desensitized to it, especially during football season when Mark isn’t around much to see it and I’m way to busy to even think about tackling it.  But now, 2 weeks post-season, Mark is seeing it and well, so am I.  I determined to try to begin yesterday.  We got home from CBS (Community Bible Study) and finished our math and language arts and began with clothes.  I am so blessed that my children have clothes to wear.  I will rejoice as Pollyanna and say, “I am so GLAD they are clothed!”  But, really, their drawers need to close.  And, really, they need to be able to see the clothing they have.  Otherwise, the stuff on the bottom, no matter how wonderful it is, never gets seen.  So, we went through 6 dressers and 2 closets (not quite done with the 2nd closet) and we filled about 6 garbage bags of stuff to leave our home!  It’s wonderful!  I have a LONG way to go in decluttering the rest of the house, but we are started and we will take a little at a time.  I am hoping that by Christmas, we will have a much simpler home.  And we need to, because I’m sure we will be blessed with more stuff for Christmas!