Enjoying the Fall Colors

Whatcha got?

I'm gonna get you down there in the bushes, Daddy!

Don't fall off!

Listen to your father and you will be wise...

We went for a walk down the bike path again and are enjoying the last of the color... we know it will soon be white, white, and more white!  In this parting shot I am standing in my potato patch, trying to capture the beauty of the yellow leaves but just couldn't do it. 

Wigwams in the Woods and other Freetime Activties

The forest never stops giving...

This is the one I built!

I just need to add one more branch...

The kids went out one afternoon to the backyard, or better known as the forest, to construct their own village.  I just finished reading, "The Tanglewoods' Secret," by Patricia St. John, out loud to the children.  In the book, the siblings had built a wigwam in the forest.  One day they found a stubborn young boy inside their fort of sticks and couldn't get him to come out.  We laughed and cried through the book.  O.K.  I cried.  It was a great read and very well written. 

Is this really a teeter totter?

Yes, it's a teeter totter!  While burying some wire for the dog's fence, my son found this concrete yellow curb in the brush!  Whoever put it there, I'll never know!  That four wheeler came in handy for pulling it right out!  Slap on a 2X4 and you've got a mini teeter totter.    The dog thought we'd pulled out a giant bone just for him... do you see him gnawing?

When I first suggested making a teeter totter out of it, my husband looked at me like I was crazy and said, out of that?!  That would be dangerous, it's way too heavy!  I couldn't stop laughing.  We all laughed as we realized that we think so differently.

Playmates, at last! 

Our two youngest children are finding each other's company pleasant at last!  They have begun to realize that being friends is much funner than being selfish.  Although, in the very next moment they could forget and give in to the, "Me, Me, Me Bear."  "He will catch you, and snatch you and tell you not to share, so Be Ye Ware of the Me, Me, Me Bear!" 

We enjoy the moments of play and sweetness and correct the moments of selfishness and life is good, and we are blessed to partake of God's good wisdom found in the Bible for training up children. 

Look at all these twigs!

Squeeze on a little hot glue...

 The girls have been making twig doll furniture for their doll house as well as little curtains and decorations.  They have been very industrious in this way and very creative.  Their dolls aren't out shopping and trying on clothes in their spare time.  Their dolls go hike in the woods and explore the beach and take in people in need and provide for their food, clothing, and shelter sort of needs.  I love it!  I love hearing them act out in play what is important in life.  It blesses me beyond measure to know that they are learning so much more than I realize.  It blesses me and scares me all at the same time... we can't re-do parenting but we can change and grow as we walk with Christ.  Praise God for his mercy and grace in our lives!

Just in case, people think I'm against shopping.... I took my oldest daughter out shopping two days ago and had a wonderful time.  We went to "Once Upon A Child," to purchase P.J.'s and T-shirts for the two littlest members of our family as well as some thick cotton tights and a tub of giant blocks for playtime. 

Then it was off to Barnes and Nobles for a birthday book and notepad for relatives and a decaf coffee with whip cream in a special cup with a hot sleeve!  This was the high light of our outing as my daughter carried it around like a trophy!  We walked down the side walk and popped into a shoe store to just take a peek.  My daughter spilled some coffee on her hand and arm and on one of their leather seats.  I calmly told her that I had a tissue just for the occasion and we cleaned everything up together, not batting an eyelash at our little mishap.  We decided we didn't need any shoes but could appreciate the artistic flare and leave them all there as we headed for the last store, "Old Navy." 

We breezed through the isles, appreciating the soft fabric.  We both found the music annoying to the point we could hardly think and had a good laugh over that one.  We grabbed some cotton shirts and leggings and headed for the grocery store because we knew our time was spent and wanted to get home to cooking dinner and enjoying family.   We spent a very pleasant afternoon together enjoying each other's company. 

I just now realized that the first true stop of that afternoon was the hospital.  I took my daughter to have an ultrasound and E.K.G done of her heart.  She'd had a continued fast heart rate and problem's breathing earlier in the week and the week previous.  We're not sure what caused it.  We'll hear back later next week from the Doctor.  There's nothing we can do to change some results.  What will be, will be but what we can change is our attitude. 

We can set aside fears, disappointments, regrets and bitterness and truly find joy in the small moments of daily life.  I choose life and I choose to enjoy every moment, even the difficult ones because I know I'm here for eternity and so are all those that belong to Jesus Christ. 

Thank you God for giving us all the gift of life whether we all acknowledge it or not!

Four Wheeling Around



Can't wait to get my license, Dad!!!

I love this picture of my oldest daughter with her Daddy!  She's ready for the wild ride, He's cautious and careful and the two make a great team!  Each child has a special and unique relationship with their Daddy and Mommy.  We relate as a family, we relate as friends, we relate as co-heirs of eternal life, bonded equally in Christ Jesus, we relate as a team, we relate in a student/teacher way, we relate on so many levels and we are so thankful for this relationship business that God has put us in called FAMILY!

Time to break out the gas masks!

 

Faster, Daddy, faster!

My dream of ownership has finally come true!

Is the baby going to be safe?

I was finally talked into taking a little spin on the four wheeler too... I figured it wouldn't be dangerous as the baby would be riding too...

Fall Foam Fiassco

Girls out in the early morning gathering sticks for doll house furniture.

Well foamed dog house seam...

 Today, my oldest boy figured out a way to unclog a sealed can of spray foam and away he went, spraying to his heart's content.  What his heart didn't tell him, was what a mess it would be to clean up!  Great analogy of the temptation of disobeying God's rules... everything seems so fun and amazing and free until we realize the mess we have on our hands. 

My boy did get my permission to "work" on unclogging this can of spray foam.  I had no idea it would be so hard to get off!!!  He inserted the end of a white flag used to flag the warning perimeter of our underground electrical fence system for the dog, into the can's nozzle.  It worked fairly well until the last.  Somehow, the flag got foamed into the seam of the dog house.  We wondered why the dog was barking at his house!  He was confused.  Hopefully he won't notice it there when we flip right side up again.

Yep, still picking foam off my hands...

Leftover foam after picking it all off for over half and hour!

Same hands, a day earlier, finding a new and exciting way to color...

We have been reviewing books and preparing a history timeline this week in preparation for home school.  My oldest boy has never had much of an interest in coloring so when I found him coloring away with a tidbit of colored pencil in his leather men's tool I grabbed the camera!

Which hand should I use?  I'll stick to my left.

If I could just get a little closer....

Posing for the camera with a sweet smile

Our official school start date is Monday but we had to do some prep work this week.  I'm trying to remember that our home school is not going to look like any other.  I'm so glad we are doing year two of  "My Father's World."  The planning and scheduling is done for me.  All I have to do is figure out how to fit it all in!!!  I told my kids they are going to be self-starters simply by default! 

My ability to post daily will be gone.  I'll try to get on and do this once or twice a week.  It will probably be the weekends.  I need the motivation to stay on top of their school work and this will help!

Digging Our First Potatoes!

Look at the size of this one!

How do potatoes grow anyway?

This one is the biggest!

Look at my bucket full of potatoes:  I'm a hard working boy!

I think these potatoes need a little extra dirt...



We harvested our first potatoes a couple days ago.  There were squeals of delight every time some one discovered a little pink showing through the dark brown dirt.  If you didn't know it, you'd think they were seeing gold nuggets! 

How do potatoes grow?  I asked this question of my three year old and she said, "I don't know.  Maybe Daddy knows."  I then took the opportunity for a mini science lesson.  She had seen the old dead rotten potato left in the soil from when we had been digging.  We talked about the new potatoes growing from the old potato along with some sunshine and rain.  I then emphasized how a potato never makes anything else but a potato!  I believe teaching creationism even at the level of a three year old can be fun and quick and a delight to all who listen. 

The conversation is still continuing as I sit here and type.  My little girl tells me all about the seeds that God planted in the first garden and how they grew and about Him making ladybugs and then putting them gently on the new plants he made.  She doesn't understand the sequence of the six days of creation but even she knows that you have to have plants before you can have insects! 

How could things possibly know when to evolve all at the right second to produce everything all at once in perfect balance that we know exists in creation?  I've asked this question of scientists and they usually tell me I just don't understand the process of evolution which happens over a long period of time.  They tell me to read books like "The Origin of Species," and "The Blind Watchmaker."

Having read and taken notes as I read these books, I find such amazing claims that are not even logical.  Christians have nothing to fear.  The only fear a Christian should consider having is what God will ask them when they stand before His throne.  Have they bothered to teach their children what the deception is that evolution creates in place of truth? 

In case anyone has not considered what that deception is.... There's no time like the present to learn.... It is that nothing has purpose other than what it accidentally came to be;  merely by time, chance, or environment.  We wonder at all the depression and suicide and drug use... what's the point.... nothing matters anyway... I'm just here by a random collision of cells.....

I'd better stop rambling now, see what digging potatoes in Alaskan soil can do?

If there is anyone reading this that would like to know more about this subject, go to www.answersingenesis.org.   They have awesome material to combat evolutionary thinking and you can even set your homepage to theirs and get a daily devotional.