Wallace Falls

This past Fri-Mon we had our all church retreat out in the Lake Stevens area. Since we were already heading out that way, Dave thought it would be great to include a hike on our way there. He came across an excellent one called Wallace Falls. It is located just off the freeway in Gold Bar. The hike itself is about 5.5 miles round trip with a mixed amount of up and downhill. Mostly up, up to the falls and mostly all downhill on the way back. The really great thing about this hike is that there are many scenic stops along the way. There is a lower, middle and upper falls which you get to see. You are hiking almost exclusively through dense forest so it is shady, and you frequently are near water if you wanted to cool off (although you can't always do that safely). I love almost any hike that includes a waterfall so this was perfect for that. There were also some blackberries and huckleberries to pick along the way if you caught them at the right time. Of course with this being a waterfall hike, late spring would be the most amazing with all the snow melt coming down. I would say it's probably about 2 hours from Wenatchee. Here's another link that gives a bit better info. 

Here are some pics, and I'll post others later...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gifts 571 - 588

I really like working on taking consistent time to think through and remember all that God has graced me with...

571 - sweet grapes from the vine

572 - beautiful drives

573 - James returning safely

574 - a visit from my aunt and uncle

575 - yummy cupcakes and cheesecake

576 - cartoon wrapping paper

577 - hammocks

578 - getting legos organized

579 - not feeling pressure about school

580 - yellow roses

581 - kids rapping in the car

582 - connecting with new people

583 - not cooking for a couple of days

584 - unique items

585 - having things come together when you weren't sure they would

586 - people excited to serve

587 - the smell of curry

588 - beautiful pics from a friend

my friend, Heather, has done another great job taking pics of my kids :)
 

 

 

 

 

Parenting Concepts

I have a whole lot of parenting books on my shelf...the other night my friend and I were looking through them and it was kind of funny how many there were. It got me to thinking about what they all said, which ones I really liked, the strength of one and the weakness of another, etc. They each have a somewhat different angle, but it made me think what I really found to be important among them all. Here are some concepts I've gleaned that have greatly affected my parenting...

Parenting is a lot about growth in the parent - I don't need to just work on my kids, I also need to work on myself - parenting magnifies your shortcomings and gives you frequent opportunities to be perfected - saying sorry to my kids is not a failure, but a means to help them know I also need a Savior - parenting forces me to pray more than I would otherwise - we need supernatural wisdom in order to parent rightly

You must be consistent - if you say no, mean it - don't give in to whining, grumbling, or anything else - don't say no if you don't want to follow through on disobedience - setting firm boundaries when children are young will make them growing older much easier - if you promise something good or bad, follow through - children should be able to trust that what you say is really what you mean

You're the parent, act like it - God gave us the authority to parent the children under us, we need to not let them dictate how the house is run - we will have to give an account someday of how we were stewards of God's children so we need to know and be firm in our convictions - don't let others control the way you parent, be convinced of what you do/don't do before God alone - don't get pulled into childish arguments

Work to get at the heart - outward behavior is good, but falls short - turn your conversations to the spiritual  needs we have - give examples of how you struggle and how God has worked in your life - use scripture to define why you have certain standards - read scripture and other bible based books so they learn those important truths early on

Love your kiddos for who they are - don't try to change them into who you are or who you want to be - God made them individuals, appreciate their differences - really listen to them and be willing to sacrifice your time to do something they enjoy even if you don't - point out great character traits when you see them - let weird things they do go as long as they are not sinful

That's all I can think of tonight although I'm sure there are many more important things...what key principles have been made a difference in your parenting?

Three Thoughts

Three thoughts have been bouncing around in my mind these last couple days, and I wanted to share them with you in case you need them as I have.

“Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” St. Augustine This quote has been the way I've been looking at seeking out leaders for children's ministry...I actually came across it listening to a seminar about children's ministry. Even though I feel like I'm not getting very far with finding leaders, I know that to the best of my ability I have put in the effort needed - I have done my human part. So, it is very freeing to know that through prayer, I can leave the results up to God knowing He is the One ultimately able to use my efforts to accomplish His desires.

"Lead by principle, not by law." 

I can't remember who the speaker was who said this, but it struck me as amazingly profound...as a key that I hadn't quite realized in parenting. There will never be any way I can give my kids a list of rules to follow that cover every possible circumstance they will find themselves in (I've often wished that could be the case), but I can give them solid principles to live by that apply to every situation. It has really made me desire to get to the heart of why we say/do rather than just telling them what to say/do. Only then will they come upon a new situation and decide what is the best decision to make. Helping them evaluate every circumstance by two main questions of: will this glorify God and will this do good to others?...the two greatest commandments - love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength - and, love your neighbor as yourself. (Mk 12)

"The essence of praising Christ is prizing Christ." Piper

This quote randomly comes into my head as I'm living life and reminds me to evaluate if my Christian life really shows that I prize Him or if He's just one of many things. I've come to see that in many ways the reason why non-Christians aren't drawn to Christ is because Christian's lives don't really show that He matters much to them...that they really need Him each and every day...that they really love Him above all the other things the world has to offer. I need to work more on having my life declare Christ to be of primary importance in whatever way I can. 

here are some pics of our volunteering at Haven of Hope

playing in the back yard

making up welcome baskets for the new ladies and their families

Don't Waste Your Life

After way too long, I finally finished Piper's book, Don't Waste Your Life. It's another great book on having a God-honoring perspective about how and why you do what you do. I'm sure it would have been even better had I read it in a more cohesive fashion. Piper's desire is to call complacent Christians to a life that is more than just avoiding evil, but a life that seeks to exalt Christ by declaring His glory through both a life that prizes Him above all else and words that speak of Him. Here's a quote from the chapter entitled, Living to Prove He is More Precious Than Life (that's a great thought to contemplate)...

To make others glad in God with an everlasting gladness, our lives must show that he is more precious than life. "Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you" (Ps 63:3). To do this we must make sacrificial life choices rooted in the assurance that magnifying Christ through generosity and mercy is more satisfying than selfishness. If we walk away from risk to keep ourselves safe and solvent, we will waste our lives. If Christ is an all-satisfying treasure and promises to provide all our needs, even through famine and nakedness, then to live as though we had all the same values as the world would betray him. I have in mind mainly how we use our money and how we feel about our possessions. If we look like our lives are devoted to getting and maintaining things, we will look like the world, and that will not make Christ look great. He will look like a religious side-interest that may be useful for escaping hell in the end, but doesn't make much difference in what we live and love here. He will not look like an all-satisfying treasure. And that will not make others glad in God.

 

 

Why Serve in Children's Ministry

At every church we've attended, from East Coast to West Coast, from North to South, finding people to serve in children's ministry seems to be a consistent challenge. With taking over the children's ministry at GCC, I have again seen that first hand. It seems like all the same people do everything...something I really wish would not be the case. I always have this vision of getting up in front of the church and challenging the congregation to serve. Here's something like I would say...

We are all called to serve the church body...each and every one of us. We are stewards of the gifts we each have been given by the Spirit to glorify God and do good to others. Our desire to serve should be the outflow of our appreciation for what God has done in our lives. So, why choose children's as your area of service? I believe there are four primary reasons...it blesses the families, it blesses the children, it blesses you, and it pleases God. 

~~It blesses the families - many children in this day and age have great difficulty sitting still during a church service which in turn causes the parents to often be distracted and be unable to take in what is being taught, sung, prayed, etc. (side note - I believe it is important to have kiddos learn to sit still and listen in church from a relatively young age and to get to that point, you will have to work through the above issues some time, preferably the bulk of which will be accomplished at home). By having their child attend a specific child-appropriate class, the parents are able to concentrate on what is being taught. This is especially true with non-churched families whose children will likely find the teaching time particularly long and dull and, therefore, dislike going to church. 

~~It blesses the children - this is a wonderful opportunity to shape and mold the next generation to love God and His Word. Many children have fond memories of a Sunday School teacher from their youth that greatly influenced them. Perhaps you may even be the instrument God uses to bring them to salvation. For children that come from a Christian home, you will be another voice confirming what they are, hopefully, being taught in their home - helping them to see that others also love God and live by His standards. For any children that come from non-Christian homes, you will be a light showing them the path in which they should walk.  

~~It blesses you - as you prepare to teach the children, you will also learn and grow in your Christian walk. As you're proclaiming truths to them, you will want your life to match up, to be a living example. Lord willing, you will also see growth in their lives which is exciting. You will come to know and love the kiddos in your class and enjoy seeing them as they grow up. 

~~It pleases God - anything we do to proclaim God to others brings Him glory. Using the gifts He has given us to serve, sacrificing our time for the kingdom, and discipling others honors Him - it shows that we value Him enough to give up that which is valuable to us. 

Here's a scripture that I think encapsulates the vision of serving...

Eph 4:10-11 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

deck painting and building continues - I took the day off on Sat because I was tired of painting and
painting and painting some more in every spare minute - Dave worked hard on it though
 

the pergola is going up
 

Brandon took great care to make sure everything would be straight, level, and just right
 

looks cool, huh?
(from the deck off our bedroom)
 

from the side door off the garage
 

Tea Parties

Hannah asked a month or so ago to have a tea party with her sweet friends. I said yes, and then when we wrote out all the friends she wanted to invite, there were too many for one tea party...so we had two! on back to back days so all the food would still be fresh and everything would be set up. I'd definitely recommend that way rather than spacing them out. 

We did a three course tea. Sandwiches (egg salad and tuna fish and fruit), Scones (chocolate chip and blackberry), and Desserts. It was a lot of food and the girls left very full. We also played games...spoons, charades, pictionary, bingo, and pin the top on the tea pot. Having all these most lovely girls over to spend time with us was a real treat. It is such a blessing for your kids to have great friends. 

Here's the list of recipes if any of you are looking to make some goodies. I must warn you ahead of time that there is tons of butter in many of these, but that's what makes them so yummy. :)

Scones - especially delicious with blackberries - I actually found out you could mix these up, form them, then freeze them in their wedges to be pulled out and baked later on - don't thaw (take out as warming up oven), same baking temp, couple extra minutes baking time

Chocolate Pound Cake - I use 1/2 c less sugar

Shortbread - I wouldn't make these again although I think they are good for shortbread

Fudgy BonBons - always one of my favorites

Apricot/Almond Biscotti - I should get permission to post this recipe, super yummy!!!

(side note: I keep forgetting to mention this, but the day after I read about Jesus baptizing, the next section gave a clarification that Jesus, Himself, didn't baptize, but His disciples did...sorry for leading you all astray - guess that's one problem with a One Year Bible, you don't get the whole story at one time)

table day 1

 

table day 2

 

 

my mom helped Hannah draw out two lovely tea pots for this game
 

Gifts 549 - 570

It's been an overwhelming, discouraging, sad couple of days around here. But, even in the midst of it, I can bring the sacrifice of praise...

549 - that God desires the best for me so even if what I've been desiring and praying for doesn't happen, His plan is better

550 - that God is sovereign and can accomplish what seems impossible if He wants to

551 - that even when no one is returning my calls and the needs don't seem like they will be met, if it is His work, it will get figured out

552 - that when it seems like I can't do the next thing, God provides the strength to accomplish what I have been given to do

553 - mom bringing beautiful roses

554 - sweet girl excited about tea parties

555 - the smell of baking deliciousness

556 - painted boards stacking up and unpainted boards dwindling

557 - kids using big words

558 - new recipes to try

559 - a friend checking in on me

560 - being able to brush all my teeth

561 - already being awake when the alarm goes off

562 - kiddos seeking chores to earn computer minutes

563 - tons of fresh fruit waiting to be eaten

564 - finishing swim lessons and having much better swimmers

565 - pretty tea cups

566 - blessing families with meals

567 - cooking at a friend's house

568 - easy math pages

569 - sermons that remind you to not dwell on this world

570 - kids getting along 

some fun pics from the waterslides last week
 

 

 

 

 

2012/2013 School Schedule

At long last, I'm finally getting around to working on my school schedule for this next year. Since the theory was that we would be doing school year round, it never felt like school really ended. However, I can only count maybe one or two days that we actually did a real day of school over the summer - there were maybe a couple back in June, but not much at all since. I have managed to squeeze in a math page about three times a week though. :)

I talked with the kids on the way home from the lake yesterday and they wanted to go to a four days on, one day off schedule. I don't think we could swing a full five-day schedule with as many distractions as we somehow seem to have. Right now we're scheduled to have piano lessons on Wed afternoons and will likely continue our volunteering at Haven of Hope every other week on that day as well. 

	Monday	Tuesday	Thursday	Friday
8:30-9:00	Bible Time	Bible Time	Bible Time	Bible Time
9:00-9:10	Math Facts	Math Cards	Math Facts	Math Cards
9:10-9:20	Spelling Words	Piano Notes	Piano Notes	Piano Notes
9:20-9:30	Math Concept	Math Concept	Math Concept	Math Concept
9:30-9:45	Grammar	Grammar	Grammar	Grammar
9:45-10:15	Outside Break	Outside Break	Outside Break	Outside Break
10:15-12:00	Personal Work	Personal Work	Personal Work	Personal Work
12:00-12:30	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
12:30-1:30	Comp/Book	Typ/Book	Comp/Book	Typ/Book
1:30-2:30	Science	History	Science/Project	History/Project
2:30-3:00	Spanish/Speech	Spanish/Misc	Spanish/Speech	Spanish/Misc
3:00	Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack

So, what do all these things mean and what curriculum are we using???

Bible Time - we'll probably keep going with what we've been doing over the summer - Singing Hymns, Keys for Kids (the kids really like these, I use the ones from my childhood), and working through short passages in the epistles (for each passage everyone picks out what we learn about God and what we learn about man)

The first half hour after that is kind of drill work - add/sub/mult/div facts, math cards are the Abeka cards that review measures (days in a year, pints in a quart, normal body temp, etc). Piano notes are just to more quickly recognize notes on the piano scale. Math concept is just to prep the kids to work on their math page if the concept is new or needs a refresher

Grammar - this year I just purchased a book called Giggly Guide to Grammar. I don't know much about it apart from its good reviews so we'll see how it works out. I wanted to break from Rod and Staff for a bit. We'll also do paragraph editing and my plan is for them to color code the parts of speech in those exercises as well. 

The kids wanted outside time in the morning so we threw that in the middle of the morning.

Personal Work - this is a new concept for us. Since they're getting older and will someday have to live in the real world, I figured it was time they started more self-directed work. So, in this block, they'll do their math page (they wanted to go back to Abeka, I personally enjoyed what we used this past year however difficult it was), spelling sheets (Spelling Workout F), paragraph editing, any writing, and poetry mem. 

Comp/Typ/Book time is where we switch activities. One does computer time - generally this is a learning type game, but I've had trouble finding those for my age kids. They've been really into Minecraft lately, and I may allow them to play that as it has quite a bit of thinking/constructing involved. We still need to be more diligent about learning typing fluently so hopefully that will occur this year. And, the other does book reading that is assigned.

The kiddos asked for history/science to be in the afternoons as those are their favorite subjects. We're continuing on with Apologia, this year on Human Body. We're also going to second year of Mystery of History - it's still not my favorite, but I can't seem to find anything that fits better for us. Much of the assigned reading will be history based. 

Spanish/Speech - I think I'm going to try Mango which is a Spanish program the library makes available. We'll see if that is a good fit. Josh has been having speech lessons over the summer so we need to continue working on that. 

As seems to always be the case with our schooling, each day is subject to, and will likely, change. Thankfully that is one of the many beauties of homeschooling. I also want to put in there somewhere Eat Your Way Around the World - it seemed like a fun book to work through at our leisure. 

Let me know if you have any questions or any suggestions... :)

Josh organized his (and a couple of James') Nerf guns the other day - 

he still is always talking about buying more of them :)

 

 

John's Humility

I was reading in my One Year Bible this morning and every time I read John 3, I am struck by John the Baptist's humility. You see a man that completely understands his place and his purpose. John is only here to reflect Christ, to bring glory to Him, "He must become greater, I must become less." He's not in it for himself...he's not trying to get as many followers as possible...he's not jealous of another's success. He knows all he has is a gift from heaven, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven." It's so important to not lose sight of God's greater work in the world. We may not be achieving what we feel we should for the kingdom, we may even be losing some people in our sphere of influence, but if we are being true to the Lord, He will take care of that. Maybe He is even moving some people to grow through another person. Man is so focused on numbers, we should rather be focused on our faithfulness. We must always remember we are the sent ones, not to gain honor for ourselves, but for the Lord alone. May we learn from John's great example...

Also, maybe you hadn't really noticed this either, but this passage speaks about Jesus baptizing...for some reason I hadn't really recognized that before...interesting...

here's our pergola mockup made with Duplos and pipe cleaners :)
Dave and I love visual examples, they always helps us, but I think our builder thought we were a bit funny
 

 

 

Grandpa's Box

A couple of weeks ago a friend lent me a new devotional book, Grandpa's Box, by Starr Meade. Since we had just finished up Even Donkeys Speak, we started in on it right away. The subtitle of the book is Retelling the Biblical Story of Redemption and that is a good, concise description of what the book sets out to do. The story surrounds two children, a brother and sister, who spend time with their Grandfather at his second hand store. In his store, he has a box of wooden carvings he's made that tell the story of Redemption. So, each time the kids visit, Grandpa spends some time with them and his box giving another piece of the Redemption puzzle.

It's targeted for the 8 and up set and the author does a good job at weaving in an interesting story line as the backdrop of her telling the biblical account. Each chapter focuses on one section of scripture - the fall, Cain and Abel, Esau and Jacob, etc. What she does that is interesting, and will specifically appeal to boys, is set the biblical stories up as battles...primarily the battle between God and Satan. Meade shows how Satan is constantly, at all points in scripture, trying to undo God's promise of a Redeemer. 

Even though I thought this was a great book and would definitely recommend it, we did not continue on with it. I think because we so recently went through The Story of God it seemed a bit redundant, mostly repeating what we'd just been over. One thing I've realized with the kiddos is that they thoroughly know the basic bible stories, but what they really need help on is reading scripture and applying it to their lives. So, now during the first thing in the morning time, the kiddos are just reading their Bibles on their own. But, if you're looking for a book that ties all of scripture to Christ, this would be a great book for you!

the deck is moving forward...
 

 

late night work on the deck :) I love doing that type of stuff!
 

 

Gifts 530 - 548

Hi, friends...sorry it's been so quiet around here. I haven't had too much to write about and not too much time to write anyways...plus with the Olympics, we've probably watched more tv in the last two weeks than in the last year. :) Although we really enjoy watching them, it's kind of nice to have them done. 

530 - Olympics

531 - French braids

532 - planning tea parties

533 - excited chatter

534 - finding what you've been looking for at Goodwill

535 - helpful phone calls

536 - hearing another's testimony

537 - being lent good books

538 - speech therapy working

539 - hearing the kids read

540 - picking blackberries

I also had some oral surgery last week so it brought up a number of things to be thankful for that I have previously taken for granted:

541 - tastebuds on the top of your mouth

542 - food that doesn't poke you

543 - eating hot things

544 - eating cold things

545 - medical advancements

546 - being able to talk as much as wanted/needed

547 - straws

548 - eating quickly

some pics from the lake

 

blurry duckling pic