The birthday boy

Yesterday was my husband's birthday.  His parents came up for a visit to help us celebrate.  I'm very blessed to have such sweet in-laws.  My mother-in-law, Linda,  is a sweet Christian lady and I always enjoy spending time with her.  Last night Warren played his guitar, Linda played the piano and we all sang some hymns and praise music together.    She is very talented musically and plays the piano by ear.  It was a sweet time together.

In honor of my husband's birthday, I thought I would list a few things that he doesn't do:

1. He doesn't sleep in on Sunday mornings.......he gets up early and helps me get the kids ready for church.

2.  He doesn't mistreat me or our children..........in fact he is a sweet husband and dearly loves our children.

3.  He doesn't hang out at bars, parties, or ballgames.......he spends his free time at home with his family.  

4. He doesn't flirt with other women...........instead he is very complimentary to me and is faithful.             

  5.  He doesn't curse........ever.                                                                                                                

6. He doesn't yell at me or our children...........he prays for us on a regular basis.                                      

7. He has not put us in debt...........he works very hard and is very careful with money.                            

8. He doesn't gamble or drink...........his worst habit is watching a lot of sports on tv.  I just can't get into Nascar.  :o)

9. He doesn't think I'm crazy for homeschooling..........he is extremely supportive of homeschooling.              

10. He doesn't ignore what I have to say............we always enjoy having conversations about everything from the Bible, our children, books, politics, current events, etc.

I am a blessed woman to be married to him.  I love you honey!

                                      

My Cousin Emily's Wedding

What We've Been Learning About

Making pyramids with straws

Dressed up as one of the kings of Ancient Egypt

The other king of Ancient Egypt

I am amazed at how much fun it has been to study ancient times.  Right now we are learning about Ancient Egypt, so my children have made several types of pyramids, including ones made out of straws and also some made out of modeling clay.  Considering how long ago this time period was, it is fascinating to see how inventive the ancient Egyptians were when constructing the pyramids.  Some of them are almost 5,000 years old and are still standing! The ancient Egyptians weren't exactly stupid "cave men".about ancient times.  Right now we are studying ancient Egypt, sI had to include a photo of my new favorite movie, "America: The Story of Us".  They were giving away free copies of this DVD to educators, so I asked for one.  I love it!  American History is my absolute favorite subject, so I have thoroughly enjoyed it.  I have to give a warning, however.  There are some pretty graphic parts in it, such as the American Revolution war scenes and the Civil War scenes.  I haven't finished watching it yet.  There are 3 DVD's in all.  And of course it has a definite liberal, politically-correct slant, but it's still a great movie.

I also love this book, Lives of the Musicians.  It gives short, easy to swallow stories about a lot of famous composers.  Unfortunately it was due back to the library today.  Ooops!!

I started a new reward system with my children a couple of weeks ago.  I told them that every time they complete a school subject with a good attitude, they can put a marble into their jar.  They can also put a marble in the jar when they do something helpful around the house with a good attitude.  It has gone really well.  When the jar is full, they can pick out a fun activity for the family to do together.  I bought some shooter marbles at an antique store today, because they are bigger than regular ones and it's going to take a while to fill up the jars with the regular size marbles!    I prefer our school day to be a positive experience as much as possible.  :o)

  The other jars contain some of our Math manipulatives.  I love Mason jars and I bought a flat of them with the hopes of canning vegetables, but so far I have been scared to try.  So......in the meantime, I can use them to organize things.

A visit to Grandma's house

Ice cold swimming pool

Carrington is always happy to have a baby in her arms.

Malachi and Clayton

Mighty warriors.

We just got home from a trip to my Mom and Dad's house.  We met my sister Marcy and her children there so we could help Malachi celebrate his 4th birthday, swim, and do some laundry and cleaning for my Mom and Dad.  It was definitely the last swim of the summer.  Even though it is still very hot here, the water was icy cold!  The kids didn't let it stop them however.  They swam anyway.  It was fun for us to get to watch "19 Kids and Counting" together with Marcy and her kids and my Mom.  We all love the Duggars!
We are getting ready to start a small group Bible study with our church, and we will be reading the book, Radical by David Platt.  I've only read the 1st chapter and I already love it!  It basically talks about how Christianity here in America oftentimes looks so different from what it looked like in the New Testament.  It also looks very different here than it does in countries where you can be killed for being a Christian.  In our day, Christians expect to go to a comfortable, air-conditioned church and be entertained the whole time.  Jesus certainly didn't offer that type of "Christianity" to the rich young ruler.  He told him to sell everything he had and give it to the poor.  It has already opened my eyes to how "easy" our lives are here, but is that really a good thing?  Maybe not.  I can't wait to read more.
I had to include a picture of this movie that my children and I watched on Netflix.  It was such a sweet but sad movie.  It's based on a true story about a boy who had Cancer and how he had such a strong faith in God that he inspired those around him.  I knew it would be sad, but I certainly didn't expect to be crying buckets! 

"The Incredible Discovery of Noah's Ark"

We are using My Father's World curriculum this year for Bible, Science, and History.  In the back of the teacher's manual is a long list of recommended resources to supplement the curriculum.  We are studying Creation to the Greeks, and one of the recommended movies is "The Incredible Discovery of Noah's Ark".  The movie sounded so interesting to me, so we decided to join Netflix so that we could watch this and other similar movies, as well as old tv shows like "Father Knows Best".
My kids were so excited when they discovered that our first movie arrived in the mail  today.  We watched it this afternoon and it was incredible!  There are numerous accounts throughout the movie of people who have seen for themselves Noah's Ark, which is located on Mt. Ararat in Eastern Turkey.  Some of the eyewitnesses include a famous astronaut (Jim Irwin), a photographer who was flying with then President Jimmy Carter on Air Force One, a native of Turkey, scientists, and many others.  One of the people in the movie said that our own CIA has satellite pictures of Noah's Ark that are kept hush-hush and  the files are even labeled "Noah's Ark".  I can't recommend this movie enough!  It gets 2 thumbs up from me!