Sweet Sabbath

my "Jesus Time" cup from a sweet friend in Memphis

"I will praise the Lord no matter what happens. I will constantly speak of his glories and grace. I will boast of all his kindness to me. Let all who are discouraged take heart. Le us praise the Lord together, and exalt his name...Oh, put God to the test and see how kind he is! See for yourself the way his mercies shower down on all who trust in him....The Lord is close to those whose hearts are breaking; he rescues those who are humbly sorry for their sins. The good man does not escape all trouble--he has them too. But the Lord helps him in each and every one."

Psalm 34:1-3, 8, 18, 19

Technical Difficulties

I've been hoping to post some pictures throughout week, but I've had so much trouble getting any picture to upload. Since a picture is better than 1000 words, I've been hesitant to post, but here are a few highlights from the last week.

-Benjamin got to clean out our water tank Friday, and God sent more rain today for our clean and empty tank. For his Language Arts assignment this week, he had to write the instructions for how to do something, so he chose how to make chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. These cookies happened to be a "jar" recipe, so Benjamin made five jars worth of ingredients and passed them out at staff meeting this week along with his instructions. My favorite part? The last line of his directions: Make sure you wash the dishes and clean up after yourself.
-Olivia continues to play her RV game. Today, she and I began a trip from Davao (in the Phillipines), travelled down to New Zealand, across to Chile, and up to Little Rock, Arkansas. I told her that I thought that it might take a long time, and her reply was "Don't worry, I brought a few snacks!"
-Sarah made playdough for Katherine (including some fruit punch flavored Kool-Aid) one day this week, and they played with it during their special school time together. I wonder if Sarah will specialize in early childhood education when she gets older? Sarah showed Katherine how to roll snakes and use the cookie cutters with the homemade clay.
-We got to help out a little bit with a literacy workshop this week by stuffing folders. I was really proud of my kids as they worked to quickly finish their job.
-Sarah makes tortillas every week for taco night (thanks to all of the taco seasoning we've received in care packages!). This week when she brought me a tortilla fresh from the skillet and I immediately devoured it, a wave of nostalgia overwhelmed me and I was transported back to Casa Bonita in Little Rock. I've seen pictures of me eating there as a very little girl, Aaron and I used to eat there whenever we went to the Cinema 150 on a date, and I've taken orchestras there to eat while we were on field trips. So, this week, I ate at "Casa Honiara" and made plans for a furlough visit to Casa Bonita.

Hopefully, we'll be able to get pictures to post soon. To get ready for National Bubble Gum Day tomorrow, try this website where you can buy a kit to make your own gum or find a store that sells Glee Gum (made with sustainably forested rainforest chicle).

Creative Kids

I think every homeschool mom has days when she wonders if her kids are absorbing information. Lately, I've been convicted about fostering my children's God-given creativity. Creativity usually equals BIG MESS. And here in the Solomon Islands, I'm kinda stingy with our craft supplies. Anyway, as part of our Science we've been reading a wonderful book, "Diary of an Early American Boy". Early in the book, we read about the different kinds of ladders that might have been around in 1805. Nothing terribly exciting. Yesterday at lunch, Benjamin started playing with his food, and just as I was about to reprimand him, he exclaimed, "Look, Mom, I made a ladder like Noah Blake's!" Sure enough, he had carved his carrot into the shape of one of the ladders we had studied three weeks ago. I'm so thankful that my kids don't need lots of glue sticks and construction paper to exercise their creativity. I think they are doing just fine.

We humbly say thank you.

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."

I Thessalonians 5:11

Happy Birthday, Mozart!

W. A. Mozart has been one of favorite composers to study. There are so many resources to help kids discover this amazing composer who began writing music when he was only a child!

Classics for Kids has great lesson plans and radio broadcasts to help you learn about Mozart in a fun way. Our children love the days we utilize this tool to help us find out more about a composer.

Here are two of our favorite picture books about Mozart:
Getting to know the World's Greatest Composers: W.A. Mozart by Mike Venezia
Mozart Finds a Melody by Stephen Costanza

We loved watching the opera "The Magic Flute" (with subtitles, of course). To introduce the opera we read some of the picture book versions of the opera first. The kids still sing arias from this opera even though we studied Mozart two years ago. Nobody can imitate the Queen of Night like Sarah!

This computer game will familiarize children with the opera as well. A favorite with our kids, it teaches facts about Mozart and hones listening skills.

Out of the mouths of babes...

From Olivia as she proudly showed me all of the things she arranged on her bed, "Me and Lamey (a stuffed lamb) are taking our RV to the Phillipines. We are taking two other families inside the RV. " I love my creative kids!

Simple Woman's Daybook

Monday, January 26th

Outside my window...leaves dripping from early morning rain, fog so thick I can't even see the harbour

I am thinking...that I want to nurture creative children

I am thankful for...friends halfway around the world who jumped on the chance to help us out with Benjamin's glasses (and his custom-ground lenses)

From the learning rooms...Tchaikovsky's ballets, Math - order of operations (Sarah), counting on to add (Olivia), renaming in addition and subtraction (Benjamin), biographies of Elizabeth Blackwell and William Wilberforce, making pin magnets

From the kitchen...hamburgers on the grill to celebrate Australia Day

I am wearing...navy blue cotton dress with flowers

I am creating...from Susan Branch, "Homemaking is the most creative job there is -- we're always making something from nothing! It's cooking, decorating, gardening, arranging and planning -- not to mention child care, which requires a Michelangelo of Creativity -- all true arts."

I am going...hopefully nowhere

I am reading..."Growing Creative Kids" by Dr. Wesley Sharpe

I am hoping...that Katherine will sleep well soon

I am hearing...little feet toddling down the hall

Around the house...a friend coming over to cook dampers (for Australia Day) in our kitchen, what a blessing!

One of my favorite things...snuggling with my kids

A few plans for the rest of the week: celebrating the Chinese New Year and National Puzzle Day

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Broccoli doesn't usually warrant a picture or words of praise, but it is imported here. A big shipment came in last week with fresh onions and oranges and BROCCOLI! So our family has been enjoying the treat of raw broccoli quite a bit this week.

Don't forget to swing by Peggy's and see all of the other daybooks while you are munching on your broccoli!

Snow Day

 

We have received so much fun snow stuff in the mail (thanks, Mama) that we had to celebrate!

 

 

We made "snowcakes" to share with the SITAG kids and staff.

 

Bonegi Beach

I know it doesn't look like much, but behind us is a huge Japanese ship. The story is that the ship ran aground on purpose to unload its troops and to "encourage" the Japanese to fight well since they wouldn't have a ride home. Aaron and Benjamin snorkeled around this wreck as well as another Japanese ship down the beach a little bit. This is the last of our "Where in Honiara...?" assignments. Now, we can really buckle down and focus on Pijin.

SITAG Brownies

1 cup butter, melted

2 cups sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

4 eggs

1/2 cup cocoa (I use a heaping measure)

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup nuts

Add ingredients in order. Pour into greased 9 x 13 (we like 11 x 14) pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. We also like to add chocolate chips or other fun stuff, like the Heath bits.

California Gold Rush

To celebrate the anniversary of the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill, each of the kids created a scene using the directions we found at Crayola's website (this is one webpage I will be visiting again and again). I have tried and tried to get pictures of Olivia and Benjamin's projects to download, but Sarah's is the only one that will cooperate right now.

You know us, we also have to celebrate with food. So, we also made our favorite brownie recipe from the SITAG cookbook (by far the best plain-jane brownies I have ever tasted - I wonder if a cup of butter has anything to do with it?), and we added Heath bits from a care package for our gold. Then we could search for "gold" while we enjoyed our brownies!

Some of our favorite books about this subject:

"Gold Fever: Tales from the California Gold Rush" by Rosalyn Schanzer (published by National Geographic)

"By the Great Horn Spoon" by Sid Fleischman

Magnetic Paintings and Ballet

Today, we combined art and science to paint with magnets. The kids had learned that magnets attract iron and steel, so they looked around for small items that would respond to the magnet. Then we poured a little paint on the paper and each child took a turn moving the magnets around underneath the shoebox.

While the paintings were drying, we listened to the "Classics For Kids" show about Tchaikovsky's ballets. Then, we followed up with selections from "A Child's Introduction to Ballet" (a Barnes and Noble moving sale treasure).

After being studious all morning, it was lots of fun to immerse ourselves in the arts for a while!

WWII Monuments

This morning, we went to visit the American WWII Monument and the Japanese WWII Monument on opposites sides of a valley. Both had amazing views of the harbor, and we could see the site for almost every battle fought on land or at sea (Henderson Air Field is too far away as is Rennell Island). There was a great map at the American Monument, and as we looked over Ironbottom Sound (named for all of the ships sunks in that region) we could imagine the water full of battleships.

The Japanese Monument was sad because it was in such disrepair. A family who lived just below the monument walked up and visited with us a little bit. They said that their village used to be paid to keep the Japanese Monument in good shape, but since they no longer got paid, they no long had the right to look after the monument. A statue had been toppled and there was graffiti on the back of the monument in the picture.

We are so thankful for all of the men and women (past and present) who give of themselves to serve their country.