Praying for Caleb

Can you please pause and pray for Caleb, and his family?  You can read his story here.

Thank you!

Making Easter Meaningful

**Please not the lack of photos...I shall post photos of ALL of our art created from each lesson later on.  Thank you!

This year I wanted something different for reflecting upon what Christ did for us on the Cross.  It's easy to read the Story (of The Last Supper, Crucifixion, and Resurrection) and just go on with our daily life. 


It's easy to forget just how much of a gift He gave on the mount of Golgotha.  At least, that has been my experience.  I've really never taken Easter quite to heart as much as I should.  When I was a kid, I remember mostly Easter being about dressing up in a new dress, going to church, and having a large gathering with family, followed by an Easter egg hunt.


When Josh and I started having children, we tried really hard NOT to make Easter about the Easter bunny, etc.  But there was a gap...


This year, I decided to open my Bible and read the real story of Easter to Evan aloud each morning this past week.  It made for deep, meaningful discussions in which we've never had before.  


I think at times we underestimate the intelligence and comprehension of what children can grasp.  And because of this, we keep our Bible readings to ourselves.  May I encourage you to just go ahead and read with your child, no matter their age.  They "get" more than we think!  


Another thing we stumbled upon on sale was The Crossmaker DVD set.  Let me just tell you that this Bible story integrated art lesson is absolutely amazing!  (P.S.:  the sale is over on the set)  We watched the Crossmaker story, and I absolutely never felt more touched by Jesus' sacrifice than when we watched that story together.  It's that good!  We will be watching the story again this week!


Next, we did lesson #1, which was a lettering lesson.  It was engaging, and Evan and I finished up with beautiful creations that glow under a black light!  The step by step instructions were very easy to follow, and the supplies needed mostly came with the set, and the other couple of items we already had (like a #2 pencil, white artist eraser, paper, and ruler).  


Crossmaker will definitely be a tradition that we will continue year after year as a family!  And of course, reading the real story of Easter in the most important book ever written...the Bible!


Thank you Jesus for the gift You didn't have to give!

It's A New Year???

All in sarcasm...yes, I'm aware it's 2013!  However, my lack of updates on our family doesn't seem as though I got the memo. 

December:

• Made a necessary trip to south Louisiana to lay Josh's grandmother to rest.

{Somehow my Nikon did not make it into my van.  I wish I could have grabbed some pics of family and of Evan seeing the bayou}

• Took a little afternoon/evening trip down to the Riverwalk, and enjoyed dinner on the river at Salt Grass Steak House.  Poor Josh was the photographer, hence the reason he's not pictured.

• Christmas Eve was spent at our home with family.

Gathered around the table reading about the Advent wreath, reflecting upon Christ.

January:

• Went by way too fast!  

And brought the bloom of this gorgeous and interesting plant:  an amaryllis.  We watched this little guy go from a small, uneventful plant, into a beautiful flowering bulb!  Evan received this from his Mimi (my mother) for Christmas.  

Every night as we tucked Evan into bed, we would stare over at the plant, in awe of how fast it grew!  It decided to bloom majestically and wonderfully in mid January!  I thank the Lord that He would create such a wonderful plant!  I recommend one for every single family.  You won't be disappointed!

January also brought Evan creating his own storm chase vehicle (inspired by the show Stormchasers), equipped with it's very own mesonet.  

And we had some freakishly hot days where we just had to go outside, literally, and drag the learning experience out of the 'ol house!  {That is the very table and chairs we use in our homeschool room.}  It was too deliciously tempting NOT to go outside!  And we have stickers all over our yard, so sitting down on the bare ground didn't sound fun.  So we opted to just drag everything out into the great outdoors!

February:

• A visit from a dear friend who is PCSing here (sorry, no pics), cousin fun/butterfly observing and catching, a unit study on cinnamon,  & quilting for a baby shower!

Cousins hanging out by the Carolina Jasmine, watching and catching Black Swallowtail butterflies.

Evan getting ready to put our cinnamon heart biscuits into the oven while sucking on a cinnamon stick!  All in fun for our unit study!  Yes, that's a pumpkin on the counter!  Evan took it outside to save the seed.  Oh yes, it lasted all the way back from Thanksgiving.

Our Cinnamon unit study!  So much fun!  Who knew you could learn so much about cinnamon?

The biscuits were yummy!!!

The baby quilt I made for a dear friend from high school.  She and hubby are adopting a baby girl, who is due to make her entrance any day!

I can tell you we also did a lot of Friday park days with our homeschool group, which is Evan's highlight of the week!  We also put in part of our garden, and have been taking lots of family walks up and down our county road.  Indian paintbrush and phlox have emerged somewhat.  The bluebonnets are hanging on, but haven't bloomed.  If we get rain this weekend, we shall see some bluebonnets.  

Have a blessed rest of the month!  Have a blessed Easter season.  Jesus is the reason--always!