Decorating Day

The day after Thanksgiving (usually the 2 days after) we decorate for Christmas. This year we got it all done in one day thanks to all the help from the boys. Zack already had the lights outside done. They put up the trees, set up the Christmas village and did a lot of decorating and moving boxes.

When it's all done, we turn off all the lights (except the tree lights), light all the candles and read the Christmas story from Luke. Afterwards we get to eat a few of the Christmas cookies and drink some hot cocoa. It is a great way to start the Christmas season!

Here are some pictures of our day...

Happy Thanksgiving

What are we thankful for this Thanksgiving? Lots of stuff. God has so richly blessed us that I could type all night and not list all of the things we are thankful for. But today we are specifically thankful for the fun day that we got to spend with family and for all the wonderful food!

Charlie and Uncle Chris

playing the Tea Party game

playing My Little Pony wedding

playing puzzles

scooting on the kitchen floor

Yes, this year we got to spend Thanksgiving with my sister and her family. It was so much fun! Zack had fun entertaining Charlie and I got to play all kinds of girl stuff with Maggie and my sister Theresa. After dessert we went over to my parents and looked at the progress on their new boat (which is SO cute and I can't wait to go out on it) and have dessert again. Yum!

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever." Psalm 136: 1-3, 26

As we spend time reflecting on what we are thankful for, let's not forget the One we are thankful to.

Dragonology

The boys have been saving, and dreaming and planning for almost a year for just this moment. So when I was at the pet store yesterday and they had exactly what they had been looking for, we jumped on it.

At 9 o'clock this morning we went back and brought Saphira home . She is a beautiful 3-year-old bearded dragon. We chose the name Saphira after the name of the dragon from Eragon. She is about 18" long and is quite the stealthy hunter. Those crickets don't stand a chance! (she can eat 12 a day)

Bearded dragons are native to Australia, but I think she'll like it here anyway. She already likes to climb around on the boys and perks up whenever we walk in the room. She is a pretty cool pet!

Presentation Night

Tonight was our co-op's Presentation Night. It is so fun to get to see what they did in all the other classes!

One of my science class students. He is so cute!

Will by his space class display

We won a prize. Now we can see which of us is smarter than our 5th grader.

Will learned a dance in his Civil War class.

A Weekend at the Lazy F

Zack and Andy were gone this weekend at the annual PNW Fall Youth Retreat. This year they were in Ellensburg at the Lazy F. It was a nice place (much better than The Dunes) and they had a fun time.

Their favorite part was the snow...

Ladies Missions Brunch

Today our church hosted a brunch to give the missions' presentation from our Women's Retreat. It was so powerful that we decided we had to share it with those women who were not at our retreat. Hearing excerpts from the missionary wives' letters was just as moving the second time.

Afterwards we all made Christmas cards to send to all of our LB missionary wives. It was fun and the ladies made some very cute cards. Even William came out of hiding to have some brunch and make a card.

Will hanging out during our brunch

Remember to pray for our missionaries overseas. Here is a list of prayer requests specifically for the wives.

Praying for our missionary wives

1. Their relationship with God
-that their times with God would be sweet with His presence
-that they would trust God with all that is happening each day
-that they would hear God’s gentle voice assuring them of His love, His presence, and His joy for and in them

2. Their relationships with family members and co-workers
-that they would have grace and love for one another
-that their would be no discord, but unity in the Holy Spirit in all of their interactions, thoughts and deeds
-for their children
-for homeschooling moms: patience, creativity and discipline
-that they would carve out time to be with their spouses and children

3. Their relationships with the people they are serving
-for a continued passion to reach the lost
-good friendships with people in their community
-opportunities to speak God’s love and truth into their hearts
-that the hearts of the people would be open to the love of God for them
-for the names of people mentioned in their prayer letters


This list was composed by Kathy Wile who, along with her husband, has a mission to support those who are bringing God’s Word to the lost around the world.

With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of His calling, and that by His power He may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. 2 Thessalonians 1:11

Homeschool Girl

This is a really old song but we still like it alot. It is by a Christian group called B.O.B. (Bunch of Believers). My sister used it for her slideshow presentation at her graduation. The whole disc is full of great songs like Mission Trip to Mexico and Goodwill Day (yes, like the store)!

We didn't make this video but someone did a pretty good job, so we thought we would share it with you.

Operation Christmas Child

This morning was our 2nd Annual Operation Christmas Child party. During the Sunday School everyone brings boxes and gifts for the boxes and we fill as many as we can. We had so much stuff on the two tables that it was like being at a store while choosing items to go in your boxes. Some ladies even made hats to put in the shoeboxes.

Will made a tower of the extra pencils

If you have never seen a promo video for OCC you should check them out at www.samaritanspurse.org/OCC. Over 7 million boxes are sent out to children around the world who may never get a gift for Christmas because they have never heard of the One who we celebrate at Christmas. With OCC they not only get a box full of fun gifts but they hear the message of the Gospel in their own language. And that is the best gift they could ever receive.

Our 35 boxes are only a drop in a very large bucket but they represent 35 kids who will get to hear of God's incredible love and His gift of grace. What a privilege that we get to be a part of something that is so much bigger than we could ever accomplish on our own! We pray that God would use each gift to accomplish His purpose in the lives of those who receive them.



How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Romans 10:14-15

Maggie is 4!

Today was our neice's 4th birthday party so we went down to help her celebrate. Amy made a really great robot cake and had all kinds of vintage robot decorations. The dining room looked so cute!

Maggie's robot cake

Maggie got all kinds of great "pink" presents. (That's what we call girl toys around our house) It was fun watching her and her cousins running around playing princess fairies.



It was also fun because we got to meet my cousin Mitzi's youngest daughter Quincy for the first time, too. Their girls are so cute!



Have fun being four! After all, being 3 wasn't as bad as you thought it would be. She was sad last year because she was afraid being 3 wasn't going to be as fun as being 2. She always says the sweetest things!



Happy birthday Maggie! We love you!

Medieval Feast

My favorite part of my Medieval History class is the family Medieval Feast. We have an entire lesson on food during class and that evening the students and their families come to our church for a 3-course feast. The families are our guests and the students are the serfs. They sit off at the "servants' table" and bring out new dishes and clear out the empty ones. I serve as the head cook (even though I'm a woman) and Chris is the scullion (medieval dishwasher), and there are lots of dishes to wash.

The serfs' table

Thankfully I don't have to do all the cooking because the families bring some of the dishes on the menu. There was tons of great food tonight and no one went home hungry.

Our guests

MENU

bread
butter

apple butter

grape juice

FIRST COURSE

venison

white rice

dates, figs and nuts

custard with fresh raspberries

SECOND COURSE

turkey

hard boiled eggs

assorted cheeses

gingered bread

THIRD COURSE

fruit-stuffed trout

fresh apples and pears

pickled herring

salad

sweet rolls with peach preserves

I explained the list of similarities and differences between eating then vs. now. Basically, besides the fact that we both eat food there are many similarities. For instance, we all had our own plate and cup, we didn't heavily spice the food to disguise the fact that the meat had gone bad about 2 days ago, I didn't stuff my turkey full of smaller birds or leave the feathers on, we didn't guild any of the food with gold, we ate meat even though it was a Friday, we didn't dump all the leftovers into a big pot to make pottage, and we didn't release a small flock of live birds from a large pie as a grand finale.

But despite the fact that we weren't exactly authentic, everybody had lots of fun. The kids' favorite part was eating at the "leftovers buffet" from all the serving plates that came off the tables. (Don't worry the food was still good)

Even clearing tables is fun!