{It's Beautiful Day...}

The first few days of this week has brought spring like weather.

The kids have pulled out shorts and t-shirts and we have tried to get outside and enjoy it as much as we can, knowing that winter will return soon I am sure!

We played "Ladder Toss" for PE.

We also have been enjoying our reading time outside curled up on patio chairs in the sunshine.

 

Abigayl has been reading a Mysteries in History series and Lenna is reading J.R.R. Tolkien's, The Hobbit & the Lord of the Rings series.

 

Nate has been reading more as well. He is loving the Mater Toons books and Eli is reading his way through the Boxcar Children Mysteries.

 

Clara has also been loving her bike...

And Polly... the squirrels are out more and she loves to bark at them! She has had to find more creative places to sit and see them out the window since I have had the front door closed to keep her from seeing them and barking. This is her new "throne" she thinks and will sit and wait for them to come out so she can bark!

{this Mama's Daybook}

The Week of  January 19-25, 2015

I started my daybook last Weds. the 21st with great hopes of getting it done. Here we are a week later still trying to finish it!

Outside my widow... Last week was a mix of winter temperatures and days that felt like spring! Beautiful... Shawn spent Saturday afternoon cleaning up the backyard, compost pile and working the garden.

From the Learning Rooms... The Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil and Total Language Plus- we are learning about letter writing. We just finished the Trojan Wars in History and read an abbreviated version of the Iliad together- it was a unique read to say the least. We all thought the Trojan Horse was awesome though! The kids want to built one!

From the kitchen this week... We go through a lot of yogurt at our house and it is a huge amount on our grocery bill each week. Lately I several blogs, I have read about moms making their own. When I was visiting the Choates in the Solomon Islands last summer, Joanna made her own as well. I decided to try my hand at it a couple of weeks ago after reading about several methods. Here is the method/recipe I chose and we love it! I make 4 quarts a week (a gallon of milk at a time and now am using my own yogurt for the starter.) I bought a set of vintage green mason jars to make it in so we can spot it in the fridge!)

With a heart of thanksgiving... for pile of cookies, candy, vitamins, and other small gifts that we are getting collected for Shawn and the boys to take to Hungary next month for their mission trip. This will be the 20th year of the SHARE Conference and the largest they have ever held. Please join us in praying for families that will be coming for the week and for the staff traveling to share and encourage them!

I am praying for... friends who are struggling with hard medical issues lately. Two daddies who have been diagnosed with cancer in the last month and are started hard months of treatment ahead. For our friends, the Choates. They are in the village currently but are making plans to return to the States for a medical leave for heart issues their daughter, Sarah, is experiencing. You can read about it here.

A peek into our world from the last week...

 Clara really wants to learn to play the piano like her siblings. She is often found sitting there, "practicing" too!

The moon has been bright and beautiful the last week, even when only a sliver shown.

We have been trying our hand at some night photography of the moon.

Last Friday, we are thankful for guys who helped put in our new patio door. The old one was the only door we didn't replace when we remodeled this house before we moved in. It has been broken and we were worried that one of these days, it wasn't going to close any more at all. So thankful for good weather to get it done since we had a open hole for a bit!

Time for tea parties and big sisters to help...

Words I have been pondering...

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

{This Mama's Daybook}

January 10- 17, 2015
I didn't get my Daybook done last week but wanted to share the pictures...
So here are some glimpses of last week!

Last Saturday, Clara had her first hair cut since she came home 3 years ago! 

Every time we have tried it has been a teary ordeal, this time it started that way but she was so brave and thinks she might like to do it again... maybe next time we can trim a little more off to even it up!

After her hair cut, she wanted curlers that night! Thanks to big sisters, she got her wish!

She had beautiful curls on Sunday morning!

Clara loves the science goggles, I had to post these because I love her dimple showing:)

We had an exchange student from Austria stay with us last week.

SHe said she was missing Austrian Goulash so Shawn made her an Austrian Meal from scratch... not ever done it before but it turned out pretty good!

On Wednesday night, Nate tested for a new belt at JiuJitsu!

We knew he was going to test but he didn't. He did a great job and moved up a belt!

Thursday was our homeschool art class that I teach 2 times a month. We had a full house at the art center as we studied Georges Seurat and Pointillism.

Our project was to paint using this style (we used Qtips to paint with.)

Thursday afternoon brought saying goodbye to A. as she headed home to Austria the next day. Though she was only with us a few days, the kids fell in love with her quickly and she was super flexible to fit right in.

Silly Picture...

Science is all about Astronomy right now so we had fun facts about the the galaxy taped all over the house for a scavenger hunt one day.

Clara helped me vacuum, her favorite job I think!

This week we celebrated 6 years with this little man! It's hard believe we were in China getting him 6 years ago. Here is a link to some posts from that journey.

{The New years Invitational}

We were up early Friday morning on our way to our first gymnastics meet of 2015.

The girls did a great job!

Lenna's Level was up first...

 

 

 

Overall, she had a great morning and her team did well.

Way to go girls!

Abigayl competed in the evening.

One special treat of the evening was meeting up with C.

^years ago this past weekend, we were in China together where Nate joined our family and one of her daughters joined theirs! This is the first time we have seen each other in 6 years!

Abigayl had a good evening, some days you just have bumps though and she had a few on her beam routine. We were proud of her though because she got up and kept going and finished well!

Abigayl & E after the meet. They were little when we were in China 6 years ago and didn't really remember each other but it was fun for us moms to see them together!

Thanks T & E for hanging out with us through the meet too!

Clara loves hanging out with you E:)

{Home again, home again, jiggety-jig...}

I had a fast trip Denver on Tuesday for Nate's appointment with his surgeon, usually we do it overnight but this time I needed to get there and back which made for a long day! 

Thankfully, we had beautiful traveling weather.

We left home with the moon still high in the early morning sky...

As the sun began to rise in the east, it reflected beautifully in the western sky as we drove.

If you look close, you can see flocks of geese flying in the sky, we pulled over to take this picture and more flew over our heads, you could hear their voices in the crisp morning air...

echoing across the plains.

We always watch to see who can catch a glimpse of the mountains first! It was beautiful and clear so we could see them much earlier in the drive than usual, but then they disappeared again for while...

The view headed into Denver was beautiful with the light snow.

We made it to the city in time to spot for a quick lunch and then we headed to the Children's hospital.

 It was warm outside so walked around a few minutes outside to stretch our legs.

Once the wiggles were out, we headed in for Nate's appointment.

Clara has had a cough for several weeks so they made her wear a mask. She wasn't too happy at first until everyone told her she looked cute!

Nate saw the surgeon, needed a few more x-rays and then had 3D imaging done for the craniofacial project he is a part of.

It's pretty cool how it all works and the "Picture guy"did a great job showing us his images from the last year with changes and comparing them.

The final decision, we go back again in March to get rechecked and he will for sure have surgery in April. The March visit will determine for sure what the surgery will be.

We grabbed something to drink at Starbucks, and started the long drive home.

The sunset was glorious on the way home! I stopped several times to take pictures because it was so amazing!

The moon began to rise on the horizon about half way home. I pulled over for another quick pictures, we made a fast bathroom break and the kids quickly went to sleep for the rest of the drive.

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.  How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 35:5-7