If You Give Your Kid A...

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If You Give Yourself Over to the Father,Your Cup Will Runneth Over!

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If You Give Your Kids Some Instruments

Buried Treasure

Josephine has taken to digging for buried treasure. At first, it was just fun digging a hole at the bottom of the hill. Last week, she actually unearthed something. She found a lead Civil War toy soldier.This of course inspired her to dig even further.Today she unburied a 1936 penny. Not sure if they are worth much, but it sure has been exciting to discover buried treasure. It also leaves us with many projects to research...Civil War, the history of the penny, the age of our property, what to put in a time capsule, and oh, so many more!!!

What buried treasures am I busy looking for today?

What am I trying to search and find?

Proverbs 2 compares the knowledge of the Lord to buried treasure.

"If you seek it like silver, and search for it as hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God."

Proverbs 8 assures us if we choose instruction and knowledge over silver and pure gold, it's even better than jewels; nothing we desire can be compared to it.

I think it's time for me to take out my shovel and get to digging in that Good Book; I need to find me some buried treasure!

Just Out of Reach

Often I take the kids on walks though our neighborhood in the late afternoons. It's an excellent way to wind down the day, review what we've learned, recap and complete conversations that were started earlier, or just reflect on whatever's on our minds. Our halfway point and highlight of the walk is a small bridge that crosses over Flat Rock Brook. The kids look forward to this point because they love watching the water, spitting and making ripples, finding frogs, but most of all they obsess over a beautiful white rock that lays down below. Each time we cross it glows up at us, looking like a hidden treasure. Each time they rush to look at it, hoping no one has taken it or moved it from it's precious position. Each time they long to unearth this treasure and tote it home.
A few weeks ago, they got their wish. The water was low enough, they could wade across and dig up their "precious." Upon bringing it up from it's home of many years, they discovered the bottom was not as polished, smooth, or special as the top that caught their eyes. They realized it was heavy and weighted them down. They brought it home, cleaned it, and wrapped it in a special place.
Now, we go for walks and there is nothing special waiting for them. They come to the bridge and are quickly ready to go on. They look down and their eyes only see what is missing instead of the special treasures that still rush beneath. Josephine stated what was on all of their minds, "I think the rock was much more special when it was down there where we didn't have it."
This scenario has been haunting my mind. How often do we long for things, thinking "if only I had..." How often do we beg the Father for things that we think will make things perfect. He sees the whole picture. He knows if it will indeed bring happiness or if contentment will be lossed once it is obtained. He knows if our obsession has an ugly underside. May God help us to be content with what we have, be thankful for the beauties that surround us, and trust Him to know what is best.

Mmm, Mmm Math

As a fun addition to our normal Math (no pun intended:-), we decided to get down and sticky with some M&Ms. It was fun for the whole group. We predicted, sorted, counted, graphed, and ate. Sure there were M&Ms spilled here and there, and yes, there were sticky fingers and messy mouths, but Mmmmm, was it fun!

At the end of our group chart, we came down to only 49 M&Ms with the yellows and reds tied for first. We only needed one more to complete our masterpiece. We used the hunt for the missing M&M as a good way to clean up the basement. Two days later, Thessaly found an M&M under the laundry basket. For the rest of the week, she ran around the house singing her own praises, "I'm the hero because I found the M&M!"In case you wondered, the reds won!

Halloween Yet?

Who says costumes are just for Halloween?

BatGirl

Girl Wonder

Wonder Woman

Is that Bob, the Tomato?

A couple of incognito Super Heroes I spotted in a local movie theater.

Unravelled

The theme for the past week seems to be Unravel. While I have been busy with the daily activities of parenting, homeschooling, and rearing four children, my kids have taken it upon themselves to explore/empty/unpack/unravel whatever they can get their hands on. Take for example, my new roll of paper towels....It was unrolled all of the way from the kitchen, ,down the basement stairs and throughout the basement floor to act as a white carpet for two little brides. Then there was the new box of tissues (yes, we have already started emptying these by the week due to runny noses brought on by two weeks of chilly temperatures)...it was set out one morning and within 10 minutes emptied by a little boy with an endless supply of "yuck". He truly wiped his nose on each of 200 kleenexes! Now we travel upstairs to the bathroom...I won't even bother telling you how an entire roll of toilet paper ended up filling the toilette...no, we are looking in the bathtub that has mysteriously turned pink. It seems a brand new bottle of my luxurious Bathsoap that smells of perfection each tired morning was squeezed out by middle sized hands to create a bubble bath all by one's self. Moving back downstairs to the schoolroom, we find a roll of yarn for school projects and crafts unravelled around and around the basement toys, desks, chairs, and tables to create a spider web of fun. And last, I end with a glimpse into the living room/dining room where as I type I see dumped and scattered a tub full of crayons creating an obstacle course on the rug and a table cloth made from emptying a package of napkins accented with a bulk sprinkling of salt and pepper.

Yes, my children have active imaginations that create and play with every imaginable item within their grasp. It seems for our next lesson, we should put into practice "waste not, want not."