Morning by Morning Two Mercies I See

Carter and Addie all dressed up and ready for their Valentine's dates with their mom and dad.

I haven't updated in a couple of weeks because we have stayed BUSY! It's all kind of running together. I'll provide updates and pics in a minute, but first I wanted to just say really quickly that I want to encourage anyone who is in need of grace to not rest until they find it. Dig in to the scriptures, pray without ceasing. Seek counsel with those who have been in the faith longer. I have been wrestling with God -- and it's not about homeschooling. Suffice it to say that I found myself on my face before Him with a fresh awareness of my sinfulness and His grace, and that puts the whole ordeal mildly. I haven't wrestled all the way through this but today, I was singing "Great is Thy Faithfulness" as I took care of some household duties, and I flashed back to when Carter was about two. He loved to sing hymns and still does. One of his favorites and mine has always been "Great is Thy Faithfulness". He would get to the chorus and sing, "Morning by morning, two mercies I see!" I had such a blessed moment of laughter remembering his chubby little face, crazy hair and colorful lyrics. So many things about that boy have blessed my life and that is just one of them.

Carter holding his "prize" that he received for playing the piano for his teacher's senior adult choir.

Ok, on to business... We have been continuing on with Egypt in history. We talked about cuneiform and Carter made his own cuneiform name plate out of clay. It's hanging on his door. Addie just kind of sat there and stabbed a piece of clay with a screwdriver then we baked it along with Carter's and let her paint it. They both had a BLAST! I have switched phonics curriculum. I knew I was in for it when I started with the second grade level of the recommended curriculum and he could spell every single word in the book without error, including homophones and contractions. Yikes. So, I ordered a new curriculum, will be selling my old one on line and this one starts with teaching reading and goes all the way through twelfth grade spelling using the phonics rules, so hopefully I can present him with some challenging words. Last Thursday, we went up to the church where Carter's piano teacher leads the senior adult choir and he played and sang for them and had a great time. It was so much fun and they gave him a huge Valentine goodie basket as thanks (pictured above). He has graciously shared most of it with his sister. I kind of gave him a nudge to help him realize he needed to. :) We have continued memorizing our love verses during this season of cupids and arrows, and it has been very helpful in our discussions of how deep God's love for us is...

Carter carving his cuneiform name plate.

Proud owner of his own cuneiform carving. It has his real name followd by "aka Hank" For those of you who don't know, Hank the Cowdog is his hero!

Addie shadow dancing. She passed her shadow on the wall and became fascinated and literally danced with herself for almost twenty minutes!

Addie mothering her baby. She came to the kitchen and informed me that she had run her baby a bath. She is a very tender mother.

Had to throw a pic of this in here. A new recipe for Chicago dish pizza. One eighth of the thing has just over 300 calories and it is filling and SO GOOD!!!

In other news, it snowed -- BIG! Most of you who read this live here, so you know it and you enjoyed it, but I'm still going to post some pictures from our snow day. What fun! And what freedom in knowing we could go ahead and do school if we wanted, but it was Friday so I cancelled all projects and we just played! We played, came in and drank Coke poured over fresh snow (yum!). We played some more and even decorated a snow man that the neighbors down the street built. Then, my parents and my aunt came over and brought pizza. We enjoyed warm food which was the perfect treat! Mom and Dad had brought their sled and Dad pulled the kids around in the yard on it. They had a blast! That was our last trip out for the day and we came in, grabbed hot showers and snuggled down in front of the fire to enjoy hot chocolate and It's Valentine's Charlie Brown! Such fun! Such laughter! I love snow. During the weekend, I even found the time to work a fun puzzle. It has big pieces so the children can participate but is mostly tiny pieces. It was maddening, but a great time.

The house.

Carter making a snow angel and tasting the snow as it fell.

Addie threw her hat off and threw herself down to make a snow angel too.

The neighbors' snowman. We supplied the carrot, rocks and the clown wig. :)

My dad pulling the kids in the snow -- best Papaw ever!

Saturday night, Daniel took Addie to the Valentine's banquet at church and I took Carter out for sushi and hibachi. The boy LOVES sushi! I was so proud. He ate dynamite rolls and raw tuna like a pro (with a spoon, of course) -- but he didn't want any of the "slimy green stuff". I tried to convince him that the wasabi is the best part, but he wasn't buying it. Sunday night, the kids spent the night at my parents' house and Daniel and I went to church then out to dinner together. He had Monday off for President's Day so we slept in, got the kids and I schooled in math and history only. It was a nice, short school day. :)

Carter and me geared up for some sushi and hibachi!

Daniel and Addie at the Valentine banquet.

Lastly, Carter is starting the Communicant's Class at church, something we are both excited and a bit nervous about. We can see how the Holy Spirit is changing him and we are as convinced as any parents can be about his salvation but we don't know if he has the maturity to join the church. We did the first lesson in his workbook today and he did really well with it. We'll just have to see how it goes. The exciting part, though, is that our church has never allowed children to join before the age of twelve. Our session examined this and through much prayer and evaluation decided that this was not the best way. It is now open to anyone who is saved and desires to be a member of the church to take the class and join. We are so excited that our son, who has known the Lord for a year and a half can now join us at the communion table.

The puzzle that we worked. It was a lot harder than it looks. Can you tell which pieces are big and which ones are tiny?

I guess that's about all for now. This weekend is looking like it will be a good one. The kids are spending the night with my sister tonight and we will go out for sushi (yes, I know we eat a lot of the stuff but it's so good!) and get a little extra sleep tomorrow as well. I'm also looking forward to worshipping as a family on Sunday. That is always the best part of the weekend.

One final thought for the day. I wanted to share this verse for any who may be struggling with the fact that the depths of their sinfulness is so bleak: "As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust." Psalm 103:13-14