The Death of The Nile

Yes, our Nile River is long gone. :( It's actually been gone for a few weeks but I forgot to mention it because there were too many other thoughts on my mind. We had a really nice, sunny day in the midst of many freezing ones a few weeks back. I thought it would be good for the grass to sit in the sunshine, so I let it sit on the driveway for the day. That evening, I brought it back in. A few days later, there was a small fly buzzing around the kitchen. I killed it. The next day, there were a few more flies. I noticed the flies were hovering over the Nile, and it hit me -- a fly had laid eggs somewhere in our fertile crescent! MAN! Anyone else who builds a Nile River, do NOT put the thing outside. Let it stay inside where it can be enjoyed a little longer...

So Much to Say...

So I won't say it all! I'll just fill in on the parts of the past couple of weeks that stand out to me.

We have taken a much-needed spring break this week and it is coming to an end. We took it at a different time from the public and private schools because it worked better for our family. Daniel took off work and we have had a blast working, playing and resting as a family.

A couple of weeks ago, my mom took the kids for several hours on a Friday morning and I had a huge planning and reading morning. I planned lessons for a month and read up on the new spelling/phonics curriculum that I plan to start next week.

The kids doing a bit of "art" (really playing with Magic Nuudles -- amazing things!) after Mom brought them back on my planning day. You can see my stacks of "stuff" at the other end of the table.

The week before we took our break, my friend who is a former elementary school teacher came by and guest-taught a reading lesson with Carter to help me gain greater insight into where he is with his literature and writing skills and what I can do to meet him where he is. This friend was a huge help and such a valuable resource! A huge thank-you to her is not enough!

Carter and Addie with their puppets. Part of the lesson my friend taught was making a puppet to retell the story. Carter made one too...

As you can probably see, my support system is very important to me. While I am the one teaching the kids, I am so blessed to have parents and friends who love us and who we love who want to be a part of our family and our adventure. Hillary Clinton said "It takes a village to raise a child." While I am not a fan of Hillary and I think she meant government-subsidized daycare when she said "village", I still agree with the statement in and of itself. Guido and I are primarily responsible for what our children learn and the way they are raised, but having family, friends and a church family that are very much a part of our lives enriches and supports our efforts.

Last weekend, Addie and I attended a tea party/fundraiser for The Little Lighthouse, a very special non-profit organization that provides therapy, care and schooling for mentally and physically handicapped children ages 0-6. It is an amazing place! We got all dressed up and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Below is a picture of us before we left. Addie won a prize for her hat in the "Derby Darling" category.



This was the perfect week for spring break at our house. The weather has been gorgeous and we have spent a lot of time in the sunshine. The one day that it DID rain, we took the kids to the new, clean Chuck E. Cheese and enjoyed having the run of the place to ourselves. It was so clean and nice, and I could see where my kids were at all times. There was almost no one there to compete with. :) Last Friday, we went to the park for a play date with our homeschool group. The kids had a blast and I noticed how gentle and kind most of the children were. They're definitely all human, but it was refreshing. No bullying. Great experience. Between that group and our church involvement, the kids are definitely not hurting for opportunities to play with other children their age.

Yesterday, we went out to Ridgeland. I dropped Daniel and the kids at a bike trail by the Reservoir. Ladybird rode in the seat on the back of Daniel's bike and Carter rode his bike. I met them at Friendship Park where we played for a while then went to Cock of the Walk for supper. Yum. Friendship Park was such fun. It was refreshing to be in a place where children of several different races were playing together and getting along great! At one point, I was pushing kids on the tire swing. Carter got off and I ended up pushing a little girl whose mother was speaking Spanish to her, an African American little boy, and Ladybird. I was thrilled to see them laughing together, oblivious to the fact that adults can see the differences in their skin tone, but they just don't. What a picture of Heaven! I think sometimes that there are not enough of those experiences where we live...

We've had the windows open a lot this week. It's warm enough to get some fresh air in the house but not warm enough to turn on the air conditioner (though I did turn it on one day, to Daniel's dismay -- I get hot sometimes!). The fresh air blowing through the house smells so clean and welcome after a long winter indoors.

God has been so gracious to me my whole life -- even without material goods, He has given me more than I could ever ask or think. I have really been trying to focus in on thanking Him often. Today, I am thankful for a week of rest and play with my family and the fact that we were all healthy and strong enough to really enjoy it, the shelter over our heads, the food in our refrigerator, the smell of the fresh air coming into the house, and the Japanese Magnolia in bloom in the front yard.

"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." (Psalm 73:26)

A Wednesday Afternoon Rant/Giggle

Does anyone else have a daughter who is a magpie, both in the sense of chattering and hoarding? Well, I do! My daughter likes to save every kids' meal toy, ever paper clip, every empty toilet paper or paper towel roll, every battered, dead toy that doesn't work anymore, outgrown clothes, etc. Every now and again, I swoop through her room with a garbage bag and two grocery bags. The garbage bag gets filled with, well, garbage. One grocery bag is for giveaways and the other is for stuff that might sell on eBay. I do assert my motherhood in this way. I did realize that last time I cleaned out, it worked much better to explain to her what we were doing and let her go through and pick out what she was willing to part with. She amazingly pulled out lots of stuff and we pared down her collection sizably. Then, her birthday and Christmas hit. Right now, she has a closet FULL of some good stuff, but so much junk!

Every morning, she gets up and comes to see me. Once her need for affection and affirmation is satisfied, she heads to her room to get dressed. Dressing, for this little girl, includes packing one of her many purses to near bursting with an assortment of hair bows, brushes, fake cell phones, sunglasses, maybe a small flashlight, some fake food, tissues, small dolls, a few rocks (yes, rocks -- she brings them in from outside and I find gravel throughout the house). Once she has her purse on, she selects a pair of plastic princess slippers to wear throughout the day. She goes clacking through the house, spreading debris every which-a-way. Let me tell you that I definitely involve her in the clean up time!

Last night, she set up a "meeting" in her room. She saved some of her trail mix from snack time and had it all set out in her mini muffin tin for her little kitchen. We all had to wear "robes". She wore her red silk robe, Carter wore his Superman cape, I borrowed Addie's Supergirl cape, and Daniel ended up with a princess blanket tied around his neck. :) We met and read books while she cooked. Apparently it is a book-club/cooking school. Such fun!

My little chatterbox told me as I was fixing dinner last night, "Mommy, I will not be able to eat with y'all because I am going out to dinner with my friends!" "What friends?" I asked. "Canaga, Janie Jones and Uncle John the Baptist!" she replied.
"No, dear, you have to eat with your family."
"Why?""Because I said so!"

The child has already begun to engage in teenage arguments over her imaginary friends and she FIGHTS if she does not get to wear what she wants. These are some of her lesser traits, but they are pretty funny at the age of four (however, I can't let her see me laughing at this!). Of course, I did go back and explain why we as a family eat together and why that is so important and not to be missed. Oh, the joys of raising a daughter. May she always be so hilarious and spirited, but may Christ enter her life and temper her spirit with wisdom and humility...

My little Ladybird "dressed" for the day in the DEAD of winter -- tutu, sunglasses, you can't see her slippers. Notice the large bookbag slung over her shoulder. She's ready to spread debris! ACK!

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

Week 5: A "Normal" Week AND a Really Good Article!

While the kids are having some "down time", I thought I would take the opportunity to post about our week last week. It was a normal, good school week. Nothing spectacular and nothing awful to report. We made it through school well every day (maybe that is spectacular -- not sure) and had a lot of fun on Friday. Below are some pics of what we did Friday. Also, the last pic is of yesterday, so that's a bit of this week. But it was too priceless not to go ahead and post!

Before you look at the pictures, though, I thought I'd share this link to an old article that a friend shared with me. It deals with the generation gap between generations past and basically my generation. If things have gotten this bad with my generation (and this was written in 1998), then what's going to happen to the ones that we're parenting? I'm not saying I agree with every opinion in her article or her solutions (though I do agree with a good bit of it), but I think she puts some really great food for thought on the table. May God's children be open to His leading and not just be content follow societal norms as we raise our children -- no matter WHAT our educational choices may be...

We started off by working on our Valentine mailboxes. The kids are thrilled to be attending a Valentine's party with our homeschool group. Carter was a bit upset and thinking since he's not in a school building anymore, there would be no party. To his surprise, there will be a party! We are working on our love verses and talking about how romantic love and the love between mother and child, etc., are good and gifts from God but how God's love is perfect and never-failing. I am really enjoying the love verses and I think the kids are too.

We flooded our Nile River again. Both kids got a turn. We flood it once a week. As you can see below, the grass is starting to sprout up in some areas, showing us why it was so important for Egyptian farmers to plant in the silt left behind from flooding. We have learned some about the pyramids represented in our project as well. Do you know how many years it took to build the Pyramid at Giza (tomb of Khufu)? 20 YEARS of flood seasons with 100,000 men working a month at a time and being relieved each month. Whoa! We are thankful for construction equipment!!!

We had game afternoon. The weather wasn't very nice, so we played Hungry, Hungry Hippos and Hi Ho Cherry-O, and Hank BEAT ME for the first time at checkers!!!! Pictured above, Carter and Addie are enjoying building skyscrapers and knocking them down...

Carter got in some good time on his guitar...

This is from yesterday. We were working on history -- still in Ancient Egypt -- and Carter stopped and said, I need a towel and a rubber band so I can be an Egyptian! We completed the rest of school with him in his head-dress. Love it!

I also wanted to share two poems that Carter has learned. He has memorized several but these are my two favorites so far. Though short poems, they carry a heavy impact of meaning for me and I hope for him too:

Work:
(anonymous)

Work while you work
Play while you play
This is the way to be happy each day.
All that you do
Do with your might.
Things done by halves are never done right.

Hearts are Like Doors:

(anonymous)

Hearts, like doors,

Will open with ease

To very, very little keys.

And don't forget

that two of these

Are "Thank you, sir," and "If you please".

Link

On the right side of my page you'll see a purple button that says "O Love That Will Not Let Me Go" on it. This is not just a cute decoration. It's a link to the blog of my friends Noah and Julie Roberts. They had a daughter named Magdalena who had Trisomy 18. She lived for five months and went to be with Jesus on January 13, 2009. I truly feel so privileged to have known her, held her, changed one of her diapers. She was a precious little girl. Our whole family loves her still and misses her. I put the link there so anyone who happens across it can go and read the story of how God works even through the hardest times and deepest griefs. He definitely used Magdalena and continues to use the story of her life, though she is with Him now. I hope you'll go read...

About The Second Child (or, What Makes “Twinkletoes” Twinkle)

Addie, aged 3, prepares to leave the house -- for who knows what? She's always prepared!

I have talked a lot about Carter on this blog because he is the one receiving most of the schooling right now. I will most likely go ahead and start math and heavy phonics with Addie next year, but for now, we are just doing some fun preschool exercises. She likes to be included in the schooling, so I try to as much as possible, but there are just some things that she can’t do right now. I did want to share a bit about her, though, because she is such a joy to us and an equally important part of the family as Carter.

First day of 3-year-old preschool (we made it a whole semester -- go us!).

Addie has always been a huge blessing to us. Carter was an equal blessing but was a high maintenance baby (due in part to our high-strung nervousness and cluelessness) who was attached to the breast until he was 15 months old. When he cried, he nursed. When he was up at night, he nursed. When he was happy, he nursed, sad, he nursed, mad, he nursed, etc… Part of the constant nursing was just me not knowing what else to do! Also, I figure if a baby is hungry, go ahead and feed them -- especially if it's breastmilk (lower calories -- you're not gonna hurt them)! I stayed pretty exhausted with him while still enjoying him intensely, the way a mother enjoys the wonder of her first child. I was afraid to have another child, though. I was so exhausted and he was so high maintenance. I had no idea how to balance another baby. We were on the verge of deciding to be an only child family when I attended a baby shower for my cousin. All of the tiny blue booties and sweet clothes reminded me of the sweetness of babies and I decided I was ready to try for another one. I came home terrified, told the hubby I was ready, and he said, “Quick, throw the pills away before you change your mind!”

Daniel and his baby girl, not long after we came home from the hospital.

I think God knew that it had to happen fast or I would change my mind and go back on the pill, because two weeks later, on April Fools’ Day, I had a positive pregnancy test in my hand. Daniel didn’t believe me because it happened so fast. He had already left for work when I took it, so I left it sitting on the counter until he came home. What a whirlwind! It was a healthy but hard pregnancy. I’m not a fabulous pregnant person anyway, but sickness struck me in a way I had not experienced with Carter. I vomited every morning for three months with two-year-old Carter standing in the bathroom asking me what was wrong. I lost 14 pounds and only gained 10 back. And I became very sad and anxious about everything to the point that I attended family therapy at the local seminary. I’m so glad I did because I think everyone at some point should just go and get all of their junk out on the table with an objective party to help them sort through it. It was a very healthy and helpful experience for me.

Seven months pregnant with Addie.

The day we found out we were having a girl, we were overjoyed. Daniel had wanted a little girl since he could remember and I was excited either way, but relived to have one of each because I wasn’t sure of my ability to have a third child and balance everything well (I knew Daniel would want to try at least one more time for a girl). Also, the thought of having a sweet, fluffy, pink bundle just seemed such fun! We had been toying with different names, and as soon as we saw her on the sonogram, we just knew exactly what her name would be as if she had always been with us. Since I’d already had a c-section with Carter, we decided to go ahead and schedule a second one. I had read about the risks of VBAC and though I wasn’t thrilled about a second section, I wasn’t willing to risk my life -- and hers -- to deliver vaginally. That just made no sense to me. But, about five days before my scheduled date, my blood pressure spiked and we went on and had her.

Newborn Addie snuggling in her Nana's arms.

She was as perfect as a baby could be – a seven pound, one ounce bundle of preciousness. The OB ordered magnesium fo rmy blood pressure without checking with me first then tried to tell me I couldn’t nurse her with magnesium in my drip, so I threw a fit, refused the mag, told them to give me my kid, and nursed her (remember that I was pretty high on morphine at this point but I just wanted my baby and I wasn’t going to let her have formula --I realize that this is not how everyone feels, but it was just very important to me! Also, plenty of OBs will allow you to nurse on magnesium, but whatever. That’s a topic for another discussion.). She went straight to the breast and camped there, snuggling and making sweet noises as she nursed.

Below: Addie and I make "nosies" together in the hospital.

We came home from the hospital and everything balanced out incredibly well. For all my fears, there were some rough days, but mostly really good ones. Our universe didn’t center around Carter anymore, and this was incredibly good for him! I also figured out how to run down the hall with Carter and hoist him up on the potty while never stopping nursing (praise God for the football hold!). He loved his sister right off the bat and I’m proud to say that so many of the horror stories people felt compelled to tell me about older siblings doing mean things to a baby never happened.

2-year-old Carter checks out Addie's tiny hand.

Her engaging smile...

Addie rounded our family out so wonderfully. For all of our seriousness, she brought laughter.


Corn from Chili's, anyone?

She spoke early, saying “Mama” at six months and “shoe” shortly thereafter. She developed a sock and shoe fetish early on! She loves pink and purple but only wants to wear jeans with her pink and purple tops. She’s girly but can hang with the boys on our street.

Wearing her Mississippi Braves hat.

She loves to make you laugh, but isn’t worried about the spotlight being on her (in fact, she HATES being on stage, the perfect counterpart to a brother who wants nothing but to live on stage). She has one of the sweetest singing voices I have ever heard, and laughs like a bell. She loves to dance and walkes on her tippy-toes (which is why I sometimes refer to her as “Twinkletoes”), loves to give, and loves to love her brother and everyone else around her. She is quite obedient and hates to displease anyone.

Just being cute...

She tells me at least twice a day that I am her “best friend”, something that continually warms me. She is fairly intelligent too – we don’t see the prodigious skills developing that her brother has, but we are completely thrilled with her as she is. I don’t know that our family could handle two super-advanced children, anyway. She is incredibly imaginative – Monday, she made up a new uncle, “Uncle John the Baptist” and said he was sick in the hospital so she had to write him a letter. I have no idea where she came up with this, but it was a hoot. Daniel left Tuesday morning with her letter in hand because the first words out of her mouth that morning were, “Can we please mail this letter to Uncle John the Baptist?” Tuesday afternoon, she made up a new girlfriend named “Nazareth” who has a cast on her leg, so we have to be “very gentle” with her. God gave us what we needed for our family. Most importantly, she seems to be beginning to understand that she is a sinner in need of a Savior, something that we discuss every day. I pray that she will know Jesus very soon as her Lord and Savior.

I am always thankful for both of my children. God has used them both so mightily in my life, and I pray that as they grow, He will use them mightily for His kingdom (a thought that scares me because I don’t know what or where He’ll call them to be, but I still want them to serve Him). I learn lessons from both of them, but from Addie, I am learning how to be cheerful and greet everyone first thing in the morning, how to dance with abandon, how to shake off rudeness and be kind in spite of how others may treat me, and how to love unconditionally. What a blessing she truly is!

Striking a pose on her fourth birthday.

“All the days of the afflicted are evil, but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast.” Proverbs 15:15