The ALMOST Balloon Launch

I was going to title this post Failure to Launch, but I suppose that's not exactly accurate.  I think the balloonists knew when we got to the park this morning that they would be prevented from launching due to wind currents, but they put on a great show for the kids anyway.

We got word that hot air balloons were taking off from parks all over town this morning, including our own local elementary school park.  The school encouraged parents to watch with their kids and allowed school to start late this morning in honor of the hot air balloon. 

So we made it to the park bright and early, or dark and early in this case around 7:40.  My mom met us over there and of course I forgot Calvin's jacket.  Calvin, Lucie and I watched mostly from the car while the older four kids and my mom were right in the thick of it.

My Girls. Talkin' 'bout my girls.

I was a tomboy, so when we started our family I naturally assumed I wanted to have all boys. I admit to being a little disappointed the first time I learned Twinkle Toes, now 10, was a little girl. I didn't know anything about girls. I played football and rode bikes. I tortured frogs and built forts. I'm a scientist! But, the Lord has been gracious and given me THREE little girls. He has also been patient with me and little by little my girls are helping me to embrace femininity.  Aren't they just the cutest?

  All three of our girls are as different as they could possibly be, but they all have such larger than life personalities.  Twinkle Toes is our resident artist.  She's left-handed, extremely artistic and creative, and bit well, dramatic.  My theory is that the drama kind of goes with her artist's personality, so we embrace it : ).  Twinkle Toes is currently composing a piece of music for the piano to submit in the Texas state composition contest.  It sounds so great- I can't believe it's coming out of her mind!  Twinkle Toes is fiercely independent and competent to accomplish most anything she sets her mind to.  I'm so blessed to have her as my daughter!

Measle is 8 and in one of the middle positions in our family.  That's a tough place to be, but she's such a great little mother to her younger siblings.  She loves being Louie's big sister and sharing a room with her.  She loves bathing, dressing, and reading to her roommate.  (Sometime's Louie's more receptive than at other times : ).  Measle is a fast swimmer and is becoming a really good violinist.  She's taking part in a fiddle contest this weekend.  She likes to do everything fast!   We're especially enjoying reading Leading Little Ones to God together this year. 

Lucie just turned 3 and I've already told you lots about her.  I started blogging when Lucie was still a baby so you've seen evidence of her shenanigans.  I made the mistake of starting Lucie on mochas early in life.  Once when she was a toddler in the church nursery, she bent over to look through the window of a Little People dollhouse and shouted to the nursery worker, "Do you want a white mocha?"  She was months shy of two at that point.  Lucie is an absolute pro at drinking mochas in the car and often reminds me when it's hot to "take little sips."  Lucie sleeps with us and when she turned 3 I thought she might be ready to sleep in her room with her sister.  She held up her open hand and told me when she was 5.  Hmmm.  She totally cracked me up the other day when I saw her struggling with her baby, carseat, and diaper bag.  She's such a mom!
 

I love my boys, too, and will write about them in another post, but I'm SO grateful to God for blessing me with these sweet girls who love hanging out with their mom.  I never have to run errands, cook, shop, exercise, or do anything alone.  These three girls are ALWAYS up for some fun and they even manage to make our chores fun.  Thank you Lord, for the gift of little girls!

Calvin and the Cupcake

Visual Latin Review for TOS

I love Latin and even competed on my Junior High School's Latin team, so when I started homeschooling my kids a few years ago I bought a Latin curriculum for us to work through together.  My kids were young at the time, 8 and 6, I think, and they did NOT have the Latin bug.  It was drudgery.  More importantly, my husband was not sold on the value of learning Latin and said he would rather us learn Greek if we were going to learn an ancient language.  So lacking my husband's support and without my children's enthusiasm, we gave up Latin in favor of studying Greek. 

Fast forward four years and I had the opportunity to review Visual Latin by The Compass Classroom.   I actually had to go to a lunch meeting the first day the kids watched their Visual Latin, so my husband was home and watched with them.   As I was leaving my husband asked me why I was having the kids watch a Latin DVD and I assured him it was just for a review.

Guess what?  When I got back my husband told me the guy on the DVD sold him on studying Latin!  I couldn't believe my ears!!  I had made the vocabulary, grammar, foreign language, and logic arguments in favor of studying Latin four years before, but evidently Dwane Thomas is more persuasive than I am! 

The kids loved the DVD and easily completed their worksheets, which are included in pdf format on the DVD.  But mainly my husband carried on about what an engaging teacher Dwane is.  My husband is a pastor so he's very aware of how well speakers command the attention of their audience, and he was very impressed with Dwane.  Well, he was raised by a pack of wild Latin teachers somewhere near the Rubicon.  It's going to be tough to beat that!  Even my 8 yr old daughter, whose strong suit is not listening, was able to pay attention throughout the short lessons.

Meet your instructor, Dwane Thomas.  Dwane is very expressive and my kids even enjoyed watching him in slow motion.

Each lesson is divided into three parts:  Grammar , sentences, and reading.  The entire lesson can be viewed in approximately 20 minutes.  The worksheets and transcript can be completed in another 15 minutes or so.  Imagine your children learning Latin in only 35-40 minutes a day and the best part- you have an excellent teacher with a great sense of humor commanding the attention of your students while you're either just along for the ride or even doing something else, like eating lunch.

So because we all loved Visual Latin so much, we now face a dilemma.  Latin or Greek or both?  I sure wish The Compass Classroom would come out with a Visual Greek.  Hint, hint.

You can purchase Visual Latin I (Lessons 1-30 on three discs) for $80 currently (normally $90) from The Compass Store.  Latin II (Lessons 31-40 on one disc) is available for $30.00.  And if you're still not sure whether Visual Latin is for you, you can download four introductory lessons and two regular lessons for FREE here.



And don't forget to check out the other TOS Visual Latin reviews!

Disclaimer:  I received a free copy of Visual Latin Lessons 1-10 in order to write this review in which I express my personal opinions.

The book of Job: It's about more than just suffering. It's about Christ.

My husband was trying to come up with a quick survey through the Old Testament for his men's group and we were discussing which books to include.  I actually suggested they could skip Job since everyone knows the story of Job.  Well, bite my tongue.  I just read Job again yesterday and today and I take it back.  They can't skip Job!  Yes, it's about suffering and the sovereignty of God, but it's more than that, too.  I love seeing Christ in Job.  Some call this the redemptive historical hermeneutic, others call it the scarlet thread of redemption woven throughout the Scriptures.  What this simply means is that God has given us glimpses of Christ in the Old Testament.  The book of Job is one of the oldest in the Bible, written before the institution of the Levitical priesthood and most likely during the time of the patriarchs.  Here are some of my favorite passages:

On our need for a mediator:

"God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial.  If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together.  The mediator could make God stop beating me, and I would no longer live in terror of His punishment.  Then I could speak to Him without fear, but I cannot do that in my own strength."  Job 9:32-35

Compare this with Hebrews:

"So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.  This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin.  So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.  There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."  Hebrews 4:14-16

Cool, huh?  God answered the prayer of Job's heart.  We have just such a mediator in Jesus that Job desired.  I believe that Jesus was Job's mediator, but it was prior to His incarnation so He had not yet suffered as a man.  He could not identify with Job's weaknesses to the same degree that He can ours, since He Himself has now lived and suffered as a man.  The only way we could possibly have the kind of mediator Job describes- One who can bring us together with God- is that our mediator be both God and man.  Incredible!  Right there in one of the oldest books in the Bible we get a glimpse of God's perfect plan to bring us to Himself.

Here's another one:

"Even now my witness is in heaven.  My advocate is there on high.  My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God.  I  need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends."  Job 16:19-21

On our redemption and the bodily resurrection:

"But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and He will stand upon the earth at last.  And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God!  I will see Him for myself.  Yes, I will see Him with my own eyes, I am overwhelmed at the thought."  Job 19:25-27

Me, too.  Overwhelmed at the thought of seeing Christ, that is.  I've never heard a sermon preached on this, and I've heard a lot of sermons.  Isn't it exciting that resurrection didn't just pop up in the gospels?  God always planned, from the beginning, to bring back to life our decayed bodies.  We won't be disembodied spirits sitting around on clouds strumming harps for all eternity, thank goodness!  We will have real bodies and we'll see Christ!  And Job knew this!

And another good one:

"But if an angel (messenger) from heaven appears- a special messenger to intercede for a person and declare that he is upright- he will be gracious and say, 'Rescue him from the grave, for I have found a ransom for his life.'  Then his body will become as healthy as a child's, firm and youthful again.  When he prays to God, he will be accepted.  And God will receive him with joy and restore him to good standing.  He will declare to his friends, 'I sinned and twisted the truth, but He did not punish me as I deserve (Septuagent).  God rescued me from the grave, and now my life is filled with light."  Job 33:23-28

That passage has it all.  The gospel in the book of Job!

God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  He does not change.  His plans do not change.  The whole Bible is His perfect, holy Word and therefore relevant to us today.  Every book of the Bible is about Christ.  And none of them can be skipped, except maybe Song of Solomon : ).  Anyone want to explain that one to me?!

A Saturday Off!!

I can't believe it's Saturday and we don't have a swim meet or recital!!  And I don't have a major project that needs to be completed today.  So far, I've done three loads of laundry and made a diaper with extended tabs.

Thank you to those of you who suggested the three-stitch zig zag.  I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of this fold over elastic.  I still lose control every now and then, as you can see.

And I made my first repair with the sewing machine.  The velcro strap on Measle's terribly expensive Fivefingers shoes, which her Nana bought for her, broke a couple of months ago and have been in the "need to be fixed" pile.  We happened to have just the right shade of purple thread, so you can't even tell!  (Believe me when I tell you it was not easy manipulating the shoe and strap onto the sewing machine, but I was determined!)

Now I'm off to exercise and read.  This may be the perfect day.



Lucie is 3 and that has me reflecting...

What a treasure and a joy our Lucie is to us!  I've written before about my journey to becoming quiverfull.  If the Lord hadn't moved on my heart almost 5 years ago, we would only have 4 children, I would still have a career, I would be stressed out most all of the time,  our kids would all go to school, my husband would be sorely neglected, the kids and I wouldn't be able to participate in Community Bible Study together or do a great many of things together that we do, I wouldn't have embarked on the life-changing 90 day Bible journey again and again, I wouldn't know you, and who knows what else would be different. 

But God did move on my heart and gave me a greater desire to be home with my children and make them my mission field than to feel the approval of the world or have my intellectual needs met.  And he moved on my husband's heart so that he would give me his blessing to come home and dramatically reduce our income in the process.  My husband was reluctant at first, but then made the committment to do whatever it took, even if it meant working more than one job.  But God (those two words again) was gracious and intervened and provided for us over and above what we could have imagined and we are no worse off financially than when I was working!  God is so good!

I became pregnant almost immediately after this change of heart and giving my notice and took it as a sign that this was God's will.  Then I miscarried (what a misnomer, but that's another post) and it left me wondering why.  Not why did I miscarry, but why did God change my heart and the course of my life, all our lives, and then take this child that I took to be a sign of being in God's will.  You know how it is with these things, you never really know why for sure other than to bring you closer to the Lord through suffering, but I thought maybe it was so I would appreciate the four children He had already blessed us with more than I had before.  The thought that God had moved mountains in my heart and mind in order to have me home with my four kids was astounding to me.  We enjoyed a fun family ski vacation after my miscarriage and then the Lord blessed us with another pregnancy.  This time we got Lucie!  She was worth waiting for!

Notice she's holding her guitar like a violin.  Too funny!

Lucie has truly brought us joy every day of her life.  The big kids and the grandparents get onto me about how permissive I am with her.  It's not that she doesn't have to mind, she does, but things she does that the other kids got into trouble for, her dad and I just laugh at now.  Big D and I joke that with these babies of our old age, we've become our own children's grandparents!  (I was 34 and Big D was 38 when we came to this change of heart.)  I love that when Big D and I are in our 50s and all our friends are empty nesters, we'll still have kids at home.  What fun!  God has blessed us so much beyond what we deserve or could even have asked for!