Something I learned

I guess I've always taken for granted that my RX would be correct. Sunday night I was taking my RX and when I placed the second pill on my tongue I noticed it had a taste. The pills never have any taste, and I first thought maybe my hand was wet and got the pill wet or something. I took it out and looked and immediately knew it was not the correct pill. It said Beach 1111 on it, which I knew my pills only have numbers. I went and got the bottle and checked all the rest and did not find any others that were wrong. We put it in a bag, and I took it to the pharmacy. The pharmacist was concerned and confused how that had happened and very apologetic. So lesson learned....always check your pills before taking them!

Has this ever happened to you? It is scary to think of the pharmacy making a mistake.  I guess it is something I've never really thought about happening.

Have a day of blessings!
  Bethany

A cross we made

Back at Christmas I read an idea online (probably on Pinterest) to save the trunk of your real Christmas tree and use it at Easter to make a cross.  We saved ours and Caleb enjoyed cutting the branches off of it. 

I remembered this week that we saved it so we made a cross out of it for our family lesson. 

It is a great reminder of the sacrifice made for each one of us on the Cross by Jesus.  He suffered so much on the cross for us, and we need to always remember that He paid the price for our sins.  I think sometimes we forget. 

Happy Easter!

Have a day of blessings!

Building Character: Obedience

It has been a long while since I shared about one of our family lessons on Building Character.  This Wednesday we were to the topic of obedience.  I thought I'd share with you what we did.  I got some ideas from the Kids of Integrity website. 

We started with a game of "Dad says" (like the game Simon Says) which brought a lot of laughs. Then we sat down and started talking about obedience.  What does the word obedience mean?  One thing that I noticed when I was getting ready for the lesson was that obedience isn't just doing what someone tells you to do.  For one thing, what kind of attitude are you having while you are doing it?  It is really having an obedient heart if you are groaning and rolling your eyes while doing the task? 

Also, obedience is doing a job completely.  Our example was taking out the trash.  If we tell Caleb to take out the trash and then later we go out and find he left it sitting by the dumpster instead of putting it inside the dumpster, he really hasn't been obedient to complete the whole task.  He knows what is required of this chore...remove the filled trash bag, take it to the dumpster outside, and put in a new trash bag.

There are many verses on obedience we can find in the Bible.  One we read was Philippians 2:8 where it tells us Christ was humbly obedient in his dying on the cross. We also talked about examples of obedient people in the Bible.  One was Jesus.  As a boy (Luke 2:40--52) he was obedient to his parents Luke 2:51 even though he wanted to stay at the temple.  Caleb brought up Daniel as an example that he obeyed God instead of the king. 

I've been thinking of other examples. Some were examples to us in their disobedience like Moses when he struck the rock instead of speaking to it as God told him (Numbers 20:1-17).  Another is Jonah who was swallowed by a big fish when he disobeyed God (Jonah 1-4).  

Can you think of others who chose to obey or disobey?      

Have a day of blessings!

A year ago...

We were excited to sign the papers to close on our new house on October 11, 2010.  We knew a couple of the rooms needed to be repainted....we did not want bright blue or purple bedrooms!  Plus there were some other things we wanted to do before officially  moving in.  We had it all planned out to sign the papers and then be ready to move in by the end of the month. 
Well if you followed my blog last year you know that nothing went as we had planned!  On October 7, 2010, we got the unexpected news from our Realtor that we were not going to be able to sign the papers on Monday.  The hold-up was caused because the TX Attorney General put a hold on the sale of foreclosures in the state.  I didn't understand all the legal jargon associated with this...it basically meant though that our plans were on hold because the house we were buying was a foreclosure property and the banks had to verify they were handling the paperwork correctly.  We did not have any idea when we'd be able to continue so we were in a waiting game.

My husband was starting his training for his new position.  We were renting a duplex and had assumed we'd be out by the end of October.  The days went on and on, and it was a very frustrating time.  I remember waiting to hear something, anything from our Realtor each day, hoping he'd have some sort of good news or date for us.  We even got a lawyer involved to try to help us through the process of figuring out our options.  We went to look at other houses as well because it just didn't seem this one was going to work.

It was quite the roller coaster for us all.  We didn't know what was going to happen from day to day really.  It was just waiting and praying, trying to see what God would have us do next.  Being the planner that I am I did not like not knowing what was coming. I did not like that all the plans I had made regarding the house and where we would live and not wanting to be separated from my husband and getting my son into a new school were not working out like I thought they should from my perspective. I wasn't angry during this time, I just didn't like not knowing.    

So today I remember how this time last year our plans changed suddenly and without warning.  I remember how God used this time to teach us some valuable lessons about Himself and His plan and timing during the period of unknowns and waiting.     

I heard this song on the radio this week, and I was immediately taken back to that time.  Because on October 7 and October 8 and 9 and 10 and on and on when I didn't know what was going to happen, I still held on to my faith that God had a plan for us.  He had things to teach us and used the time to bring us closer to Him and closer to each other.  We couldn't see the whole picture like He could.
 
Here is the song for you to hear.  It has such great lyrics. 


Looking back a year later, it is still crazy to me how it all worked out.  I think I am still processing it all that we are actually here!  The timing of everything fit together just beautifully.  He knew that all along, even though I could only see what was happening in the day to day moment.  Aren't you thankful that He has a bigger perspective than us? 

Have a day of blessings!

Building Character: Courtesy

Our recent Wednesday night family lesson was on the topic of courtesy.  I found so many great ideas for this lesson and it turned out being very fun. 

We talked about courtesy and what that looks like in our lives.  We looked up some verses related to using courteous words and this verse in I John 3:18--"Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth."   Another point we talked about was thinking before speaking to make sure what we say is appropriate and courteous.

For the activity we did an activity I found on the Kids of Integrity site. 

I mixed up chocolate pudding and put it into two bags. 

Then I cut a tiny hole in the bottom corner of each bag.  I gave my husband and son both a bag and a plate and told them to decorate the plate with the pudding. 

One of their creations

Once the pudding was out of the bag, I told them now they needed to put it back into their bag.  My husband turned his bag inside out and using it as a glove tried to pick up the pudding so it would be in the bag.  Then my son tried this too.  It made quite the mess!   

I made the point that it was easy and fun to squirt the pudding out of the bag and make designs and then quite difficult to get all the pudding back into the bag.  It is the same with our words. If we say things without thinking, those words are out and we can't take them back again or "unsay" them.  Once they are out they are out.  Sometimes people will remember the words we say forever, long after they are spoken and maybe even forgotten by the speaker.  We need to make sure our words are uplifting and courteous to others.   

This was a fun lesson and serves as a great reminder to all of us to be courteous in our words and actions. 

Have a day of blessings!

Building Character!

Since Caleb has been in school instead of attending to service at our local church on Wednesday nights during the school year, we have a family lesson time at home.  I knew when he was in kindergarten that going would make a late night for him and many nights he was asleep by 7:45.  This plan has worked well for us.  The teacher in me likes planning the lessons.  I have found many of the ideas online and I love putting the lessons together.  The first year I did a different topic each month pretty much.  Last year was different with our move, but I found some good lessons to do week by week on a website.  We have done the Fruit of the Spirit, Creation, and Armor of God to name a few topics.   
In the summer I read a book by Jill Savage called My Heart's at Home (which reminds me I need to do my book review on this great resource).  In it she included a list of character qualities from the Bible, and the list is from the Association of Christian Schools International.  It gives a character trait, definition, verse, and example story of Jesus showing that character quality.

I thought this would be great for our Wednesday night lessons this year as we have started a new school year.  We have done two of these lessons so far.  I have found it such a great way to learn from each other and thought I might share some of these lessons here on my blog from time to time, maybe on Fridays! 

Have a day of blessings!

Song: "These Days" by Mandisa

I have enjoyed many of the songs on Mandisa's new CD called "What If We Were Real."  I just love this upbeat song and the lyrics that's called "These Days." 

I told my husband he needed to listen to it Monday morning.  He found out Sunday evening that his secretary had broken his leg and is unsure how long he'll be out.  They were already shorthanded in the office because of another worker breaking her leg in April.  Lately it seems it has been one thing on top of another for him and his work. 

I think this song has a great message and a reminder that we all have days when things just don't seem to be going well.  In the midst of those times though we need to stop and try to learn what God is trying to teach us. 

Hope you enjoy this song today!


Have a day of blessings!
 

A Valentine project with Caleb

We did a Valentine sorting activity today. I did this during my student teaching in ESL. My supervising teacher made a book to go with the project which I still have in my teacher stuff.

I've done this with Caleb in the past, but this year we made a graph too.

First he sorted the hearts by color.

The he counted the hearts and colored the corresponding squares on the chart.

















We talked about which colors had the most, least, and same amount. Here is the finished graph.

Do you have any Valentine activities you do with kids?
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"But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8 NLT

Wild West lessons with Caleb

The past two weeks Caleb and I have done "wild west" lessons. We drew pictures and read books from the library about cowboys. We made a little horse one day with a pattern my Mom gave us a while back, and a few days later we made a covered wagon with a box. Caleb had to draw cookie at the back. He learned from Daddy that was the name given to the cook on the range. I found the idea for a cactus with the "poky things" as Caleb says made of broken toothpicks. I wouldn't recommend this one for young children or a classroom project but for one on one it was fine. Caleb loved it as I knew he would when I saw the idea.

My boy loves to sing "Home on the Range." I thought of putting a clip of him on here but haven't got that done yet and don't have the microphone for the computer anymore to do that. It's really cute though!

Have a great week!
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"In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?" Psalm 56:4

Books #33 and #34

I finished two books recently and wanted to add them here to my list.

The first one is called Texas Angel by Judith Pella. I borrowed this from the library.It is historical fiction. It took me a long time to read. I felt parts of it were slow and seemed to drag on and on. I did enjoy the storyline of the book though once I got into it.

Elise is the main character. Her life is turned upside down when her husband Kendall and his family discover her secret. She is sent out to a life of slavery and prostitution with their baby daughter, Hannah. Along the way she meets the Sinclair family. They are on their way from Boston to Texas where Reverend Benjamin Sinclair feels God is calling him. He realizes when he arrives that he doesn't know his family anymore and none of them are happy. Elise is able to teach Benjamin a lesson about God.

From this book I learned that sometimes we get so caught up in how much we know about God compared to those around us that we forget the basics of His love for us.




The second book is called Play and Find Out about Math by Janice VanCleave. This is another one from the library. I really enjoyed this book and found some wonderful math-related ideas for activities to do with Caleb. This is designed for young children with fun-filled activities done with common household items. The activities don't take lots of time. They all have extra ideas at the end of each main lesson to continue the lesson or add something a little bit deeper.

We already did one of these activities with an egg carton and counting one dozen. There are other activities I want to do with him about patterns, time, and measuring. I want to see if our library has other books by this author.

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"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." II Chronicles 7:14

Today's prayer for the election:

Pray for voters everywhere, for a safe trip to the polls and for votes cast based on prayerful consideration

Caleb's words

Thursday as I was ironing Caleb was drawing on his marker board. It was turned away from me but I knew from what he said that he was working on a fire station. He started saying letters and I went to look and just loved the little picture I saw. He told me he was trying to write fire house or fire man at the top. He had F r H and said he couldn't make an S. I showed him on the side where to start and how to curve an S and then he drew one himself.




Later that same day for our farm lesson he was matching labels to farm related pictures. I'd had this set of farm related pictures from a bulletin board I did in college. I actually knew where it was and was able to get it down so he's been playing with it this week. The barn didn't have a label as the other pictures did so he said he'd make one. He did this one by himself too. He wasn't sure how to make the n so I showed him that one too and he did it. He wrote b r n as seen below.

As a teacher this really excites me. I see him on his own putting together the things he knows. My husband asked me privately about the missing a in barn. He said he knew there must be a reason for leaving it out and that I didn't correct him. I remember in my college classes learning about the steps through which children progress as they are learning to write and spell. What he is doing matches what I learned. Caleb's spelling would be "invented spelling." He was using the sounds he heard to write the words. Here is an article I read related to this that refreshed my mind regarding what I'd learned in college about these stages of development.

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"The Lord.....is righteous; he does no wrong. Morning by morning he dispenses his justice, and every new day he does not fail." Zephaniah 3:5

Lessons on trains

Last week Caleb and I did lessons on trains. We found tons of library books about trains. On Wednesday when we went to story time at the library we found out the book theme of the day was also trains. They always pass out a take-home activity each week, which was train cut-outs. Caleb had fun putting them on the paper and drawing smoke and mountains. Another day we made a train using shapes, and Friday we made a train using food. Caleb used rectangle and square crackers, uncooked spaghetti, Mike & Ike candy, and chocolate chips. Here is a picture of the trains.

I'd already picked our theme of trains when I read in the paper about the train show over the weekend. Daddy and Caleb went to it last year and were planning to go this year. However, it was cancelled because Hurricane Ike evacuees were being housed in the location. Another event was scheduled, though, at the train depot. We got to get on an old locomotive where Caleb had fun ringing the bell. They had the various train cars open so we walked through those too. Then the boys rode the hand cars. It was the perfect way to end our week about trains!

This past week we learned about airplanes. Daddy brought us pictures from his trip, both at the airport, from the window of his plane, and from the National Air & Space Museum.

(We are all home safely and are getting a few things put away and clothes washed this morning!)

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"Winter is an etching,
Spring a watercolor,
Summer an oil painting, and
Autumn a mosaic of them all." Stanley Horowitz

Olympic lessons

I started back into our theme lessons with Caleb last Monday. Since Caleb enjoyed the Olympics so much, I used it as our first theme. There is so much you can do with it too. I am doing things a little bit differently this year by adding some new things for him, changing things up a bit. His memory verse was Hebrews 12:1. We had this verse in VBS so he was already mostly familiar with it. When he says the end he says Hebrews James one.

Last week we made an Olympic flag, which was fun and turned out cute. He painted the rim of a Play Doh jar to make the circles. We also had a long jump and compared how far we could jump with the distances of the Olympic athletes.

We'll continue with the Olympic theme through this week. I have a couple more things I wanted to do with it and didn't want to start a new theme during this busy week we have planned. One of the things we'll do is compare five flags and know the countries they represent. He recognizes Japan because it was our class flag for VBS both times this summer.

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"Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Hebrews 12:1

A story.....

I just had to share this story! Yesterday morning Caleb asked me to do a lesson with him. We did another one this morning. He has some workbooks he likes to do and then I make up stuff to do on his marker board or in his writing tablet. I have a planner book to write out my ideas for the coming school year for us....one more year till he goes to school!

This morning he wanted to write a story. First he drew the picture. (The circle is the sandbox with sand and bugs in it, the boy is on the side.) He wanted to draw the boy inside the sandbox and I said you could put him on the side so you could see him, like he's about to get in the sand. So he did that. It surprised me that he drew the boy sideways, including his eyes and mouth, about to get into the sandbox.

Then he told me this story to write:

One day there was a boy in his sandbox. There was a snake in his sandbox. The snake snaked the boy. The litle boy had to go to the doctor. They had to do a operation to him. They put a bandaid on the little boy. Him (He) feeled (felt) better. Him (He) got home.

By: Caleb

Oh how I love this boy!

Today I was typing an email. It started with a question Do.........

Caleb saw it and said D-O spells "doe" and kept repeating this. It was just making me smile to hear him say this. The other day in the car I'd told him n-o spells no like g-o spells go. It was so random to me that he used what I said the other day and applied it to seeing do on the screen and said "doe" without prompting or my pointing it out.

He was working on something at the table, and I told him I had something silly to show him. I wrote do, no, and go on a piece of paper. I told him how no and go sound the same and do looks the same but it sounds different. He was sitting there working and then he said do is like in proDUce. I was like yes Caleb that is the sound in produce!

He is always making the sounds of words and asks me what does that spell for many words he sees. I love it!! He is so much fun. I love watching him learn and grow.

A conversation we had today

Mommy, where is that rice?

What rice, Caleb?

That rice we had.

I don't know, who had it?

You and Daddy.

What did we do with it?

You were teaching with it.

Where?

Here

What were we teaching with it?

R R R Rice


Oh okay, yes when we did the letter R we did have a box lid with RICE in it! How could I forget?

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"God places rainbows in the clouds so that we can see the possibility of hope!" --Clara Hinton

A chicken with leaves

Last night I called the boys in from the back porch. I told Caleb we were going to think of things he's thankful for and make a "thankful turkey." I said, "Thank You, God, for ......... His first answer was chickens! He also said sun, outside, and animals. He started "writing" some on his own feathers. I said look this one says Mommy for a feather Daddy had written. Then Caleb was going to write Dad. He knows how to spell it, he always says D-O-D. Then I will correct him and say A and say the short sound of A and so he'll say that know when he's spelling it. It was a fun project! We called Gramma and she asked what we were doing. Caleb told her he was making a chicken with leaves!! It made us all laugh. I've included a picture of the completed project.
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"But if....you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul." Deuteronomy 4:29

Christmas ornament idea

I have a tradition for Caleb to give an ornament he has made to relatives with their Christmas gifts. The first year it was a tracing of his hand print on green paper, and I glued those to a red ornament shape and laminated them. The second year it was a tree cut out of fun foam, and he put light/ornament stickers on it. Last year was homemade ornaments made out of dough that he cut out with cookie cutters and painted. I made these when I was little so I thought it would be nice for him to do the same.



This year the ornaments are going to be made out of glue. I found this idea when we were studying space to make a sun catcher type thing. We made two like this one to the left. It was so fun and easy so I stocked up on bottles of glue when it was 20 cents during the back-to-school sales.

Here are the directions if you'd like to make some. It takes a long while for them to dry so give yourself plenty of time for this project! They can be turned into magnets or sun catchers too.




1. Pour glue into a cup.


2. Add drops of food coloring and stir. (Caleb loves this part! We use a Popsicle stick.)


3. Pour the colored glue into a lid. (I am using lids from Pringles cans for the ornaments, and they are a good size.)


4. Add a string. (I loop a piece of yarn and press it down into the glue with a Popsicle stick.)


5. Sit in a flat place where they won't be disturbed.


6. Check periodically. As they start drying on the outside gently pry them out of the lid to let air get to the bottom side so it will dry.


7. Peel the ornament from the lid.


8. We're going to add snowflake or Christmas stickers to ours when they dry.
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"For our light affliction, which is for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 2 Corinthians 4:17

Two new recipes plus edible transportation

I tried both of these yesterday and wanted to share. Caleb didn't want to try the cake because it has "Christmas cheese" in it (as he said the first time I asked if he wanted to try some). When he was helping me make it, he asked what it was so I told him. If I would have been thinking I wouldn't have said cheese because he doesn't eat things if he knows it has cheese on it. (Example: He doesn't eat cheese pizza, he eats pizza with no meat!) JMP and I enjoyed them both. I used a 13 x 9 x 2 in. pan so mine is more like cake than bars.

Marbled Chocolate Bars

1 pkg. German Chocolate cake mix
1 pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. milk choc. chips, divided

Prepare cake batter according to package directions. Pour into a greased 15 x10 x 1 in. baking pan. In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar. Stir in 1/4 c. of chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls over the batter. Cut through batter with a knife to swirl cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Yield: 3 dozen.

From: Taste of Home 2003 Annual Recipes

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Golden Potato Casserole

6 lg. potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 in. cubes
4 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 c. sour cream
1/4 c. butter, melted
8 green onions, chopped
Dash salt/pepper

Place potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 12-15 minutes or until tender. Drain. In a large bowl, combine remaining ingredients; gently stir in potatoes. Transfer to a greased 13 x 9 x 2 in. baking dish (dish will be full). Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 40-25 minutes or until bubbly. Let casserole stand for 10 min. before serving. Yield: 12-14 servings


From: Taste of Home 2007 Annual Recipes

I cut this recipe in half. This would be a great one to take to a church potluck I'm thinking.

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We also made little edible race cars last night to go with supper. They turned out so cute. Here's a picture!

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" But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." Romans 12:24, 25

Back to School

No, I'm not going back to the classroom, but it is time for school to start again. I have told JMP that I must have "teacher blood" because it just feels like that time of year, and it actually makes me excited (weird I know!).

I absolutely love to see all the rows and rows of school supplies in the stores. I can never help looking at them (or buying something!) I just can't pass up the 20 cent glue sticks or 10 cent spiral notebooks.

As many of you know, Caleb and I do "lessons." We started them last year at this time and continued consistently (for the most part) through the year. We weren't very consistent though in the summer with our various extra activities. Now we are starting up again. I pick themes and change themes every two weeks. We don't do one every day because some days are full of other things like going to the grocery store or library.

The themes I've picked to start with include: transportation, outer space, safety, and continuing through the ABC's. I enjoy finding books for the themes at the library. Then I get more ideas and patterns from the Internet.

I'm excited about this, and it makes me even more happy to see Caleb's excitement as he learns new things.
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"Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes." Psalm 37:7