Resurrection 2013

No new fancy clothes, no family  Easter picture, no Easter basket, toys or candy - just Jesus.  We've been teaching the kids the story leading up to Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection over the past days.  Simplicity is so nice it helps keep our minds focused on the real thing we are celebrating.  We been sharing the stories with the kids and finding age appropriate video clips to have them watch after.  It is exciting to see them watch it, to see their emotions as the story leading to Jesus' death  and resurrection played out and to hear them express what they feel and think about Jesus. 

I want my kids to cherish in their hearts that the Savior of the world died like he did for all peoples so that we can be able to live with Him.  My desire is for them to know their Risen Savior and to follow Him all of their days. 

Thank you Jesus may we not forget what you have done.
 

Pictures Part 3

 

Ev and I went to a homeschool conference while the boys stayed at the beach house.  Ev and I enjoyed a week of just the two of us.

More Pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catching Up and Part 1 of Vacation Pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were gone for a little under a month.  We enjoyed our time down south in the warm weather and sunshine.  We were able to do a lot of fun things that we only get to do once a year as well as enjoyed lots of Western food.  Here are some of the pictures from the first weeks of our trip. 

 

 

 

Evangelia's Baptism

For a little while now Ev has been learning more about who Jesus is and what it means to follow Him.  She has decided that she wants to follow Him and make Him the most important thing in her life.  We decided to wait until we were in Thailand at the house we are staying at to baptize her there with some family with us.  We are very excited for her decision.

Life

It has almost been a month since I posted last.  I could give a lot of excuses but it all really comes down to the fact that my day consist of home school in the morning, break for a quick lunch, then class for me for another couple of hours, then onto getting prepared for dinner, trying to work out, doing other things that I need to around the house, then dinner and cleanup, a little down time then the kid's bedtime.  I have been staying up too late trying to get more things done or watching TV with Todd.  I've always liked the time when the kids go to bed because I feel it is my only "me" time.   I haven't been able to study outside of class like I should be doing so I am glad to take a break from class for a month.  I've started looking ahead to next year when Ev will be in first grade and Elijah will be in Kinder and with Ian I am hoping to do some Preschool with him.  School for me is still in the schedule yet as I look to next year I don't know if it is really going to a possibility or not. 

Homeschooling this year has been different than I expected.  I knew going into it that it is very different from the classroom.  Home schooling is great that you can be more flexible but I have found that it seems that things always come up in our day and since we are at home we get interrupted more than I would like.   I have to really fight to protect our morning.  I have always loved that our kids sleep in late but as it is darker outside in the morning my kids don't want to get up.  I was finding in December that they were not getting up until after 9am.  I was feeling overwhelmed because by the time they ate their breakfast and really woke up it was closer to 10 and well I didn't have much time before my teacher came.  I began saying to them, "if you don't get to class on time then Mommy doesn't get to class on time."  For a few weeks my teacher was coming to me a half an hour early meaning she was showing up at noon. Teaching your own kids has its advantages and disadvantages.  Currently one child struggles with a few things while really being eager to learn.  Another child's learning style is so different to mine that it is challenging for me to understand whether this one is listening or messing around.  And then my other child wants to have a power struggle and not do anything for me.  It is hard being mom and teacher.  I am thankful that the kids have extracurricular activities.  My older two have Chinese class twice a week for a couple of hours and then Art class on a different day for a couple of hours.  They love their teachers and really thrive with them not only in a second language but it is good for them to have some one else teaching them. 

We are going to be taking a break in February when we travel out of the country for vacation.  I still have things planed for Ev to do but it won't be our normal routine.
I am looking forward to going to a home school conference that only Ev and I will be going to in February.  I have been feeling overwhelmed so hopefully I will be able to ask some questions and talk to other moms. 

I guess I am really ready for a break.  We'll rent a house with a pool and enjoy the warm weather for a couple of weeks, then Ev and I will go to another city for the conference and then meet up with the boys in another city where we will hang out with some friends of ours for a few more days.  

Advent Season and our Christmas Celebration

For Advent this year we continued some of our family traditions we started at the beginning of our marriage.  I made an advent calendar where each day their is a picture or figure of the part of Jesus' birth story that we are on.  Slowly through the month they learn/retell the story.  In addition to learning the birth of Jesus story we have pictures of different people groups up on our Christmas tree.  The kids pick one people group and for the month leading up to Christmas they pray for that people group. On the five Sundays leading up to Christmas we light our Advent candles and Todd leads us in worship.  Last year we focused on one Christmas song to teach the kids and this year we focused on another one.  We also spend time picking out gifts to give Jesus.  Last year we used Samaritan's Purse online gift catalogue also this year we bought clothes for a baby of a local friend who was in need of warm winter clothing.  The kid's picked out buying a well for a village in need of water, buying blankets for the needy, and buying clothing and food for orphans.  Instead of opening presents on Christmas we throw a big birthday celebration for Jesus and give Him our gifts.  The kids woke up to balloons and banners for Jesus' birthday party.  I had found a few games and coloring sheets and activities for them to do.  This year the kids were the shepherds and I made them a scavenger hunt through the house to find the manger and baby Jesus.  Along each stop they had to answer questions relating to the birth of Jesus.  Todd had found a video and some coloring sheets on the people groups the kids had been praying for so we had a time where the kids watched these videos and talked more about the need for these people to know Jesus.  I made a lasagna for lunch and we also had a cookie cake to celebrate Jesus' birthday.  The kids spent the rest of the day playing "Mary and Joseph" and all of the things we did helped us focus only on Jesus.  With the kids being young it is fun to see their excitement as they enjoy the activities and celebrate Jesus' birth.