Book Club - Secret Believers

We have just returned from a week at the beach.  I thought I might catch up on my blog while we were gone.  Nope.  I didn't have my computer and working on something smaller just wasn't appealing.  And truthfully, its kind of nice to be away from the pull of the electronics for a little bit.  :-)

This was our last book club meeting.  We read Secret Believers by Brother Andrew.  We had enjoyed one of his earlier books, God's Smuggler, and this was an excellent book as well.  Truly an excellent book.  So helpful in understanding the struggle of Muslims who believe in Christ.  I highly recommend it.  Its not an easy read in parts though, so I would recommend it for teens and up or preread to see if it works for your family.  I'm happy to answer questions you might have about the book.

I think the book was helpful in introducing more of the culture and beliefs of Muslims to each of us.  Reading about people who are living in Muslim countries and the weightiness of faith in their daily lives gave us all greater insight in understanding and hopefully will help in our interactions with Muslims.  

After our discussion, we had yummy foods from the Middle East.  The book does not clearly state which country the story takes place in.  The foods chosen are representative of various countries.

Again, I highly recommend this book.  I've been doing a lot more reading this year than I have in years past and am finding that I'm excited about all that I am learning.  It doesn't seem to have shortened the huge stack of books beside my bed however.  ;-)  I'm up to 13 or 14 books read thus far this year.  I'm excited about that and about the books to come on my list.

What about your?  Have you been doing much reading?  Any great books that you want to recommend?

Blessings
Leslie

Random happenings in April

The kids and I just returned from a quick and amazingly fun field trip to the Outer Banks!  I have hundreds of photos to go through, but am hoping to post and share them soon.  (602 photos)  Until then, I wanted to share a few more recent happenings at our house.

We love that Christopher is close enough to visit here - and us to go there - from time to time.  :D  One Saturday morning, we stopped by after a visit to the Farmer's Market (so close to campus).  Daniel went with me to the market and was happy to see his big brother!

We have been doing some work in the yard.  Everyone pitched in to help.  Love seeing Eliana with the little wheelbarrow.

It was a lot of work moving the mulch which we were sharing with a neighbor.

Many hands make light work though!

Everyone earned their treat of pizza for dinner that night.

Doesn't the front yard look nice?

Its been such a cool spring!  I'm not complaining at all though.  Its been nice for wearing sweaters and light jackets.

This sweet sweater was made by my mom for Eliana.  Isn't it pretty.

Daniel finished up his math book early this year!  As a reward, he will be going out to get ice cream!  Great work!

This is some of the origami creations that Daniel made while we were studying Japan and rowing the book Grandfather's Journey.  He had a great time making these!

Rebecca and her friend Hanna were finally able to take a Driver's Ed class.  It has been tricky to find a class that worked for our schedule, but they finished it this month.  They both did a great job.

That's it for April.  Now as we are into May, it is a full and busy month.  Travel, finishing up school, time with family, homeschool conference and more!  I'm looking forward to the fun, but also hoping to find time to rest and enjoy doing nothing too!

Hope your week is going well.

Blessings

Leslie

Fun Saturday

Last Saturday was such a fun day!  All of it.  Christopher and some friends arrived for lunch and then hung out with us for the rest of the day.  We all had a blast!  I love that he is close enough to come home and it is always a delight to have his friends come over too!

I was sporadic in taking pictures, but here are some of our day.  After having lunch, we headed outside.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day!  There had been a threat of rain, but it was beautiful!  Lots of fun playing games.  I love that my kids can just jump in the middle of things and that Christopher's friends are comfortable with that too.  

There was a lot of Kan Jam being played.  I think Rebecca (top right) and Kyle (bottom right) were the team champions.

 Everyone enjoys this game.  Even Eliana liked trying her hand at it.

Badminton was also played.  The winners would taken on a new team to play.

 Emily and Christopher were the team to beat in this game!

 Just a sweet happy face.

 Did I mention that the competition was keen in ALL of the games?!

 I just love this picture.  I'm not sure what Eliana and Grant were talking about, but I love it just the same.

 There is always time and place for an Eno, right?

 This looks a bit dangerous, but Isaiah was having fun and it wasn't too far to fall.

 Daniel hanging out with Kyle.

This was the only inside picture that I took.  Dinner.

 Afterwards we headed back outside for volleyball, badminton (am I the only one that did not know this was spelled with an "n" in the middle?) and basketball.

 A little bored with the games, and making their own fun.

 Trying to learn a new game is challenging at times, but fun too.

What a full and fun day.  I'm so thankful for these times.  Thankful that Christopher has such great friends in his life.  Thankful too that they enjoy hanging out with our family.  Thankful for these sweet opportunities!  Looking forward to more in the future!

with a thankful heart.
Leslie

Beyond FIAR Co-op: Neil Armstrong 3 - Science Fair!

This was a co-op that had been in the planning for several months.  When reading ahead for the lessons in the book, I saw that there was a science fair.  This is not something that I had ever tackled before and I wondered if the others would be interested - and they were.  As part of our co-op lesson several months ago (either end of Jan or early Feb), I did my teaching on the scientific method and doing a science fair project.  We used the scientific method as a means of the steps of conducting an experiment.  The students did a fabulous job with their projects.  It was so much fun to see the different topics that they chose too!

We had one on eggs and comparing the space of the air cell in new versus old eggs.  The students shared their hypothesis and then how they conducted their experiment and their findings.  

Some of them spent several months working on collecting data.  This one was looking at the types of birds that came to the feeder and measuring to see if time of day made a difference.

Isaiah did an experiment comparing a McDonalds happy meal (hamburger and fries) to a homemade burger and fries to see if there would be a difference in the way that they deteriorated.  He measured the results for two months to see what he could find.

The happy meal did not mold and the fries looked the same as the day that we bought them.  The homemade burger did grow mold after several days.  The fries also browned.  All of the items hardened and dried out.

It was an interesting and kind of gross experiment.  Can I mention that I'm glad to have it off of my kitchen counter!  LOL

An experiment looking at how temperature of water and thickness of a liquid affected the diffusion of food coloring.

The demonstration with mixed colors was fun to see!

An experiment on rockets including both the history of rockets and sharing the results of their at home experiments with us.

This project tested people to see if they could remember a list of words more easily if it was on a screen or a piece of paper.  The results were pretty conclusive too - not one person remembered the words better after having seen them on a screen!

Daniel wanted to do a volcano.  He conducted many (23+) experiments varying the amounts of baking soda and vinegar to see which added the most explosive power.  He also made and built a volcano.

He found that adding more of both ingredients really worked the best.  And doing repeat experiments often worked better than the original

He was so excited to show off his experiment.  This is one of the early ones, but he also added red food coloring to make his lava more realistic.

This is an experiment using mentos and soda.  A fun visual for everyone!

He found that diet sodas did not have the same explosive power as  regular sodas.

The last experiment tested the effects o wind on a paper airplane using a small fan.  A sudden burst of air from below caused the plane to go significantly less far in its flight path.

All of the students did such a great job.  Each made a display board and gave a short presentation.  They all explained their work well and it was fun hearing about what they had been doing!

This was such a great morning!  I think we have more of these in our future.  It was a lot of work - but I think well worth it in the end.

One thing we also did was to have each student write positive comments on a card to be given to each of the other students.  I liked this feedback!  We also had them give "awards" to each other for things like most creative, best display, best presentation, etc.

I highly encourage you to try this out if you haven't yet.  It was a fabulous experience!

Blessings
Leslie

Unexpected Delights

I love it when God surprises and delights my heart.  I don't know why I'm surprised by this as I know how I love to delight my children.  Its fun to meet a desire that they may not have even expressed or knew they wanted.  I know that God loves doing that for us too.  I wonder how often I may miss His efforts on my behalf. 

Just tonight as I was outside I noticed the sweet smell of honeysuckle and the sounds of birds in the trees.  It was fresh and clean and reminded me of being a child.  Isn't funny how so many memories are tied to smell?  

I was looking through some old blog posts tonight and seeing pictures of college visits 3 years ago as Christopher was trying to decide where to go.  Such a big decision.  One we prayed about often.  I also often prayed for his roommate.  Having worked in housing (and lived in the residence halls for my job), I remembered how important a good roommate could be!  I wanted that for Christopher.  

After posting Christopher's decision to go to State, I received an email from another homeschooling mom whose son was going to State.  We corresponded and then the guys started talking and they decided to room together.  I was excited about that!  We met in August and really hit it off.

That was the unexpected part.  It wasn't that I didn't expect to like his roommate's family - it was more that I hadn't even considered that God could have a plan for our families beyond the guys rooming together.  And when we enjoyed each other and liked hanging out - and then planned to get together again, it just struck me that when I prayed, God answered.  His answer though was so much bigger than anything that I asked for.  And it both surprised and delighted me.  Still does!

Joe's family was up visiting family locally and we were blessed to have them stay with us for several days!  We had a blast together!  Sure wish we lived closer together!  We mostly hung out around the house.  We talked, played games, played outside and just had fun.  

One day we went to Defy Gravity.  That place is so much fun!!!  As always we had a blast.  Its not an easy place in which to take photos, but I tried getting some of each of the kids heading into the ball pit.  Some doing flips and others just jumping in!

Thanks to Candace at http://www.mercyisnew.com for showing me how to do the collage photos!  So easy and fun at Picmonkey!  

We also celebrated Eliana's heart day!  Its been 6 years since our sweet girl had her heart surgery.  She is lively and happy and brings such sweetness to our days.  (She can also be a stinker too in case you think its all happy times.  LOL )

This was another time that God answered prayers in ways that were unexpected.  He showed me so much more of Himself than I  had known before.  He knew that my heart needed work and He sent a precious little girl to join our family to help mend my broken one.  I didn't see the blessings right away, but He was patient and taught me step by step (and continues to do so!).

We visited Moonberries for a sweet treat!  I love that they have gluten free options!  Its a safe and easy place that we all enjoy!

It was a gorgeous day and it was fun that Roger was able to join us too!

I'm thankful for family and friends that God has placed in my life.  He continues to teach me and bless me in ways sweet and unexpected.

Praying that you would see God's hand at work in sweet ways in your life too!
Leslie