Friends

Friendship is such a blessing.  I'm very thankful for the friends that God has given to me and also to my children.

A friend loves at all times, but a brother is born for adversity.  Prov 17:17

Walking through challenges does one of two things - draws us closer to people or pulls us apart.  What a blessing to have friends (and family) that stand with us in our hard times.

One of my favorite passages on trials is from the book of Isaiah.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.  Isaiah 43:2

 Good friends laugh with us.  Cry with us.  Listen.  Comfort.  Encourage.  Challenge.  And sometimes they are just downright silly with us!  All are needed and appreciated.

 We have loved getting to know some of Christopher's friends.  Here are two friends from summer project - Alex (who also goes to State) and  Riley - hanging out with Eliana.

 I love how easily they jump into our family and have fun with us.  Its a blessing!

 We all - from the youngest to the oldest - look forward to having Christopher and his friends come over.

 We are also blessed to have many friends that we have known for a long time.  Our sweet friends, who used to be our next-door neighbors, came for a long week-end.  Catherine (the mom) and I have been friends for over 20 years.  Even though they have moved, we all still love being together.  I'm thankful for the friendships that last over the miles.  (Though I do still wish they lived nearby!)

 We spent a day at Pullen Park and I took tons of photos.  I'll not post all of them, but it will probably be a lot.

 We headed over first to ride the paddle boats before the day turned warm.  (This was Oct - yes, I'm still that far behind, but am catching up!)  Eliana and her dolly were ready to go.

 We rented 3 boats and headed out.

 Two people at a time could paddle.

 Up to two more could ride in the back.  Or a small person in the middle.

 We paddled around a small pond.

 Its a much tougher workout than it looks.  And paddling faster doesn't seem to move you as fast as you might think either.

 Kind of like life.  Sometimes just moving along steadily is the best course of action.

 Everyone is having fun!

 All who want to get a turn to paddle.

 Next up was the merry-go-round.

 You're never too old for a merry-go-round, right?

 We ate lunch at the cafe area.  We brought some things and bought some too.  I love that they have gluten free options!  Good ones too!  Ones that are kid friendly!

 Lots of fun on the playground.

 Wonder if there is a limit to how many can fit on this?  LOL

 Fun picture of the girls.

Going up!

 Last ride for the day was the train.

 A visit to Moonberries.  Always a treat!

 These two tickle me.

 I love seeing them play together.  Eliana so enjoys being with Caleb too.

 She happily went to Sunday School without Rebecca or I staying there since she was with Caleb.

 She often asks for him and I do wish that they could play together more often.  

Friends are a blessing.  I'm so very thankful for mine!  (And that includes my wonderful family as well!)

I pray that my children will develop strong friendships and also that their relationships with their siblings/family would always be strong and sure.

May you all be blessed with the gift of friendship,
Leslie

Beyond FIAR Co-op: Marie Curie I

Time to start a new book.  It was so close to our trip, that I wasn't sure if I could pull off the energy for teaching.  I was pleasantly surprised though with the interest that I had in the subject.  Thankfully my teaching partner and I decided on topics and our morning prior to our trip to NYC which made the planning much easier.

Our devotion was based on the lessons from Chapter 1.  We talked about how God is faithful.  Even when things are hard and confusing that we can trust on the One who is true!

Then we moved into a history of Poland.  This was my topic and I became quickly fascinated in learning about the history of this resilient people!  Did you know that Poland was not officially a country until 966BC?  Over the course of the years, Poland has been destroyed and rebuilt a number of times!  In the late 1700s, three countries basically came in and took over and divided up the land.  And for the next 123 years, there was no Poland!  Not until after World War 1.  Wow.  And there is so much more.  Here are some of the sites that I used to learn about Polish history.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1054724.stm

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~polwgw/history.html

http://www.history-timelines.org.uk/places-timelines/34-timeline-polish-history.htm


While talking about history, we also wanted them to learn more about some of the famous people from Poland.  I focused on 8 of them over the course of  history.  Some I only talked about briefly and others I told more about.  I was most fascinated with this man.

Ryszard Kuklinski ...  A Cold War Hero

Here are pictures of the people that we discussed.  Copernicus, Chopin, Curie,  Henryk, Sienkiewicz, Irena, Szewinska,  Ryszard Kuklinski, Pope John Paul II and Lech Walesa.  Interesting stories and it was neat to learn about their contributions to their countries and the world.

These are my notes from the timeline.  Sorry they are sideways.  Happy to share if anyone is interested.  

After learning about Poland's history, I'm truly confused as to why the people have been maligned with jokes.  They are a courageous people.  Imagine keeping your culture, history and hopes alive for that many years while being ruled by another country!  

We spent some time learning about the geography of Poland as well.  We started by conducting a visual outside.

The students noted their surroundings.

What happens to water when it is poured out?

It moves from a higher altitude or terrain to a lower one.  Poland has one of the highest numbers of lakes and rivers in the world!  There are almost 10,000 lakes in Poland.  Many of the rivers flow north and drain into the Baltic Sea.

Then the students did some map work.

Locating both Poland and the countries in close proximity.  It was interesting to see how the boundaries are drawn now after learning about Poland's history.

Each country was drawn with a different color.  The students also learned about the topography including mountains, lakes and rivers in this country.  

We then watched a Rick Steves' video on Poland.  What a fascinating way to learn about another country and culture.  We will be watching more of these.  If you are watching this one, please note that there is one description of a building that may not be something you want for younger ears, but which we decided would be fine for this age group.

Now it was time to eat.  We had originally planned to have them do some cooking, but that didn't work out as we had planned.

Instead one of the moms in our group found a local Polish deli!  How neat is that!  And what delicious goodies were found there too!  Meats, cheese, sweets.  All yummy!

We also had Pierogis, sauerkraut, pickled beets and pickles.

I enjoy seeing the kids trying new foods and learning about other cultures through what they eat.  This has definitely been a highlight of several of my children!

We hope to visit this deli soon to purchase more of these goodies before we finish up with Marie Curie.

Just a fun picture of some of my friends.  I'm so thankful for my friends!  I love having moms that share goals and want to learn together in this very hands-on way.  I'm thankful for Five in a Row and the blessing it has been to our family for over 15 years.

This was a great start to our new book.  Looking forward to more fun to come!

Blessings
Leslie