Smart Phones and April Snapshots

During my career climbing years, I liked having the latest technology.  I introduced most of my friends to the first PDAs and continued to upgrade with each passing year.  When I quit working to homeschool our kids, I felt like I no longer deserved or needed the latest technology, so I have been using my husband's hand-me-down PDAs and archaic cell phones ever since.  I never found time to use more than 3% of the features offered by my old phone and my husband's old iTouch offered anyway.  My cell phone only cost $100 per YEAR when some smart phone users pay that much every single month.

Yet, friends kept telling me that a smart phone would change my life, and once I had one, I would never go back.  When rates dropped considerably, I finally agreed to purchase a smart phone.  The phone has been very useful at times when I can actually get a signal, but it also tempts me to check email or send texts during my kids' piano lessons, in carpool line, or other boring times when I should be paying attention.  The camera/video recorder that comes with it, despite it's miserable quality, has been great for capturing ordinary moments in time that may help me better remember what life was like during those whirlwind years of parenting young children.  I will share a view glimpses from April 2012, mostly through the lens of my cell phone, below.

The weather has been wonderfully pleasant this April, so we have enjoyed taking family walks around the golf course after dinner.  One evening the kids begged us to wait until after dark to take our walk.  They wanted to use their new flashlights.  I told them it wasn't safe to walk after dark, so they suggested that we take their father's naval sword with us for protection. After giving a brief sword maneuver demonstration, my husband refused to tote it around the neighborhood, so the kids took their light sabers and plastic swords instead.  They dueled one another the entire way.

Our son took a sports class this month.  He already knew the basics of the various sports they introduced, but he enjoyed the time with the other kids.  Since he was the tallest in the class (and likely the oldest considering that he is short for his age), he was naturally the fastest and most coordinated in the class.  This class helped boost his confidence so much that by the end of the course, he would run quick laps around the gym to warm-up before class while the parents applauded.  That boy regularly makes me giggle.

Sports class

Fun with Friends

Monkey in a tree

Play date at Jumping Jax

Future NRA member

Memorizing God's Word

Memorizing Scripture during his sister's piano lesson

 Singing Bible verses for LAMBS

Easter Celebrations

Symbolic retelling of the resurrection story

Eating the eggs she should be dying

Hand & foot cross painting by our son

Our daughter surprised us by setting the table with special Easter napkins

School Update & Examining Priorities

Our daughter's unique school just wrapped up the third quarter, so it seems like a good time to provide another update.  The school has experienced a lot of change during its first year of operation, but the staff has adapted with amazing flexibility and grace.  When the founders decided to act on their dream of establishing a private Christian school that incorporates homeschooling curriculum and a family style environment, they hoped for 15 students the first year.  A month before Labor Day, the school had 50 students enrolled and already needed a larger facility. By the week after Labor Day, they had found a new building that accommodated twice that number of students, completed construction of interior walls, painted, decorated, and passed county inspections.  All those are amazing accomplishments, but passing inspections in a timely manner within this particular county is nothing short of miraculous.

The school has continued to grow.  Our daughter's class size grew from seven to 18, so the class had to be split to accommodate all the new students.  The enrollment process has begun for next year, and the school received the school's maximum capacity, 100+ applicants, by April.  The school needs a larger facility once again after only seven months of operation.

Several of our friends specifically chose public school for their children with the God given desire to shine His light into the secular school system.  The public schools certainly need more devoted followers of Christ serving as teachers, parents, or students, so I salute families who are involved in the public schools for evangelical or discipleship reasons.  I hunger for more opportunities for our family to share our hope in Christ and am happily discovering that major ministry can take place in a private Christian school as well.

Christ is clearly the focus of this school.  Each month the school selects a Biblical virtue and Bible passage to focus on that month.  Scripture memory, worship class, and academic learning all center around God and point to Him for His glory.  Once a month, the school invites someone, usually a pastor, to speak at the parent praise assembly about the virtue of the month.  Even though many of the kids seem to not be paying attention as expected for that age, the response to these mini sermons has been amazing.  A number of students have made first time commitments to Christ at these events while others have pledged all that they have, all that they are, and their entire future into His service and calling.

The students' Easter program also gave parents a glimpse into the amazing work God is doing in this lives of these students.  I will confess that I was amused at first by the setting.  The school meets in a metal strip mall style building. There are classrooms, a family room, an office, and a large meeting area where the kids eat lunch and host school wide assemblies.  The school does not, however, possess an auditorium to accommodate so many family members and students.  So, the Easter program was held in the alley behind this metal structure with parked vehicles, dumpsters, a play set, and a wooded area as the backdrop.  Some devoted volunteers spent many hours setting up a stage and sound system for the event to redirect attention to the cross.

The K-2 class recited poetry and sang Easter songs.  One of their selections included the infamous ditty, Little Bunny Foo Foo. Unfortunately, my little homeschooled kindergartener loved the song upon hearing this class present it and sang it repeatedly ad nauseam the following week.

K-2 Class

The 2-5 class performed a cute selection of songs and poems with choreography while donning ornate Easter hats.

Our daughter's class presented a drama based on the classic book, The Tale of the Three Trees.  It is a tradition in our family to read this book every Christmas, but it is also appropriate for Easter.  Our daughter played the role of the first tree who dreamed of becoming a fine treasure chest to hold great treasure.  This tree was disappointed when a carpenter fashioned the tree into a feeding trough instead.  Eventually, that same feeding trough held the baby Jesus, the greatest treasure to all mankind, on the night of His birth.

Screen capture from video I took of the 3-6 class's drama

The high school class also presented an Easter drama and led the crowd in a time of worship.

Worship Dance Team

An especially moving portion of the program was when the students presented cardboard testimonies in the spirit of those shown here.  While I did video tape this presentation, out of respect for student privacy, I will not share it here.  As each student used their cardboard signs to communicate how God had changed their hearts and lives, almost every parent wept.  Students who previously faced rejection, loneliness, bullying, or all sorts of negative peer pressures in previous schools have now found love, hope, peace, and friendship through Christ.

After the student presentations, a faithful pastor delivered an Easter message and an invitation.  Many more students came forward to receive Christ.

I no longer view this school merely as an institution for learning. It has become a refuge for the hurting and a beacon of light to the community.  This humble, bare bones school is effectively ministering to hearts and souls because the power of God is drawing kids into a personal relationship with Christ as the students and faculty offer unconditional acceptance and love. As long as Christ is the focus, fruitful ministry will result.

The earliest schools were established to teach people to read so they could read the Bible.  America was perhaps her greatest when Christ was Lord over the schools. Over time, the focus of education, particularly within the secular university system, has shifted away from Biblical doctrines and moral precepts to pure academics.  Now knowledge (without wisdom because true wisdom comes from God) has become the supreme virtue while Christianity has been emphatically disdained (reference Expelled).  This change in focus is producing a selfish, unhappy, anxious, immoral, divisive, and disrespectful generation (with the exception of those are adequately and radically converted and equipped to defend the faith).

I've been talking a lot lately with my daughter about the top priorities for her education.  This girl who felt no motivation to pursue scholastic excellence while homeschooled is now excessively motivated in her schoolwork.  The complete change in her attitude toward school confounds me.  She has gone from one extreme to the other, which is especially surprising considering the laid back attitude in her classroom and no pressure from her parents regarding grades whatsoever.  Her motivation comes from within.  During long talks and Bible meditations, I've been trying to show her God's primary goals for her in life.  I asked her to name the two greatest commandments Jesus gave to summarize all of God's commandments.  She accurately answered:

1) Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.
2) Love your neighbor as yourself.

We talked about how giving our best effort at school glorifies God, but the grades themselves simply do not matter for eternity.  Yes, good grades in high school may get her into the college of her choice and perhaps a scholarship. Good grades have their merits on earth, but they are not eternal and must not distract us from the more important things God has called us to do.  I told her that my greatest desire for her is to love God passionately with all her being and to know Him intimately.  May she find all her hope and answers to all her questions from Him, not the world.  My next wish for her is that she would devote herself to loving others and putting them before herself.  So, we've been making lists and illustrations to help her understand what loving God and loving others looks like.  It isn't something we can will ourselves to do in our own strength.  Love comes from God and flows out of a vibrant relationship with Him.

In a world that pushes children to excel in every area of life, praises intellect, artistry, or athletic elitism, and presents wealth and position as the top goals in life, how can we as Christian parents teach our children to prioritize the eternal over the temporal?

I'll close with a fun photo collage of my daughter's class.  They cut out silhouettes as self portraits.  I'm sorry to confess that I did not correctly guess which one was my daughter's during my first guess.  One of my friends who has photographed her and spent hours edited those photos guessed correctly, though.

Spring Break 2012 (Part 2): "Life's a beach!"

My parents generously secured two large condos for my brother's family, our family, and themselves to share during spring break.  As long hoped, the kids had a fabulous time together on the beach, in the condo building's water amusements, in the condos, and absolutely anywhere they went together.  Serious cousin bonding took place as Kodak moments and precious memories were made.

One of our dear friends from my childhood who still lives in my hometown near my parents and brother's family has a side photography business and just happened to be at the same beach at the same time we were there.  So my mom booked three photo sessions with her for each of our families on the beach.   The wind was brutal that day, so despite great efforts to style each person's hair before the photo shoot, we will surely all look like we've been through a monsoon in the photos.  With such a beautiful backdrop, however, the photos will surely still look nice.

Here are a few photos I took during the session plus one "sneak-peak" the photographer already sent of our daughter.  I'll share more photos when I receive the photographer's photo CD.

Bottom photo is the "sneak peak"

Spring Break 2012 (Part 1): "A spoonful of sugar..."

Our daughter's school only operates 133 days per year compared to the 180 days required by public schools.  We took her out of school for a week to go to Disney World, so she's had even fewer days of school.  Almost every other kid I know would LOVE to have so many days off from school.  The kids at our daughter's school, however, dread Christmas break, spring break, and teacher workdays because they enjoy school so much.  We have to try REALLY hard to make our daughter's breaks from school as enjoyable for her as school seems to be.

She got to start her spring break early. She had to miss the last day of co-op for the year on the day before spring break began so that she could attend the Y Princess spring outing.  This year's camp had a pirate theme. Arg!

 

Camp always begins with a sugar fest.  Ironically, she missed my heath and PE class that day in which I taught about the harmful effects of eating lots of sugar.  After feasting at the ice-cream sundae bar that first night, her body rebelled and expelled.  She later told me that even when I wasn't there to nag encourage her to avoid eating too much sugar, her body sent the message for me.  My son's AWANA verse this week just happens to be Ephesians 6:1.  I think she believes it, now.

What she doesn't know is that my adorable and thoughtful PE students gave me a boatload of scrumptious treats that day, and I, too, was guilty of overdosing on sugar that same evening. Oops!

Considering that my husband slept in a bunk bed with four other snoring fathers and five lively, giggling girls, he did not sleep well that night.  He was up before sunrise.  Surely the view that morning helped offset any negative emotions that sleep deprivation could have evoked.

The weather was absolutely perfect during last year's outing, but this year brought lots of rain.  So, the kids had to be entertained indoors.  Of all the inside amusements available, I would have never chosen to play with snakes, but my girl loves all God's creatures both great and small.

Jake, the black snake

 

She could not pass up the opportunity to earn a patch by unlocking the secret code through a series of riddles. Can you decode this note with only the clues shown below? My husband didn't photograph all the riddles, but they did solve the puzzle using all 7 riddles.

Fill in the blanks using the riddles below.

Last year, when the weather was warm and sunny, she enjoyed archery best and the zip-line least.  This year, when the air temperature hovered around 50 degrees F, she decided she liked the zip-line best.  Rumor has it that one of her tribe members took a video of my girl and her daddy shivering down the zip line with their lips all shades of blue.  I can only imagine how cold the water must have been.

I'm disappointed that a lad walked in front of my husband's camera at the wrong time, but at least it serves as a reminder that both the Y guides and Y princesses attended the camp at the same time this year.  I was concerned that the boys would be a distraction, but thankfully, our princesses were too busy enjoying each other's company to notice the boys.

My little boy always wears a smile on his face with dimples gleaming.  Our deep thinking daughter, however, usually has a serious expression on her face, especially when she is asked to pose for a picture.  Or perhaps in this case, she really is upset about being asked to stop her play and stand still for a photo.

Ferocious Fireflies

Last year, our girl cried a river when she had to come home after that wonderful weekend at Y Princess camp.  This year, there wasn't enough time for boohoos.   After they came home, my husband only had 45 minutes before he had to go to church to rehearse for praise team duty that evening.  Those 45 minutes were just enough time to restore my son to equilibrium after he missed his daddy so much that weekend.  He kept his nose glued to the window pane for much of the afternoon looking for them to return   Meanwhile, I rushed my daughter to her own choir practice, and then we washed their soiled camp clothes and packed for a week at the beach.

While daddy and daughter were away, my son and I enjoyed a nice long visit with some of our favorite neighbors.  The kids had a blast playing outside and all over the house inside.  We went for a nice walk around the golf course and ate a semi-healthy dinner together. Then the kids worked together to bake and decorate horribly unhealthy desserts.  I guess sugar has become the theme of this post.  The evidence of our sugar crimes are pictured below.

Disclaimer:  While I did let the kids create these sugary concoctions, I did not let them eat them.  That permission had to come from their parents. 

Boys like tools...even egg cracking/separating kitchen tools

The boys' colorful brownie cake

The girls' Easter cross brownie cake

Before and After

Before having kids...
...  I went to Broadway shows in New York, viewed Shakespearean plays by the Royal Shakespeare Theater Company at Swan Theater at Stratford-upon-Avon, saw Les Mise'rables performed at the Palace Theater in London and again in our state capital, and attended numerous musical concerts, dinner theaters, and professional ballet productions.

After kids... 
... I began attending our kids' piano recitals, musical productions, church presentations, and school programs instead.  These family friendly events have been held at piano stores, city churches, country churches, or the back alley behind the strip mall that encases our daughter's school.  I find myself more deeply moved, even to the point of tears, at my kids' simple performances than I ever did at the high priced professional performances I attended before parenthood.

My boy had a jolly good time at his sister's first piano recital.

Our dramatic daughter had a speaking part and a solo in the musical, Let's Rock, which her singing group presented this past March.  She is usually very comfortable on the stage, just like her father.  She aced her speaking parts, helped lead the choreography, and showed no fear during her solo.  Her first-born traits are proving to be an asset in the realm of musical theater.

 Nana and Pops drove up to watch her big debut.

Her brother was much more attentive at this musical than he was at her first piano recital.

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Before having kids...
... I only saw the doctor for yearly check-ups, and when I went to the doctor's office, I went alone.

After much difficulty birthing 2 kids... 
... I must see the chiropractor three times a week, every week.  When I go to doctor, I take my kids with me.  Sometimes they receive adjustments, too.

Theoretically, if I get my son adjusted regularly, maybe once a month, his seasonal allergies should no longer be a problem for him.

 

Most babies are born with subluxations.  Children who receive regular chiropractic care rarely get sick, and most never need antibiotics.

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Before having kids...
... My husband and I enjoyed celebrating our birthdays with big parties, much feasting, and fellowship with family and friends.

After kids... 
...We pretend our birthdays never happened.

My husband celebrated his birthday on March 29.  I acknowledged his birthday by posting a photo collage on Facebook which featured him as a baby, as a teenager when I first met him, and as he is today with the following caption:

 "Happy birthday to my teenage crush, the devoted father to our children, and the love of my life! Sorry today is so crazy, but when we both fall over the hill together next year, we will do so with style and great fanfare."

When I showed the collage to my son, he asked, "Who are the people in the first two photos?  Is the first one me?" - Time does change a person, I guess, and my son does favor his daddy.

My husband could not get out of work until 8:00 p.m. on his birthday.  He missed our daughter's school Easter program, which took place at 6:00 p.m. that evening (I'll share more about that event in a later post), and only received a few hugs and birthday wishes from his kids before putting them to bed.  It wasn't exactly a birthday to remember, but when we both hit a major milestone next year, we will celebrate in high form.

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Before having kids...

... My husband and I remembered significant dates and anniversaries.  We sent birthday and anniversary cards and/or gifts in a timely manner and celebrated the anniversary of our own engagement and various key milestones from our courtship. 

 

After kids... 

.... We're too busy trying to remember all the dates on our kids' activity calendars to remember our own birthdays and anniversaries, much less those of extended family members. 

Recently, while trying to encourage my husband, I reflected on how impressed I was the first day I met him and heard him sing.  Then it occurred to me that we first met over 20 years ago in March.  I checked an old scrapbook and discovered that we first met on March 5, 1992 (full story here).  The current date was March 16, 2012, so we had missed the 20-year anniversary since we first met by 11 days. 

Our first date occurred during the weekend of Easter when he returned to my hometown for a brief visit.  Since we are in the middle of Easter weekend, we are now celebrating 20 years since our first date.  Let's all rejoice that nun style white collars and big hair are no longer in style.  Gag!

What 20 years will do to a couple

Before the resurrection...

... we were lost, separated from God, and slaves to sin and death.

After the resurrection...

...God's promises had been fulfilled giving hope to all generations. Jesus paid the penalty for our sins.  Those who trust in Him are covered in the blood of Jesus and have full access to the throne of grace.  Because of the resurrection, genuine followers of Christ are forgiven and set free from the penalty of death.  Because He rose again, we can have new life in Christ, and we will be raised again to live forever in God's presence as His beloved children.  Hallelujah! Jesus is risen indeed.

⁵ Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. ⁶ And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him.  (Mark 16: 5-6)

HAPPY EASTER!