My favorite gifts :)

I forgot to post these during the holidays. These are by far my favorite gifts!

A special little heart

  Eden had her two year post operation cardiology appointment today. She has been medically cleared and has the heart of a normal 6 year old. I am in awe as I type this because I see the  hand of God all over this child. It is such a relief to finally be able to say that her little heart is completely healed.

Eden was 2 months old when she was diagnosed with Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT). We were told that if she didn’t grow out of it that she would have to have surgery, which she did at age 4. You can find more information about SVT here and Eden's story here. Essentially, Eden’s heart raced for no reason. We never knew when or how often Eden would have and episode. During one ER visit her heart was recorded beating 278 beats a minute. That is a dangerously high level. She had surgery in January of 2012 to ablate (or destroy) the tissue that was causing her heart to race.

Eden has done remarkably well since her surgery. Even though she is petite, she is growing well. Her growth spurts are possible because her heart isn't struggling with being tachycardic and dealing with medication. 

God has been so gracious to allow us to be Eden's parents. He has taught us many lessons though her illness and recovery. She is such an amazing little girl and has such a special little heart.

Out takes

It seems every time we try to take a family photo, I get way more outtakes than I do usable pictures. But the outtakes are always some of my favorite.

Josiah was in this picture but it was just his bottom, 

and Titus couldn't keep his tongue in his mouth.

Check out those expressions!

Josiah looking away

And another questionable expression

This was one of my favorite outtakes;

My silly boy!

Looking back :)

I'm having fun looking back at our past Christmas pictures. It's amazing to see how fast the kids are growing. Thought some of you might be interested to see how much the kids have grown too.

 

2013

2012

 2011

 

2010

 2009

The reality of life :)

Don't buy into the lie that quiet time has to be quiet in order for God to speak. Squirming, active children in a motion filled home is ripe soil for the Gospel. It's supposed to happen this way because this is real life with young children; at least that's what I keep telling myself. We attempt to have Bible reading as part of our daily life.  Most days it happens. Some days, life gets crazy and it doesn't. Some times it goes well. The kids sit still and listen. Great truths of our faith are shared.....

 Other times..... bad attitudes, unrealistic expectations and life with young children happens too.  Kids squirm. They tickle or hit the sibling sitting beside them. They are grossed out by whatever they just put in their mouth! Any number of things can interrupt the "formality" of our teaching.

 

Thankfully we've been instructed by scripture that teaching the Bible doesn't have to be a complicated thing.  Deuteronomy 6:7-9, "Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates." 

The reality of life with kids is that they are not going to sit still. The best listening they do is when they are engaged in the story, acting along, answering questions and are allowed to interrupt to ask. questions. I've been amazed at some of the thing they want to know.

Josiah needs something to do while he listens. Often, I will give him a toy car or something to occupy his hands. I've learned, even when they are running around or playing they are still learning. Sometimes, I'm amazed at what they pick up when I think there is no way they heard what I was saying. 

It's also a relief to know it is a continually process. We hope that we will have many years to share these truths with our children. We've read through many different children's Bibles with them. Many of the stories of the faith have been repeated over and over. The kids can can bring up details and facts that have been building over the past few years. We are also able to get onto more complicated and mature issue as they mature. It is our goal to help them see how all of the stories are not just individual stories, but are all connected. They are all part of the ultimate story; the story of Christ.

Christmas Parade

Our homeschool group was able to participate in our towns Christmas play. The

kids had a blast and we were able to put "normal" faces on homeschooling in our community.
 

 

In the Wilderness

 I feel as if we're keeping Moses's pace in the wilderness in getting through our History and Bible curriculum. Maybe we can complete our lessons in less than 40 years! While we're moving slow, I have to remind myself, we've covering important material, the basis for our faith. There is no reason to rush our children learning this material. God taught the Israelites many lessons on trust and obeying while they wandered. He'll teach us as well.

As part of our studies on the Exodus, we had a dress up lunch and tried foods like the ancient Israelites ate. I was as excited to try it as the kids were, But I didn't dress up. We have tried pita chips, hummus, lentils and barley though these studies. Most of our family liked it; Josiah doesn't, but they probably didn't have hot dogs and macaroni and cheese in Egypt. I have tried to add these new foods to our regular meals. In fact, I made a chicken and barley meal last night that was delicious. Barley will probably replace rice for our family because of the nutritional superiority. If you haven't tried it, please go pick up a bag and you can thank me later.

We borrowed costumes from the church. The kids loved getting into character.

 First we played a matching game on hospitality found in ancient customs.

We also read about life during the Exodus and looked at pictures of the area to see what it might have been like to live during those times.

Then we had lunch, lentils, pita chips, dried cranberries and raisins.

My picky eater trying somthing new. 

He liked the pita chips, but not the lentils.
Eden liked it all :)

A Boy and a Box

It's been said, the best thing you can give a kid is a box. That held true for us this past week. This large box eventually became the Mayflower for our homeschool play. But for the few days before she became seaworthy, she was Josiah's tool box. He really enjoyed playing with his tools and creating his own little world inside of the box. I'll have to look for another one.