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Powered by LifeTypeJonathan has been wanting our family to put on a Star Wars play ever since he started reading his Syar Wars book. I keep telling him, "You write the script first, and then we can figure out more details." So he finally decided to write the script, based on the movie Star Wars Episode IV:A New Hope, which we watched with the boys for the first time the other week. It's more like a plot summary, but it's wonderful! He asks me for a spelling every once in a while, and after asking how to quote a person's speech once, he has done all subsequent ones on his own. After working long and hard one day, he asked if he could skip handwriting in school since he was doing this, and I answered a resounding "yes!" So this has been his writing project and I am thrilled with it.
For your (or at least Grandma's) viewing pleasure:
This is from the boy who, not too long ago, said there was no way he could ever think of anything to write. All you need is a topic you're excited about!
In other news, we got out the bikes and took a walk to the nearby street that gets no traffic. Jonathan was a bit rusty after no riding over the winter, but by the end of our afternoon, he could start without stepping on a platform (stump, step, etc.) and could ride in large circles. He's still not comfortable turning around at the end of the street, nor stopping ("it's handy if there's a hill nearby") but I'm sure he'll be doing both soon. He's still a tad short, but that may even be "fixed" by the end of summer, too.
Jonathan requests to write now:
i was having fun wen was riding mi bike o ya i was wen i was zoo-m'n along. i was on the 1st geer then i was on the 2nd geer
then i was on the 3rd geer then on the 4th geer then on the 5th geer and then the 6th!!! geer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Mommy's turn again:
Jonathan has been working very quickly on his school and usually ends up spending less time on school than Noah, which seems backwards from how it should be. I am now ready to add official science to Jonathan's school work and I will start by trying out Pandia Press's try before you buy for their R.E.A.L Science - Life (Level 1). We are both excited about this. It looks like lots of fun for both of us.
I had been giving Jonathan one page a day from Lollipop Logic, and then one day as I was copying more lessons, Jonathan asked to do them and he ended up finishing the book! He likes analogies and deductions, but not inference (maybe those examples were too easy?). I got out my old logic book If This and That, Then What? and he got most of them.
He also likes big numbers. He's been working on some Miquon pages with greater than and less than and invariably a problem like "4<[ ]" gets a 1,000,000 or 10,000 written in. When he is a superhero, he can run/fly at 2 billion miles per hour. Things like that. Googol is also a favorite number.
Well, those are the notes on Jonathan for now that I can think of. In conclusion, Jonathan will write some more:
i'v been taking tons of picshers all around the House ! i was having fun wen i was taking picshers.!!! i'm havig
fun raeding my starwars book to.!!!!!! {wheaet are you doing????}
3/19 - Mommy asks, "Where are all those hiccups coming from?" Faith responds by opening her mouth wide and pointing down her throat.
2/23 - Faith said "I love you" to me! It sounds rather like "hello" with three syllables. She also tries to do the sign, and ends up with just her index finger up. She does this when leaving my presence (yes, she's started doing that more and more!) - she waves and says "bye-eye" and waits for me to respond, "Bye, I love you. See you later!"
She now clearly and more often says "no" and "uh-huh" and "doh" (don't). She also said "aye-dow" when she wanted me to hold her upside-down yesterday.
She plays with her brothers without me a lot now, even outside. They take such good care of her. They have even been known to put on new diapers and clothes for her!
They love each other so much, it is so fun to watch them interact.
I am working on teaching Faith how to use the stool to climb up onto the closed toilet so she can reach the sink to wash her hands. She can do this now, and we're working on getting back down, which is harder. Very soon we'll do her potty-training day. I know it will be different than it was with Noah - she'll need more of my assistance - but it will be very nice to be done with diapers for the moment.
One time during school Faith made a nice design with pattern blocks that resembled a sun. She likes writing and playing with the blocks, cuisenaire rods, and balance scale. Usually, all the pieces are on the floor by the time I'm done with the boys' school. But she is good at helping me clean up afterwards.
Faith is such a joy to have in our house!
"Francis of Assisi is alleged to have said, 'Preach the gospel always; if necessary use words.' That may be a great medieval sound bite, but it falls short of what the Bible teaches about evangelism."
I used to like that quote, and the evangelism models it leads to, and felt comfortable in thinking that the street preachers (and other more direct evangelism models) had no place in actually making a difference in people's lives.
I won't do a whole review, as I probably wouldn't do all that good of a job, but I'm re-reading it because a friend from church asked to borrow it, and I thought I would read through it again before I loaned it to him, so I could better recommend it appropriately.
Dave Skiles recommended the book to me, and added his own subtitle, What's Wrong with your Marriage, and Why it is Your [the husband's] Fault, and while some might end up in condemnation thinking about that title, I have found it quite good, and when I'm tempted to wonder why Heather is doing such-and-such, I can think back on this, and realize (or if I don't realize it, Heather can tell me, like she did yesterday) how my attitude and how I am leading the family is affecting everyone.
I read the chapters on "Effacacious Love" and "Keeping Short Accounts" this morning, and was thinking that there was so much good stuff that I should write a blog post about it, but now when I go back, I think perhaps there is too much to quote, and I'm having a hard time picking which things to mention.
He has a section on beauty and speaks about the bad tendencies in our culture to place focus on outward things (one example he gives is the difference between playing with dolls with the girl in the role of the mother versus playing with Barbie dolls with the girl playing the role of the doll) but goes on to say that some in the church react to that by saying beauty is only inward, and ignoring the outward beauty that God has created. He quotes various Old Testament scriptures that speak of the outward beauty that the women had (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Abigail, Bathsheba, Tamar, Esther) He humorously says that you may be saying, "Duh, everyone knows there are pretty women..." But, he also says, "a man who marries biblically should expect his wife to be visibly lovelier on their tenth anniversary - and if she is not, he knows that he is the one responsible. But as the one responsible, he has to know where true beauty begins." As Heather and I approach our ninth anniversary, I can say with confidence that Heather definitely is on the right track, despite my failings.
"When a woman is lovely in her spirit, that loveliness cannot be contained. It enchants her husband."
"As he loves her, she bears fruit. As she bears this fruit, it delights him. In this delight he loves her more, and she bears more fruit. The wife is to cooperate fully, receiving his love, but he is the one responsible to give it."
Another challenging and convicting quote:
"A husband cannot say, 'All my behavior notwithstanding, I still honor my wife, even though I never show it.' Husbands must honor their wives. This is a demonstration within marriage of an attitude which we should see elsewhere in the church."
In the "Keeping Short Accounts" chapter, I found a good analogy in picking things up off the carpet and confessing sin immediately. That while the end result looks the same, picking things up immediately, rather than letting them sit for 6 months is quite different.
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." -- 1 John 1:9
He says that while our justification is not affected by confession of sin, "refusal to confess sin does affect the quality of a person's enjoyment of his justification." And reminds us of Psalm 51, "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation".
It's definitely a telling commentary on my life that the first chapter of Total Church, "Why Gospel?" was less exciting to me than the following chapter, "Why Community?". I think the former is in my head only, where the latter is in my head and heart.
I've just started reading a book I ordered from the library. I don't remember who recommended it - probably either someone at Jubilee, or else a blog I read.
Based on the number of things I've liked so far, and I'm only through the introduction, I suspect I'm going to really like this book. They start out by giving four people with different stories. I'll quote this one because it is exactly me:
"Cathy became a Christian in her first year at university. It was great. She spent hours hanging out with her Christian friends, talking through their faith, praying together, sharing the gospel with other students. But two years after graduation she feels spiritually flat. She goes to church each Sunday and attends a home group on Wednesday evenings. But she misses the intimacy of the relationships she had at university. She misses the discussions, the enthusiasm, and the late night prayers. She laughs to herself at how immature they were sometimes. But she can't help wondering whether 'grown-up' Christianity is any better. If only there were a different way of doing church."
It got up to 67 F outside this afternoon. We had a picnic lunch and then spent a long time outside enjoying the sunshine (kids absorbing lots of vitamin D) and playing with rocks. Jonathan cleaned and filled the hummingbird feeder. I filled the regular bird feeder. I put away shovels and cleaned up the yard a bit (rocks from the paths had gotten shoveled into the grass with the snow). Hooray for spring! I even opened up the windows to let some fresh air in. It only lasted for about an hour because the outside temperature started dropping, but it was very nice. (More)
2/23 - Faith repeated the Church of the Ascension doorbell, singing exactly on pitch.
2/24 - Noah was working with Jon on pronouncing "sure" correctly, having trouble with the "sh" sound at the beginning. Finally, he said to Jon, "How 'bout I just say 'mm-hmm'?"
3/4 - Faith was exploring her reflection in the convex mirror of the mixing bowl. She looked up and down, made faces in it, looked from the right and left. Very fun to watch.
Faith is running now, working hard to keep up with her brothers.
Faith is using the toilet sign often now, and more than half the time, she goes. Often she'll keep a diaper dry for hours. I got the Toilet Training in Less Than A Day out from the library again and I think I'll do a session with her soon. Then she'll be in underwear! I'm debating about waiting until 20 months, which is their recommended starting age, but they do say some kids are ready at 18 months.Today is clear and sunny and we had a picnic lunch out front, with an old shower curtain under the blanket to keep off the damp. Jonathan made a few games for us so it was kind of like a carnival! He also made us lemonade, using three cups of sugar in a gallon of drink, so it was pretty potent.
I've been enjoying the snow and wintery weather (remember it did take a long time for winter to come this year!) but there just is something about the sunshine and warmth that's really nice.