The Ends of the Spectrum

We had a weekend that spanned both ends of the spectrum.

One of my closest friends lost his brother to cancer a few days ago.

He left behind 3 children.

Our dear friends called Saturday morning to tell us their mother passed away.

I was in disbelief.

It wasn't long before I started to think of losing my own mother and

I'm just not ready to begin this next phase of life where our parents are getting older and some are stepping into eternity.

I know this world is not our home, but young or old, it just seems like it happens too soon.

Saturday was spent playing with our friends' children while they went to be with family and make preparations.

The children spent hours on end creating these bracelets.

 

Oh that crazy Rainbow Loom!

 

Sunday was spent on the other end of the spectrum of grief.  We celebrated our dear friends retirement from over 4 decades in full time pastoral ministry.

It was incredible to see a sanctuary packed with colleagues, friends and believers from the many churches Dave and Nancy Worth served in over the years.

It was even more incredible to hear many of these people share about how Dave and Nancy had blessed, changed and encouraged their lives through the years.

Nancy said, "You usually don't get to hear all these nice things because they are spoken at your funeral!"  She was grateful that she was alive to hear all the affirmation.

I laughed, then my heart sunk as I thought about our other friends, preparing to say incredible, nice words over their mother as she is laid to rest.

Life and death are so closely tied together.

We try to separate them.

We try to remove one from the other.

We would rather stare one in the face and run and hide from the other.

But no matter how hard we try, we cannot have life without death.

And if we want to know true life, abundant, rich, full life, we must die to ourselves.

 

Death is part of life.

Life is part of death.

I'm grateful for the hope and promise God has given us.

Death does not have the final word!

And while we have the opportunity to speak words, let's share with those around us how special they are and how much we love them.

A Day in Space

This homeschooling adventure continues to surprise me with fun and goodtimes!

Who would have thought?

A few months back my girlfriend hosted my littles for A Medieval Day,

so now it was my turn to host A Day in Space!

I'm so thankful for Pintrist and all the creative folks that share their ideas - they make me look good!

 

I built a really fun star gazing fort with black table cloths and twinkle lights!

The kids looked at space books with flashlights (it was really dark in there) and then presented us with some facts on stars.

 

We made some constellation viewers

 

And created our own constellations out of marshmallows and pretzels

 

Then onto the moon!

I've always been so in awe of the moon, probably because my mom is.

She still will call me and say, "you have to go outside and look at the moon tonight!"

 

We paused for a little dance party -

checkout this song to C Lo Green's "Forget You"

It's awesome!

 

Then we painted our own moon phase chart

 

 

 

And a break for a little Rocket Fuel!

 

Some Meteorites for dessert

 

And probably their favorite - making moon craters!

 

We dropped different size balls, at different heights, into a pan filled with flour

to see how the craters of the moon were formed.

 

 

 

We ended with some Oreo moon phases!



A good, educational, time was had by all!!

Doing Something In A New Way

A couple of weeks ago at school we were talking about famous Renaissance artists, inventors and scientists.  As we talked about Michael Angelo and his painting of the Sistine Chapel, we talked about how difficult it would be to paint the ceiling!

 

To gain a little insight, I tapped paper to the bottom of our table and the children laid on their backs to draw pictures. (This wasn't my idea, I saw in on another blog!!)

 

It was really cool to see them fidget, and wiggle and try to get comfortable while they drew!

 

I'll be honest, I thought they might enjoy this for a moment or two, but then be uncomfortable and beg to sit up and draw.

 

I was wrong!

They were down there for about a half hour!

 

What surprised me most was how incredible their pictures came out!

I thought for sure it would be too difficult for them and they wouldn't be able to draw.

But I was wrong!

 

Sometimes I have one set way of doing something.

I get stuck in my ways and honestly - I sometimes think there is only one way to do something,

 and it's my way!

My children were so open to trying to draw in a whole different way.

No complaining.

No arguing or trying to convince me otherwise.

They were excited to try something they do everyday, in a whole new way.

Ahhh, I thought I was teaching them about Michael Angelo -

they were teaching me to embrace the fact that there is more than one way to do something and often times, it's fun to try a new method!



Cheer Them On

 This year my girls chose different activities to participate in.

One chose ballet.

 

 

 

The other chose to join the swim team!

 

It's kinda cool because I did both ballet and swim team growing up.

I get to relive my childhood through them once again!

 

She had her first swim meet last week and she was soooooo excited.

I don't know what was more exciting for her - swimming her event or

getting the Halloween pumpkin swim cap!!

 

I'll be totally honest - I'm not exactly sure what stroke she was swimming.

I think it started out as freestyle and ended up breast stroke with a touch of butterfly going on!

But we cheered and screamed at the end of the lane all the same.

 

At the end she was interviewed by the press (Daddy)

and given a piece of candy (because all races in life should end with candy!)

 

 

You've heard it said that half of life is just showing up.

Well, I'll say half of parenting is just cheering them on.

The world will shout all sorts of things at them as they grow.

Even if you don't know what stroke they're doing -

be the loudest one in the crowd of their life!

 

Happy Weekend!



November 1st

How in the universe is it already November 1st?

WHEW!~

We had a blast dressing up last night and trick or treating!

 

 Grammie and Papa came down for all the festivities!

 

 

How cool are their costumes?

 

 

It was a very fun night!

And now, onto the best season of all!

Let the real holidays begin!

 

Have a great weekend and

Happy November!