Category Archives: David

Being a Disciple of Jesus, David, Project 365, Sarah

Conference & Journaling & Kids

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We’ve been very blessed to bring David and Sarah with us to this year’s Impact Prayer Seminar. Originally we were going to leave them with friends or grandparents, but things got complicated and other families attending encouraged us to sign David and Sarah up for the conference.

These notebooks are getting FILLED up!

These notebooks are getting FILLED up!

I can only echo what John wrote in 3 John 1:4,

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

What a joy it is to have shared this conference with all of our children over the years. As I sat with David and Sarah in the sanctuary, watching them take notes, listen to the speaker, and concentrate, I was reminded, once again, how blessed we are to have such thoughtful, careful, godly children.

Tim and I have attended this prayer conference many times over the past eight years, so we were more than willing to let David and Sarah be responsible for the note taking job this time. The material ranges from goal setting and time management to the incredible blessings of being a praying leader. This year we’ve especially enjoyed the company of several other church friends and families.

A little search of our blog reveals that we’ve written about the prayer seminar before:

The Lord has taught me many things as I’ve walked this path of godly woman, daughter, wife, mother, sister, friend, mentor, leader, homeschooler. He has greatly enriched my prayer life, humbled me through hardship, blessed me beyond measure, and ALWAYS continues to work in my heart and life.

Journaling with colors is WAY more fun!

Journaling with colors is WAY more fun!

I am still processing, thinking and praying about all we’ve studied and discussed and learned during the two and a half days of the conference. 16 hours of teaching on prayer! More than anything I want to be a Champion for Jesus – honoring Him in my service for His kingdom. I want to delight in Him, bring glory & praise to His name, and be purposeful in my days. This seminar has both challenged me and inspired me. Not to mention, been a bit overwhelming as I contemplate being a good steward of all the Lord has given me – my time, energy, finances, gifts, and talents.

Praying that Tim and I, along with David and Sarah, will leave here with renewed passion for following Jesus. Praying that Joshua, Rachel and Daniel will also find encouragement and a fresh love for Jesus even though they weren’t able to join us.

Project 365 – Day 20
Kathy

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David, Project 365

Some Days I’m Witty

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I’m beginning to remember what it was like to do Project 365, back in 2007.

Every day, without fail, you have to come up with something witty or meaningful to say. If you don’t, you’re like a person who breaks a chain letter, or like the tooth fairy who fails to come when a small child places their tooth under their pillow.

Actually, the tooth fairy is notoriously late in our household; sometimes she takes weeks to arrive. She breezes into town, mumbling something about a hockey tournament in Denver. You just can’t rely on her anymore.

The problem is, some days, I’m just not that meaningful or witty. And even with our current arrangement of blogging every other day, the days that I’m ‘on’ seem to crop up pretty often.

“Keep the bar low,” I told Kathy, yesterday. She ignored me, and posted seven pictures of my two older boys, clowning around. Several of the pictures had clever captions. But did she think about what it would be like, to be me, today?

No. She didn’t care. It was ‘every woman for herself’ day, yesterday.

Well, as every parent knows, when you don’t have anything to say, just show off your cute kids. Although my kids are getting older, and few of them can be referred to (at least to their faces) as ‘cute’, still, I am always proud to show them off.

Here is David, setting out on a cycling adventure.

Here is David, setting out on a cycling adventure.

David will be fourteen soon, which is mind-boggling. He has always been my ‘youngest son’, and I’m not really ready for him to be biking around town by himself. Next thing you know, he’ll be hinting about Drivers’ Ed.

Oh, boy. I can hardly wait. Project 365, Day 9.

Tim

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David, Joshua, Project 365

Return of the Josh

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We have a tradition in our home. Well, we have lots of traditions, truth be told.

Sometimes books are made into movies. Usually, no one really cares, except maybe the author. But every now and then, Hollywood decides to make a good book into a movie, and they incur the wrath of many who loved that book.

We had to evict a cat so Joshua could have the comfy reading chair.

We had to evict a cat so Joshua could have the comfy reading chair.

My oldest son has come to really love the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and he insists that no one should be allowed to watch any of Peter Jackson’s movies until they have actually read the book(s) covered by the movie. Of course, recently, that hasn’t been very difficult, since it took Jackson 3 movies to cover a single novel that was originally written for children. Maybe if he wasn’t so busy adding extra characters, he could have done it in two movies, but (based on box office returns) perhaps he is happy with his decision to go for three.

This year it is David’s turn. At 13, he is really wanting to watch the final Lord of the Rings movie, based on The Return of the King, which he has not yet read. So Joshua decided to read it aloud to him, sprinkling chapters throughout our recently-ended Christmas break. As we begin the new year, we are down to our last four chapters in Tolkien’s conclusion to the saga.

David plays games on his Kindle Fire while listening. I think there should be a quiz, to make sure he is listening.

David plays games on his Kindle Fire while listening. I think there should be a quiz, to make sure he is listening.

Soon we will be able to watch the final Lord of the Rings movie with wild abandon, except that Sarah will have to be sent away. (Not that she minds — she doesn’t like Orcs or Nazgul very much.)

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David, Homeschooling

Science in December

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Such beauty

Such beauty

The beauty and delight of the season is definitely all around us. Christmas lights twinkle outside. Early Christmas gifts are exchanged. Christmas cards and family pictures arrive daily in the mail. Advent calendar treats are opened with eagerness.

And, because it’s Washington, the rain pours down. Nonetheless, Christmas is coming and soon we’ll have the family together again.

In the mean time – we do school.

David and Sarah are using a new curriculum this year for science – Physical Science by Exploration Education Science. It’s a wonderful program – computer driven lessons with a workbook for writing out labs and homework plus a large a box of materials to assemble into hands-on projects.

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For some time we’ve been struggling with the “racer.” The kids couldn’t get it to work properly after the first experiment. We figured that was fine, we were done with it, and we moved on to the glider (very cool!!) and the boat. Little did we know there would be a continued set of experiments that all featured the racer. Ugh.

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In addition to trying a new curriculum, we decided to do this year’s science with friends. David and Sarah work independently at home in their own workbooks, then once a week (cough, cough, okay, whenever we get around to actually meeting) we get together with David’s close friend, Eli, to complete the building projects and do the experiments. It’s a WIN-WIN! The children have fun working together, they help each other understand the various directions, and Michelle and I get to drink coffee and visit.

Older siblings either hide and do their own homework or come investigate and “help.”

Emma does homework

Big sis Emma does homework in the other room.

This morning Michelle and I were fed up with the kids continually being STUCK in their lessons, unable to finish things because of that little broken racer. We both emailed complaints to the company (separately) asking for new materials, assistance, or whatever help we could get on this frustrating little racer car. Literally minutes after filing a complaint online, we each received personal emails asking for us to call them and they would help us get the cars in working order.

What great customer service!!

Of course, neither Michelle or I really knew exactly what the problem was with the cars, so we resolved to call the company this afternoon while the kids were working on fixing things. Better yet, we’d make the kids call them. They could work on their telephone skills as well as science – homeschooling is all about multi-tasking! Before we could even make a single call, Eli and David had the racers fixed and were soon completing one experiment after another. Nothing like the threat of having to call a company rep to make us all work a little harder. Ha.

David and Eli got the cars up and running again!

David and Eli got the cars up and running again!

Heh heh heh. Very impressed that Exploration Educationcontacted us so quickly. Pleased that the kids could complete the missing experiments and get their labs all written up. Now we can move on to the next set of lessons. Or rather, we can stop and enjoy the upcoming holidays and FAMILY!!

- Quote of the Day –

David: “No science is worth this much aggravation!”

LOL! Welcome to the world of science, Davy. Your big brother, Joshua, would agree that there is definitely some serious work involved in math and science. Hopefully it is worth it.

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Daily Life, David, Sarah

December Walk

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We’re very excited to be rushing toward Christmas. Advent calendars are up. Christmas music has been playing for weeks. The TWO boxes of Christmas movies (we LOVE Christmas movies at this house) are on the shelf and ready for viewing. The tree is up but not decorated. We are all eagerly awaiting the arrival of Joshua, Rachel and Mamie on Saturday. This week!!!! At that point we want to slow down time and make every moment count. If only we could somehow turn two weeks into two months of family savoring sweetness.

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The weather has been mild the past few days, so we went out for a little walk after lunch and before school reading.

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David and Sarah are good companions for each other (and me). We are trying to finish up school so we can STOP EVERYTHING and just enjoy having a full house again.

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Right now we’re praying for Joshua and Rachel as they finish up their finals and papers and pack up to come home. On Saturday!! This week!!! So excited. Planning to cram in as much fun, relaxation, and celebration as we can.

Kathy

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