Pray for Pakistan

We chose Pakistani Action Packs as our family service project for this Passover/Lent season. The kids have been collecting money. I planned to do the "Blessing Box" concept, but I can't find the list on the Internet. I found it this a.m. and lost it when my computer shut down. This list has daily little things like, "give .01 for each pair of socks you own" etc......but it seems that we're collecting without "the list". I may come up with my own. LOL

We finally made a box today to collect our donations.


The kids loved transferring the collected money to the box.


These came today too. We still haven't received the action packs.....and I think I should have bought some of these...these were free and I think the boys want some too.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

Zanderism

Zander has spent three days singing, "Japan, Japan, Japan, OH YEAH, JAPAN!"

I walked in from the gym this a.m. and he said, "Mom, if we leave here I'm going to lose a lot of friends." I explained that that is true. {I don't mean to be morbid but it HAS been our experience that most do not do well at keeping in touch when you move....though some will.} I told him that he'd miss his friends but that we could send emails, read their blogs...Jamin said to get his friends to get a facebook. ::Snort::

He looked at me and said, "But, Mom, YOU are going to lose all your sisters! too!!!!"

"What sisters, Zander?" I asked.

"All your co-op sisters!"

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

Stacia's First Lapbook

Evidently Stacia has been noticing all the attention and approval Zander is getting from his "Viking Book."

She came out today to show me her "Jungle Book" which she went off to make while we worked on science mini-books. ::snort::

See how nicely she folded it to look like a monkey?

She told us the story (like Zander lectures on Vikings) as she unfolded her book.

She showed Mike when he got home too. He was suitably impressed. I think I may get her another pre-school lapbook to work on...or create one for her as we go along. I know Homeschool Share.Com has lots of free ones....I think I saw one on Monkeys there. Lisa - the country folders there are going to be great! Thanks for checking. I had searched there for "Japan" but not "countries". LOL

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

THURSDAY....THURSDAY

Parish Advisory Counsel

House of Faith

Jared and Jamin went to Baker's Street with friends

Cy called and we ended up going to dinner...he, the four youngers and Mike and I

School - lots of school

I realized that my children enjoy lapbooks this year, a lot. I also realized that the "ocean box" we are supposed to be making in Apologia: Zoology 2 was simply not coming together.... I went searching for other projects to go along with our science. I settled on trying Live and Learn Press. They make some wonderful "Learn N Folders". Lap Book is actually a trade marked name from Tobin's Lab.....but Live and Learn Press' learn n folders are lapbooks. They have many free offers if you sign up with their yahoo group. I've never purchased from them, and they are more money than I'd usually spend....but this is a HUGE set...covers each lesson of our science book. This is a new concept for us....it's a Learn N Folder Notebook...in other words you make the mini-books and then mount them on card stock. Punch the card stock and put them in the kids' science notebook. We pulled it out today and we're impressed. The directions are clear, the art is cute and colorful...and it was a GREAT way to review the lesson we had finished. I do think I'll try to do a booklet a day instead of waiting and doing all the booklets at the end of the lesson.

The older two learned to find the bold print and look for their answer from a text. They copied their own work.


Zander likes to cut and dictate his work to me. He did make an AWESOME photo of the Great Deluge. ::snort::


This girl did not like lapbooking at all last year...but she is enjoys school with us....and discovered she does like scrapbooking. LOL


They each made two pages today - front and back. Here are the front sides. You can see that Zander on the right went for straight ole mini-book on cardstock....The other two made free use of my scrapbooking supplies. I will NOT be transporting stickers and paper....I don't think....so we'd best use them. LOL

I'm very happy with this set. I'll buy from them again for our science next year. It really seems to be the right mixture for us between review and crafty. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

Wednesday Glimpses....

I was thrilled to have my camera back. I dropped it and it quit working. Mike took it to CA and it worked. I got it back....and..... It TAKES photos but you can't see a THING on the screen while you are taking the photo.....it's hard to center when you don't have a view finder or preview screen. ::snort::

Arielle and Nolan finished up the "ornaments" for our Lent Tree.

Stacia, Zander and I went to the BOOK STORE....their favorite....

...the library. I got all the books for children that they had on Japan. I'll have to try the main library and the base library later on.

Zander "bought" me flowers.

Back at home I found this....

It made my day! The note not the 1/2 eaten loaf of bread. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

A Glimpse into My Befuddled Brain....

* Will they have Siapao in Japan? It IS in the same hemisphere as the Philippines?

*YIKES - how will I feed my family in Japan?

*Why are all the websites I visit in Japanese?

*Should I take my photos that need to be scrapbooked? OMW, if I leave them I'm admitting I won't work on them for 3 years...if I take them will the humidity get to them?

*If I get Rosetta Stone real quick will we be able to learn key phrases? You know, "Where can I order wheat berries?" "Can I buy preservative free food somewhere on this island?"

*Will our house sell?

*Should I get Skype or Vonage?

*Oh my word - are the potties like the ones in the Philippines??????

*I wonder how hard it would be to get passports to other countries...I mean I know folks in China, Taiwan, Philippines....OK reality check...just because it looks like this place is much smaller than TX they are DIFFERENT COUNTRIES!

*Will the new chapel staff like us?

*Should we take the Christmas Tree? Nah....

*Where are we going to store our things?

*What about our dear dog?

*Am I going to find nice PWOC and homeschool friends in Japan?

*Why are Arielle and Nolan going through their clothes?

*Do they have a maternity clinic on base? NO - I'M NOT PREGNANT - but I surely don't want to have a child in a rice paddy either.

*ARGH - I need to go through everything in this house....but first we need to do school, play with friends, go camping and graduate Jamin.....

*I really should work on a few PWOC jobs tonight and stay away from google...not turning up a lot of helpful stuff anyway. ::snort::

*Where can I get brochures and such from Japan.....

*I wonder if homeschool share has a lapbook on Japan.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

And the Answer is.....

*I* want to write the story - but *you* probably all want me to cut to the bottom line. ::snort::

I was huffing and puffing away at the gym when my cell phone went off. Well - SHOOT! - I'm not about to interrupt a workout to talk on the phone! I thought I left it at home. I guessed it was Mike with news but I had 15 minutes left.

I called Mike from the car and was told where we were going. He said he'd come home at lunch to tell the kids before we went to drama at 1:00 p.m.

I sent a text message to my parents and the older kids.

At noon....Mike walked in the door, sat down and asked for the globe.

I called Jared out (Jamin was at work - I'd forgotten he would be working). He saw Mike on the couch with the globe and said, "SNAP!"

The guesses began. Oklahoma, England, India, Italy, Japan....?

Zander pulled out his globe to show Mike where he guessed we were going.

After the hubbub died down here at home, Mike went to Chick Fil A to tell Jamin. We felt bad to have missed having him here when we told the others.

Have you guessed already? Here are a few more clues....cherry blossoms, Nate & Heather are moving to China (my brother), I worried about Internet NEEDLESSLY....

Misawa AB, Japan!

Yes, we're excited. NO - we weren't expecting it. I'm thrilled to get part of the family over to Asia (My parents were missionaries in the Philippines). It's amazing how it contains the various aspects we all hoped for, though Jared feels like he wasted two years learning German. ::snort:: I was hoping to stay in Central Region because I love PWOC Central and have loved serving on the Central Region board.

Please do pray for my MOMMY'S HEART which is struggling with the idea of going off and leaving 4 "children" across an ocean...this is a strange deja vu from when I left the Philippines to attend college in OR. Please also pray for our children, who will be just fine, but who are bound to have mixed feelings as they watch us make our first move without the nuclear family intact. The girls moved down here and then moved to WA. We'll have four less children when we leave here....well 3 as we gained Stacia. ::snort::

In the next few months we need to finish school, graduate Jamin, declutter, hold several sales, repair the house, sell the house, figure out what to do with cars, trailer, piano, pets...and will we be able to get an orthodontist over there for Arielle - should we start that here? Do we want to wait another 3 years? How will we ever pay for the kids to come home for Christmas (Meet in Alaska?)? How will we fit in an apartment? Will we be able to get base housing? Do we know any of the chaplains over there? Will I be able to get organic food? Will I be able to grind wheat? Should I leave the Bosch and Whisper Mill here? Will my magazines ship to Misawa? What about curriculum? Amazon.com? It's been a full day.

Tomorrow I begin to SERIOUSLY research Misawa. I think we'll do a lapbook. I want to find out about homeschool support groups etc. Jared plans to learn to surf and snowboard. I plan to stay inside during the winter. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.