BIRTHDAYS!!!!

In the interest of clarity:
Friday - Nolan turned 9
Saturday - Josiah turned 19
Today - Happy Birthday Mom!!!! and Destinee - please say a quick prayer of thanksgiving for another miracle year for Destinee...and for God's continued healing in her life.
Tomorrow - Zander turns 6
20th - Jamin turns 17
Today - We are celebrating Nolan and Zander's Birthday
Next Sunday - We will celebrate Josiah and Jamin's birthday

Yes, I figured it out - it's Memorial Day - those 4 day weekends.

Lent/Resurrection Day Celebrations

I would love to hear how some of you celebrate the church season of Lent. I've shared before that I was not raised with a liturgical calendar. Adding Advent to our traditions has greatly helped us to keep our focus on Christ at Christmas.

I've started to wonder.....if something similar would happen if we added some Lent traditions to our family. We've never done the Easter Bunny, eggs etc. We've not done Lent either. It seems that Easter sneaks up on us each year. I know the Lent season has begun when we have the "chapel cleaning" and when the Catholics have a pancake race. ::snort:: NO OFFENSE MEANT - it looked like a lot of fun.... I've never been one to fast according to the calendar - but then again, I do have a regular fast that God has called me to undertake. In other words - I know that many give up something for Lent - and I understand why. Others choose to enjoy the blessings of God with thanksgiving rather than fast - and I understand why. I'm not looking for debate. I'm wanting to learn from those of you who celebrate Lent what you do and how it enhances your appreciation of Christ's sacrifice and celebration of His resurrection.

We plan to have a Seder meal this year. It's so easy for the meaning of the seasons to get lost in a busy pastor/chaplain's family....and I'm wanting to stop that trend. We've done the Resurrection Eggs for years. Michelle mentioned she bought Benjamin's Box. Have others of you used that? How have you used it? What else do you do? Any traditions that have been either particularly meaningful or fun for your family?

Update - we've also made Resurrection Rolls when the older children were little. That presented a meaningful picture.

If you are interested in more discussion of this be sure to click "email responses to me" in the comment section or stop by here, and you can read all replies. I'm praying through this, and of course, will share as we go about our celebration of Christ's Sacrifice and Resurrection.

I still have up our "Jesus" stocking for catching others doing Christ-like deeds. It fits with this season. I saw this set at Oriental Trading and am considering it may serve as an easy way to keep the season in front of the kids - as a nativity does.

We are praying and thinking and moving ahead. We don't want to invest in "Jesus Junk" and we are very allergic to legalism, but Mike and I are both on the same page about focusing on Christ's GIFT and RESURRECTION for more than a week before Easter.

2nd Update - I stopped in at the Family Christian Bookstore armed with a list of books I hoped to see and buy. They had NONE of them. They DID have the Resurrection eggs. I asked about Lent/Easter resources, and they told me they don't have their Easter stuff out and won't put it out until after Valentine's Day. I'm starting to see why Protestant's don't celebrate Easter for more than one day. ::snort:: WELL, you know me, I can't leave well enough alone. I asked WHAT resources they would be putting out? EASTER CARDS and candy. "Um....any resources to build excitement in my children as we move towards Jesus' Resurrection?" - No, none. I plan to call and talk to the manager. I'm hoping that the clerks today simply aren't in the loop. OH WAIT - They did have a Veggie Tales dvd "An Easter Carol" with Rebecca St. James as one of the voices I figured it has to have a Christian message in it. That was it....a veggie tale DVD and the Resurrection Eggs.
I'm seriously talking to Mike and Jamin tonight about writing a story such as Jotham's Journey for THIS season. I know they could do it well. I'm not sure it will done by THIS year - but maybe next year. Mike could write devotionals we'd agree with ::snort::, and Jamin is an exciting story teller. I'd like to see an exciting adventure with children working up to Passover/Crucifixion/Resurrection/Great Commission/Ascension....hmmmm WHERE WOULD YOU STOP??????

TGIF Happy 9th Birthday to Nolan!

Shew....another week....concluding....in the can...

Super Dog made an appearance at Produce Co-op. Krista made the kids capes with their initials years ago....our poor Beatrix. Can you even TELL she's a dog?


We've decided to celebrate Nolan and Zander's birthday this Sunday and Josiah and Jamin's next Sunday. Mike DID stay home today (Friday's are his day off but the majority of the time, he goes in full or partial days).
We went to the lake and played a rousing game of Volleyball.

 

Brotherly affection - ::snort::



Honest! They were GOOFING OFF!


We had great fun until someone hit the ball into the water....

We got the ball out but it was slashed.

The younger ones played red light/green light; Mike and the older boys tossed a ball. I read. Josiah was at work.

We dropped Jamin and Jared off at home. Jamin made pizza dough. Mike, the younger ones and I ran to Sam's club. I bought cheese and something else we must have needed. We had to run to Target to get Newman O's. Mike is making two ice cream cakes tonight so they'll be nice and firm by Sunday. Oh - that's what we needed at Sam's, cream to make ice cream. ::snort::

I got in 4 fast miles. Stacia is my workout buddy. She ran and got shoes...then ran and took her dress off and put workout clothes on...Arielle took lots of photos, but I am NOT posting the ones of me in tight sweats working out. ::snort:: I did get 50 more minutes of exercise in for the week. Leslie has a new DVD out....

The boys and Mike went for a run. We're now home watching Hercules from Netflix. Jamin said it would be a good tie-in to our study of ancient Greece.

THURSDAY

 We are finishing up the Mayans and such this week. I'm still debating if I'll let Arielle read the book she wants to read. We are prepping for Ancient Greece next week. The boys keep telling the younger ones, "You'll love Greece!" I handed "Black Ships of Troy" to Arielle tonight and told her to read that while I decide about "The Well of Sacrifice." She's 10 1/2. Upper Grammar is NOT enough reading for her, but I don't want her exposed to all the nastiness of false religions either.

I baked bread. I took the boys to HoF...and then took Nolan, Zander, and Stacia to the gym with me. Oy vey. OY - V*E*Y! BUT I got another 45 mintues on the elliptical and 25 minutes on the bike. I can't tell if the drugs are making my muscles feel like rubber and ache or if it's the working out. ::snort:: We had enough time to drive home, grab a shower, and head back to pick up the boys.  Then we headed off to dinner and to drop Jared off for CAP. Mike works late on Thursday night.

I've spent the evening playing with kids, finding plane tickets for another trip Mike will be going on, helping Jamin get some computer things set up...I don't know...putzing around I guess.

THINGS THAT MAKE ME GO HMMMM!

The elliptical machine at the gym has a "range" between which one is to keep their heart rate. The problem? One end is fat burning and the other end is cardio. This doesn't make sense to me.  If I work out LESS intensely, I burn MORE fat...but Mike occupied my brain as we worked out by giving me a lesson on aerobic and anaerobic....

Here's the thing that really makes me go hmmm. My workout range was 114 (fat burning) - 144 (cardio). I got on, it took my heart rate, and my heart rate was at 117. Since 114 is my fat burning goal...this tells me I'm a fat burning machine and have no need to work out....my heart is ALWAYS in the fat burning range, right?

Kathy, maybe Tim could solve this conundrum.

CO-OPS, LUNCHES, MAYANS, & WORKOUTS

I began the day with finalizing the United Order and calling in Friday's produce order. (Well, that was AFTER my 90 Day reading - I'm in Job now. )

I had just enough time to meet a friend for lunch. Hey, Heather! It was fun; we need to do that more often. I had a salad that was GREAT.....I guess I don't need to say more. ::snort::

We finally decided to move on from China; we've been there 2 weeks longer than scheduled.  I decided we'd move on to the Mayans and continue our projects as we can. I'm currently trying to decide if I should let Arielle read "The Well of Sacrifice" by Chris Eboch. Have any of you used/read this book? Jared says it has "graphic" parts about human sacrifice and bloodletting. I think I'll have to pre-read this.

After a couple of hours of school, Stacia, Arielle and I headed for base. I needed to sign a piece of paper at the chapel, and then we planned to hit the family fitness room at the base gym. Stacia fell asleep on the way up there....but she was happy to wake up and play.

We had steak for dinner. ::snort::

Terrific Tuesday

We got the leave time for Mike messed up. This meant that Mike had a day of leave after he got home.

I got a call that our beef was ready to pick up.

We got 4 bags like this - a total of 338 lbs. It came to $2.41 a lb for NO anitbiotic/NO growth hormone beef (EXTRA lean hamburger).


The freezer had plenty of room..but is nicely full now. I think I could do a whole cow next time. The funny thing is that we've never even had a lot of the types of steak we now have in abundance. LOL The second basket is full of ground turkey.


We got home with just enough time to put the beef in the freezer and for me to head to Bible Study. We grew again....we're having fun.
I closed out our United Natural Foods order after Bible Study.