An Olive Plants Christmas

The Olive Plants family had a very merry Christmas!

Michael and I always host Christmas Eve dinner, with my parents as our guests. We enjoyed a Little House meal with recipes from The Little House Cookbook. We ended the evening singing Christmas hymns, and Orville accompanied us for the first time.

Orville playing on the keyboard he received for his birthday

On Christmas morning, we opened presents at our house. The boys received new toys, clothes, books, and treats. I think they liked their new Webkinz the best.

Yes, Wilbur is holding an opossum! He is a southern boy, after all!

Orville has a bluffadoodle???

Michael seemed to enjoy the packaging the best!

Nohnie, Papaw, Michael, and I all gave and received gifts. The gift that received the best reaction was mine to my mom. I had the picture I took for this post enlarged and framed.

Dad knew beforehand what I was giving her. He said she would cry and enjoyed being right!

Can you tell she loves those little hands and the boy they belong to?

Then we travelled to another state where we celebrated with Michael's parents, brother and his wife, and sister. We had fun playing a lot of games, enjoyed a lot of good food, and made a lot of special memories.

The older cousins playing Phase 10

Orville and Wilbur received WWII gear from their paternal grandparents. We will study this time period soon. Orville had to add a little drama to our gathering, of course.


This is Michael's brother, Marc, with four of his children.

This picture was taken when we celebrated Christmas with Michael's family in 1999. Orville (in blue) and his cousin who is two days older than he is (in pink) were only 2 months old.


Here they are 10 years later. I thought Orville's cousin had been propped on him in the original picture and I posed the re-creation that way. I had it backwards... oops. It's still cute to see how they have grown.

We returned home on January 1 and travelled through the town where Michael grew up. Our trips to and from the family's house were filled with adventure. I have more stories to tell about that… later.

Fourteen Years

Fourteen years ago, my dh and I held hands and took our vows. It was such a memorable day. The church was filled with peach and blue flowers, my favorites. However, when the doors to the sanctuary opened, I didn't really notice them. All I could see was him. Likewise, his eyes were fixed on me. My dad placed my hand in Michael's, and we stood before God and our witnesses and promised to love, honor, cherish, and I, to obey.


The ladies who stood beside me that day were my dearest sisters in the Lord. Their dresses were navy blue with lace trim, and each of them looked so beautiful. While Michael and I lit our unity candle, they sang a song one of them had composed, blessing us with the words of Ruth 1:16. That song has played in my mind so many times over the years.

Afterward, there were friends and family, a cake covered in peach flowers, blue Kool Aid (Michael's favorite), and bird seed being tossed by the handfuls as we ran for the car (if only we had known the irony of that at the time). We exited the scene in Michael's Toyota which his groomsmen had filled with balloons and decorated to the hilt. We drove off into married life with the sounds of tin cans rattling behind us and our loved ones clapping and cheering us on to happiness.

However, the road ahead of us was a bumpy one. You could take me literally on this since we traveled to Arkansas for our honeymoon. Any of you who have ever driven I-40 from Memphis to Little Rock understand what I mean. However, I am really referring to the road of life.

While in college, I started experiencing bouts of chronic pain. A couple times each year I would have severe pain in my lower back and abdomen and shooting pains that would run up and down my legs. This pain grew more and more intense and frequent each year after we married and, at times, completely incapacitated me. My dear Michael could have decided this was more than he had bargained for. But he didn't. Instead, he carried me when I could not walk.

For almost five years, we contended with infertility and miscarriages. The stress of trying to have a baby could have divided us. He could have blamed me as it was my womb that would not hold a baby. He could have distanced himself from me or perhaps looked for another, more fertile mate. But he didn't. He held me close. He shared my pain. He reminded me of God's goodness and sovereignty.

When he lost his job due to budget constraints, he could have sent me out to work. He could have complained about working five jobs to support me and our babies and letting us stay at home together while he faced the world. But he didn't. He recognized his responsibilities as the head of the home and protected my place as its keeper.

When Orville was colicky and never stopped crying, he could have found diversions to keep him away from home and the noise. When Wilbur had severe jaundice and had to spend a week in the NICU, he could have buried himself in his work and left this burden to me. When life got too hard and circumstances too difficult, if he were like many men in America today, he could have forgotten his vows. He could have bailed. He could have left me standing alone and broken hearted. But he didn't. He kept his vows.

Today, as we celebrate fourteen years together, I can't help but reflect on our first day as husband and wife. It was beautiful and sweet. I had all of my favorite people and all of my favorite things around me. It was a perfect day, and I was so happy.

Yet it is the imperfect times since that hold even more meaning. There have been many good times and sharing them with the man I love has only doubled the joy. However, through the times of sorrow, I have come to realize how much my husband truly loves me. The sorrows have always been halved by his loving care and protection. His love has extended beyond day-to-day niceties as he has borne the weight of trying times and difficult circumstances, loving me as Christ has loved the church.

I praise the Lord for our fourteen years as husband and wife. I know that all of the good things I have listed about my husband are the result of God's presence and sanctifying work. It is He who has been with us and kept us and how grateful I am. As I look to the years ahead, I trust that God will continue to be faithful and through him we will keep our vows until death do us part.

The Job Jar

Thrifty Thursday

Yesterday, I held an emergency house cleaning day. After getting hit with three rounds of sickness over the holidays, it is putting it mildly to say that my house was a mess.


I hate to let things get out-of-control because I then have to fight that where-do-I-start mindset. When I look around and see all that needs to be done, I feel overwhelmed. I get that one-foot-nailed-to-the-floor sensation and just don't know where to start.


I have to admit that I have always approached those times with an individualist's mind-set. I send the boys to do some independent school work and then allow them to play while I tackle the mess all alone. In part I have always done it that way because the boys were too little to do many of the tasks. They could only reach so high, couldn't be trusted with cleaning products and couldn't maneuver equipment like the vacuum cleaner. But, they're big boys now, so I decided that it was time for a new approach.


The day started with a family meeting in the living room. I explained to them that most of the time, I am pleased with how the house looks and with how they complete their regular chores. However, when a season comes like what we experienced over the past three weeks (holidays, travel, sickness, sickness and more sickness), we all neglect many of our chores and we all suffer the consequence of a messy house.

This is when I pulled out the "job jar". In this jar, I had placed over fifty index cards. On each card I had written a very specific chore to complete (i.e. dust the computer desk, clean the bath sink, and vacuum the hallway). I had also assigned each job an amount of money that could be earned for properly completing the task. Some jobs were valued at a penny; others at twenty-five cents; most somewhere in between. I told them that in a crisis situation, I would call for "all hands on deck," and everyone, including me, would have to draw a job from the jar and complete it.

It made the work fun. Each of us wondered which job he or she would get next. The boys wanted to complete each task quickly. They did not want to let me pull more jobs from the jar than they did and lose that money. However, I did check each job as it was completed and approved the work before allowing the worker to move to a new task. I did not want him to rush through the work so quickly that the work was done poorly. There were less complaints than usual, too. If someone did complain about a job, I deducted 10% from that job's value. I only had to do that once. I didn't have to wonder where to start either. The cards guided us through the entire cleaning process.


This worked so well that I am going to take out the cards that assign what I would call "deep cleaning" jobs- the things that need to be done once per month. I will keep in the things that need to be done weekly. Each day, we are going to have a job jar time in which we each pull out 2-4 jobs and complete them. On the Monday of the last full week of a month, I will return the "deep clean" cards and we will tackle a few more chores each day that week.


I want to give a special thank you to my friend Kim who suggested this at our most recent homeschool association meeting. This was a good one, Kim. I appreciate it! I hope my readers will, too.

MORE IDEAS:

• For larger families, use colored index cards. Write tasks for teens on one color, middle-aged children on second color, and littles on a third color. Place them all in the same jar but instruct children to draw only the cards of their particular color.

• Glue a picture symbol for each task on its coresponding card for non-readers.

• Create an Outdoor Job Jar. Include tasks such as wash the dog, sweep the walkway and fill the bird feeders.

• Any other ideas? Feel free to leave a comment!

Happy Birthday Michael!

Today is my dh's 38th birthday.

This is our engagement picture. He was 24 when it was taken.

What a cutie!!

This is his most recent photograph.

A little older.

A little wiser.
Just as handsome.

Feliz cumpleanos, Roget. Te amo.
Aurora, tu Carina

Our Family Happenings

Dear Family and Friends,

What a wonderful year we have had serving the Lord in our home and community. As always, He continues to bless our lives, filling our days with the responsibilities and joys of parenting, teaching and serving.

Michael continues to teach high school Spanish. We covet your prayers for him as he labors among a complacent generation. We are praying for a revival among the churched teens of our community and for the salvation of the many unchurched students in his classes.

When not at work, Michael spends his time playing with the boys. Their favorite activities are playing games together and tennis. Michael gave up his position as tennis coach at the high school because it required too much of his time; however, he and the boys still enjoy spending time on the court. He also serves as our church's catechist, teaching a Wednesday night class for the upper elementary children.

BT is in 4th grade. He takes piano lessons from Nohnie, plays golf and takes tennis lessons. Earlier in the year, he received first prize in the HER science fair, elementary division, for his project "What Makes the Red Spot Red?" In it, he demonstrated the science behind Jupiter's famous spot.

He and his brother are avid bird watchers. They compete with two of their friends from church in the Youth Birding Competition each year. In last year's competition, their team won first place in their age division for the most species identified in a twenty-four hour period, first place for the most money raised in their age division for conservation and the most improved award. Each member of the team came home with a new pair of binoculars, a new field guide and a new spotting scope.

Bruster is in 3rd grade this year. In addition to birding with his brother, Bruster plays soccer and golf. In the last few minutes of the soccer season, he scored his first ever goal! He is also the artist in the family. He draws non-stop and loves to paint. If I don't watch him, everything becomes a canvass, including his school desk! He painted a picture of a ruby-throated hummingbird for the Youth Birding Competition's Art Contest. I also entered this piece in Crayola's on-line art exhibition. His painting was awarded 4th place among the 3rd grade entries nationwide and will be included Crayola's Children's Art Exhibition book, due to be published in March.

My responsibilities are many. I spend most of my days teaching, cleaning, cooking... all of the typical homeschool mom duties. I also drive the taxi to soccer, golf, piano, birding events, church and field trips. In the evenings, I enjoy blogging. This is my new pastime, and the Lord has blessed this endeavor and brought friends from all over the world to my blog. Through this new hobby I have also had the privilege of reuniting with many of my dear friends from college. How glad I am to have you guys stopping in here at HSD! I pray that through my writing other moms will be encouraged in the Lord.

I have also taken on two new responsibilities within our homeschool community. I am coordinating our annual Spotlight Night, an event at which our children give presentations pertaining to their school accomplishments. I am also coaching our Mathletes team. There are seven super-smart kids in my group, and we meet monthly to take the International Math Olympiad exam. What a blessing it continues to be to serve my fellow homeschoolers in this capacity.

One last bit of news... over the summer, my parents moved from Tennessee to our hometown. They now live a mere 15 minutes away. My dad even teaches at the same high school as Michael. What a blessing it is to have Papaw and Nohnie nearby and apart of our church and community!

Thanks for taking the time to stop in and catch up on our family. We pray that you are having a wonderful Christmas season.

In Christ,

Michael, Dawn, BT and Bruster

Legacy

Two of my dearest bloggy friends, Kathleen @ South Forte Farms and Kellie @ Blue House Academy, suggested that I repost some of my favorite "golden oldies" during my blogging hiatus.  Great idea, ladies!  Thank you!!

I first posted Legacy in December, 2008.  I thought it appropriate to pull from the archives and post today since my mom made it through her knee surgery successfully this morning.  Thank you for your prayers. 

She now faces rehab from surgery and has to begin walking again with the aid of a walker today.  Just hearing the word rehab is hard for her.  This post can help you understand why.  Please continue to lift her in prayer as she regains the use of her "good" leg and works to rehabilitate through the added difficult of her disability....

Orville began piano lessons recently. My mom, his Nohnie, teaches him. The piano has so much significance to her, and it is a joy to watch them together. I hope one day he will grasp just how special this instrument has been to her and the beauty of the legacy she is passing to him.

Just before her seventh birthday, my mother wanted to learn to play the piano. Her neighbors owned a piano and offered to let her visit their house daily and practice. They even gave her a few "lessons." She truly loved playing and went to their house as often as she could. Soon, everyone saw that she had a remarkable ability. She could play by ear but was learning to read music and play by the rules, too. It was not long before she could play like a pro.

A few months later, my grandmother and she went downtown to shop for a new dress, a common practice of theirs. There were no malls at the time, so they would park where they could find a spot and walk from specialty store to specialty store. However, this shopping trip would be different.

Mamaw (that's what I called my grandma) got out of the car and walked around to help her seven-year-old baby girl out. Mom took two steps and fell to the ground. Mamaw thought she was joking at first and prompted her to get up before she soiled her clothes. However, Mom could not get up. She was rushed to the hospital and after a long series of tests was diagnosed with infantile paralysis or polio.

The good news was the paralysis was isolated to her left leg. The bad news was she would have to relearn some very basic motor skills, including how to walk. For the next year, she could not go to school, go outside to play or do many of the activities that a "normal" seven-year-old girl would do.

My dear Papaw was not a rich man but he had a heart of gold. He painted houses for a living and money was often tight, but he knew my mom needed something special to help her through such a difficult season. She needed something that she could call her own, that could occupy her days and give her joy as she worked so hard to rehabilitate. He worked extra hours and saved the extra pay until he had enough to buy her a piano of her own.

Her hands and arms worked just fine as did her right leg. She could play and work the foot pedals and forget all about her troubled left leg. She played and played, and her abilities grew. Soon, everyone recognized that she had a very special talent given and blessed by the Lord.

She did eventually walk again but only with the aid of a large, stiff metal brace that ran from her hip to her ankle. She could only move her left leg by swinging it way out to the side. To the kids at school, she was laughable. She was mimicked and teased. They called her "Chester" after the disabled character on the t.v. show Gunsmoke. To her teachers, she was little more than a nuisance. She was behind in her studies from being out of school during the year of rehab. Most thought of her as slow, a poor, little, crippled girl who would never learn anything.

But, she had her piano. It was a comfort to her, a reminder that the Lord had made her exactly whom He wanted, that He was all-loving and ever-present. Her remarkable gift grew and grew as she poured herself into her studies and practice. It was the one thing she could do well and she did it with gusto. By the time she was ten, she was her church's pianist.

Just before Mom's sixteenth birthday, a family moved to Knoxville from St. Louis and visited the church where she played piano. The family's eldest son had just graduated from high school and wanted very little to do with the South. He had protested the move, feeling sure there would be no indoor plumbing and that everyone would eat "possum" like on the Beverly Hillbillies. He intended to endure life in Appalachia for a couple of mandatory months and then take off for college- back to the Midwest where he belonged.

However, at church that morning, his plans were derailed.  He liked what he heard coming from the piano. When he noticed that the pianist was a pretty teen-aged girl, he liked what he saw, too. After the service, he complimented Mamaw on how well her daughter played. She told him that he should tell her daughter himself. He did, and, as you have probably guessed by now, the pianist and the Midwestern boy soon fell in love and married.

My dad would not be the only fellow to fall in love with my mom and her piano playing. Nine years ago, the pianist became "Nohnie".  Her first grandson, Orville, loves to hear her play.  He has since he was born, and it was the one thing that soothed his colicky spells as a newborn. He wanted to start lessons this year so he could learn to play like Nohnie and spend time with her.  What a wonderful time they have together as his precious hands follow hers!

Hers is a legacy of faith and of love. I pray the Lord will continue to bless her life as she passes that legacy to the next generation of our family.

Merry Thanksbirthsary Menu

If you read my post "Merry Thanksbirthsary," you know that our Thanksgiving is serving triple duty this year. We will celebrate Michael's parents 40th wedding anniversary and the boys' birthdays as well as give thanks. I have prepared the menu and wanted to share.

Appetizer
Spinach and cream cheese pastry puffs


Entree
Chicken Pot Pie


Side Dishes
Thanksgiving Medley
Roasted Garlic Corn- recipe below
Green Beans a la Dawn- recipe below
Pumpkin Butterscotch Muffins


Dessert
Waldorf Astoria Red Velvet Cake - a red cake for the "Ruby" anniversary!


Roasted Garlic Corn
1. Soften 1/2 cup sweet cream butter and blend in 4 cloves of garlic, minced.
2. Spread 1 tbsp. of butter mix on 1 ear of corn. Salt and pepper.
3. Wrap in aluminum foil. Place in slow cooker.
4. Repeat until desired number of ears of corn are complete.
5. Cover crock pot. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Green Beans a la Dawn
1. Place two large cans or 4 small cans of green beans with shellies in a slow cooker. I prefer Italian beans with shellies.
2. Cover with water. Add 2-3 tbsp. chicken boullion granules and mix until granules dissolve.
3. Add 2 tsp. each of garlic powder, onion salt and sage. Stir. Cover. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

A Quirky Crew

This week's Heart of the Matter meme is "Things That Make Our Family Unique." Here are the top ten things about my family and me.

10. We like soda way too much. My husband's students actually buy him 12-packs of Coke for Christmas.

9. I have Restless Leg Syndrome. I know you've laughed at those commercials! I have to take meds for it or I dance all night and kick poor Michael.

8. My boys are 13 months apart. This was almost to the day, but I went into labor with Bruster four days before my scheduled induction. I used to get a lot of strange looks when they were babies.

7. I have had the following nicknames: Boofer (I had really big hair in high school), Dawnwoman (long story), and Queen LaTeacha (from teaching in the inner city).

6. My favorite nickname is the one Michael gave me while we were courting, Aurora Carina. That's pronounced Uh-roar-uh Car-een-ya. It's Latin/Spanish for my full name.

5. I really don't like my name. It's Dawn Cherie. That's pronounced "Cher (like Sonny and Cher)-ee. I won't get into to the many pronunciations of "Dawn."

4. I got my name because my dad was a big Frankie Valley and the Four Seasons fan. I was named after two of their songs, "Dawn" and "Sherry." He gave Sherry a French twist.

3. I speak French, sort of. I wanted to learn from age 4 because of Pepe Le Pew cartoons.

2. Michael's nickname is Spike. I call him Roget because he has a huge vocabulary.

1. I was a crazy New Kids on the Block fan in high school. I still find myself singing "Hanging Tough" from time to time and was secretly a little excited about their recent reunion.

Merry Thanksbirthsary

Milestone Monday

This year brings a wonderful milestone for my family. Michael's parents and mine married the same year, 1968, making this their 40th year together as husband and wife. Michael's parents are coming to visit us for Thanksgiving, and we will celebrate their anniversary, the boys' birthdays, and Thanksgiving in one grand feast. My parents were married closse to Christmas, so our Christmas dinner will serve double duty as a party for them. Thus, this brings the birth of a new holiday season in our home, Merry Thanksbirthsary!

The 40th anniversary is the "ruby" anniversary, and so I have planned a table setting and dinner to match this theme. I will post the menu with links to recipes on a Thrifty Thursday and pictures of the decor after the big event. Today, however, I want to share some of the school activities I have planned in which the boys will make gifts for their grandparents.

Papaw and Nohnie on Their Wedding Day

First, I am going to help the boys research the year 1968 and create a presentation to give during our celebration meal. Given the decade of their marriage, we will probably title it "It Was the Best of Times. It Was the Worst of Times."

I am also going to have them write a "When Papaw Met Nohnie" story and anther similar story for their paternal grandparents. They are going to conduct interviews via e-mail and phone this week to gather the facts about their grandparents' courtships. Then, they will each write a story detailing the events, including illustrations or photographs, quotes from the honorees, and an ending explaining why their marriages mean so much to the boys.

In keeping with the "ruby" theme, I will have each boy paint a "red" picture. Sort of like Picasso when he was in his rose phase, they will paint a picture in which shades of red are the dominant colors. It will make for a good art appreciation lesson, and if the pictures turn out not-so-great, their grandparents will love them anyway.

I look forward to celebrating this milestone with our family and praise the Lord for sustaining their marriage over the years. I also look forward to helping the boys appreciate their heritage and recognizing the blessings that God has given them... their grandparents.

Happy Birthday Bruster!

My Little Surprise

You are the greatest surprise of my life,

and how I praise the Lord for you.

It is a joy to be your mom.

Have a terrific birthday.

I love you, my baby.

Old-Fashioned Teaching

Wisdom Wednesday

Please, no one call DCS. This is a picture of BT enjoying an 1850's schoolhouse re-enactment. We visited Westville today with our homeschool association and watched as local school children and historians demonstrated how children were taught in the 19th Century.

I have to say that I was not impressed with 19th Century pedagogy. What did impress me, however, was that school began with the Lord's Prayer and a reading from Proverbs. The story for the day was a Christian one. It was written with the obvious intent of training little hearts, pointing them directly to the only true and living God, Jesus Christ.


During a spelling drill, one naughty little boy (all a part of the act, of course) drew a picture on his slate of the teacher with a cockroach. Her rebuke was immediate and to the point. She told the boy how wrong he had been and sent him to the corner to sit with the dunce cap on his head. I am not advocating calling a child a dunce; however, what happened next is worth considering.


After some time, she came to the boy and asked him if he had repented. She led him to confess his sin and ask for forgiveness from her and more importantly, from God. She sought reconciliation. He apologized, and she warmly forgave and allowed him back into her good graces.


I couldn't help but to feel pain for our nation as I watched today. There was a time in our history when children could go to school, start their day with prayer, and be instructed from the Bible. But more importantly, there was a time in our history when educating a child was more about training him to follow Christ than it was about filling his head with information. The heart, mind, and soul were all considered valuable, and the teacher saw it as her primary duty to train her students to love the Lord their God with all three. Sin was not taken lightly but was taken to the Throne of Grace. Discipline was not a means of the teacher maintaining her sanity but a means of imparting wisdom.


Today I was reminded to put first things first. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, " says Prov. 9:10. And so I pray that as I teach my children I will be faithful to do as the Lord instructs us in Eph. 6:4 and bring them up in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord."

Happy Birthday BT!

Watching you grow has been one of life's greatest joys.

May the Lord bless you,

keep you,

and make you a man after His own heart.

I count it an honor to be called your mother.

I love you dearly.

Happy Birthday!

Funny Story

With hurricanes/tropical storms moving across Florida, we have had numerous storms, tornado watches, and flood warnings here in Georgia. I knew we were under different advisories yesterday as Fay made her way up the coast, so I kept the t.v. on during the day to stay apprised of the weather situation.
At some point, the weatherman announced that our county was under a "flash flood warning." BT is a little skittish when there is bad weather. He heard this announcement and wanted to know exactly what that meant. Knowing that he probably had a Noah-and-the-ark mental image, I was quick to downplay the situation.
"Flash flooding is no real danger to us. They make that announcement when large puddles are forming, especially when they are forming on the roads," I said. "Drivers need to know that these puddles may be deeper than they think," I continued, "and they could get stuck if they are not careful."
"Oh," he said. "If that is the case, then they should just call them puddle watches."

Family Worship

During a prayer meeting at our church last week, I was surprised to hear my eight-year-old take a turn to pray for world missions. When I was his age, I am not sure that I even knew what a missionary was. I know that I would not have felt confident to pray among a group of adults for the Lord to "open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf" as he did that night. The sweetness and honesty of his prayer was humbling for me and nearly moved me to tears. No doubt the Lord is at work in his young life, and I believe the source of this particular growth has been the practice of family worship.

One year ago, Michael and I committed to set aside a time each day for this, admitting that we needed to have a daily practice of seeking the Lord as a family. We wanted to do more than pray together at meals and read a short, scratch-the-surface devotion. We chose to meet in the evenings after dinner, as the mornings are too rushed and we thought this would be a good way to refresh ourselves from a tiring day.

We begin with a short prayer, asking the Lord to help us to understand his Word, to focus and to be well-behaved. We follow by working for about 10 minutes on scripture memory. We use Fighter Verses, a Desiring God publication. This mini-three-ring binder contains several hundred notecards with verses selected with the purpose of arming us with the Sword of the Spirit printed on each side. When my older son can state a verse by memory, I place a small sticker in the upper-left corner of the card. The upper-right is designated for my younger son, and the two bottom corners are reserved for Michael and for me. Whenever someone completes ten verses, the family is rewarded with a miniature soldier, also available from Desiring God Ministries.

Next, we sing two Psalms. We take turns picking which ones will be sung. If we need help with a tune, we go to http://www.lifefebc.com/resources/midipsalter.htm. Once or twice a week, we also sing a hymn (the same one throughout the month). Then, Michael teaches a lesson from the Gospels using the Veritas Bible curriculum. He follows their five-day format.

Finally, we take turns picking a country, and I read about the country of the night from Operation World by Johnstone and Mandryk. We color the country on an outline map and restate the prayer needs we read about, helping the boys state ways that they can pray. We then take turns praying for those needs and for anything else on our personal prayer request list.

We are really glad we made this commitment. There are nights that it is hard to be faithful, and there are nights that we have to shorten the lessons or reschedule. However, the Lord is maturing us, parents and children alike. I pray the Lord will continue to increase the Hays family's faithfulness and draw us closer to each other and to himself through the practice of family worship.

Westminster Shorter Catechism

Michael and I began teaching the Westminster Shorter Catechism to our older son two years ago. He has been blessed with a remarkable ability to memorize and has done well. This year we believed it was time to advance our younger son and allow him to memorize the Shorter Catechism as well. I was reluctant to make this move, not sure that he would enjoy the study and would tire out before memorizing even the first question and answer.

To help keep his interest, I sought out some teaching resources and really love two. First, The Westminster Shorter Catechism Songs, Volumes 1-4 set the 107 questions and corresponding answers to music. The composer and performer, Holly Dutton, has a beautiful, soothing voice, and both of my sons enjoy listening to her. The music is upbeat but simple and enjoyable. We find ourselves singing the song of the week throughout the day.

I begin on Monday by writing the catechism for the week on the board. We read, review, and briefly discuss it. Then, I play the song once for them, making them listen only. After this, we sing through with the words on the board for them to reference two or three times. On Tuesday, we sing the song three or four times and then I have each boy try to answer the question without looking at the written answer. We repeat this on Wednesday and Thursday. Then, on Friday, I place a sticker on a chart that corresponds with the catechism number if they can answer the question successfully.

On Friday night, Michael reads from our second resource, The Westminster Shorter Catechism for Study Classes by G.I. Williamson. This study provides a lesson on each question and answer, offering scripture proofs and review questions. Sometimes the lessons are above the boys' heads (sometimes they are above mine!), but they glean something each week.

This system is working so well that Michael and I intend to stick to it for the next three years during which time we will cover all 107 questions. Then, Lord willing, we intend to repeat the three year cycle. This will just happen to correspond with the boys' middle school years. And, then, we will repeat once more during their high school years.

I am journaling some of their responses to the study questions so I can look back and compare their answers in elementary school to their answers in later years. I look forward to experiencing the spiritual growth that the Lord will produce through this study.

Learning from Mistakes

At breakfast this morning, we all reminisced about our “early” days in birding… way back in the fall of 2006. As we discussed our favorite moments, I recalled some of the boys first attempts at identifying birds...

One morning while I was washing dishes, BT (6-years-old at the time) came running from the classroom (which is in on the opposite side of the house from the kitchen), yelling, “Mommy! Mommy! I just saw a Scarlet Macaw in the back yard.” I knew it could not be a macaw, but, in case we needed to call the folks at Guinness, I went to the classroom window and took a look. To Ben’s disappointment, it was only a Northern Cardinal.

A few days later, Bruster (5-years-old at the time) yelled, “Mommy! Mommy! I see a Roadrunner.” As we live in Georgia, I was once again very doubtful, but, to be fair, I took a look anyway. Not a roadrunner… a Brown Thrasher (our state bird, btw).

As I told them these stories today, they laughed, and we all recognized how far we have come in two years. I also remembered that I have been meaning to put together a "life list" for them. This is a record that most birders keep to help them remember their sightings. So, from mounds of check lists scattered here and there, I have compiled the following list of birds the boys have successfully identified. It is not as detailed as I would like, as I have omitted when and where the birds were spotted, but it is an accurate list of what they have seen in the last two years.

As I typed this list and saw how long it is, I realized how much little kids can accomplish when we encourage them and give them the grace to learn from their mistakes.

Our Life List since 2006:

American Bittern

American Coot

American Crow

American Goldfinch

American Kestrel

American Redstart

American Robin

American White Pelican

American Woodcock

Anhinga

Bald Eagle

Baltimore Oriole

Bank Swallow

Barn Owl

Barn Swallow

Barred Owl

Belted Kingfisher

Black Vulture

Black-and-white Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Blue-headed Vireo

Blue Jay

Blue-winged Teal

Bobolink

Brown-headed Cowbird

Brown-headed Nuthatch

Brown Pelican

Brown Thrasher

Canada Goose

Canvasback

Cape May Warbler

Carolina Chickadee

Carolina Wren

Cedar Waxwing

Cerulean Warbler

Chimney Swift

Chipping Sparrow

Chuck-will's-widow

Cliff Swallow

Common Grackle

Common Loon

Common Yellowthroat

Cooper's Hawk

Dark-eyed Junco

Double-crested Cormorant

Downy Woodpecker

Eastern Bluebird

Eastern Kingbird

Eastern Meadowlark

Eastern Phoebe

Eastern Screech Owl

Eastern Towhee

Eastern Wood Peewee

Eurasian Collared-Dove

European Starling

Field Sparrow

Fish Crow

Golden Eagle

Golden-winged Warbler

Grasshopper Sparrow

Gray Catbird

Great Blue Heron

Great-crested Flycatcher

Great Egret

Green Heron

Great Horned Owl

Green-winged Teal

Hairy Woodpecker

Hooded Merganser

Hooded Warbler

House Finch

House Sparrow

Indigo Bunting

Kentucky Warbler

Killdeer

Laughing Gull

Least Flycatcher

Little Blue Heron

Loggerhead Shrike

Louisiana Waterthrush

Mallard

Mourning Dove

Muscovy Duck

Northern Bobwhite

Northern Cardinal

Northern Flicker

Northern Harrier

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Parula

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Northern Shoveler

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Orchard Oriole

Osprey

Ovenbird

Palm Warbler

Peregrine Falcon

Pied-billed Grebe

Pileated Woodpecker

Pine Warbler

Prairie Warbler

Prothonotary Warbler

Purple Finch

Purple Martin

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Red-headed Woodpecker

Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-winged Blackbird

Ring-billed Gull

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Rock Pigeon

Salmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Scarlet Tanager

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Spotted Sandpiper

Summer Tanager

Swan Goose

Tennessee Warbler

Tree Swallow

Tufted Titmouse

Turkey Vulture

Wild Turkey

Wilson's Snipe

White-breasted Nuthatch

White-eyed Vireo

White-throated Sparrow

Whip-poor-will

Wood Duck

Wood Thrush

Worm-eating Warbler

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Yellow-breasted Chat

Yellow-crowned Night-heron

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Yellow Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler