Happy Birthday, Dad

Tomorrow, December 1st is my Dad's birthday. We chose some of the best pictures from the slide show above to give him as a gift. I realize that I talk a lot about my mom, but I don't mention my Dad as much. He is a wonderful father and grandfather. His love is so unconditional and I appreciate him so very much. He is amazingly generous with his money and his time. He has served faithfully in the church for many years. He goes to Russia (Siberia, in the winter, even) to help train Russian pastors to lead their churches. I get my love of books and school supplies from him. We call him "the Laminator" because he loves to laminate things. He has a cooler label-maker than I do.

He is one of the funniest people I know and he often surprises people who don't know him well because he comes across as a little formal until people get to know him. When I was in college in California he would always make several trips down to see me. He would take me to some cool sporting event. We went to baseball games, hockey games, and even a Raiders game once (during the strike season). I guess it is no wonder I ended up a sports fan. I have great memories of my Dad teaching me how to keep score for the 1980 Dodgers team.

I included this picture of him, not because it is the best one of him, but because it shows his joy of being a Grandpa to his two grandsons. Many times when Seth comes over for a visit he will have some crazy Olympics or game tournament set up for the two of them.

In the pool he is known as "the shark" and his "da-da-da-da" (think Jaws) sends the grand kids shrieking to the other end of the pool.

Happy birthday, Dad. I love you very much!!

Can you hear God speak today?

This was our sermon topic two weeks ago. This question has been floating around in the back of my mind since this sermon. The question is not a general yes-or-no question about whether God can speak today, but a personal question. "Can *I* hear God speak to me today?" Our pastor is doing a series from the minor prophets and it has been good. The key verse was Habakkuk 2:20 "But the Lord is in his holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him." This is contrasted with the lifeless idols that the people were trusting in. (see Habakkuk 2:18-19). Basically God is saying to us, "HUSH!" I think this is timely advice during the Advent season. There are so many voices we can listen to that can take the focus off Christ. We just need to HUSH! One of the pastor's closing points was that "so often we desire for God to hear what is on our hearts; we need to be silent before God to hear what is on his heart for us."

The sermon was followed by a testimony of a couple who clearly heard God speak to them and tell them to adopt a very high-needs little boy who has half a heart. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house when they talked about how following God's voice is not always the easiest choice, but the blessings are so enormous that they would make the same choice again.

And we followed this testimony with five minutes of silent prayer where we were instructed to just listen. Do you know how LONG five minutes seems in a quiet auditorium? But it made me realize how much of an agenda I bring to my prayer time. My list. My requests. My time. But, I rarely just listen.

So, I challenge you sometime this week..."HUSH!!" and be silent before him.

Unit 1 Celebration Night

Here is a slide show of our Unit 1 Celebration. We had a Seder dinner and a museum of the artifacts that the kids had made. The kids each gave an oral report. If you are interested, you can read a little (a very little) bit more at my homeschool blog Magnum Opus Academy. I think these slide shows are pretty cool!

Things that make me happy.

I love the whole Christmas season. Everything! I got my decorations and trees up on Friday and they make me soooooo happy. Here are few other things that made me happy this Thanksgiving weekend.

1. The Williams-Sonoma Winter Forest dish soap. It literally makes me happy while I'm doing my dishes. It smells like a Christmas tree. And, since I am a fake tree kinda gal, I love having that scent around.

2. This also made me happy.....and more than a little nervous. But, the result made me happy.

3. Speaking of football, I watched three games yesterday. And I finished knitting my new hat. Don't all women love to watch football and knit? They were all very close exciting games. That made me happy. (Sorry Pam about Denver....I was actually rooting for them!)

4. Church made me happy this Sunday. They had a baptism/prayer service. Twelve people were baptized and shared these amazing testimonies of what God has done in their lives. It was so encouraging. One small group was all being baptized together. They shared in a sort of chain reaction how God had called them because of the people in this small group praying. Life changing stuff.

5. I made a huge pot of veggie soup yesterday. I used carrots and zucchini from our garden that I had shredded and frozen. It made me happy to be enjoying the fruits (or veggies) of all our labor this summer. Plus, we had some frozen raspberries and canned peaches as well.

6. I am thankful, as always, for my family. I read and hear so often about families who don't enjoy being together and I am reminded, again, what a gift I have. I know I say this a lot on my blog, but I treasure that gift every day!! They make me happy.

Calling all Knitting Experts!!!!!

Please help me figure out how to make my octagons not look like breasts!! I am using dpn and I know I'm following the pattern correctly, but I'm not very experienced with the dpn's. Am I doing the center too tight or too loose?I have tried it both ways and it still seems to concave like that. I really love this pattern, but.....well, I think you see the problem. I was hoping when I blocked the pieces together they would flatten out a bit, but it doesn't seem to be helping. What should I do?

Thanksgiving Thoughts

I am thankful for so many, many things!! Today after a long day of moving my sister-in-law and family back into their old house, I am thankful for a healthy body. Sure, I had to go to physical therapy for my massage-chair-neck-injury, but I can lift things, stand for a long time and work hard. That is something to be thankful for. Last week, Danny tore the muscle in his calf and is in such pain. The physical pain is bad, but when the doctor told him it was a "typical middle age injury" the emotional pain was worse! So, we are acutely aware of the blessings of healthy bodies around here.

I went back to link to the post where I told you about my massage chair injury, but I couldn't find it, so maybe I never told you that I am the only person in the history of the world to ever injure themselves in a massage chair at the Sharper Image....in July!! I finally got tired of waiting for the pain to go away and went to the physical therapist a couple weeks ago. I gotta tell you, I was hoping for a few more sessions. He put ultrasonic on it and massaged it, and then I got to lay in a quiet dark room with a vibrating current on my neck. It was so relaxing!! I was kinda sad to have it be done, but glad to have it feeling better. I had to give up my exercise time (6:00 am) to do it. Let's see, exercise or relax? Which would you choose? I think I feel my neck acting up again!

A Star is Born...

Here is the theater where Annsley is performing. Some of the plays are performed in schools or churches, but it is very fun to be in a "real" theater. This has a balcony and everything, so it feels very theater-ish.

This is a very scary picture of Annsley and her friend Rachel. For some reason they look like they are starring in Night of the Living Dead, but at least you can see Annsley in costume.

Here is the group doing prayer and a "power squeeze" before the show. They see how fast they can squeeze hands around the circle. It gets their energy up a bit. Look how teeny-tiny Annsley looks next to all those big kids. (She is on the right.)

Little Women

Annsley is in her very first musical. We participated in our local CYT (Christian Youth Theater) last year, but I was too busy for her to try out for any shows. The show is Little Women, the Musical. If you have never heard the music I highly recommend getting the CD. It is beautiful music and a wonderful show. I can not believe how much I have enjoyed being a part of the show. Quite honestly, Annsley is no more than a "live prop." She in only on stage for 3 scenes, has no lines, no solos, and sings in the chorus on a couple of songs. But, she has a great attitude about it and is thrilled to be a part of it. (And she looks pretty darn cute up on stage...pictures next week!)

All parents in CYT have to volunteer to be on one of the committees and I chose backstage. The kids do most of the set moving, but they need a parent backstage to make sure things run smoothly. The kids are so much fun and I remember how much I love working in a theater. (I taught drama before I had kids and directed a couple of plays/musicals.)

But, the greatest part for me is watching the older kids with the younger kids. They take an interest in them and actually include them in things. The girl who plays Jo (and has an AMAZING voice) actually takes time to talk with Annsley. Jo is in *every* scene and has so much to think about, and she still takes time to include the cast members who have small parts. There is no primadona attitude. As a mother this impresses me WAY more than her amazing vocal talent.

I love that they pray before every show to give glory to God for the performances. I love that the atmosphere is family friendly. It is a safe place for kids to experience theater and develop their talents.

It has been such a positive experience for Annsley and even though it has totally consumed out last two weeks it has been worth it.