Dear Mr. Obama,

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A Neat Website

I just came across a really neat website that I am going to spend more time on. It is at http://www.kiddierecords.com/ .  This website has free downloads of many children’s records from the 1940’s and the 1950’s.  There are story records and song records–there are even a few Bible story records!  My kids enjoy listening to things like this, and this is a great (and free) resource for some harmless entertainment.

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“Mom, I Don’t Want to be a Princess when I Grow Up!”

My girls are definitely not “girly girls.” In fact, both Cosette and Kara are as rumble-tumble tough as their brothers!  

Last night as Kara was getting ready for bed, she told me that she did not want to be a princess when she grows up.  When I asked her why not, she said that she does not want to be “all poofy.”  She went on to say that the poofy dresses make it so you can’t see princess’ feet, and she just doesn’t like that!

It’s all right, Kara.  You don’t have to be a princess when you grow up, but you sure are my rough and tumble princess right now!  😉

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After 7 years of Homeschooling, This is a New One!

 

As I wrote a few days ago, John has begun his research project on Adoniram Judson, and we are enjoying learning about him very much.  Part of this project includes an oral book report which is due next week.

I was blessed to receive resources and suggestions when I posted about this the other day.  I knew about this book report when we first started the research and that it was due early in the project.  So, I decided that whatever book we received first should be the one that John would read for his book report.  Well, the book that came first came directly from A Beka, and it is entitled Adoniram Judson: God’s Pioneer, by J. Mervin Hull.  I thought this was great because it is published by A Beka, and should be exactly what we need for this oral report.

John likes to read books out loud with me, so we began reading this book several days ago.  It has been very interesting, and using it, John has been able to lay out a pretty good outline for his final project for this research, the written research report.  Last night, though, we ran into a major, unexpected snafu:  it is missing several pages!  Not only that, but other pages are duplicated at the end!  So, the book goes from page 1 through page 92.  Then it skips to page 125 and goes through page 156.    Then it repeats page 125 through page 162!  OOOPS!!  Boy, does that make a book report difficult!  And, to top it all off, the book report is due next week:  not enough time to start over with a different book!

So, I contacted A Beka, and of course, they will replace the book, but we won’t have it in time for the book report.  So, we are doing the best we can.  I looked in another book that we bought on the same subject and marked the chapters that should fill in the missing part of the story.  It may not be an ideal solution, but at least it should give a complete picture of Adoniram Judson’s life as John continues to work on his written report.

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Presidential Poll

WordPress has a new feature of allowing polls to be added to posts.  Since I have always wondered how accurate the presidential polls are, I decided to put one on this site to poll my readers.  Won’t this be interesting?!  So, please take time to try out this new WordPress poll, and pass it onto your friends to vote as well.

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John’s Is Starting his Research Paper; Topic=Adoniram Judson

John is starting to plan and do the research to write a paper for his 6th grade language class for Abeka Academy DVD Program 1 homeschool.  He had a list of topics to choose from, and as is John’s nature, he didn’t want to do the “regular” topics like the Pilgrims or Abraham Lincoln.  So, he chose something that he knew nothing about:  Adoniram Judson and the beginning of American Foreign Missions.  

Needless to say, our local library had NOTHING about this topic, so I searched the internet for some resource books and sites that John can use in preparing his paper.  After doing so, I am so glad that he chose this topic.  Adoniram Judson was an amazing man, and it is men like this that I want my boys to study and emulate.  I found this video clip of Ravi Zacharias speaking about Adoniram Judson.  If you have never heard of this great Christian man, please take time to hear this brief introduction to his life:

Needless to say, I cannot wait to read John’s finished paper to find out what he learns about Mr. Judson!

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A New Resource for Families who have Adopted from China

I just learned about a new resource for families who have adopted from China, and I think it is a great idea!  It is a database at http://www.ourchinesechildren.com where adoptive families can create a free account and provide basic information about their adopted children (for example:  Province, SWI, Chinese Name, Agency, Travel Dates).  Then searches of the database can be done to find people from the same state or agency or who have children from the same SWI.  There is an email function that allows users to contact each other through a private contact form so that people can be in contact with each other if they so desire.  This is a new project, and already there are 407 children in the database.  

I entered Kara’s information.  It will be interesting to see if anyone else from the Huangshan SWI ever enters the database.  I only know of one other child who has been adopted from that orphanage, and that was within a couple of months after we brought Kara home.  Sometimes I wonder if they have adopted out other children…..

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First Snow for the 2008/2009 Winter Season

The first snow is always such a special day–especially for my kids.  Today Kara has been glued to the window watching the snow and wishing that she could go out to play in it!  🙂

Actually, this snowstorm kind of fizzled out.  Yesterday they were predicting around 10 inches of accumulation with 30-50 mph winds.  Well, we got the wind, but most of the snow fell as rain.  So, we ended up with only enough snow to say that we had some, but that was good enough to make our family members happy for the day!

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November 2008: Vote Your Values

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A Nice Big Brother and a Great Kid!

Brock is such a good kid, and he is doing his little brother a big favor tonight!  Dan is out-of-town on business this week, and this leaves Luke with a problem.  Luke is in Tiger Cub Scouts, and each boy in this group is supposed to have an adult come to the meetings with him.  Usually Dan goes, but every now and then, that just doesn’t work out.  We discussed what to do about Tiger Cubs when Dan is busy, and we really didn’t want Luke to have to miss his group for that reason, but it makes absolutely no sense for me to take Luke to scouts because I’d have to bring all five of the kids with me!   So, we asked the Cubmaster if one of our two older boys could fill in as Luke’s “adult.”  Since the Cubmaster knows our boys pretty well, he said that would be fine.  Brock has volunteered to do this.  In fact, this is the second time that he has gone with Luke, and he does it with a happy spirit.  Thanks, Brock!

Another story on Brock:  today I got a special treat when I was grading his penmanship paper.  On it, he was supposed to fill in the phrase, “Happiness is…..”  He could be funny or serious, and I really enjoyed what he wrote.

Happiness is a duck.

Happiness is an A+ on your test.

Happiness is winning a ball game.

Happiness is a new game….starring Kirby!

Happiness is a bow and arrow.

Happiness is Jesus’ love.

I really liked his last sentence which said:

Jesus’ love is the only thing that gives true happiness.

What a great kid!  I love you, Brock!

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