True Colors

At the end of June, our church, Pathway Christian Fellowship, held an evening vacation bible school for a shortened 4 day week. This year they went with a gold-mining western theme with the teaching curriculum coming from Answers In Genesis. Paul and I both enjoy that ministry's teachings based on Creation, so we were excited when they asked us to teach the bible lesson part of each night. We had fun dressing and acting the part.

Paul, who insisted that he's totally NOT into acting goofy, took on the part of an old western miner. Miner Joe. He grew his beard out, borrowed some suspenders, rolled up his work jeans and really looked the part. I was Miner Sue. A bit goofy mixed with a bit dopey and you'd have my character pretty well figured out. It was a lot of fun... a lot of work, but a lot of fun, too. I almost think that our characters came too naturally to us....

Caleb was our third leg in the deal. He played the part of Dakota the western puppet. He was too old this year to take part in VBS, but was still able to help out. He enjoyed playing the part and did really well. He even dug out some western wear for the times that he wasn't hidden behind the curtain. In fact, all the kids dressed up for at least a few of the nights. Nathan especially enjoyed being a cowboy. We would repeat the same general lesson for the night to the 3 different age groups, and Nathan would just sit on the bench and watch the lessons while munching on popcorn the entire time. Knowing what he CAN be like if he chooses, I was really impressed with how well-behaved he was.

We invited several our our friends' families to join us for the week. One close family had an older girl that, like Caleb, was too old to join VBS, so she watched Selah, my little prairie baby. Susannah loved dressing up and toting Selah around as if she were her own baby. I can remember doing the same thing with my sister's babies when I was the same age.

It was fun having an impact on the 70 or so kids that attended. We taught them about Jesus' "super powers" and how he's the only true superhero. One of the nights we taught them not to be fooled by counterfeits. Using the example of how Fool's gold looks like the real stuff, but isn't, other religions and leaders may "look" or "sound" like the real thing, but aren't. Then we went on to explain why Ghandi, Mohammed, Joseph Smith, etc. are counterfeits. I especially liked that part simply because most of those kids are taught that all religions are equal. It was odd, but I almost felt "intolerant" saying it out loud. It's just not something that most people say so point-blank ... "I'm right, you're wrong", but Jesus taught specifically that He is THE way, THE truth, and THE life. NO ONE can come to the Father except through Him. Jesus wasn't afraid to step on people's toes and tell it like it is. While I prefer to avoid confrontation or offending anyone, He had the perfect balance of compassion AND truth. "He gives grace to the humble and resists the proud." (Ok, you're probably thinking... "whoa, they got way to indepth for MY kindergardener"... but that last part was more of my personal lesson for myself than what we taught the kids... sorry, I got off on a tangent... :)

My little cowgirl, Ellie (in the chaps and braids on the far left), must still be thinking about Vacation Bible School. Today, about a month after it ended, she said to me, "Mom, I knew Miner Sue was really you cause I saw you when you were dressing up." I thought that was cute. Now, I didn't think my costume was that decieving, but apparently I played the part well, and maybe, just maybe, a bit of my true redneck colors were shining through...

lunch... family style

Lunch... family style...

Our family, that is. Meals on the road tend to be a bit different for us. With bunches of mouths to feed, we think twice before we just pop into Culver's or Applebee's (and walk out with a $60 bill). We've learned some tricks to the trade. For instance, the Taco Bell Party Pack. It's 12 tacos for $10. Our crew qualifies us as an instant party waiting to happen. Then there's the 99 cent menu at Wendy's... 10 doublestacks please. No fries, we have our own apples, thanks. Nope, no pop either.

One of our favorites is Sam's Club. We call while we're on our way there and order a pizza or two, run in to pick it up and head to a park somewhere. It's fast, fairly cheap ($7.88 for a whole pizza), and we don't have 7 bouncy kids locked into a booth (Been there, done that, and it's not fun).

On one particular Sunday, we had to make a run up toward the Fox Valley/Naperville area. We called into the local Sam's Club and picked up our pizza and rotisseried chicken (another bargain at only $4.99) and headed to the nearest park. Actually, we really had no idea where a shady park happened to be in the area, so we checked into the next best thing. The grassy area on the side of a parking lot...

You may not believe me, but it was actually quite nice. A shaded, grassy valley nestled between Burlington Coat Factory and New York Street. It was nicer than some parks I've been to. We spread out our blanket and picnic set (that stand at the ready in the back of our van), and we were all set. We ate, had our fun, and loaded back up to finish our trip with satisfied tummies.

Selah's chillin' in her stroller.

The kids had fun seeing who could leap over the run-off drainage ditch without falling in the water. Even Daddy got his chance a few times (yes, he did make it over ).

Seth and Noah's Birthday's

So far, this summer has been CRAZY busy. Time is flying! We just saw school supplies in the middle of the Walmart aisles! How sick is that? Even sicker... we bought some. Caleb asked me to get him a couple more notebooks, and before we knew it, we had a cart full of crayons, markers, notebooks, pens, folders and all that good stuff. I'm sure we'll be starting up before too long...

Ahhh, on to the news... I have to do some catching up over the last month. If you haven't guessed, I not only use this blog to keep my posse (that's slang for you all :) caught up on what's going on in our world, but even more so, to keep a written "journal" of our family life that I can print out and put in binders to read later. Crazy thing is... when I print the recent ones out to add to the binder, I'll glance at the older blogs and don't even remember writing some of those things. I find myself laughing over and over again. What's with that? Good thing I'm writing 'em as I go, right?

Seth's 10th Birthday!

Oh, my little Seth. So much to say, so little room... I have said from before he was two that when he's happy, he's elated, but when he's upset, look out! It's still true. In fact, he has been a major chunk of my "home study course" on parenting for the past 10 years. I think I could spend the next ten years trying to figure him out and still not quite get it. I am progressing though :) By the time I'm, oh, say... 90, I'll have my Masters... maybe.

Seth truely is a sweet and caring kid. He's very helpful when asked. He's just starting to get the whole "doing things without being asked" kind of help (the best kind). He cares deeply about what other people think of him. If you let him know you appreciate and think the world of him, he'll live up to it... And the opposite is true. I suppose that's the same with most kids, but it's more evident in some. In my studies, I have observed that his language of love is with words of affirmation. When the kids all make cards for someone, he ALWAYS expresses his heart in his card. The other kids are not nearly as detailed in their wording. It's a reminder to me that I need to do the same for him, in cards, or just verbally.

Ok, so Grace came to me the other day and asked me if she HAD to marry "someone else". "Someone else? Like, not in our family?" I asked. "Yes." She got kind of sobby when I told her she couldn't marry her brothers. "You want to marry your brother, huh?" "Yes," She sobbed. "Which one would you marry?" I asked. "Seth." I don't know why, but that surprised me. Maybe it's because Seth and Ellie butt heads and agitate eachother all the time. I guess I didn't pay much attention to how well Grace and Seth get along. Technically, Seth is her big "buddy". He's supposed to make sure she has her shoes on and is buckled in the car when we go somewhere, and he's supposed to give her that bit of help at things when she needs it. I guess he's been doing his job and his little sis has admiration for him. Sweet.

(above) Meeting daddy at the park. Seth chose stuffed pizza for his lunch. Dee-lish!

(below) Seth and Noah at their co-birthday party with the extended family. Caleb made them a layered ice cream cake.

Noah is a sweet heart. Most of the time, he's content just to hang with the crowd. He's one of those kids who is going to grow up to be the guy that gives you the shirt off his back. He loves to give... and he loves sweets. If he can get the two to go hand-in-hand, he's in heaven. Lately he's been buying treats at the store... gum, candy, ice cream, whatever... and will proudly and gladly disperse it among his siblings. He just like to be able to give things.

He's such a cute kid. If he does something he's not supposed to, it's usually on accident or out of carelessness. It's not usually on purpose (unless it's in self defense, of course... and with two older brothers, who can blame him for that, right?). He also loves to help take care of his little brother Nathan. He's Nathan's big "buddy". Apparently this whole buddy system has a "family bonding" side benefit.

Out of all the kids, Noah has had the most trouble learning to read. For him, math is a breeze, but this reading thing... ugh. For a time I thought I was the slacker. I switched to different programs and put more pressure on the poor kid. I was trying figure out why both Caleb and Seth took off when they started to read and why Noah just couldn't get it. He knew his letters and sounds, but just had trouble putting them together. As Ellie is getting older, I am realizing that it's not my method that's faulty because she's picking up on it just fine. He's just needing more time to fine tune his skills. He's starting to actually like reading books now. He still struggles, but it's coming easier and isn't as much "work".

Noah's gift from Nathan (below) was a big bottle of that aerosole whipped topping. I think that may have been his favorite gift. He loved spraying it right into his mouth to create a giant foamy tower. In fact, since then, the older boys each have bought themselves a can to do the same! What a fun and totally yummy gift!


Happy Birthday boys!!

Great America!!

Hooray for reading programs!! We've earned personal pizzas from Pizza Hut, baseball tickets, ice cream, other fun trinkets and for the second time... free Six Flags Great America tickets! This year, Ellie was in kindergarden, so she got to earn her tickets by being read to. And if the older boys read to her, they added it to their reading log too to kill two birds with one stone!

Great America has a reading program that they do through public schools, and one specific for homeschooling families. Through the homeschool program, Caleb, Seth, Noah, Ellie and I (with a teacher's ticket) all got in for free. Another family that we know did the same and we all went together in our big van and had a grand ol' time :)

On the day we went, it was thunderstorming in the morning and supposed to rain much of the morning around where we live, but the storm kinda went around Gurnee (where Great America is), so the lines for the rides were great! The kids would walk up to most of the rides, and instead of waiting for 30 minutes to an hour to ride, they got right on. If they liked the ride, they'd run around and get right back on! It didn't rain, but we had nice cloud cover most of the day. Great America was... well... Great!