MAINE 2011 Trip of a lifetime!

Maine 2011 Family, Fun, Friends and SUN - how to make a free slideshow

I have decided to follow Jesus

Yesterday was not only Father's day but both Isaiah and Elijah made the decision to be baptized. I grew up in a Catholic home. I was baptized as a baby...or so they tell me since I have no memory of that. I had no choice in that. For me personally in my life in had no meaning. Later when I became a believer and follower of Jesus I decided to get baptized. I wanted to make a public display of what had already taken place in my heart. I wanted to identify myself with Jesus' life, death and resurrection. That is what we believe about baptism. Peter has a similar story.

Allowing your children to make their own decision is sometimes difficult but when they make one such as this it makes you so full of joy you can barely contain it. One of my favorite verses (I actually wear it around my neck with the names of my children) is from 3 John 1:4 and John is writing to believers and he says "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth" To be able to watch my boys walk in truth yesterday truly I have no greater joy.

Here are some awesome pictures from yesterday.

Elijah getting prayed for. He was very nervous.
Hold on. "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit"

There he is!

Praying for Isaiah.

Isaiah got dunked twice...he didn't make it under all they way the first time...not that we need to be dogmatic about it but if you're gonna do it, do it all the way!

AWESOME

Overwhelmed with joy.

We got the boys new t-shirts to celebrate.

The cakes with the meanings of their names. Praise God!

Happy Father's Day

First Happy Father's day to my dad and to Peter's dad!

Happy Father's day to the Dad of my three awesome kids. This Father's day will be especially sweet because Isaiah and Elijah have decided to be baptized. From the moment we found out we were expecting our children our prayer was that they would know the Lord at a young age and walk with Him all the days of their lives. Isaiah and Elijah have both made a commitment to Lord and have asked Jesus into their hearts years ago. But as of recently they have each come to know Him more personally and have decided to make a public declaration of what He has done for them.

Peter and I also decided early on that we would never pressure the boys into believing. We offered truth to them and expressed if they want to believe it is their choice. The same was true of baptism. We wanted them to come to that place on their own. So we were delighted that came to us and said they wanted to be baptized. We asked them why and they both said expressed their gratefulness for Jesus dying on the cross for their sins and they wanted to follow Him for the rest of their lives.

The name "Isaiah" means the LORD is my salvation. Many times I have prayed "Lord may Isaiah one day know in his heart the meaning of his name that you alone are his salvation and only in You is it found." Elijah means "The LORD is my God" and many a prayer for Elijah has been "Lord my Elijah come to know and worship you the One True and Living God"

I think it's so fitting that they will be baptized on father's day. Peter has been instrumental in guiding them. He not only reads and prays with them faithfully every night but he teaches them the Word of God. He explains to them why they believe what they believe. They are so blessed to have a father who has given himself to the study of God's word and loves Jesus and can pass that on.

This is what the kids and I worked on for him for father's day. I asked each one why the love their dad. Then I wrote it down on a chalkboard and took a picture of what they said with them holding it. Their responses are exactly where they are at and I can't wait for Peter to read what they wrote. It's not about the things he buys for them, or even the places he takes them, it's the private, intimate moments he spends with them that they love the most.

Happy Father's day to my amazing husband.

From the Desks of Isaiah, Elijah and Hannah

Another weeks of robots,some successful some not so successful. Check out the videos at the bottom to see the cool one!

I love craigslist. I love it! I've gotten so many great items for amazing deals. Case and point these super cute sand and water table or in Hannah's case just water table for $10. She LOVES it. I love the umbrella to shade her from the sun that we do occasionally have here in Washington.

Thanks MOM! I love it! Isn't her dress the cutest??

Stay tuned for my next post that will bless your socks off...I mean literally hold on put some shoes on and tie your laces really tight...not that will help because it's pretty amazing!

Video one is Isaiah with the connection so the robot goes around in circles. Elijah did not like that and wanted it to move forward and back. So we made a "controller" and he had to figure out how to wire it up...he did!

Fun in the Sun

Fun in the sun in Washington this weekend. It was so beautiful. We headed out to one of our favorite spots "Deception Pass" We had a blast. The best part of the day was watching all 3 kiddos play and enjoy each other. Hannah loved to go down the slide, but only sitting in brother's lap

Come on let's go again

I am almost there.

Three amazing kids that really do love each other.

Elijah monkeying around with dad.

One of their favorite things to do...explore the tide pools

Hannah took my glasses.

Feet in the sand...ahhh doesn't get better than this.

From the desks of Isaiah, Elijah, and Hannah Robots part 1

We are finishing electricity over the next few weeks with ROBOTS. The boys made two robots next week and more are coming! They are super simple but they had so much fun. We bought one of those "robots in a box" kits. But the motor was so cheap that we couldn't keep the connection. So we gave up and made these ones from our amazing online science class. Here's the water bot. It took some figuring out how to get it NOT to flip over. But it finally worked. It's not the most beautiful robot but who cares.

This robot was super fun to watch wiggle all around. He was super easy to build to.

From the Desks of Isaiah, Elijah and Hannah-Art Show

Another week down...we can SMELL summer...literally! We are getting close to wrapping up official school. But there's still so much more learn! Good thing we are not bound by a school calender. We have a super awesome summer planned, including a HUGE vacation back to MAINE! But the learning goes on and on. We finished our section on circuits in our electricity unit. Here the boys are testing to see if salt water has electrolytes and can conduct electricity...and YES it can.

What about sugar water? YEP What about milk? YEP

This was fun! Put a wooden yard stick on a spoon, takes some practice to balance it on there. Then "charge" you balloon with your hair. Hover the balloon over the yardstick and move it to the left or right. The yardstick will start to move. The boys had it going pretty good...around and around it went.

Friday was the boys last art class of the year. I can't tell you what a blessing their art teacher Brenda has been.She is amazingly talented and very gifted with children. The boys have had so much fun and learned so much. All of their amazing art speaks of that. I can't believe how many treasures we have from this year.

So Thursday night the art students were part of an art show at the local library. The kids each chose one piece to be submitted (that was hard) Then family and friends were invited to have snacks and view all of the art. It was HUGE hit, so much so that the library invited the children's artwork to remain up through next weeks adult art show. It was really amazing. We were so proud of all the work.

The reflection isn't great but here is Elijah's snowman picture he submitted. I had the art professionally matted and then we bought special frames to display.

Here is Isaiah's owl. I love the brown mat in the black frame, it looked sharp.

Here is a display of all the artists holding their most recent work.

The kids were all smiles at the show.

The boys and their art teacher Brenda. We love her!

All of us!