Easter Passion Play.

All near Andrews University in Michigan, check out this Easter Production. It's an annual Easter Passion Play that is an interactive indoor and outdoor walk-through experience for all, depicting

the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ

This is great in this season of remembering His death, burial and resurrection most importantly, but also ties in well with our studying ancient Rome and Judea in the time of Christ with Abigail. We shan't be missing this if it snows, God willing.

Pondering the Oak

The ancient British before the coming of the Romans worshiped the oak and the mistletoe and the girls are fascinated so we are trying to find out if it is all that....rather impressive so far. I think the amazing thing about it all is that God made things good enough to impress people so much they just worship the stuff.

Psalm 8:3...Psa 8:3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

Psa 8:4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Psa 8:5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Psa 8:6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

Psa 8:7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

Psa 8:8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

Psa 8:9 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! "

If it's that easy to worship an oak tree and mistletoe, I am sure it's even easier to worship a human being. But, Oh, the glory of the one who made it all! Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings he has ordained strength, how simple yet how so complex, and kids get it! He alone is worthy of all praise and honor and thanksgiving.

To the Only God our Father, and to Jesus Christ Our Lord, be glory and majesty, dominion and authority forever. Angels turn away when you try to worship them; there is something in the heart of a human being that repels worship. Even the Holy Ghost slips away when you begin to exalt Him, and points you to Jesus.

Spring Means Gardening...

Believe it or not, peas, onions, beets and some spinach are already planted in those magnificent boxes. We think the kids will be less likely to step inside the box and kill the plants.

My analytical, leave no stones unturned Josh.

He wants to know why I back up into the garage slowly and not as fast as daddy. He has a toy school bus with doors that open and shut and furniture that he has "borrowed" from his sisters doll house. He has asked me dozens of times just how much more space he gains by moving one chair to the right or to the

left. "Mommy, how about if we just get rid of one of these chairs in the front and make the people move left and put the smallest chair at the back of the bus?"

"Is daddy's blue van bigger than the school bus? Is the blue van really bigger or just medium?" "How come grownups are tall but they never seem to bump their heads on the roof of the van? How much shorter are you than daddy? Will I be taller than you too? Will JJ be taller or will I be taller when we are grown ups?"

"How much money does daddy need to buy me a new bike? How long do I have to wait for him to work get money for my bike? Will my bike be bigger than Anna's bike or small

er than Abigail's? Or will it just be in the middle?"

"There are no two Joshuas, if I go outside to play and want to get the thing in the house, my hand will have to come in through the window because I cannot be in two places at the same time."

"Did daddy park the car facing backwards or forward?, Did daddy go to work? When will he come back? How many minutes? Is it the same as hours? "Well, but a little is more than a little bit"

He counts too much, measures and re-measures everything. When the clock says 6:05 and I tell him it's six O'clock, he says it can't be six O'clock because the long hand is past already. Easy to get along with and very accommodating of everyone, really. When he has a question, he will ask it again and again until he gets an answer that measures up...then he will check out the answer himself. When he is aggrieved, he will plead his case and he will be heard. He will look me in the eye and say.."but mommy, I have something to say and you are not listening"... He is the kind of child that makes you want t

o know the square root of 79, just in case he asks-because he will ask: and when he asks, you know he will be wondering how come I have to look it up.

His idea of art is drawing a ruler with the inches calibrated just right...he is 5 and he makes me exceedingly proud, happy and think more clearly. I love you Josh...our Josh.

Here are some more of his random questions...

"Is mud stronger than tape or not? Is it a lot more? But I am learining to build with mud because if I try to build with tape, I will have a hard time and I will be wasting tape. Is cement stronger than tar or is tar stronger than cement?"

"Is the deep end in the swimming pool the same as 9 papers standing up or laying down?(He had arranged 9 orange construction papers 1foot long each lying flat on the floor)

"If you start your timer at 60 and go backwards till 15, that is the same as 45"

"Can ants see atoms?" "How small is an ant's eye? How come it's very small and it can't see an atom?"

"If you try to measure two miles using inches, will you run out of inches?"

"Where is the left part of my right hand?"

"Are snakes taller than people? Does a snake have a belly button?" I bet everything has a belly button, except things that people build"

"Does your spirit help your heart beat or does the heart help itself beat?"

"Is a spirit the fastest thing in the world that God made?, faster than cars and aeroplanes and trains?"

"Can a spirit see an atom?"

"Is 12 cups a gallon?"

"When I am ready for math, can I start with learning about degrees?"

"Does the devil have teeth?"

"Does the devil live in the 50 States?"

"Which is louder? A yell or a microphone?"

"Are there any foods that grow with salt in them already?"

"Can the sun swallow a tornado?"

"How do you write zero in Roman Numerals?"

"If your trade is a builder, how do you build in the snow?"

"What's so important about light and darkness?" Oct 11th 2010

"Is a snail faster than the hour hand?" Oct 1 2010

"Are there things that have not yet been invented?" Oct 16 2010

"What makes the world go round? Is it rivers or lakes?" December 9 2010

"I think math has become a talent of mine" January 5 2011

"Mommy, do you know that you have been an adult for 14 years?" January 4 2011

"In 2021 I will be driving and in 2020 I will be in college"

"Are old people more patient?" January 3 2011

"I think I won't need a calculator when I grow up because I started doing math in my head when I was 3 years old" January 3 2011

"How long would one year be if one hour was 20 minutes?" April 12 2011

"How long would one hour be if one year was 66 days?" April 12 2011

"If 6 days was 31 days, how long would one hour be?" April 16 2011

"Did you know that I am 19 inches shorter than Daddy?" April 22 2011
"How come there is not thunder and lighting during the snow?" March 27 2012
"Are there 24 rays around the sun?" April 6 2012

June 13 2011. Josh asked me how many months old I was. Naturally I did not know. I gave him a very reasonable grown up answer like..."when I teach you how to multiply big numbers, we can then count how many months old I am." Then he said, "well, I'll count." Minutes later he came  back and told me that I was 408 months old. I thought, "what?" Pulled out my little calculator and multiplied 34*12, turns out it's 408. I asked him how did he do it. He said..."it's easy. I used a measuring tape. If one foot has 12 inches, that is the same as one year having 12 months. So I just know how many inches are in 17 feet and then I just did it two times since 17+17 is 34."

Lord, help me..and help him grow in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made...I know this full well

DVD available at the National Geographic website. Buy it and show it at your favorite public high school...

Nature Study

Taking on the "Handbook of Nature Study" by Anna Botsford Comstock. I've had the book for over a year and somehow forgot that I had it. The book is practically twice the size of my bible and I spent a good part of the afternoon reading parts of it and I like what I see so here we go... First published in 1911 by an educator who believed that children belong outside meddling with and finding out about nature that is closest to home before thinking about the inhabitants of the Australian deserts.

The outdoors don't take away time: they replenish it. Nature as God made it is a vast sort of vastness that no one can conquer, yet it cures us in this fast paced life and draws us to the one who made it all.

Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, Team USA was #1 with a record 37 medals and did the USA proud. Thank you Canada for being wonderful and gracious hosts and for winning the Gold Medal rush: Bravo!. The Canadian Ice Hockey team brought it home and the US Ice Hockey team was wonderful as well. On to Sochi, Russia 2014...

Ahh! some of the multiple joys of homeschooling; we can cheer for the Olympics to dissipation and sleep at midnight and cheer for the athletes on a first name basis. Hey, it only comes once every two years and it counts for world studies, cultural understanding and exploration, pure sportsmanship, fitness motivation and intense betting and winning and losing. At the Olympics we get to be motivated and inspired by the best of the best, and there's nothing wrong with that.