WEEKEND AND LIFE LESSONS

What a great weekend we had!! It all started with the Wii-Lympics on Friday night, and Saturday Richard and I attended a marriage conference which was so much fun and full of life-giving truths and ideas. Then on Sunday, we celebrated 18 years of marriage by the two of us going snow skiing - ALONE!!! I couldn't believe how much easier it was to ski with just two of us.

We had such a great day! The weather was unbelievable - it was so warm we were actually hot! We decided to try some of the more difficult slopes since we didn't have the kids with us - look how high up we are in this picture!! The view was simply stunning.

When we got off the lift at the top - and saw the stunning view, we couldn't help but take some pictures. But then it occurred to us, we have to get down!! But we made it and it was fun once we realized that we had actually done it! I think I got some of my dad's very adventurous thrill-seeking motorcyle racing gene in me.

MY MAN!!

Now, here is something we don't see everyday!! Since we had sooo much snow in the past month, there is a lot of it still around, even though the temperatures are high enough to wear short sleeves.

This morning in school - we did something fun! We combined art and music into one fun assignment. I set up four painting "stations" at the table and we listened to some famous classical composers. The girls painted what the music made them feel. Each time the music stopped, they moved to the next seat, and continued painting there.

Although - I would suggest this with older kids - miss Boo wasn't terribly happy about the fact that Banana was painting on her own masterpieces.

But we did manage to learn so much about the different composers.

I picked up this book last year at the Pennsylvania Homeschool Convention (by the way - I simply can't WAIT until May to go again!!). It's been fun to pull out things all year that I bought at the convention.

It was perfect for today's lesson and we learned some interesting facts about the composers.

The finished product!!

Banana is terribly excited about all the tiny little buds that are popping up out of the ground in our yard. Last week she "rescued" a bulb that had been unearthed and she lovingly planted it in a pot and has been caring for it so earnestly. This morning she discovered that one of the dogs decided to have a little snack and climbed up on her desk where the pot was and ate the little bud in one bite. It was a tragedy..... you can only imagine the reaction.

So Boo decided to paint her a picture of the flower so that she could still have it. What a blessing to see my girls love each other so.

I want to ask you all to please keep our friends in your prayers. Some very, very close friends of ours are in the midst of a terrible tragedy - an unthinkable, horrible, murder of a close family member. While they are walking through this very dark time, we are walking beside them the best that we can, even if only in spirit and in prayer. Please remember to pray for this dear family. The initial reaction from receiving this news as they were walking out the door to go to church, was to continue on and attend church. This family chose to "praise Him in the storm", and shared with the church body the terrible news, and we saw them "walk the walk", it is beautiful. Even through the valley of the shadow of death - we WILL praise Him. My prayer this morning was that I could teach this to my girls in a very real way. What a blessing to learn this lesson at a young age - how can I teach them?? All morning, Boo had been singing "This is the day that the Lord has made". (It is a simply beautiful spring day today!!) - And then...... I had to brush her hair. We suddenly had tears - and then it hit me! The answer to my prayer. I told Boo that she should praise the Lord even when she feels like crying. I suggested that she sing her song she had been singing all morning instead of crying while I brushed her hair. What a great tangible way to teach that lesson. And if that weren't enough - the Lord gave us another lesson not ten minutes later. We had all just sat down at the table to begin our school day. We try every day to sing a song together to start our day, in our family worship time. Everyone was feeling disagreeable - one kid was singing a different song entirely, one kid was telling me that I didn't have the right tune, and we all ended up just downright MAD! And then it hit me again, as we all sat there stewing (myself included) - we will choose to praise Him. We will deny ourselves, and praise Him. And that is what we did. We sang through our tears, and it was beautiful. It sounded horrible, but it was beautiful.