A couple of our favorite Florida vacations turned field trips

One of our all time favorite field trips was to the summer homes of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison in Fort Myers, FL.

We were studying inventors at the time and so it was such a thrill to go and see their homes and inventions. My oldest took about 300 pictures! My hubby's boss at the time, gave us a few days at a time share in Ft. Myers and it turned into a great vacation/field trip.

Vacations turned field trips are some of favorite things! : )

A trip to the Kennedy Space Center is now going to be ranked up there among the favorites!

The other half of our family were blessed to spend 3 days there over the summer while Nathan and I were at Teen Bible Quiz Nationals in St. Louis. My kiddos were sharing something new about what they learned there just about every day for a month! : ) They loved it and they learned SO much and had a great time.

My hubby's best friend Carlos went with them and he makes everything even more fun. ; )

The only thing that they didn't enjoy was waiting for the launch for hours in the heat.

That particular one was scrubbed about 3 or 4 times. Here's what Andrew thought of that after waiting for hours. Bless his heart!

They finally gave up seeing it from the Space Center and went to see it from the beach with the locals. The space shuttle actually did go up that time and the waiting while playing in the water was much more fun. Maybe the view wasn't quite as great but it was still close and they enjoyed it.

~Becky

Praying from Luke 2

The Lord showed me some exciting things to be praying for our children from Luke 2.


May our children:


"make widely known" what they've learned about Jesus like the shepherds

(v. 17)


May their lives:


"be a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles." (v. 32)


May they be Spirit-led like Simeon:


"who was just and devout" and "the Holy Spirit was upon him." (v.25)


May they have hearts devoted to God like Anna who:


"served God with fastings and prayers night and day." (v.37)


May they be like Jesus as a child who:


"grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon Him." (v.40)


May they be passionately focused on God like Jesus who said:


"I must be about my Father's business." (v.49)


May they be obedient to us like Jesus who:


"went down with them" and "was subject to them." (v.51)


And like Jesus, may they:


"increase in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." (v.52)


Amen! : )


~Becky

Carry On!

One of my favorite children's books and there are many, is
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch. I just love it!

Here are a few of the things I love:

It is based on Nathaniel Bowditch's actual life

It gives us a wonderful example of what a determined individual can accomplish

It mentions that young men should always protect women and children

It is inspiring and fun to read

As a home school mom, I loved reading to my kids about a boy who got so excited about a subject that he studied everything there was to study on it and filled a notebook with what he had learned. He did this about every topic that interested him.

(that's homeschooling at its best right there!)

He eventually became the brightest mathematician in the country. He also taught himself whatever language he decided he needed to know using a grammar book, a New Testament and a dictionary in that language. (by the end of his life, he'd learned about 2 dozen)

We also loved that he had a heart to teach even the most uneducated men on a crew, navigation in a way that they could understand. His lessons to those men eventually evolved into his book.

The part that touched our hearts the most was that when people told him that his life was 'becalmed' because of his circumstances, he decided to live above the circumstances and 'sail by ash breeze.' (in other words when you are stuck, start rowing and make things happen!)

He never made excuses for his lot in life, he just worked very hard at everything he put his mind to. He preserved.

All the talk about 'taking a lunar' had my kiddos getting the telescope out of the attic recently to look at the moon. : )

We enjoyed checking out Nathaniel Bowditch's book American Practical Navigator from the library. It is HUGE! No wonder he worked on it for so long! All the sailors of America and the world must have been so thankful that he carried on! : )

~Becky

What's up!

I lovingly refer to the toddler years as the "Blessed Blurrr" because it was such a busy season in life. But now that I think about it, these teens years just as busy.

Lest it all be a blurr someday, here is what everyone is doing these days (or more specifically where I'm driving them to. lol)

Zachary is a drummer. (and our little house is very loud. -If you ever called me then you know that) Right now he is the substitute drummer in the youth worship band at church. The regular drummer is a sophomore in college and studying to be a doctor. When he can't make it, Zach takes his place. Zach is in the Fine Arts/drama group and loves it. He is also serving in the student leadership group.

Nathan is in Teen Bible Quiz again this year and they are memorizing the books of first and second Corinthians! He loves his team, loves quizzing and enjoys the traveling. It's a fun way to learn the Word of God. It has made him want to study Greek someday. Nathan plays the keyboard in our family band. He is also in the student leadership group in youth group.

Joy is in a home school dance group. She is Teen Bible Quiz now too but she's chosen to compete in the novice league which doesn't go on to Nationals and only has to memorize the book of first Corinthians. She is playing soccer this semester and really enjoying it. She and I work together in the nursery at church once a month taking care of the infants. (this is where I get my baby fix and where she's learned to be so great with little ones!) : )

Andrew is in Junior Bible Quiz this year. (he's our only kiddo left in it, since our other two have graduated) He is also in the kids church worship band. He plays the electric guitar. He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES guitar. You hardly see him without one during his free time. His band had the chance to play at VBS this year which was really exciting. They did so well, that they were asked to play in the church service the following Sunday! That was pretty incredible to play in front of such a huge crowd. (1000 people or so)

Besides all the fun (and driving!) that these activities bring to our lives, I am the president and treasurer of our home school group this year. I had been the treasurer for a couple of years, but our wonderful president recently had to step down and temporarily move out of state. You can read what she and her awesome family are doing for their sister-in-law here. (Her sister-in-law had skull replacement surgery last week and is doing well and so is her new baby who had a safe delivery!) It's been more than a little overwhelming but an honor and a pleasure serve the group this year. The group has an awesome board of directors that are SUCH a pleasure to work with and a little over 100 homeschooling families.

My hubby is still teaching his Wednesday night class at church. He teaches the Royal Rangers who are K-2nd grade boys. He loves speaking into their lives and teaching them how to be future men of God. But, 30 wiggly boys can be a challenge after a long day at work and I admire him so much for serving. I think he's been at it for 7 years now.

I guess that sums it up. It's a busy year and if I don't get to blog very often, now you'll know why! : )

~Becky

A Floridian snowman by Joy

Oops! I mean sandman!

~Becky

More time with our Honey

As I mentioned the other day, Honey either has pneumonia or lung cancer.
She has responded fabulously to the steroid and the antibiotic prescribed for her though and we are SO thankful!
She is breathing normally again and is eating. Hurray!
The Lord has extended our time with her!

Yesterday, even though she obviously felt better, her eyes looked so sad.
Then last night she did what we call "the golden retriever happy dance." Yay! That is what I had been waiting for. Now, I know she feels better and her eyes look happy again.

We are all in agreement that if she ever goes through what she did over the weekend then it will be her time to go. We never want to see her suffering to breathe again. It was so sad.

So, we are happy and hopefully that maybe this is pneumonia and that she will recover. That is our prayer. We'll enjoy every moment we have with her because she is PRECIOUS!

~Becky

A sad night

Tonight we found out that the best dog ever most likely has lung cancer.

Still hoping and believing for pneumonia ... We'll see

Lots of tears at our house!!!! : (

Thursday is her 11th birthday!

~Becky