The Month in Review

I am being threatened with a call to the blog police for not posting anything original in I don't know how long.  Well, in my defense, as one of my favorite sayings goes, "It's better to keep quiet and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt," or something like that.  I had nothing profound to report.  Hence my lack of blogginess.  But now that we are past the first of the month I can at least report on our previous month.  Here goes. 

In November:

We did a couple of foam crafts from the Oriental Trading Company.  These are great, and sooo cheap. Once you sign up for their catalog you will be inundated with junk mail, but if you are ever looking for something for a birthday party or a kids' church club, they are a great resource!

We enjoyed lunch at our favorite, In-N-Out Burger.  Those of you living outside of CA, NV, and AZ, sorry, you are missing out on a treat.  Come visit us, and we'll take you out for the best fast-food burger in the country.  All fresh ingredients, nothing frozen.  Started in 1948 by a Christian couple, In-N-Out was always closed on Sundays.  Their burger wrappers and cups had Bible verses printed on them.  Now they only print the references Jn. 3:16 or Pr. 3:5 or Rev. 3:20, very small.  Do you think a lost person will see that and realize his need for Christ?  My guess is that he would think it is some sort of technical printer's code. lol.  Too bad.  But they still beat McDonalds and Burger King hands down!

The girls made a movie! (For the safety-conscious, yes, Elisabeth did unplug the toaster before sticking the tongs in there.)


We learned about inertia and transfer of energy.

We faithfully met for Ladies' Coffee Hour (but only on school days ).  This time (below) we had a few guests.  During today's Coffee Hour I read to the girls Jonathan Edwards'  "Thirteen Resolutions to Live By", and mentioned that he lived in the early 1700's.  I also mentioned his famous sermon, "Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God," and one of my daughters, who was NOT paying very close attention, asked me if I was there when he preached it. This was not the same one who thought the War of 1812 was still going on in 1918. LOL!  Are we blonde, or what??

We helped Grammy in the kitchen.

Some of us practiced being photogenic, LOL!

We had a great big picnic!  Thanksgiving is the only time of year when everyone in my family can get together, and being outside is such a nice arrangement for the hosts.  Lots of wild kids, you know.  So we had a delicious lasagna dinner at a park close to my parents' place. Note: Some of us were wearing short sleeves. This was so funny -- the two little black girls wanted to be in the photo, and they decided to join our family. Their mama said they make at least three new friends every single day. Hee hee!  I'll leave it up to you to figure out who's who. (My dad is missing.)

Okay, I'll give you a hint -- these two guys are my awesome brothers. Yes, I am the oldest sibling.  You don't have to tell me I look it!

We watched Jupiter and Venus cozy up to the moon:

And, we spent our own Thanksgiving right here in our own little home, after the fact. It was SUCH a lovely, sunny day!  Dad took the girls to the park in the morning for a rousing game of pitch and bat, then he took off on a long, exploratory bike ride.  I spent the day measuring, stirring, mixing, peeling, cooking, baking, and washing, and that evening we had our feast. 

Since we don't observe Christmas, we decided a while back to give gifts to the girls for Thanksgiving, something each of them could be truly thankful for: a new winter coat or nightie or something else needed.  Due to the Lord's blessing on our family, the girls really aren't desperate for anything this year, so instead we just bought a Monopoly game and the latest release in our favorite family read-aloud series, The Methuselah Chronicles. We're looking forward to some fun evenings together!

Several years ago we began a book of remembrance.  Every year on Thanksgiving , each of us names some thing(s) for which we thank God, and I write those things down in a journal.  For the memories' sake it is a lot of fun to go back and read the previous years' entries, and it's fun, too, to see how the girls have matured in their thankfulness.  For example, a daughter who, three years ago, said she was thankful for her nice warm bed now says she is thankful for missionaries like the D____'s and the T____'s, who are willing to take the gospel to China (closed to missionaries, hence the blanks, for their security) and Indonesia, places she doesn't want to go.  I chuckled and told her there are probably also some people who are thankful for people like us, who are willing to take the gospel to the desert. 

It kind of appears that we took the month off school, doesn't it?  We didn't!  We'll try to make our December Month in Review a bit more homeschool-ish.