A Special Visitor!

What a blessing our GRACE group received today. Our kids have been learning about heroes of the faith. Today they heard a modern day hero of the faith speak to them. Her name is Gracia Burnham. She along with her husband were missionaries to the Philippines. They were kidnapped and held for ransom for over a year. She escaped with a leg injury during their 17th gun battle, but sadly her husband didn't not make it. Her grace and forgiveness for her captors is absolutely amazing! I am very grateful that Caleb and Addy heard her speak. They have both expressed a desire to be missionaries. Thanks to the ladies and especially to Gracia for coming and speaking for our group today!

Geese

I took this picture a few nights ago when we were out on a family hiking trip. I love it. We also saw a pheasant, but before I could get the camera up and ready he was long gone. Maybe next time, this was the second time I had seen a pheasant while out on this path.

Here are a few more pictures that our great doctor friends took. Thank you so much for helping us document our day. You guys are amazing! I love Caleb's facial expression...what a goof! I am not quite sure what that face is saying though.

Thanks!

These are a our friends Jeremy and Ashley. We have had the pleasure of hanging out with them every month or so. You guys ROCK!! They were our photographers for the St. Paddy's Day activities. They traveled from their hometown to spend the day with us. Have fun painting your nursery!! Thanks for taking the great pictures! Also thanks Mr. and Mrs Dr. for the hamburgers. They were tasty!

A Few Parade Pics

This year's parade was a blast. I was able to dance with the dancers this year. Last year I rode on the float with our little Irish princess. I just love the second picture. I am not sure when it was taken but it sort of looks like someone called Addy's name.

Here are some of the interesting things we saw on our hike. The top one is what greeted us when we got out of our car. On the way back to the car kaity would tell me.... "I don't want to see that scary thing." When we got back to the car she did go back and look at the scary thing. The moon and sunset were beautiful that night.

I love her under the no hunting sign!

Hiking!

Last Sunday was a beautiful day! We decided to go on a family hike. These are just a few of my favorite pics.

A Day of Dancing!

Our day started with a St. Patty's Day parade. The parade was five blocks long and there weren't that many spectators. The girls had a great time making up dance steps as they walked. Then on to the studio where our dance instruction was to give a dance workshop. We had about an hour until the workshop began, so we danced some and learned, or at least tried to learn, a new group dance. It wasn't new to anyone really except James and me. I can almost guarantee we won't remember that one! The workshop started with all of us dancing a reel on our level and then we began teaching the audience some steps. It was a lot of fun to help them learn these steps. There were all ages of people there to learn. After the workshop we had to eat a quick dinner before the concert. Everything was closed or would have taken too long for us. We decided to try a little restaurant across from the concert venue. They were closing in five minutes but offered to feed us. We ate and were off to the concert. It was Irish music and we were to dance to it. What a great experience! It is much different to dance to live music than to dance to a CD. Addy and Kaity made their way around the room dancing for each table. They were very cute. There was a bar there, at one point, James and I were brought back to see Addy dancing for the bar tenders. She explained, while I was typing, that she just wanted to show them how she could dance. I have a couple of favorite parts of the evening. The first was dancing the lead round and side step with my girls. The second was dancing our two hand that would be James and me. Third was watching the kids and some of the adults in the audience dance. The concert ended at ten and then there was the drive home.

What a great group!

I like this one!

After our presentations at the unit celebration we had a sock hop! Here the kids are having fun dancing to 50's music.

Kaity in Warhol-like fashion...

Andy Warhol...German style!

During our Tapestry of Grace studies, we covered the artist Andy Warhol. Most may remember him for his amazing prints of Marilyn Monroe. We did some playing around with our computer and came up with our own prints. What do you think?

We have wrapped up another unit of Tapestry of Grace. In this unit we studied Dr. Seuss, Charles Schulz, civil rights and the space race. These are only a few of the topics covered, but probably some of our favorites. In the top picture the kids are dressed in our interpretation of 50's clothing. Caleb with a white t, dark jeans and high tops. Addy with Capri's, a white shirt with a pink sweater adorned with an A, and white tennis shoes. Kaity in Capri's, pink t with a k and white tennis shoes. The bottom pictures shows some of the work that the kids have done this semester. Dr. Seuss hats, a lapbook on a Kennedy event, color book of the solar system ect..