The Snowy Day

Recently I started doing themed units and lap books with Camden and Logan.  So far, they are loving it and I am loving that I can combine the two of them.  It’s funny, someone commented to me the other day, “It’s almost as if you have twins.”  And it really is.  I have two of everything.  What one does, the other wants to do.   I have double “crafts” hung around my house from the two of them. 

Yesterday we woke up to this:

So I thought it was the perfect opportunity to do our snowy day theme (actually I started it with them the day before, knowing snow was coming).

We read The Snowy Day and then there’s always  a variety of activities to do including crafts, worksheets, games, songs, etc. 

They had fun making different patterns with these snowflakes.

Logan had “winter clothes” and Camden had “summer clothes” and they had to put the clothes on the correct picture.

I had Logan do this worksheet thinking it might be too hard for Camden, but after Camden insisted he wanted to do it, I let him and I was very impressed with how good he did tracing the letters and remembering the “s” sound.

Tracing the patterns in the snow.

I put together these shape cards and had them find the different shapes in our story.  Then I had them find the shapes around the house.  Wow, they had so much fun doing this!

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Enough inside stuff, it’s time to head outside!!!

Winter wonderland!  It was a wet and heavy snow.  Perfect for making snowmen, snowballs and snow forts.  Also perfect for hanging on the tree branches and enjoying how beautiful it is.

Our giant snowman!  He’s got a cowboy hat on, of course!

Now you can see just how giant he is.  (Eli is missing because he was stuck inside not feeling good.)

Logan putting the eyes on.

Camden putting the carrot nose on.  Josh had to stand on a bench and lift him up.

Love this picture of these two.

Isabella and Ferdinand even enjoyed the snow! :)

Word of my testimony

About a month or so ago I started studying Psalm91. Verse by verse, line by line, word by word. This passage is nicknamed God’s Umbrella of Protection and as I studied it more, my eyes were open as to what that  meant.  Little did I know how God was going to  show me what it meant to trust in His Word.

About a month ago my boys started going ice fishing with Josh.  All four of them.  I will never forget the first time they left. I was working and Josh decided to take them for the afternoon so I could meet my deadline.  About 10 minutes after they were gone, I had a vision of one of them falling through the ice.  I’m not sure which one, but it was one of the younger two.  My heart started racing, my chest felt like an elephant was on it and I couldn’t get a full, deep breath. Simply put:  I was panicking about something that had never happened.

I shook my head to erase the image, told myself that it was ridiculous and went on working.  Not more than five minutes later, I had the same vision.   The panic feeling came back and I felt sick to my stomach.  I wondered what I should do. I contemplated calling Josh to see if everything was okay.  Or maybe I should go pick up the boys and bring them home to safety. 

Then the words of Psalm 91 came back to me:  “He shall call upon Me and I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him…”  In other words, God wants you to say out loud—“I trust you, Lord! And I know You are the One who protects me (and my family) from harm!”

I didn’t know if my son was in trouble or not, but I did know that  God promised to protect my family if I called out to Him.  I immediately asked God to protect my boys and I started saying out loud parts of Psalm 91.  I was panicking so I wasn’t clearly thinking so I was saying the verses out of order, but regardless, I was speaking God’s Word.  I was calling out to Him in my time of trouble and He promised to be with me.

Within seconds of speaking God’s Word, I felt an overwhelming peace come over me.  The nightmarish vision disappeared.  My thoughts were cleared.  I truly felt “the peace that passes understanding.”  It was amazing.   I didn’t feel the panic.  I didn’t feel the need to call Joshua to see if things were okay.  I didn’t feel scared anymore.  I was at utter peace. 

I thanked God for His protection and I was able to continue working without fear for my boys.  Turns out the boys had a fabulous time fishing.   The boys have gone ice fishing many times since and I’ve never felt that fear or panic again, but each time they have gone out ice fishing, I have asked for God’s protection and then thanked Him for it.  I have repeated Psalm 91 and reminded myself that fear is not of God.

On February 14th, Valentine’s Day, Joshua took three of the four boys out ice fishing yet again.  Isaac, Eli and Logan.  Camden stayed home because he was napping.  I had no fear in letting them go, but I did pray for their protection. 

About an hour after they had been gone, I received a phone call from Joshua.  I wasn’t worried at all when I saw it was his number calling because God has given me such a peace about ice fishing.   However, on the other end of the phone Josh said the words I dreaded to hear, “Eli fell threw the ice.”

Now, you would think I would have panicked hearing those words, like that same panic feeling that came over me from my earlier vision.  But it didn’t.  I calmly asked if he was all right to which Joshua said yes, he was fine, just very wet and I needed to come pick him up.  

I, of course, dropped everything and quickly went to pick him up.  And it was upon hearing the whole story that I realized how God’s hand of protection was all over the situation. 

Have you ever seen how a mother hen covers her chicks with her wings when the hawk flies down to hurt them?  Under their mother’s wings, those chicks are safe.  This is how I envisioned my sons that day.  Because if you trust God, God will hide you from harm and the devil cannot touch you.  Instead of living in fear, I chose to live by faith.  I put my boys in God’s hands and trusted Him with their lives.  And He was faithful!

As the story goes, Eli and Logan were getting restless so Josh said they could go walk around a bit on the ice.  And that’s exactly what they did.  When Eli fell threw, he put his hands up to catch his fall.  This prevented him from going under.  His feet could not touch the ground even though they were close to shore.  When he fell in, Logan started scooting closer to him and reaching out his arm to help him.  Eli yelled at Logan to get back so Logan wouldn’t fall through also.  Eli used his arms and kicking his legs to get out of the water.  He was wet up to his waist.

A day or so after this happened, I had somebody ask me if we had talked to the boys about what to do if they fell threw the ice and if that’s how Eli knew to put his arms out.  I thought, “What a good idea,” but no, we had not taught our sons to do that.  Why did he do that?  How did he know?  I have to believe it was God.

And that he knew enough in that moment to realize what Logan was doing and that Logan could potentially fall through so he yelled at him to get back, I have to believe that is also God. 

When I look back on this whole situation, I see God’s hand all over it.  It was no coincidence.  It was simply God protecting my son like He promised me He would do.  Simply because I asked Him to and I trusted Him to.

I don’t share this story to put attention on Eli.  I do it for one reason:  To give glory to God.  In fact, Eli had a few people come up to him and tell him how thankful they were for God’s protection on him and that he was safe.  He felt a little funny about the attention on him, but I explained to him the importance of not seeing this event just as a lucky coincidence but as a true intervention of God.

I have thanked God over and over again for keeping Eli safe.  Sometimes my mind wanders to the “what-ifs” and I literally feel sick to my stomach.  What if Logan was the one who fell threw?  What if Eli hadn’t put out his arms?  But I don’t stay there very long.  I much prefer to give God the glory for saving my son.  I hope my testimony encourages you.  If you love God and obey Him, you can call on Him in prayer and He WILL hear you and answer you!

Blessings!

“For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways…”  Psalm 91:11

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. “  Rev. 12:10

Sign of spring

All my boys ready for an adventure.  Josh’s latest find was this deer skull.

I know it’s only February 20th, and we could get another snow storm, but it sure feels like spring with the mild weather we’ve been having.  One sure sign of spring is all my boys going out on adventures with Dad.  They absolutely love doing these adventures.  Sometimes I tag along, but more often than not, I allow this to be “boy time” and I enjoy the quietness of home.

Here’s to hoping spring is right around the corner…..

Birthday celebration

Joshua’s birthday celebration traditionally means ice fishing on the actual birthday and bowling on the weekend.  Unfortunately, this year, it’s just ice fishing.  And I think it was the last ice fishing if this mild weather keeps up—feels like spring!

First, to show Dad how much we love him, we started with a special breakfast treat, cinnamon roll pancakes.

They would have been delicious this way, but we just had to add some yummy cream cheese frosting.

Yummy!  I found this recipe on Pinterest and I was able to change it to be allergen-free.  Everyone was able to enjoy this breakfast treat!  Logan kept saying, “These are SO good, Mom.”

I spent the morning doing schoolwork with the boys while Josh took a little nap and then went to get some bait for ice fishing.  It was sunny and 50!

Logan was the only one to catch a fish.  He saw the flag up, ran over and pulled in a 16 inch bass.  I can’t believe how he knew just what to do, although he has been going fishing quite a bit this year.  It was just the first time I had ever tagged along. 

It was a fun day.  We followed it up with a dinner out at Josh’s favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse.  :)

Happy Birthday, Joshua!!!

 

Crazy hair coming back! :)

Camden checking out the ice.

Isaac jig fishing.

Joshua getting ready.

And here is the sequence of Logan catching the fish:

Sees the flag and he starts running over to it.

He remembers to take off his gloves this time.  He can pull the string in faster that way.  Last time he had his gloves on and he was too slow—the fish got away!

Still pulling and we’re all waiting.

Got it!

He was so proud of his catch!

Dad had to measure it to make sure it was a keeper.

16 inches!  It’s a keeper!

Camden had to hold the fish too.

Cool dude holding a fish.

And the rest of the day there were no fish so Logan and Camden played with worms instead.  :)

Lead by the stomach

My eldest was negotiating with me this morning.  He wanted to go ice fishing;  I wanted him to finish some things around the house.  He promised me he would come back and finish them this afternoon.  I wasn’t thrilled with that idea because boys seem to lose track of time too easily.

His response was:  “Don’t send any food with me.  Eventually I’ll have to come back because I’ll be hungry.”

 

Sooner or later he’ll be back……for food.  :)

All-you-eat fish fry

We told the boys we would do an all-you-can-eat fish fry on Friday night.  Josh had a good day fishing the other day.

Here’s his catch:

Then he went out again today and caught more bluegills, another bass and a northern.  We thought we had plenty for a fish fry, plus some to put in the freezer. 

Boy, were we wrong.

Our boys love fish!  Between the four of them, they had the above picture gone in the blink of an eye.

Which left Josh and I looking at each other like, “What are we going to eat?!?!”  :)

So much for “putting some in the freezer.”

Twas a delicious dinner enjoyed by all.

First deer

 

Eli’s first deer.  10  years old.  January 19, 2012.

I will never forget the excitement in his voice and the look on his face.   It was just precious.  He was so proud and overflowing with joy. 

 

Isaac’s first deer.  12 years old.  January 19, 2012.

It was the coldest day of the year.  -15 with the wind chill. 

I was watching from the window and it was a wonderful thing to see.  Three does, two boys who both wanted to take a shot.  Only one could take the first shot.  Isaac stepped aside and told Eli he could take the first shot because Isaac had a shot at a deer in the November gun hunt and Eli hadn’t. 

Eli took the shot and his deer was down.  Fortunately for Isaac, the other two does did not run away.  This gave Isaac an opportunity to take a shot.  He hit the doe, but it didn’t go down right away.  They tracked it for a while and decided to let her be and try again in the morning.  The temperature was about –15 with the wind chill.  Brrr.

Dad and Isaac got up early the next morning and found Isaac’s deer not far from where they had stopped tracking her.  Isaac was so happy (and relieved) to find his.  Upon further examination, they discovered that Isaac’s bullet hit a branch and that’s why the deer wasn’t hit where he was aiming.  Another relief for Isaac. :) 

Once again, we had another deer processing time.  Something the boys are really enjoying….especially the little two. :)

Camden and Logan both took turns turning the crank.

Congratulations, Isaac and Eli!  We are so proud of you!