Mommy's birthday weekend

A lovely weekend to celebrate my birthday.  The kids are now finished with school and we are looking forward to getting into a summer routine of playing outside, gardening, riding bikes, and so much more. To add to our fun, Ben will be starting 4th grade classes English, Reading, and Handwriting.  He will be homeschooling in these subjects.  If it works well, he will be homeschooling this Fall, something he has been requesting for several years.  While we love our school, Ben feels that he is not challenged enough and would like to spend more time in studies, especially reading, History, and Science.
On to birthday fun...
We dropped the kids off at our friends, Roger and Tammys house on Friday night so the kids could have a sleepover.  They kindly watched our kids all day Saturday while Justin and I headed to Sundara Spa for the day. We received a gift certificate 2 Christmases ago and finally found, ok, MADE the time to use it.  We started the day early with a massage at 8am. We relaxed by the pool and enjoyed beautiful cool breeze mixed with the warm sun. We enjoyed a delicious lunch then headed back to Madison.

The kids enjoyed their time by fishing in the morning, playing outside, then making cotton candy with a cotton candy machine.

On Sunday we loaded our bikes onto and into the van and headed to the state capital for Ride The Drive.  Streets are shut down for a few hours in approximately a 6 mile loop.  We rode around the capital, down John Nolan and back.  We made several stops along the way checking out different tents and game areas. Ben competed in a fitness challenge.  He had to do a plank for as long as he could, competing his time against kids and adults from the entire day.  He ended up winning 1st place with 15 minutes 35 seconds. He was very proud and so are we!

Ride the Drive June 2012

Ben did the plank for 15:35 and was in 1st place

We are already looking forward to the Fall Ride the Drive event that will change locations and go past our church.  Our church is planning on hosting a cookout with Thrivent and will give away the food to the bikers.

Our summer is off to a great start!  We are headed on vacation soon with Mike and Allison and family and Mom and Pa.  We are also feeling optimistic that we will find out who our child is this summer!

Summer Fun Bucket List (repost)

 Taken from http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/50-summer-bucket-list/
The kids read this over my shoulder while I was at the computer this week.  They got very excited and begged and pleaded for us to be able to do some or all of these this summer.

1. Go Catch some bugs. DONE but Ian LOVES his bug friends, so this will be done over and over this summer
2. Watch a butterfly hatch from a chrysalis. DONE! We released our butterflies on Friday 6/8
3. Make and enjoy fresh kid-made limeade.
4. Paint with fizzing sidewalk paint.
5. Dream of winter by making snowglobes – love the solar system one!
6. Take a mini-road trip to a new destination.
7. Make homemade bouncy balls.  Great fun if you bring them to the splash pad!
8. Make a fire, create and roast campfire food with these yummy smore cones.
9. Freeze some fun toys in ice and be an excavator and chip them free.
10. Jump rope - create a fun durable rope from marker lids.
11. Play I-Spy outside!  Great way to notice the little details in the world around you!
12. Clean out the trash cans… and then make noise with them!  My kids love trashcan drumming.
13. With a balloon and a CD fly a CD hover craft.
14. Play with your food – eat a pretend Lorax!-made Angry Bird sandwiches 6/12
15. Watch ants change colors and learn about how they digest food with a fun outdoor experiment.
16. Kool-aide Slurppies. Nothing says summer time better than slurppies by the pool.
17. Visit a farmers market together and make veggie smoothies (or a dessert smoothie) with the produce.
18. Fill a dry kiddie pool with a variety of items for a giant sensory tub activity.
19. Watch pill bugs race.   See if you can collect a whole “family” of bugs.
20. Make and eat some homemade kid-made butter.
21. Add some fun to your slip-n-slide, with shaving cream!
22. Use damaged pool noodles for art, a sword fight, or to create a marble run.
23. Play outdoor bingo - go on a hunt for the items on your card.  Whoever finds things in a row first wins.
24. Experience and explore gravity by playing with pulleys
25. Decorate rocks for your garden – with melted crayons!
26. Have a lazy boardgame afternoon.  Here are some of our suggested best board games.
27. Pick a flower, with your favorite color of paint make flower prints.
28. Explore the colors of the rainbow with ice.
29. Play with glow sticks – put them inside balloons, dump the contents into jars of water, paint with them, etc.
30. Create with your recycle bin – make art and toys out of trash.
31. Have a lemonade stand with the kids – put smiles on your neighbors faces.
32. Decorate some tin cans and create some DIY windchimes.  Compare the sounds of different sizes/shapes of cans.
33. Collect your summer memories into a keepsake jar.
34. Create art sculptures with tin foil.
35. Decorate your yard with balloon people OR make a bunch and hand them out at the park – put smiles on the kids faces.
36. Get muddy and make some dirt soup with the kids! DONE. Another fun adventure last week
37. Paint with water outside – I love mess-free art!
38. Foam – a messy project, great to incorporate with washing the car! Make foam and then use the flakes to wash the car.
39. Make a water xylophone with the kids to make music with.
40. Freeze bananas (or grapes, strawberries, etc. Dip them in chocolate or yogurt for a fun summer treat.
41. Play with giant bubbles – the bigger the better.
42. Take the kids fishing
43. Explore your shadow – trace them, chase them, make them dance!
44. Have a tea party – outside.  Bring your friends and stuffed animals.
45. Make a splashpad at your own house with a DIY PVC pipe sprinkler system.
46. Have fun decorating the garden with some paving stones.
47. Water the yard – the slow way, with homemade watering cans.
48. Explore scents outside with a water table experiment.
49. Play and mold sculptures with Rice Crispie Treats
50. Science Fun - Do Science experiments outside

God's Garden

Each year we set out to plant our garden.  With the beautiful weather, we were able to plant several weeks ago.  We plant a garden in our backyard and a few blocks away we plant a larger garden for big items such as watermelon, sunflowers, pumpkins, and corn.  At the end of the school year, each elementary class put together a basket for the teachers who were not returning and for the principal, who is celebrating his last year at ALCS after 29 years.  We put together a basket for Ben's teacher and a gardening basket for Mr. Zehner.  In the basket contained several gift certificates and gardening items.  With it, a verse and poem. We pray for God's continued blessings on those who are moving on to the next chapter in their lives. They will be missed as one of many smiling faces at ALCS.

Gardening God's Way

The 2nd grade class gave Mr. Zehner a garden themed gift with fresh veggies and gardening items.  However, it was the thoughtful card that caught the eye as each student signed the card that included the words to the beautiful hymn "In the Garden" and the poem "Gardening God's Way."  The students' gift was based on the Isaiah 58:11 Bible verse that reads, "The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.  You will be like  well-watered GARDEN, like a spring whose waters never fail."

Mr. Zehner greatly loved this poem and we thought it would be a great reminder to us all to 'garden' God's way this summer!

Gardening God's Way ~ author unknown

Plant three rows of peas:  Peace of mind, Peace of heart, Peace of soul

Plant four rows of squash:  Squash gossip, Squash indifference, Squash grumbling, Squash selfishness

Plant four rows of lettuce:  Lettuce be faithful, Lettuce be kind, Lettuce be obedient, Lettuce love one another

No garden should be without turnips:  Turnip for service, Turnip to help one another

Water freely with patience and cultivate with love.

There is abundance in your garden . . . because you reap what you sow.

To conclude our garden, we must have thyme:  Thyme for God, Thyme for study, and Thyme for prayer.

End of May Update

Waiting week after week is hard.  I try to email about every 2-3 weeks for updates from our agency, AIAA. Today my email asked again for any updates and knowing that the new policies are going into effect soon, I asked if and how that will affect us.  The response is a little different this time.  There are now 5 families, which includes ours, that are waiting from around the same time our home study went to Korea (HTK). I am not sure if that means family #6 got a referral or dropped out.  Tammy stated that the director of AIAA is headed to SWS in mid June and should have more information when she returns.  What I interpret this as is that there will be no referrals until that time.  My hopes of a referral for my birthday is gone, even though I knew it was a long shot.
Ben and Cami finish up school tomorrow and Ian finishes next week. I look forward to our family vacation coming up. It will be nice to get away and spend time together traveling the country.

1 Chronicles 16:11 
Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.

Psalm 27:14 
Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

A Knight for a Princess

Big smiles came from our princess when she found out that City Church was holding A Knight for a Princess again this year.  She was excited to have a father/ daughter date night with her daddy.  They both got dressed up.  Daddy rang the door bell and brought flowers for his date.  They rode in their chariot (a blue minivan) and headed to the dance.  They enjoyed ham and potatoes, mac and cheese, corn, jello, punch, and cupcakes for dinner.  They enjoyed all the activities, including, dancing, a magician, art projects (her favorite), bingo (she won a Culvers gift card for another date night w/ daddy), and crafts and coloring.  It was a fun filled night!  Photographers were on hand to take pictures of everyone and posted them on a special website for the dads and daughters to download.  A wonderful evening for a princess and her knight!

Psalm 130

We wait and wait and wait. Any day now. Still waiting on you Lord.  

Praying that our child is know to us soon.

I wait for the Lord

my whole being waits,

and in his word I put my hope.

I wait for the Lord

more than watchmen wait for the morning,

more than watchmen wait for the morning.

Psalm 130

Phillipians 4:6

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Philippians 4:6 NLT