Thankful for a safe and fun trip!

Well, today officially wrapped up a week's stay in Florida. We managed to have fun in Walt Disney World with my wife's family. Like, it would be anything but fun! It was an awesome time! A time to share with one another, especially Bob, Sheri, and their three kids, whom we haven't really seen for over two years. (They are missionaries in SE Asia). We all had a great time, but are very exhausted. We made it to all four of the WDW Theme parks, spent time at Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, met lots of characters, took in three parades, three fireworks displays, and tons of other stuff. Some day you will have to see our 575+ pics of the week.

But the most thankful thing about this trip was our safe return home. When we left Florida this morning to head back to Ohio, we were met with a bumpy ride in the flight with some serious turbulence from the storm that just started to hit our area. By the time we were in Akron, ready to land, we had to circle around for a second attempt because of the snow/ice conditions on the runway. My poor wife was really terrified even after we landed safely. In what should have taken us a little over an hour to get back home, it took us almost 2 1/2 hours to get from Akron to our home. The roads were so bad, that our top speed was about 35 mph on good stretches of road, and about 20 mph for most of the travel. My hands were white by the time we got home because of clutching the wheel for deer life. Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit, but seriously, it was pretty bad out there, but we are glad to be home, safe and sound. Now I'm about ready to hit the bed. So good night all, I'm sure we will post some pics soon from our recent trip to WDW.

John

What Hannah has to say about Thanksgiving, a direct quote:

"I want you to know that all about Thanksgiving. That you shouldn't be so grumpy about Thanksgiving. This is from your friend Hannah.

I ate turkey and some other stuff, some mashed potatoes and stuffing, it was good. And after all that eating I played and played with Daniel. I want you to really know that Thanksgiving is loving, sharing and being nice.

I am thankful for the food, Grandma and Papa, Nana and Papa Shira. And of course what I am thankful for is the sun and Christmas and God, and that he sent his son to the earth to live with us. That is a present and I really wanted you to know that.

Goodbye and thanks for this day."

More miracles

Luke had his ear tubes replaced today. I know it is a minor thing but any surgery has potential to be serious. Luke did very well considering he couldn't have lunch and his surgery wasn't until 4:30pm. He played well waiting at the hospital and didn't even cry when they took him back. The anaesthesiologist told us that Luke was sitting on the operating table and when he asked him to lay down he simply said, "No". That's my man, he knows his mind. He was a little crabby afterwords until he got everything off and was dressed. He also did better after some dinner. We are thankful to God for his care of Luke even in this little thing. Luke's great disposition today was due to everyone's prayers.

Fun filled fall frolic

Here are our two kids enjoying a fun filled fall frolic afternoon at our home. The kids really enjoy being outside when the weather permits. Lately we have had some cold rainy weather. We piled up the leaves at the end of the slide and both kids had fun sliding into the pile. We also made another pile that Hannah and Luke had fun running into the pile and hiding in the leaves. I'm glad I had the camera ready this time.

Yesterday, Luke started to realize his own name. He named off mommy, daddy, and Hannah and then said, "I'm a Lukey." It was pretty cute. It never ceases to amaze me how kids grow and develop even in their self-awareness. He would often look at pictures of himself and say "baby," but now he is started to realize that his name is "Lukey." His speech and words are becoming clearer each day. Although he often goes around saying, " 'ello" for just about everything. So it does take some time trying to figure out sometimes what he is trying to say.

Last week for Hannah's gymnastics class, she was the only one who showed up. The other two or three girls must have been out for "all beggars" night. Last Thursday was "Trick or Treat" night in the area for the kids in town. We have chosen not to really celebrate Halloween with our kids. It just isn't the same as it was 20 or 30 years ago. Neither Andrea nor I feel very comfortable with all the negative influences that have been going on with this particular day. We are also having a hard time in giving the "Evil One" a special day when it goes completely against everything we believe in. We don't mind dressing up and pretending. Hannah does that all the time. But we object to witches, demons, and other occultic costumes that we did see a lot of that night. But I see I've digressed way to much. What I really wanted to mention was that Hannah had a very special night at gymnastics by being the only one in her group to show up. She had a lot of personalized attention and even got to go out on the main floor with all the "big" girls. She got to really try a big balance beam, the trampoline, the uneven bars, etc. She was pretty tired by the end of the day, but we had a lot of fun watching her.

After gymnastics, I took the kids out to eat supper at Wendy's. Now this was a "treat" for us, because I usually come back home and make a late supper. But since it was "Trick or Treat" night in our area, we went out and still had some "treats." The kids got to see "Wendy" or at least an employee dressed like her; she was handing out some candy and toys to the kids who stopped by. Then we went to Walmart, where the kids got some more candy. So even though we didn't go out in costume or to get candy, we still had some.

On the homeschool front, Hannah has now learned sounds for: a, b, f, i, k, m, and t. We are trying to "blend" sight words with Hannah so that she can start reading soon. She really enjoys doing the workbooks and reading "Berenstain Bears." She also likes playing outside, eating ice cream, and having fun with Luke.

Well, I guess that is about all for now. We'll post more latter as thing continue to happen around here.

Other Happenings

We have been busy lately with fun and routine things. It is easy to let the blog slide but I know a lot of you look forward to keeping up to date with us this way and so I'll try to include some of the things that have been going on lately.

As you can see in the picture, Hannah got to be a magician's assistant a few weeks back at the Prairie Peddler. She had a lot of fun with that. Hannah kept making more wands appear and was running out of places to hold them. Hannah also got to make a candle with mommy at the Pedler. She really got to do a lot of things while we were there. She also got to play a dulcimer, and watch her name being carved into a piece of marble while she was holding it.

We have also made a count down paper chain for our upcoming trip to Florida. I don't think an hour goes by that it is not mentioned by someone. We are all excited about the family vacation. less than 2 months to go.

School continues to go well and we have started on phonics in the last 2 weeks. Hannah is doing well with them and will start reading first words very soon. Her favorite things to do is read the Big Book of Nature with the Bearenstein Bears and the workbook pages. She has really learned how to do some many things in such a short amount of time. We have done several science experiments and she loves to ask questions.

Unfortunately the hardest ones to answer are usually the ones we aren't expecting. She already has a good grasp about God and how sin separates us from Him and our need for forgiveness. She is always willing to pray at meals or if someone needs it. She has prayed for many of you already by name.

She continues to enjoy gymnastics. Speaking of gymnastics, Luke enjoys watching Hannah doing her gymnastics. He enjoys it so much, that today he started doing his "ta da" stretches to the sky every once in a while. It took us a while to figure out what he was doing. He is such a charmer and at the same time, such a huge whiner. It is so hard to believe that he is two!

Earlier this week, Hannah got to see a bird's eye view of the Magic Kingdom using MS Live maps program online. She is so excited to go and see Cinderella. I think both of the kids are going to really enjoy being there. Tonight, we got some new cups for Luke. I know, we can spoil the kids once in a while. Lukie was so excited to see his new cup with "Mater" as in "Tow Mater" and "Cars" aka "Lighting McQueen" from Pixar's "Cars" movie. It is one of his favorite shows to watch on TV. Thanks Granma and Papa for letting us borrow it.

Well, I guess we have finally caught up to date. We will be more earnest in trying to keep this going.

Birthday Boy

Hard to believe that LukeAaron is 2 now. as you can tell from the pictures we all had a good time celebrating at his party a few days ago. (I'm pretty proud of his cake also.)

He is definitely 2 now and acting terrible lately. He has developed this new moaning thing he does when he is upset. It is just a constant nasally moan he repeats over and over again. He has also developed an affinity for direct disobedience and has become good at standing in the corner as a result. Oh well, we certainly wouldn't change this little miracle boy for anything in the world.

Houston, we have a problem...

In a not so characteristic way, we here in the Eagle's nest have a small problem. It seems that one of our baby eaglets is trying to fly away already. Yup, in a not so friendly way, our little son, LukeAaron, has learned how to climb out of the nest! Okay, maybe I'm over exaggerating at this, but he has learned how to climb out of his crib!

Yikes!

Not only has he learned to do this, but earlier today, he got of a hold of his sister's wallies. Wallies are little pictures, or in this case flowers, bees, and ladybugs, from above his sister's bed. In the past three days, he has gotten out of his bed at least a half dozen times. When he climbs out when he's suppose to be taking a nap, he remains fairly quiet and goes about his mischievous ways. This morning, we woke up an hour early with Hannah yelling, "Lukie just climbed out of his bed." Grrrr. Momma Eagle is not a happy camper, but the good news is that Hannah took it pretty well. She wants us to replace some of the wallies with "Tinkerbell," her favorite character.

So, off we go now, looking for a crib tent for LukeAaron. Hopefully, we can find one soon to keep him from falling out and breaking something, or creating more mischief.

More on Luke...

I thought I would share a little more about Luke for once. He has taken a recent interest in caring for Hannah's baby dolls. This picture was taken at dinner the other night where he shared his drink with the baby. He also loves to push them around in the stroller. Don't worry Papas, he still loves trucks and anything else that moves and makes noise.

Luke also had a visit to the ear doctor this week. Luke's ear tubes are starting to come out and the right one is blocked. Due to our upcoming airplane trip to Florida, the doctor is fairly certain that he will have to replace Luke's ear tubes before then. That means more surgery in November sometime. Remember us all in prayer for that.

Science Project

Today in school we did a little science experiment from the Big Book of Science that I bought a while ago. The whole family had fun and the project was a success.

Hannah says, "I had a lot of fun and I loved in when all the colors flew around. The End. "

The fair

Hannah and I took some mother daughter time and went to the fair Wednesday afternoon. We had a nice time and really got to enjoy the animals as it was not crowed at all. She was able to pet a horse, sheep, pig, and cow. We talked about the differences in the animal's fur and such. She also watch the elephant show which she really enjoyed seeing how they are her favorite animal. She was most excited about the cotton candy however, especially the pink flavor.
That reminds me of something she said that day. She was very eager to see the pigs and I asked why. She said, "I like them because they're pink." I should have known.

Miracles

My children are miracles. I know that is not really profound except when you truly think about it. Children are God's miracles for us. They are tangible grace, completely undeserved. They work little miracles in my heart everyday too.

We were getting ice cream the other day and when Hannah got her kid sized dish John said, "Hannah it is just the right size for you." To which Hannah replied, "They must have remembered me."

Hannah has been having a hard time with lying. Today on the way to gymnastics, we were listening to the radio and heard the end of a popular christian children's radio show. It happened to be on lying. Hannah caught on and asked me this, "How did they know he was lying." I think she was trying to get some pointers for lying success. Today she tried to charm me out of a lie. She said something under her breath to me, I think negative but I'm not sure. When I asked her what she said she replied, "I said you are so beautiful mommy." I know that's not what she really said. For miracles, they sure sin a lot. Unlike me, God can see into my heart and know when I am lying no matter what. I would do well to remember that.

Luke on the other hand is a miracle in his own way. I never thought he would be doing so well at this point. The kid talks a lot and usually very clearly. He knows what he wants and makes no bones about it. The kids have been playing house the last few days. At one point today Hannah said it was night time and so they laid down for a few seconds until Luke pops up with, "Morning time!" Hannah didn't like being overruled but Luke was ready to play again.

I wonder what they'll be like in 10 or 20 years.

Tongue Spankings..

Earlier tonight I had to discipline HJ for lying to me. Andrea and I have been working on this for a while. We keep threatening to "spank" her tongue when she gives us a bad attitude or in this case lies to us. Well, tonight, I caught her trying to blame her brother for something that only HJ could have done. LAJ, our ds, was right beside her, but not tall enough to spill the butter and frozen corn on the floor. I wasn't mad at her, but made her tell me what happened. Then she tried to blame it on LAJ before I made her stand in the corner. Then she said it was an accident. Saying it was an "accident" is her favorite way of getting out of trouble. Well, tonight I had enough of it, so while she was standing in the corner, I put some Frank's on a spoon and went in to talk to her. At first I was going to have her close her eyes and open her mouth. She looked and saw it coming. She knew right away what it was. I told her that there are consequences for lying. I also explained how much God hates lying and how it hurts mommy and daddy, not to mention anyone else caught up in the lie. So she tried keeping her hands in front of her mouth and didn't want to taste it. Needless to say, she got more than she wanted to on her tongue after being "spanked" with the hot sauce. Afterwards, we had a long talk and a good hug. It amazes me how much children will try to do whatever they can to get away from punishment. It also makes me question my own spiritual life in understanding how God must hate to discipline us when we sin with our tongue. James had a lot to say about controlling our tongues. I hope that HJ learned a valuable lesson in keeping her tongue from lying tonight as well.

First day of Gymnastics!

Yesterday, our dd started her first day of gymnastics. She has been wanting to do this for the longest time. At first I thought she would be in a class of five other girls, but when we got there, there was only one other girl in the class. So there was a lot of attention given to both of them. First they got their carpets and did stretches. The picture here is something they do after each station that they practice. They do the "tada" stance. Then they started doing a lot of basic sections. They went to the springboard to start learning how to jump on the platform. Then they went and learned how to do somersaults. They did the normal tuck-down roll-forward, then from a leg-spread stance, then they did them backwards. From there they got to practice on the bar and dd loved hanging upside down like a monkey. She even got to walk on a balance beam. She really had a lot of fun. Once some additional girls got there for the next section, HJ and the girls got to play with a parachute. She loved hiding under it. Well, more about this later when Andrea gets to go next week. I'm sure it will be more exciting from her perspective then mine. :-)

Funny Faces--Aren't we cute?

Here's our two kiddo's making funny faces at mommy. Mommy was playing around with the kids the other night, I thought some of you might enjoy seeing how wonderful they are. Ds has now had two surgeries for his cleft lip/palette. If you ask me, it is pretty amazing how God has created such a handsome little man for us to enjoy. Did I mention that he is a real charmer already? Just ask his mommy.

Doubling up the days...

Well, after doing almost a week and a half of our Core B program, we have decided that our dd could handle a little more challenges, so we are going to do two days of school according to the curriculum for each day we do school. So far we are keeping to M-F schedules, but we will see how it goes.

This morning, Daddy Eagle and dc were out playing in the grass. It was a wonderful time to let the kids explore. I caught a lightning bug and gave it to HJ. She thought it was the neatest thing to see one up close. I showed her where the light came from and she was looking very intently at it. But once it took off she was pretty shocked, almost scared even. Then we looked at all the crickets we have in our backyard. I have never seen so many in all my life! They were jumping all over the yard. HJ and LA really enjoyed watching them. HJ even had one sitting in her hand for a little while. Then they started looking for the ants. WHO needs public school when God has provided an unexpected "science" lesson just by being outside. Isn't this the way school should be? HJ is enjoying the readings. Today we read a story called "Tiger eats a Monkey" At first HJ was afraid for the cute monkeys on the page. But as we read the story, the tiger was tricked into eating a horrible disgusting fruit from a tanamark (sp?) tree and the monkey was saved. She was listening very intently to the story. Mama Eagle has been doing great with keeping HJ on task with the workbook portions and we are both sharing in the stories. I think we are going to really enjoy teaching our kids.

Well, goodnight for now from the Aerie! John

Tootle the train

This is Hannah's report on the story entitled Tootle:

I love the story so much. The story talked about Tootle the train. Tootle was trying to learn to stay on the tracks but he went off in the grass. But soon he grew a beard and he was big. He learned stay on the tracks. Love from Hannah Joy

Romps in the bed...

Our Dear Children (DC) love to romp in bed with mommy and daddy. Earlier today, DD was hiding from her brother and I. Naturally it was under the covers while mommy pretended to sleep. I'm not sure how this family bedtime started, but it continues to be a lot of fun for us. I laid down beside HJ on the other side of the bed and kept pretending that I was bumping into mommy. The next thing I hear is "hey, daddy just put his bum on my head, get it off!!!!" Naturally we started giggling and DS proceeds to bounce on his sister under the covers. These are the moments in our day that makes having kids a lot of fun.

The other thing our DC love to do is bounce like Tigger on the bed and fall forward flat onto their faces. I'm not sure how this could be much bun, but DS loves to free fall. He is such an adventurous kid and seemingly has no fear when it comes to things like that, and yet at the same time, would rather be carried down the stairs rather than walking down them by himself. Go figure. We are eternally thankful for our two children.

One last note, tonight on the way back from the "big" city near us, DD was in the back of the car singing about how Jesus died on the cross so that everyone could live with him one day. Talk about moments that make your heart proud! I can't believe that she gets the core message of the Bible already at the tender age of 4 1/2. Thank God for his grace to teach our kids what is truly important.

Oh be careful little hands

My ds the other morning wanted his breakfast. So I poured his cereal in a bowl which usually I take to the table for him while he carries the spoon. For some reason this morning I gave him the bowl. He took it in both little hands and very carefully, looking at it the whole time, took tiny baby steps all the way to the table without spilling. Even his sister doesn't do that. How did he know to walk differently because he was holding a full bowl? My children never cease to amaze me. Such precious little creatures full of life and wonder at everything. Truly God's greatest blessing.

Our first week of school...

I can't believe we are finally finished with our first week of school. Our DD just continues to amaze me with her grasp of learning new things. The Developing the Early Learner (DEL) workbook we have been using this week is designed to test a students perceptual skills in several areas. I don't know if our dear sister-in-law has been using these with her kids or not, but it is neat to see how DD reacts to different skills like auditory/memory skills versus perceptual skills. She is eager to try new things all the time, but she also wants to try them by herself. Her favorite phrase with me is "Daddy, you just don't understand what I'm trying to tell you." Should I really believe this or not? DD gets so frustrated when I try to even remotely explain things to her. She is obviously going to be one of those dear children who have to learn the hard knock life her own way.

On the other hand, DS is such a snuggle bug. He loves to "wock" in the rocking chair with mommie and I. He is going to be quit the charmer when he grows up. I'm not sure where he gets it from, but my dear wife says it is probably from me. It's kind of hard to resist a kid with big eyelashes and a charming smile. Watch out ladies, he may be more than you bargained for. On the other hand, he is also a very rough and tumble boy. He loves to play with daddy, especially climbing on daddy's back and bouncing all the time. I'm not sure how he is learning it, but already he is taking more boo boo's then his sister and crying less about it. DD has reached the point of hormonal influx already where one look or wrong word from me and she is in absolute tears. "What did I say or do?" My wife keeps telling me it's a "girl" thing. I sure hope so! But if she is already starting at 4 1/2 years, what is life with HJ going to be like in 10 years? Maybe that's why the kids are so charming at this age? So you don't pummel them later in life because they have already won your heart. GRRR! But that is what parenthood is all about really--loving your kids so much that you don't kill them, but at the same time learning to gently correct and discipline them for life in the real world with the hopes that one day they will learn to love the Lord Our God as much as their parents.

Well stay tuned for more in the next few weeks. We may actually find ourselves speading up our reading/homework sheets just because HJ is sooooo ready for them.

DD is excited about gymnastics

DD was so excited today at the prospect of doing some gymnastics. If you know anything about her, she just loves to tumble, stand on her head, and any other crazy thing she can do. Tonight, we took her to one of our local fine arts centers to check it out and see about enrolling her in a gymnastics class. They only take 5-6 students per class time and were all filled up with the exception of the class we went to tonight. Needless to say, we enrolled her and she starts next week. Tomorrow will wrap up our first official week of homeschooling her. It has been fun so far. I can now understand why my wife's sister loves to use Sonlight for her children in Bangladesh. It is an awesome program and the forums that we are on have been a great way to learn about this new way of life. Our little Aerie is going to be a great learning experience for all of us. I can't wait to see what God will do for us in the upcoming year.

By the way, we are hoping that this will also be an informal way for our family to stay in contact and get to know us better. It has been hard these past several years being away from a part of the family when they are missionaries serving a much needed compound to leprosy. Obviously we can't give much details about them, but I will say we are really looking forward to their furlough in a few short months and spending some time with them. Did we mention that we are going to take a "school field trip" to Disney World? Okay, maybe not, but I think it will be awesome to really be able to compare notes about schooling, life and everything else while we are all there as a family.

As you read the post below this one, I also want to say thanks to our Papa B for helping us name our school. We love the title!

How our school got it's name

As you will notice, the name of our homeschool is unique. We spent a lot of time thinking about it and even got the help of my dad. We started with a school verse and mission taken from Isaiah 40:28-31 which reads,
"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths will grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint."

We feel this verse will give our children a foundational understanding about God that will serve them lifelong. One reason we decided to homeschool is because we believe that our children need to be equipped for spiritual battles. The Bible says that in this world we WILL have trouble. I want our children to know that the only Real strength, the only Real hope, the only Real life worth living is in Jesus Christ.

An aerie is an eagle's nest. It is the safe place were baby eagles grow, are nurtured and learn to fly. We pray that our home and school is this to our children. We pray they learn to fly with Christ.

First day of homeschool

Mommy and dd started their first day of pre-k homeschooling yesterday. We are using the Core B package from Sonlight.org. We have been waiting a long time for this big day! Now that it has finally arrived, we are glad to be doing this. This blog will be a family effort to track the progress of our little school and family life while homeschooling. Hannah likes that "we are reading books, that we are coloring, and that I am staying in the lines." I really think Hannah will do wonderful with being homeschooled, (hs). She already knows her letters and sounds, numbers 1-20, colors, shapes, animals, and is a wonderful little girl.