Day AFTER Christmas baking?

Yes, I know we're a bit late...we just ran out of time before Christmas.  This has actually worked out really well, it's helped to overcome the after Christmas letdown.  The kids had a wonderful time making graham cracker "gingerbread" houses and making and decorating gingerbread cookies.  Can you believe it's the first time we've ever made gingerbread cookies???  I think they came out pretty good, if I do say so myself.  Charlotte seemed to really get into it too.  She often wanders off by herself here, so I was excited to find something that she enjoyed doing!  She did a great job of decorating her house!!

A gingerbread girl funny~~As we were decorating the gingerbread girls, one of them lost an arm....yes, Shaoey ran over to Grace and showed her "her" gingerbread girl~missing an arm!!  LOL

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star~Gracie style!

This is Grace's favorite song to sing! She will sing it allllll day!



BTW, the tutu Grace is wearing was made by a friend of mine who is fundraising for their next adoption!  Please stop by and check out Dawn's blog where she has pictures of all the things she's making to raise the money needed to adopt!

Shaoey singing and dancing

Shaoey LOVES to make up songs as she dances.  I hope you enjoy today's performance!




BTW, the tutu Shaoey is wearing was made by a friend of mine who is fundraising for their next adoption!  Please stop by and check out Dawn's blog where she has pictures of all the things she's making to raise the money needed to adopt!

Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas!  We spent time with Troy's family on Christmas Eve, our traditional chicken and sausage gumbo and opening presents from youngest to oldest.  We've done that for as long as I can remember and longer!  This morning, Troy and I woke to find 3 of our children in our room asleep.  We crept out and fixed coffee and Troy lit the fire.  After the kids got up, we read Luke 2~the story of Jesus' birth.  What a wonderful tradition, so see them understand more and more, to start our day honoring the reason for the day.  The kids had a wonderful time opening their presents and working together.

Here's a rough draft of the video I'm working on of our Christmas photos:

New shipment of bracelets!!!

Christmas presents?--Shepherd's Field Children's Village--raising awareness and funds.

I still have a few from the other batch so be sure to check the post right before this one. I received a wide selection this time. For many of them, I only have one, so if you see one you want it be sure to hurry and let me know! Remember they are only $7 each and make wonderful gifts.  
All proceeds go to Grace's orphanage. 


Please tell me which picture and what number bracelet from the left.

Picture 1:

Picture 2:

Picture 3:

Picture 4: (leaf one sold)

Picture 5:

Picture 6: (first and third sold)

Picture 7: (first and third sold)

If you live in near here, I would be more than happy to bring them to you for you to look through!

Christmas presents?--Shepherd's Field Children's Village--raising awareness and funds UPDATE

As most of you know, in addition to our 2 wonderful sons, Troy and I have 2 daughters from China. We are also hoping to adopt another little girl who is at Grace's orphanage. Adoption has changed and enriched our lives in so many ways. It has opened our eyes to see God's hand at work, truly shown us what God has done for us when He adopted us, blessed us with 2 amazing daughters who could only have been chosen by God.

But it has also opened our eyes and hearts to the plight of orphans and God's command to ALL Christians to care for them. For some this may mean adoption (which I would LOVE to discuss with you if you're feeling led); for some it may mean helping others to adopt--with financial support, a friend to lean on, cry with, and rejoice with; for others it may mean giving of ourselves with our time, prayers, and finances.

Our Grace was truly blessed to live at Shepherd's Field Children's Village. This was not her original orphanage. She was moved from her original orphanage when she was 2 months old. In God's wisdom, great blessing, and HUMOR (if you know Grace and how big she is for a 3 year old), the reason she was moved wasn't her missing arm--it was for "failure to thrive!"

SFCV is an orphanage dedicated to children with special needs and is run by Philip Hayden foundation, an American Christian foundation. SFCV is not only an orphanage, they are growing and expanding constantly. Check out http://chinaorphans.org/phfblog/ about-sfcv/ to see EVERYTHING they do for the orphans. SFCV is also in need of sponsors for the children. One way we are raising awareness for them is to sell jade bracelets. We are selling the bracelets for $7 each. ALL profits go to SFCV! I think these would make wonderful gifts at Christmas time. I always love gifts that keep on giving!

Bracelets are $7 each.  If you're interested in purchasing any bracelets, you can email me at troyandcharlene93 @ yahoo.com (take out spaces).

If you are interested in adoption, we have 2 blogs about our adoptions:
http://www.journeytoshaoey.com/
http://www.yourgraceisenough.com/.

And SFCV's site is www.ChinaOrphans.org

Picture 1: (SOLD OUT)

Picture 2: (1 left in brown)

Picture 3:

Picture 4:

Picture 5: (SOLD OUT)

Picture 6: (SOLD OUT)

Picture 7: (SOLD OUT)

Picture 8: (SOLD OUT)

Picture 9: (1 red and 1 dark green left)

Picture 10:

Picture 11: (SOLD OUT)

Picture 12:

Picture 13: (sold out of the one on the right)

Picture 14:

Picture 15:

Picture 16: (SOLD OUT)

Picture 17:

I sold out of quite a few, but I have more coming by either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week!

Some lighthearted encouragement

Since Monday is therapy and library here at our house, Tuesdays are my Monday. Thought I share a little laughter and encouragement with you:

When life hands you lemons...

What does any self respecting homeschool family do?

We make LEMONADE, of course!

We also had a bunch of satsumas.  The kids peeled them.  Gracie had a special job of pulling the pieces apart.  We spread them on a pan and put them in to freeze.  We'll see how it works.  I figured we'd take them out the when we pack a picnic lunch and see if they've defrosted enough by lunch time!

Nature study

One Charlotte Mason study I've had trouble implementing is Nature Study.  Wierd, huh, considering we live on 6 acres...  We took a walk around the yard today, exploring, taking pictures, collecting items to look at back in the house, and trying our hand at sketching what we saw (mom, too!).  Thought I'd share some of the things we found today: