Early February 2010

We headed to the farm in early February of this year. Zane and I got up early with the sun to see what early birds were getting their worms. They give themselves away with their warning chirp and the bare limbs of winter trees make the little birds easier to spot. We saw several Cardinals, Mockingbirds, Warblers and two Snowy Egrets in the pasture just behind the house. Zane was fascinated with the way the sun glistened on the dew drops decorating the weeds as if they were bejeweled queens. Their glistening beauty reminded me of God's love for us. How He cleanses us, transforms us. Despite all of our brokenness Jesus' love rains down to wash away our sins and make us new again.

On that day the Lord their God will rescue his people, just as a shepherd rescues his sheep. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown. ~ Zachariah 9:16

Inquisitive Woodpecker

In early March enjoyed watching this woodpecker check out the chickadees home...

Luckily he just enjoyed the view for a few minutes and then flew away.

Update

It's been quite awhile since I posted anything about our homeschooling adventures. If you want to catch up on what has been going on in our world, please read the blog post dated August 8, 2010 at our other blog: www.twojoyfullylearning.blogspot.com

I try to keep these posts short on words. To be brief, in April David had an angiogram that diagnosed three torn arteries and aneurysm. We learned a VAST amount of knowledge about the human body, the nervous system and the vascular system.

David was placed under the care of Dr. Hesham Morsi, a Vascular Radiologist and Dr. Eric Bershad, a Vascular Neurologist. Dr. Morsi performed the angiogram and placed the stints in David's right artery. I cannot say enough about the wonderful care David received. Dr. Morsi provided us with several discs of pictures of David's arteries before and after placing the stint. He also said we could have a copy of all the images he took during the surgery. As a homeschooling mom and educator I am so thankful he gave us these images! They are completely fascinating and will come in handy this year as we study human anatomy and physiology.

Isn't it amazing how scripture truly comes alive when we look closely? This is an image made during David's angiogram. It shows all the vessels of the brain. Unbelievable! Beautiful! Fascinating!

Psalm 139:14 says, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful; I know that full well."

Bird Migration

With the changing of the seasons also comes the migration of the birds. The kids love to hear the geese honking over head and flying south. Did you know that Texas is one of the only places in the world where you can see so many birds during seasonal temperature changes and we are home to the Texas World Birding Center? Texas is located in both the Central and Mississippi migratory routes for North American birds.

We have noticed a few new birds coming to our feeder in the recent weeks. Gone are the hummingbirds.... we do miss them! However, we have a cute little variety called a Tufted Titmouse, a shy Cedar Waxwing and Yellow Rumped Warbler. At least we think we've identified him as a Yellow Rumped Warbler, although he hasn't developed his yellow rump! We also think we have a Yellow Warbler although we are not experts at bird identification yet. Please let us know if we have misidentified any of these new birds. Have you spotted any new birds in your backyard?

Yellow Rumped Warbler

Cedar Wax Wing

Tufted Titmouse

Tufted Titmouse

Yellow Warbler

Thankful

December 2nd may seem a bit late to blog about what I am thankful for. But, since I was fortunate enough to have all of last week off from my teaching duties I spent the entire week not worrying about any academic responsibilities. My focus was getting the house in order, ready for the Christmas season and spending time with family. Since all of this blog is being compiled for the kids to reflect upon someday I thought it appropriate for them to know what I am most thankful for this year.

I am fortunate for many things in my life and my list could go deep and philosophical. But this year it is simply for the time I have had to homeschool my children. Lilly and Zane, I love you more than I ever knew was possible for someone to love. There seem no words adequate enough to describe the love I have for both of you and our precious family. I am thankful that God choose me to be your mommy. And I am thankful that God choose your Dad to be my husband and your Daddy!

I am thankful for two pairs of beautiful brown eyes that have taught me to see and love the world in a new way. I am thankful for all the muddy shoes that get piled on our shoe rack in the garage. I am thankful for the handprints on the window in the dining room. Sometimes, it's hard for me to clean them off because I know someday I will be wiping away your last handprint without even knowing it. I am thankful for the crayon mark on the wall beside the staircase. For these are all evidence of God's providence in my life. I am thankful for the giggles I hear in the "under stairs", watching you jump endlessly on the trampoline together, sharing books in your living room "forts" and building mud pies on the back porch. I love to hear you "play school" and try to juggle. Lilly, I love listening to you read to Zane. You are always patient and kind. And Zane, I love hearing Zane ask "Where is Lilly?". I would say that is one of your most often asked questions.

Zane I am thankful that you can beat me on just about every Wii game we own. I love to watch you drive your tractor like a race car driver and ride your bike so fast that I can barely keep up. I love it when you snuggle in my neck and kiss me one more time! I love your giant colorful paintings that you bring home from St. Thomas School. I am thankful that you brought me a big baseball bat and remained calm when mommy killed that big snake. I love that you already seem to have that "man gene" and kept your cool when mommy found all those rats and ran screaming in the backyard. I love to watch you sing to Tobymac and dance like Michael Jackson.

Lilly, am thankful that Mimi has taught you to play the piano so beautifully. I love to listen to you play "Zum Golly Golly" up and down the piano keys. I love the way you the way you stand up for others when they have been hurt or misunderstood. l love the way you make hot tea so graciously for us all. I am thankful that you have the best memory and keep me on my toes. I cherish all the sweet stories you have written and beautiful art work that you have made. I love all your ideas and your creative imagination. God has blessed you with a beautiful, unique way of putting colors and shapes together to make truly great art.

I am thankful to be blessed with two beautiful and precious children. Both of you are the best gifts from God your Daddy and I could have ever dreamed for. God is truly the great provider. I am thankful that He is both omnipotent and gracious. I love that that He chose to bless our lives and marriage with both of you. Thank you Lilly and Zane for being such great kids and for all the joy you have brought to my life.

Salt Is Fascinating

Who knew salt could be so fascinating? We are learning about the ocean in our Zoology course. A few weeks ago we read a chapter overviewing tides and currents, how they are made, what affects them, etc. One type of current is called thermohaline. This is a current that is affected by both temperature and salinity. Did you know that the freezing point of salt water is lower than the freezing point of regular water? We didn't! We decided to do a simple experiment of adding salt to some water and placing it in the freezer to see the difference. We did this one morning and really expected it to freeze at least by evening. We didn't add much water... about a half of a cup, heated it in the microwave to dissolve the salt, placed salt in it (we didn't measure). Then we waited, and waited, and waited.

It took about 4 days if not more to freeze this little bit of water with salt in it. If I had known it would take so long and been so fascinating we would have taken more notes. But, everyday it looked different. Sometimes the top had a small crust of frozen water on top. We'd look again and the top would be broken up and the pieces in the middle seemed to be cracking. It would look frozen and then frosty and finally all frosty and frozen. We noticed the small square crystals that formed on the sides and examined them under the microscope. The kids were delighted to see that the crystals formed in perfect squares with no mold... imagine that! We hope you will do this very simple experiment just to see the fascinating aspects of something so seemingly simple as God adding salt to the oceans waters. It affects everything.

Well, it was so fascinating in the freezer that I decided we'd take it out and watch it for a few days as it thawed. It only took it about an hour to thaw but we continued to watch it for several days. The whole process generated many thought provoking questions. Why did the salt accumulate on the sides of the glass so thickly? Why was there some salt on the bottom of the cup and even on the counter outside of the glass? Where does the salt come from? It all has to do with the water cycle. The water cycle in textbooks and even explaining it conceptually seems really quite boring. But, seeing it in action has illuminated the process in all of our minds. Seeing really is believing. Have fun!

Change is Beautiful

This weekend we went to Lost Maples State Natural Area to see the changing colors of the Maple Trees. This state natural area near Vanderpool pays tribute to this tenacious hardwood whose colorful fall foliage draws tens of thousands of leaf-peepers each fall. Patches of the bigtooth maple (Acer grandidentatum Nutt) are also found in western Oklahoma, northern Mexico and the mountains of the western U.S., with the largest concentration of bigtooths covering large swaths of mountain forests east of Salt Lake City, Utah. After visiting family in San Antonio Saturday we drove to River Bend on the Frio River and spent the night. The next morning we took part of the Texas Highway Hillcountry Trail--FM 377 from Leakey to Vanderpool to Lost Maples then continued home through Medina and Bandera. If you've never done this you should definitely pack up the family and go. It's not too late to go even this year. Texas Highways published a story about the fall colors around the state with Lost Maples included in the write up. When we were there they said only 50 percent of the trees had turned. It was spectacular. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. The first picture is at River Bend on the Frio. The rest were taken at Lost Maples.