Homeschool Photo Portfolio 2011-2012

Homeschool Photo Portfolio 2011-2012
I am thinking that this coming year I want to get more photos into this. We did much on geography, but it was mainly in writing. Hopefully, this year I can get a better grasp on everything we did through a photo portfolio.

One Thing I Would Have Loved to Bring Home From Haiti

Wilguens

A week after my trip, a friend of ours went to the orphanage for a visit. I had to send something to Wilguens. He was learning to play guitar, and sang with me Casting Crowns "Who Am I". The Lord has blessed this boy with such a talent. He wants to be a pilot when he gets older. So, along with all of Luk and Logan's old clothes and shoes I sent him a guitar chord learning book. He wrote me a letter of thanks and love.

Here is just a glimpse of his letter:

A Single Moment of Impact

My six year old never ceases to amaze me. Let me preface this with the reality that he is a typical six year old. He is disobedient frequently; he argues like a teenager; he is obnoxious; he lacks tact. However, he has one trait that I am particular found of...

COMPASSION! Does he always show it? No. He's six still grasping control of his emotions, and is aware of his incline to sin. Yet, when he executes this trait, I have to step back and watch it. It was really a beautiful thing. It is one of the main reasons I am so excited about him coming to Peru with my husband and I in October to meet one of our Compassion children, Smith.

If you read my blog you know that I have met Smith and his wonderful family. So, this reunion is going to quite a moment for not only me, but the rest of my family. We have a strong heart for Compassion, and their work for the nations.

Smith is our first family sponsorship:

 I chose Smith knowing that my husband has a connection with Peru. Now, I have it more than ever.

As a youth group family we chose Pataso from Thailand:

Our last addition to our Compassion family was Abdou. Now, this was Luk's decision. He said to me one day as we were talking about different countries, "I want to be a missionary in Africa!" I stood silent for a moment. Then I asked if he would like to have a Compassion child from Africa that he can have a relationship with. Needless to say, he jumped on that really fast, asking for a boy.

That night I emailed a friend of mine that works for Compassion for a child that need a correspondence sponsor, and the next day we had Abdou.

Seriously, we have some handsome boys in my family! You see God carefully placed these three boys in our lives, and after meeting Smith the clarity in our decision of cutting back on luxuries to have these three in our lives has been several moments of impact for us.

There's a single moment of impact for us all, and I think it was the day that Luk got Abdou. He finally made the decision to be apart of each of these boys lives. Before he didn't really write Smith or Pataso, it was a picture here and there, but nothing that he started. I usually asked him to, and he would do it without complaint.

However, it was when he got Abdou that he took over. It wasn't me asking anymore. It was Luk saying, "Let's write Smith, Pataso, and Abdou!" OKAY!

The importance of letter writing to your Compassion is something that is hard to explain. It's when you go and visit and the children ask you, "Do you know my sponsor? They don't write. Do they love me?" My response was a huge hug. Hearing Smith say... "I have only three letters."

Shook me. I wanted him to have a better foundation than that.

I had a single moment of impact that almost broke me, but decided instead of being broken to embrace my shame and write. Write with more intent, with more heart, and giving more of myself in process. I'm excited to see it in Luk, now.

Here is his letter writing process:

1) I ask what he wants to say.
2) He tells me. (He responds to Abdou's current question.)
3) I write it on our board.
4) He copies it on his paper.
5) He draws his picture.
6) We look and remember just how far our friend is from us.

Luk has asked to meet Abdou. He knows that we are planning a trip by the time he 10 years old. He is actively reminding me when that will be. Countdown... 3-4 years...

Kindergarten is Coming to a Close

I haven't written in two months and they were a busy two months. Out time in kindergarten is coming to an end, and I must say that our relaxed scheduling will come to an end at the start of first grade. Luk was already doing most kindergarten work, but really wasn't ready for "all" the demands in first grade. So, through the year we took our time in the class room not really rushing through anything. Here is a post of what has happened in the two months gap and then another post on things to come.

My trip to Haiti

Drawing Dinosaurs

Baby Boy's first hair cut

Is there a DR in the house? Yes, yes there is!

Preparing for Easter

Pinterest Idea: Sight Word Tower

Easter

Happy/Sad Gorilla

Soccer

LegoLand for a six year old

Happy 6th Birthday!

A Case of Croup

Panning for Gold

Surprising me with his Alligator eating those numbers

Things that have worked this year: phonetic understandings, catching on to reading fluency, math (always), Science is fun at LegoLand (video below), flash cards for sight words, and we are ready for a tougher schedule.

Things that didn't work: spelling test with sight words, and separating the boys during school.

Watch his car fly!

Fatao- he needs heart surgery

There is one thing that comes to my mind when I think about Compassion children, what if he/she were my child? Fatao is a six year old that lives in Burkina Faso... our Abdou lives there. He suffers from a heart condition that can only be fixed if he receives heart surgery. Compassion is working to fund his surgery because each project is only given $5,000, and his surgery surpasses this limit, they are calling on sponsors, people who love children, and those that know they can help to support his surgery cost.

"The total cost of Fatao's surgery, including passport, visa, travel, the surgery itself and follow-up care is $23,000."

I have to fight for this boy because if he were mine, I would. More importantly, God's children are ours. So, he is mine! Will you help? His parents are letting him go to India, alone. They trust in the Lord's plan for his (their) life. Will you help? I see him, he looks so well, but inside his heart cannot support his body. Will you help? Because at the end of the day he is the little boy sleeping in the room next to you. He is the daughter that had sufficient medical care that was healed by modern medicine that you thank God for everyday. Fatao is one of our's. Will you help him?

You can make a donation here.

One Moment...

It only takes only a moment, sometimes a split a second for life to hit you. My children are young, and our days are spent at home. Luk's day is: I teach, he learns, I correct, he learns, I play, he plays. Logan teaches me the value of moments every day when he says, "now you sit, momma, and play!"  Now, what I find amazing is how many of these moments I had while being in Peru to see Compassion at its' best.

A picture captured one of those moments for Smith and me, it is a picture of a picture taken by the Compassion photographer.

It was at that moment that I realized 1) Smith thought he would never see me again. 2) This hug meant more to him than I realized. As I forced myself to stop crying, I pulled him back to look at his face, and it was covered in tears. I spontaneously brought him back into my arms crying harder. Through the translator I let him know I was coming back to see him in July. It was at that moment he realized I would be in his life more than just letters or more than just one visit.

As I plan our family trip in July, I wonder what moments will be in store for us on that trip. Luk and Smith meeting for the first time. Two young boys coming from different worlds. You see, I learned that our day together meant more than just a visit to the zoo, however it created a bond that will never be broken, a hope that will forever be engrained in his heart, and a peace knowing that an eternal God love him!

Cherish your moments. Every letter you write to your Compassion child is letter that brings a moment to them. Don't waste it! Just a moment brings a life time of change.

Check our Compassion's CEO new book "Just a Minute" here.

Confession

My five year old has an idol!

In the mornings I have let Luk play on his DSi before doing his schoolwork. IF he does it without a hassle he gets to play again before nap. However, even with this I have noticed the attachment, and need to have it on him at all times. 

Insert crazy hobbit:

This morning he got the warning to not ignore his brother and me over the DS. I will say I expected failure, and I was right. Within five minutes he was telling me wait, and telling his brother he was too busy. In comes momma looking over him waiting to get his attention. After about a minute he looks up at me, then looks back down, then back up again saying, "but wait..."

Those have been his famous last words for the past week. I hold out my hand, and immediate tears and surrendering occurs. My speech went something like this:

I have been telling you that when you play your DS you ignore me, your dad, and your brother, this is unacceptable. Do you know what you have turned this DS into? (a low whimper) a stumbling block? 

Yes, but it has become an idol to you. 

He began to sob. 

I explained that such emotion over this has proven his attachment to it, and that it has become his devotion, his idol. He slowed his crying. I let him know that the DS was on lock down to only times that I give him to play instead of free time play. 

I left the room.

I come back. "Luk, what is the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning?" Without hesitation in his normal tone, "my DS." We made eye contact, he knew. 

It was a sad, but accomplished morning. We can make idols out of anything: work, money, television, house work, and for a five year old a DS, a toy... Our devotion and attachment, our reliance on these things, it's so very dangerous. Remember to guard your children's heart, love them in truth. It hurt to tell my son no to his DS and what it had become, but in the end he must know that his idols must leave their pedestals. They must go into a lesser priority, and we must magnify the Son. He needs to see how easy it is to create them. 

Don't think that your children are too young to create an idol out of something. Don't let them think they are too young because when they do get a bit older they will wonder why it's an idol now, but it wasn't back when they had the same behavior before.  What is your devotion to?