I was listening to a sermon about preparing your kids for marriage the other night when the pastor said something that caught my attention. He said fathers are to protect their daughters until the day they are given in marriage. Sending them off into the world alone to fend for themselves and try to find a suitable husband is not the picture God gives us in the Bible of how a daughter should find a mate. With boys, the same is true, only in a different sense. Boys may go into the world to live on their own and make their way but when it is time for them to find a wife, God expects us parents to help our boys--not just leave them to their every whim and expect that it will all work out okay! I found this intriguing and also refreshing because it is what I have felt in my spirit for a while but didn't know how to put it. He used the example of Abraham finding a wife for Isaac and the care he took in making sure it was done right. Isaac was 40! Perfectly capable by our culture's standards, of finding his own mate, and yet, his Father helped him and at the end of the story, it says Isaac loved her.

Love, after all, is a choice.

I know I am simplifying it--there is much more that goes into all this than just a concerned parent, but really-- how much heartache could be avoided if fathers took seriously their commitment to protecting their children by helping them with the most important decision they will ever make?data:post.body

Planting Flowers

Rosie is very excited about the flowers we planted. She stuck right with me through two full hours of preparation and planting.

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Tree Climber

Gabriel has become quite the tree climber. His adventuresome spirit shines through in these climbing pictures Tim took. Plus, he's really cute.

He is a typical boy, pushing the limits all the time of what he will risk.

A few minutes after this was taken, he climbed too high and fell over 15 feet to the ground onto his bottom. Fortunately, he wasn't hurt, just really scared.

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To the Zoo!

Animal Classification calls for a trip to the zoo so that is where we went to kick off our new unit. As we have learned about all the different kinds of animals God created on days 5 and 6 we have been delighted whenever we get the opportunity to look at these creatures up close.

This is the Galapagos Tortoise--the famed tortoise discovered on the island of Galapagos by Charles Darwin, who went to school to be a pastor interestingly enough--not a scientist. In fact, there are a lot of interesting things you can learn about Darwin if you read a little about his life. We have had some fun discussions about how hilarious the concept of evolution is and have observed many things in nature that continue to disprove it. (Like for instance, have you ever thought about what a bat ate before it developed it's echolocation ability? If evolution were true, bats would have died out long before they had a chance to evolve echolocation because that is how they find their food!)

The second day of our unit, we classified our stuffed animals. These two were placed together by Rose, who noticed that both the giraffe and the elephant have horns. I thought that was cute.

Later in the unit, we went exploring in a creek to see what creatures we could find there.

We brought home a dragonfly nymph, some crayfish, and three different types of fish.

Ah, the long awaited dissection. We dissected a starfish towards the end of our unit and it was really gross. I swallowed my feelings and acted excited in the interest of education.

Of all three children, Rosie was the most excited about the dissecting. She was examining the starfish, finding it's parts and asking good questions the whole time. The boys just wanted to get it over with. She says she wants to be a veterinarian and it appears she may have what it takes. I love that she is learning so much about science even though with her dyslexia she has not mastered reading yet. If she were bound to learn only through books she would be largely stuck and may end up hating to learn. As it is, she is engaged by our unit studies in spite of her inability to read.

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Growing Up

Our chicks are quickly becoming chickens and are roaming about the yard, digging up worms and generally enjoying the fabulous spring weather with us. We now have 28 chickens in our little flock.

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How Did This Happen?

When we brought him home, I was bound and determined that Mouse would be a barn cat. No compromises. No question. Sigh... Look who has wiggled his way inside. I'm such a softie.

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Even though we have a gazzillion trees, Tim decided we needed more. He brought home something like 20 trees he got for free at an Arbor Day festival and planted them the next day with Rosie's help. She is definitely our little gardener!

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