trick or treat

 Robot.

 Ariel.

 Robin.

fall

 

 

 

discovery

 I love it when we discover a new park come across a park we've never been to before.  I always think, "How could I have not known this gem is only 15 minutes from our home?"  And it is our favorite place to be until we discover something new come across something we haven't experienced before.

Childhood is all about discovery.  Every experience is something new.  A joy of parenthood is rediscovering by entering into the world of our children.

Each kid has their own tire swing!

 And there are endless rocks to throw into the river.

 And a big stick to....

My little girl will not let a chill in the air cramp her style and her shoes are on the wrong feet...just details.

 And there are no monkey bars my five-year-old won't tackle.

 

Spinning. Climbing. Sticks. Water. Rocks. 

 Discovery.

"t" is for tent...and trust

The one is at school and the two homeschoolers are playing too harmoniously to be interrupted with formal learning, so I have two choices.  I could clean the bathrooms, or I could brew another cup of coffee and update the blog.  My choice is obvious. 

God's Little Explorers, the preschool curriculum I've been using, goes through the Bible chronologically with a new story every week and a theme with a letter (not alphabetically) that goes along with the story. 

A couple weeks ago (as you can see I have not posted to the blog, or cleaned my bathrooms, in a couple weeks), our story was about Abraham and how God promised him he would be the father of a great nation, but first Abraham must pick up everything and move.  Where?  God did not tell him, he was required to trust without knowing the whole plan.

The curriculum developed a theme around "'t' is for tent".  On the first day of the week, it was suggested that we pack up as if we were camping and set a tent up and read the Bible story in the tent.  So, on Monday morning after Brett was off to school, I announced excitedly to the preschoolers that we were going on a adventure!  "Get your backpacks!  Let's pack a snack and sleeping bags and flashlights!"  Reggie was totally on board.  He ran around the house in blind trust, gather stuff for his adventure.

Lydia.  Not so much.  She wanted to know what we were doing.  "Are we going somewhere in the car?  When are we coming back?"  She stomped her feet and whined and begged and pleaded.  "Put your shoes on, it's going to be fun!", Reggie and I pressed on.  If Reggie had not been so enthusiastic, I don't think she would have joined in.  But she reluctantly followed us out to the backyard and finally joined in on the adventure when we started to set up the tent.

After "camp" was set up and we had our "s'mores", we settled in for our Bible story. Reading the story, we realized as the morning had unfolded, we had a real-life object lesson of  what it meant for Abraham to "trust" God and go, even when he didn't know God's whole plan.

This would be a cute, comfortable story if it was just about Lydia.  It wasn't.  How often in my life do I want to know the plan?  Am I so comfortable and set in my routine that I'm not open to doing something different?  Can I step out in faith without knowing the outcome, or researching my options, or doing what my middle-class-American culture tells me is best?

Do I trust - really trust - God, like Reggie trusts me?