Baby #4 {July 21, 2013}

We are thrilled by the way the Lord has chosen to grow our family! While we were quite surprised to find out we were expecting, God had long been stirring the idea of a large family in my heart. It is exciting to melt into the thought that every decision we did (or didn't make) to control our family size, God purposed in order that this little baby could have life. It is an extraordinary miracle each and every time that we see the "thump thump" of a heartbeat during a sonogram. At 8 weeks arms, legs, head were defined even as they were being knit by The Creator. We are overjoyed to meet this baby in July!

"You are GREAT and do WONDROUS things, you alone are GOD" Psalm 86:10

{HomeSchool} - D for Dinosaur

With holidays abuzz I have lacked my usual fervor for picture taking. But that doesn't mean we aren't having an absolute blast in school! The kids beg to do school everyday and can't seem to understand why we need rest from learning on the weekends. We just wrapped up our dinosaur unit, which was probably a favorite thus far. My Dad took the boys to the dinosaur museum downtown to bring school to life (while I shopped with mom, wink wink**) We still function best having school time while Ashley naps. We start off with 10-15 minutes of SSR time (sustained silent read time) and then I'll read aloud a book from our book basket associated with our unit. Then we do bible, phonics, math, crafts, handwriting, or whatever is on the agenda for the day. We wrap up with our read-aloud (we are typically doing a new chapter book per week and just completed the My Fathers Dragon 3-bk series) and then we end the day with Blane reading aloud to me from either a Bob book or a book from his reader set. 

Unit - D for dinosaur

Key Theme - Big and Small God Made Them All

Read Aloud - My Fathers Dragon Series

Scripture - "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it; the world and all who live in it." Ps. 24:1