Little House Musical

A few days ago I received an email via the homeschool group we are members of - it was from The Little House Musical inviting people to submit applications to be "ambassadors" for their musical. Basically, you help promote the musical via social media and community connections, and in return your receive four tickets the opening night of the musical and also get to meet the cast! I submitted the application and was accepted. Yippee!

So, if you are in the Atlanta area and are a fan of Little House on The Prairie, please investigate going to the musical at the Fabulous Fox Theatre June 15-19. Melissa Gilbert will be playing the part of Ma - I think this is what I'm most excited about. I remember looking up to her as a little girl, thinking how neat it would be to have her life. Wouldn't it be great if my little girl got to meet her now?

Enjoying the Birds

I will be the first one to admit I am NOT an artist. I can be very creative when it comes to scrapbooking, and fun craft projects for the kids, but as far as teaching my children about the elements of art and good artistry I am very inept! So, I have been thrilled that my daughter is taking art lessons with a wonderful woman who is a talented artist. The past two weeks they have been working on painting Chickadees - and I love the way this masterpiece turned out!

It is especially timely since it is now spring and we are watching all of the beautiful birds from our deck. Last night my son called me outside to see the Cardinal in the backyard - he was so proud that he had identified the bird, and I was more proud that he had the courtesy to be quiet and observe the bird rather than stomp loudly and scare it away! We have yet to see hummingbirds come to the feeder, but I understand they are on the way! We did a little hummingbird research, and I think we're doing all the right things, just no hummingbirds yet! At our local garden store they sell little feeders that hang right in your potted plant (we chose Begonias), so we didn't spend a lot of money and it's not too much to keep up with.

We have also ordered Painted Lady butterflies/caterpillars and they should be coming any day now. We caught some caterpillars of our own yesterday, but we don't have a guarantee they will turn into butterflies, and not moths. It is things like this that I wanted to do with my children, but never thought we had "time" for because of school! Isn't that ironic? I don't think we ever would have taken the time to enjoy God's creation quite as much as we do being at home every day. The blessings of homeschool pop up every day - God's sign to me that we are doing the right thing!

The Woodcutter's Wisdom

Today was a disjointed day because I had a dentist appointment in the morning. I am fortunate, however, to have a sweet father-in-law who kept my children during my appointment and even took them to get new Crocs during that time! Grant chose electric orange and Anna's are bubblegum pink. They looked so cute on them. After my appointment he took us all to eat lunch at Steak 'n Shake. Yummm!!!!!!!

Tonight was also the end of a chapter in my life. I have been serving on the preschool board at our church for the past three years and have really loved every minute of it. My son will be out of preschool in just a month, and my term on the board is over. :-( I read a great devotion at the meeting tonight by Max Lucado , a story entitled "The Woodcutter's Wisdom". It was a beautiful devotion about how our lives and the events in them are merely "fragments" - and only God knows the whole story and he has written the final chapter. It moved me when I read it at our meeting, but when I got home I read the devotion to my husband and daughter in lieu of a bedtime story. My sweet Anna said to me, "Can we do devotions like this instead of our normal ones?". Well, lo and behold this story is just the first in a collection, so yes, we will do more like this! It's funny how gifts from God just drop into your lap isn't it?

Our family is going through a bit of a rough time now as we are changing churches. The devotion helped me to see that this patch is just a "fragment" in the grander plan of our lives. And while the issue of clergy in same sex relationships is plaguing the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and our congregation in particular, I have to believe that God has it on our hearts to move forward to a place where our beliefs are more in line with other church members. I am sad for myself because I LOVE so many people in our church, and I am very sad for my children, who have loved this church since we moved here five years ago. BUT, God has a plan and I will not worry about tomorrow, because today has enough worries of its own.

While I don't feel we accomplished anything grand and wonderful in homeschool today (well, maybe we did do some good work with fractions this morning!), I can say that we ended the day with our family sitting together and sharing this wonderful story. God is very good.