Around here...

Have you seen your first robin of the year yet?  Allison saw one a few days ago, and this morning I recognized one at the far end of the yard by its characteristic hopping across the ground.  Ahhhh, spring will come!  This morning I booked our camping trip - that's almost as good as having it written in stone!  The kids are so excited to know that this year it WILL happen (the Lord willing, of course.) We're all pretty excited, actually, and right now June and hot weather seem very far away.  Nadia's counting down goes like this: "First comes my birthday, then Thomas' birthday, then Justine's birthday, then Meghan's birthday and THEN we will go camping."  Don't you love how kids mark time?

Speaking of writing in stone, that's what the boys and I have been learning together.  We've begun a brief tour through history, and one of our first lessons was to study different writing methods.  We've decided that writing in wet clay would definitely have been easier than chiselling into stone.  Here's an example of our efforts at cuneiform writing...

PRAISE THE LORD 

IN EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS

The boys now have more of an appreciation for pen, paper and the alphabet.  That alone would have made the history lesson a success story!  I found a number of history books at the library that have helped to capture their interest, too.  Reading for the sake of satisfying their own interest and curiousity...that's when the real learning is taking place. 

You may have noticed that any references to anything creative or crafty on this blog are rarely made to me or my work.  My girls enjoy various arts and crafts, and although it runs in the family, I seem to have missed out on that gene.  But, with inspiration from Amy, who, although she has a very busy household, still carves out time to do fun and creative things, I've done a few sketches for fun.  If you are familiar with the books by W.G. Vandehulst, these might look familiar to you....

I drew these using two of the illustrations in My Favorite Story Book, a book that , for us, lives up to its name.  Both Gerald and I have fond memories of having stories by this author read to us when we were children.  These Dutch stories (translated into English) are quaint and cozy, and were written in a time when childhood was a time for home and family, a time when children were taught to respect their elders and honour God.  If you can get your hands on any of his books, by all means, do!  Anyway, please don't examine these sketches too closely.  Although I'm pleased with the results, they aren't nearly as good as the originals.  I just wanted to show them as an encouragment to you to pursue something that interests you, and to have fun with it. 

This morning a craving for a good, hearty muffin lead to the development of a new recipe, and possibly the best GF muffins ever.   If the second attempt yields the same results, I'll be sharing the recipe here.  For now, a sneak peek...

Giving thanks in all things,