Wisdom on how to make orange potatoes from a 4 year old:
We were sitting at the table eating lunch today when Chesney says," Oh, I know how you make orange potatoes!" Mommy say's, "You do,how?" Chesney replies, " You cut open a white potato and pour orange juice on it. Then you wrap it up and put in the refrigerator until it turns orange."
Nana, You mean the world to us. We praise Jesus for giving us you!!This scripture is a reminder of what you are to us:
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (New International Version)
4 Rose is patient, Rose is kind. Rose does not envy, Rose does not boast, Rose is not proud. 5 Rose is not rude, Rose is not self-seeking, Rose is not easily angered, Rose keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Rose does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 She always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Nana Rose never fails.
Praying that you have a wonderful, blessed day!! I love you! Brook
I Love you Nana Happy Brthday Britton
What a great Nana we have! This day we thank God for your life and what an impact you have had on our family! I hope it is a great day! Keith
Today, I am such a proud Momma!! Let me do some background explaining. We are going into our 3rd year of homeschooling. Britton, it has been such a neat journey to teach you how to read and to be a part of your schooling. I went into teaching knowing this is what the Lord wanted for our family, but I had so many doubts, worries, fears, anxieties, and most of all intimidation. My training is in nursing, not teaching. God has been so good to hold my hand as I learn how to be both your Mom and teacher. Its has truly been a blessing beyond belief. This spring Mommy and Daddy started evaluating what you have learned thus far and what we want you to learn. We received a homeschool curriculum catalog in the mail that had an article in it about classical education. Your Daddy made the comment that if he were the one at home teaching full time, this is the way he would teach you. Which made me sooo nervous. Daddy didn't push it on me, however what's important to him is important to me. The classical education seemed too hard for me. Surely you would need a doctorate degree to teach such things to your child. It just overwhelmed me. So, I went and checked out the book, A Well-Trained Mind. I've read it before and was completely intimidated by it then. I checked it out again, because it is a classical education mind set. Daddy and I read it together. I felt much more comfortable with it this time around. Plus I had Daddy's full support whispering to me that I was plenty intelligent enough to teach you in this way. As I prayed through it the Lord has given me such peace that this is His will for our family. So, I got on amazon and started buying books. We have slowly started into our new subjects. Britton, you normally resist change, yet you didn't. You just did your work as if you have been doing this same curriculum all along. We have only done 2 days of our language arts program, and you wrote your own poem. I'm blown away at this different technique and how it has affected you in just one week. I love it. I love that the Lord used your Daddy to lead us in this. I love that Daddy sat up with me even figuring out how to best organize our days and the small details of how to organize our notebooks. We have such a good God. Such a good Daddy. Such a good life. I thank the Lord everyday for letting me be your teacher. Im so proud of you Britton. Your first poem is phenomenal. Gram and Daddy both love to read and write poetry. I can just hear Gram saying in my heart, "He gets it honest, Brook"!
This Father's Day was quite different than any other. Daddy preached at a sweet little church in North Birmingham. One of Daddy's hospice patients asked him to preach at their church. This church was a small black congregation. Did I mention the church was small? 8 pews only small;) Every seat was filled! We were told service was to last from 11am to 3pm, so we prayed fervently for excellent behavior from our kids. We took Nana along for some back up help, just in case. *wink* This day was the first day for Daddy to prepare a message to preach in maybe, 6 months or more. He was a wee bit nervous. We had an incredible experience. All greeted us with big hugs and kisses. We sang acapella for over an hour. One lady would begin a song and everyone would join in, then another would start a new song. The children in their church had many responsibilities. They would usher, sing special music, pass out bulletins. They were so proud of the jobs they had been given for worship. It was neat to see kids be so much a part of the worship service. Daddy started preaching around 12:45. He preached such a powerful message about a Fathers role in discipleship with his children and family. It was such an incredible message and service. Daddy wrapped it up around 2pm. The whole church bid us farewell with more hugs and kisses, each of us. Then they packed us up 6 boxes of "homemade cookin"!! It was some good cookin, all right!! We left around 2:30pm. The kids did better than great, and the service flew by. Imagine that! We headed over to Papaw Jim's house to eat our yummy food and wish him Happy Father's day. It was so good to see Daddy preach again!! Britton and Chesney loved the little church and asked if we could visit again real soon. I will never forget this incredible day. Good worship, good preaching, good food, and an awesome Daddy to celebrate!
What a trip. This trip was unlike so many others. We went down with Papaw and Granmaw, plus all of our cousins. We had a great time. Just a few odd occurances that are noteworthy. First odd thing is that we booked a condo that had a 500 person youth conference going on while we were there. I have never seen so many people in one pool or on the beach at one time. Craziness!! 2nd odd event: Our next door neighbors decided to smoke marijuana on their balcony everyday 2-3 times a day. Its always so great to have your 4 year old ask, "Oooh Mommy what is that smell?" Then while we were there Micheal Jackson died. Just another weird moment to add to our list. Overall is was a great trip. Britton, you had a blast playing in the ocean this year. Chesney you spent hours digging in the sand, burying yourself in the sand. Cade, you hated the ocean and the sand and shed many tears over your feet getting sandy. Of course you all loved the pool!! Thanks Granmaw and Papaw for another great beach trip!!
Mommies dear friend, Aunt Lisa, came for a visit. We have not been able to see her in a couple of years. She and her precious children came to spend the night with us. We had such a good time. We built a camp fire in the backyard and made smores while Pastor Cody and Pastor Britton delivered some very good messages. This all started at the dinner table when we were having bible time. Aunt Lisa says that Cody wants to be a Pastor when he grows up. She said that he likes to have the whole family gather around while he preaches a sermon. Aunt Lisa then says to Cody, "You know Cody, Uncle Keith is a real Pastor." Cody's reaction was so precious. I wish we had it on video. His jaw dropped and eyes popped wide open. He was truly amazed. He then told us that he wanted to preach us a message tonight. So we all gathered around the campfire and Pastor Cody preached to us about David and Goliath. Then Britton got up and preached about the disciples leaving their boat and following Jesus. They were both great messages. Britton then told Mommy that that made him a little nervous. You boys did a great job. Here's a clip of Pastor Cody preaching some more in the living room:
When I was a child I have vivid memories of standing under my Nanny in the kitchen awaiting "THE BOWL". I was only 4 or 5 and I remember that when she went in the kitchen I needed to be right their beside her. If I was the one in the kitchen with her then I would be the one to get to lick up the yummy leftovers in the bowl. I had a cousin and uncle my age that often were off playing and walked in to the house to find me, the youngest, licking the last bit of the batter out of the bowl. I snickered at my cleverness while they stomped off mad. A fond memory that I have, licking Nanny's bowls. Nanny was Gram's grandmother, my Great Grandmother. An altogether wonderful woman who loved Jesus! I'm thinking about those memories this week, because I walked into the kitchen this week to find this:
I had given the bowl to Chesney. After she tired of it, she left it on the table while I went to do some laundry. I returned to this little fellow picking up where big sis left off!! He saw her licking the bowl and decided he needed to give it a try!! Oh what wonderful memories this brings back to Mommy. How great it is to see my kids enjoying my creations!!! Life is good!!
