'Tis The Season

Well, it's official. Starbucks has declared that Christmas season is upon us, so here we go again!

Looking to do something meaningful this holiday season? I know I always am! The culture we live in has definitely high-jacked the true meaning of Christmas so I am constantly on the prowl for ways to remind my kids (AND myself!) what Christmas is all about.

Here are two great opportunities that your family may want to consider incorporating into your Christmas traditions this year:

Compassion International is an amazing ministry that Andy & I wholeheartedly support and believe in. Their mission is to "release children from poverty in Jesus name."

They have put together a Christmas gift catalog that allows us to donate various amounts of money toward a wide range of different projects. Some of the opportunities include:

• safe water for life for a child and family- $79
• equip a family with livestock- $280
• care for a babies medical needs for a year- $55
• provide garden seeds for an African family- $10
• give a child access to a safe playground- $35

There are a ton of different gifts available and you can even donate in honor of someone. That would be a really special present for one of your loved ones to open on Christmas morning...knowing that they were apart of helping a child in poverty! 

Click here to learn more and to give!

This one always sneaks up on me because the deadline is so early. Collection week for the boxes is November 12-19, so if you'd like to participate you gotta get a move on it! :-)

Operation Christmas Child is a wonderful program that provides a shoebox full of Christmas gifts to boys and girls living in poverty in 100 different countries. Samaritan's Purse is a Christian relief organization that shares the love of Jesus in tangible ways to people around the world in desperate need.

This is a really fun project where you can get your kids involved. I like to do a box for each of my children so, for example, Caedmon will help me pack a box for a 5-9 year old boy and Sammy will help me pack a box for a 2-4 year old boy. Then, we can follow our box online through the Samaritan's Purse website to see where our boxes end up!

Don't have time to go shopping, fill a box, and drop it off? No problem. They've also provided the option to build-a-box online!

Click here to learn more about Operation Christmas Child. Click here to find a drop-off location near you. 

'Tis the season...

...to LOVE like Jesus!

Happy Thursday!

I hope you and yours had as much fun as we did!

Homeschooling: October Review

We've been busy around the Wood Academy of Awesomeness. This month we focused on three main units: apples, turtles, and the five senses. Here are some snapshots of what we did.

APPLES: 

Starting at the top left and going clockwise:
1- I put a bunch of apples of 4 different varieties in a bag. Without looking, the kiddos took one out and had to determine which kind it was: red delicious, granny smith, gala, or golden delicious.
2- We made a graph to show the number of different kinds of apples we had.
3- We made/tasted different kinds of homemade apple juice. I love how engaged & excited Caedmon appears to be in this photo. Surprisingly enough, no one said, "Wow, Mom, what a cool experience! Thanks for going to all the work to let us make apple juice!" Oh well.
4- We made homemade applesauce. SO GOOD! At least Andy and I thought so.
5- We had an awesome time going apple picking as a family. More photos here.
6- Our "Words to Remember" for this unit were: "If I stay in Jesus, I will have much fruit." We made a Fruit of the Spirit apple tree and I tried to catch them displaying different qualities and make a big deal about it.

(not pictured)
- diagraming apples
- learning about Johnny Appleseed

TURTLES:

1- We made turtle sandwiches for lunch. Caedmon loved this and requested Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sandwiches the next day. I made them, but that was a one-time-only event because it took me FOREVER!
2 & 3- We painted paper plates and made turtles.
4- We went turtle hunting at a local park and actually found one!
5- We acted out being a turtle and going into our "shell" when predators would come.
6- Caedmon learned a turtle poem and was able to put each line in the right order in a pocket chart.

Our "Words to Remember" for the turtle unit were: "I don't give up. I persevere." We read/discussed  "The Tortoise and the Hare". And pictured above is Caedmon racing around our backyard without hinderance and then again with hinderances. It was pretty comical. We discussed the meaning of how the Bible teaches us in Hebrews that we should throw off anything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles us so that we can run this race with perseverance.

FIVE SENSES:

1- Sense of touch: determine what's in the bag without looking.
2- Sense of smell: Sammy trying to identify soap by using only his sense of smell.
3- Sense of taste: Kids blindfolded and holding nose try to identify various foods (carrots, apples, cheese, bread, bananas)
4- Sense of taste: Dropped different liquids on tongue to determine if it was sweet (sugar water), salty (salt water), or sour (water with lemon)
5- Sense of smell: Caedmon trying to identify grass. I also gave them cinnamon, cologne, fresh basil, lemon, and onion.

(not pictured)
- sense of hearing: dropped various objects on floor while their eyes were closed. They had to guess what the noise was.
- sense of sight: tried to draw picture & write their names with eyes clothes.

Our "Words to Remember" for the 5 Senses unit were "God made us WONDERFUL!"

OTHER STUFF:

1- Finger painting to classical music. I love how this picture shows their personalities... 2 seconds in Caedmon was covered in paint while Sammy starts off slow and easy.

2- We talked about how God gives each person unique physical features. We used yellow, red, black, and white paint to try to make the exact color of our various skin tones. I was pretty impressed by their ability to mix paint.

3- Sammy forming the letter Pp with unifix cubes.

4- Caedmon working on math.

5- More finger painting...by the end Sammy got his hands dirty too. Just a little slow to warm. Notice that now the backs of Caedmon's hands are also covered in paint!

Reading: Caedmon has TWO more lessons to go in his "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" book. We will both be thrilled to have completed that!

Math: Caedmon is flying through the Math You See Primer book. It's honestly way too easy for him and I'm trying to speed through it to get to the next level book. AND, Sammy can count to 12. Huge progress, People!

Spanish: We watch "Language Tree" Spanish Level 1 DVD every day. So far we've been learning greetings, family members, colors, numbers, and a few other phrases and vocabulary words.

How much time do we devote to all this homeschool stuff? 4 days a week, 2-3 hours a day.

Celebrating Sammy

We were busy celebrating Sammy this weekend as our little guy turned 4 years old!

On Friday we started off our Family Day with some birthday pancakes and a round of miniature golf. 

On Sunday morning, Sammy opened presents from family (grandparents, aunts & uncles) before heading out to church. Our gift to him was the congo drums!

That afternoon we had a small party with a few of Sammy's buddies. The kids did a few crafts including painting pumpkins (much to their mothers' dismay, I'm sure!). :-)

Then we enjoyed some yummy food, cupcakes, and more presents. 

It was a wonderful celebration of a wonderful little boy! We are so thankful for him. 

A birthday letter for Sammy...

Dear Sammy,

Four years ago you were born in a tiny hut in Southern Ethiopia. They named you “Wondimu”, which means brother even though you had no siblings. But God, in His infinite Sovereignty, knew that one day in the not too distant future you would both have a brother and be a brother. You were already crafted in to the Wood family. 

I didn’t hear your first cries but my heart was crying for you in ways that I didn’t even understand at the time. Four years ago we had just moved to California and Caedmon had just turned two years old. My heart was longing for another child. Everything about my life was full of sunshine and hope and dreams fulfilled. Except for this one thing. The thing that made even the bluest of skies a little gray. I wanted YOU! 

I didn’t even know I wanted you; I just knew I wanted a baby. I wanted someone on whom I could pour out all this love that was bottled up in my heart. I wanted Caedmon to be a brother. I wanted another little person holding my other hand. 

As impatience and disappointment grew in my heart month by unending month, you were growing in another Mommy’s arms. You were her gift, too. The gift of your giggle and the brightness of your eyes were just too good to not be shared. God saw fit to allow another mom to bask in all that you are before he placed you in your forever family. 

I don’t know the “why” behind most of God’s decisions. I don’t know why I was born in Florida to a family that could provide for me while you were born in Ethiopia to the bondage of poverty. I don’t know why, when God looked at the 143 million orphans in the world today, he handpicked you to be adopted. I don’t know why your journey had to include loss and grief that no child should ever have to endure. I don’t understand those things, but here’s what I do know:

Your story is one of redemption. 

The fact that you once were an orphan living in Ethiopia is a part of your story, but it does NOT define who you are. God rescued you because He has amazing plans for your life. He redeemed you from the pit and sat your feet on solid ground.

Your story is one of God’s faithfulness.

God was with you in that tiny hut in Ethiopia and God is with you tonight as you go to sleep in your bedroom with your brother. He will never leave you. No matter what tragedy or trial you walk through, you need not fear because God is with you. The One who has started this good work in you is FAITHFUL!

Your story is one of love.

Your birth mother loved you too much to watch you suffer to the point of starvation so she did the most sacrificial thing a mother could do. She gave up the most amazing gift she had ever received in hopes that you could have a better life. Your forever family loves you so much and wanted you so deeply that we went to great extents to bring you into our family. (And we would do it all over again!) 

Your daddy and I pray almost every night that you would understand how deeply you are loved. By us and by Jesus. I know that it can get confusing in the mind of a child whose first family wasn’t forever. But, Sammy, please don’t allow that seed of doubt to take root in your mind. You are loved with a never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love. And, in the end, love wins. 

Here are a few things I love about you as you turn four years old:

• I love that you receive my love. That took some time, to be sure. But now it is as natural as breathing as we hold hands driving down the road or snuggle and laugh on the couch. 
• I love the tenderness of your heart when corrected. You do not require very many consequences. The occasional time out or “talking to” is usually all it really takes for big alligator tears to roll down those cheeks and for you to find your “happy heart”. I could probably count on one hand the number of times we’ve needed to spank you. I had to laugh the other day when you saw the spanking spoon sitting out and you referred to it as “Caedmon’s spoon”. If ownership was dependent upon proportionate utilization of an object, you would be absolutely correct!
• I love your silky, smooth skin. You’ve started to notice the color of your skin recently. One day at breakfast you said out of the blue, “Mom, I’m black.” I asked, “Are you talking about your skin?” You said, “Yes.” I said, “Well, you’re kinda brown, like chocolate.” You said indignantly, “No. I’m black.” I got a good laugh out of that. I love it when you run around the house with your shirt off just so I can see and touch your skin. It is so beautiful.
• I love your sweet disposition toward younger children. You are a nurturer. Even way back when you were in the orphanage (only 18 months old or so yourself!) your caregivers told me that you were so sweet to the other children. If a new child arrived that was upset or scared, they would take you and the child to a different room to play together. You had a way of soothing the other baby even though you were just a baby yourself.
• I love that you are eager to help. In the kitchen. Carrying loads in from the car. Vacuuming the floor. “Can I help?” is a phrase I hear from you daily.
• I love that you are so athletic. The first day we put you on a two-wheeled bike, you were off and running! No one at the park could believe this 3 year old was riding a bike all by himself!

Oh, Sammy, I could go on and on...from your picture perfect smile to the way you tiptoe out of your room each morning. There is so much to love about you! Thank you for receiving my love AND for loving me back so fiercely. I realize that Dad out-awesomes me in virtually every way, and I’m totally cool with that. But I also know that there is a special place in your heart reserved just for me. 

I am your Mommy. You are my answer to a thousand prayers. I love you to pieces.

Forever,
Mommy