Growing Up

Wow, hard to believe he's already in Second (ish) Grade!!!
Where did the time go?

We're so proud of our big boy!

Camp YoungLives 2011 - week 2

Camp YoungLives 2011 has come to a close . . .

This week, our seven campers, all while battling illness (a perfect real-life lesson in the "bad" sin has brought into our world), celebrated the "Good News": that God has made a way to turn the "bad to glad".

First we saw more of the bad results of sin: the catastrophe in the global flood (Only Noah and those in the Ark remained alive. Genesis 7:23), and the confusion in languages as people groups were sent out after their disobedience at the Tower of Babel (The Lord confused the language of all the earth. Genesis 11:9). We made layered sand art, played in the water, pulled out our umbrellas and raincoats in our rain-forest, performed puppet shows, searched for fossils, created play-doh shell fossils, made rain catchers for our backyard, enjoyed sugar wafer arks floating over blue jello, played with Jenga towers, and painted people to celebrate the beautiful differences in God's people while learning "we are all related!" (world-wide, we are all descendants of the first people, and all traced back to Noah and his family).

Then we got to celebrate the Good News! God has turned "bad to glad". Despite the evil sin in our world, God loves us and has given us the best gift ever: "For God so loves the world that He gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life" John 3:16
Jesus Christ has taken the punishment for our sins, he has covered them up. We only have to accept this amazing gift and our sins are forgiven and we can look forward to an eternity in Heaven.

We had mini Christmas and Easter celebrations, painted crosses, had a scavenger hunt, played balloon games to celebrate the New Heaven and New Earth God has promised, made "new life" butterfly hats, created picture holders to remind us of this amazing story of redemption (Creation: green, Corruption: dark, Catastrophe: blue, Confusion: gray, Christ: white, Cross: red, Consummation: gold); and as a very effective edible lesson, covered our dark sin (fudge brownies) with the pureness of Jesus (white frosting) to demonstrate how Jesus' sacrifice covers our sins - yum! We have a lot to celebrate!

This has been an amazing two weeks in the Jungle and has spurned many wonderful discussions: "I try not to, but it's really hard not to sin", "we don't have to be afraid of dying because we can go to Heaven and that will be so much better", "all the people in China are like our cousins", "in Heaven we won't be sick and we can eat brownies all day!"

It's been wonderful watching our children learn, create, play together, and have FUN!
Two weeks of camp is a lot of work, but it is incredibly worth the effort.

"Let brotherly love continue" Hebrews 13:1



Now we have a weekend to clean-up camp and switch gears to get ready for our 2011-2012 school year!

TWO!

Our baby boy, sweet Kolpin, is TWO-years-old!

. 26 pounds, 33-1/2 inches . loves playing with balls and cars .

. nods his head "yes" . eats nearly everything . asks to read a "book" before bed .

. is running! . joins in the wrestling matches with daddy . wants to do everything his siblings do .
. will climb into our laps to snuggle . dances . sings along with the family . curious .
. giggles . makes shooting sounds when holding a stick . kicks a soccer ball . colors with crayons .
. loves to play toss . can point out all body parts . is fascinated with his belly button .
. can make lots of animal sounds . loves bath-time . says "nigh-nigh" to all siblings before bed .
. loves to brush his teeth . wears size 18-month clothing .
. gives lean-in hugs and open-mouth kisses . doesn't want to miss anything .
. is an absolute delight! .

Happy Birthday Kolpin!

4 Months Home

It's weird to think Hiwot and Tesfaye have been home for just 4 months . . .
It feels like they've been here forever, and yet there was a time (not so long ago) we felt like we'd been waiting forever for them to come home.

Having them in our family seems so normal. We are incredibly blessed!

I look at my sweet children and it's amazing to realize - they're mine! God has blessed us with these two beautiful children. I feel as though they are fully our own. I often forget that to the outside world, this is a conspicuous adoption. Now that we are out and about more, we are constantly reminded that our family looks "different". We receive a lot of attention! In the comfort and safety of our own home, it's easy to forget these obvious (beautiful) visual differences within our family.

A typical conversation with a well-meaning stranger:

are you a daycare? no, we're a family
you have your hands full! yes, we've been blessed

which ones are yours? they're all my children

no, which ones are really yours? they're all mine
no, which ones are your kids? I'm the mother to all seven
no, you're a foster parent, right? nope, I'm their mother, these are my children
but where are they from, Florida? no, our family lives in Tennessee
We were blessed to have a few of our children come to our family from Ethiopia.

I understand people are curious about our family and want to understand why we look the way we do, but I don't like to put my children on the spot in public, I don't want them to feel different or separate from their siblings - I want them to know and feel they are FULLY our children! I don't want them to be poster children for adoption or to be constantly reminded they were adopted (they know they're adopted!) . . . we're a family, they are our children and that's that.

I absolutely love to talk about the blessing of adoption and to share our family's amazing story. My kids know they are adopted. But in the grocery store or doctors' office, talking to a complete stranger, I need to think about what this conversation may mean to my children - what is it telling them? what are they hearing? I need to respect my children. With my children present (and so newly home), I need to first make very clear that "we are family"; that "they are mine", without separation. I need to put my children and their feelings first.
It is my job to protect them, and as they get older to equip them to confidently handle questions themselves.


We've had several people approach us with concern for their hair. I really don't understand - I LOVE their hair! Yes, we're learning what works and we're learning new techniques, but I think their hair is GORGEOUS!

*For those who would like to offer tips: we welcome advice, but please phrase this advice (if in front of our children) in a way that will not make my children feel as though there is something wrong with their hair! thank you!

Tesfaye and Burke have it easy.
Hiwot's hair takes a little more care. She has very fine and very very tightly curled (her hair is about 4 inches long stretched out). Each day we condition her dry locks and brush out the curls to help prevent clumping. She loves having her hair brushed. She also sleeps with a sleep cap on a (pink!) satin pillowcase to prevent drying and flattening of her hair.
Right now we would really like to keep her hair natural and let it grow - I love those beautiful kinky curls!!!

Wow, we sure do love these kids. They're OURS!!!!

Pink Tutus

I don't know which these girls like best . . .

. . . dancing, or wearing pink tutus!


I do know these sisters love being together!

Soccer

The Soccer season has begun . . . this year we will be cheering on 4 boys on two teams.

Hendrick is looking like such a big boy in his fourth year of soccer and is a wonderful defensive player . . .
Tesfaye is wowing everyone with his skills, dominating in goals, and is absolutely thrilled to be donning actual soccer apparel . . .
Davis is in his second year and is working really hard on the field . . .
Burke is so excited to be playing his first year of soccer!

We are so proud of all of our big boys!
We are excited for them to get some good exercise, learn a little bit about soccer, have a team experience, and most importantly: have FUN!


During practice, Tesfaye refused to take a water break - this boy wants to play SOCCER!
Afterward, he informed us "me shirt-a water pour on it, wet!" - he was sweaty!!!

These August practices are HOT! We were all pretty sweaty at the end of practice, including our sideline ballerinas :)

Camp YoungLives 2011 - week 1

Camp YoungLives 2011 - Return to the Jungle

For our FOURTH year of our at-home Camp YoungLives, we returned to the Jungle with an ultimate trek through Biblical History, Jungle Style!
This year our sun room was transformed into the Jungle: everything cleared out to make room for jungle vines and explorers tent, and our wall of windows were painted with tropical trees.

This week we spent time in God's initial perfect creation in the Garden of Eden: lacing up our hiking boots and sharing veggies with the dinosaurs; making leaf rubbings; crafting our own frogs, tropical trees, jungle animal puppets, and yummy "creation cupcakes;" playing fun games while the kids shouted out the 6 days of creation; and creating "God Love" crosses to remind us how very much our creator loves us ("The Lord saw everything that He had made, and it was very good" Genesis 1:31). . .

Then we moved on to the unfortunate "Fall" and the corruption sin brought into God's perfect creation: we learned how different our fallen world is form the initial creation, we made coverings for Adam and Eve to hide their shame, we played "steal the serpent" and "Piranha attack" - both which wouldn't have existed pre-fall, we molded Rice Krispie serpents eaten along with forbidden fruit kabobs (Through one Man sin entered the world and death through sin. Romans 5:12).

Next week we will bring this amazing story full circle and focus on God's Grace and His powerful redeeming love, where "sad turns to glad" . . . all while we enjoy our time in the Jungle with more crafts, snacks, songs and games!

*We always look forward to our two intense, intentional, energy-filled, crazy-fun weeks of camp each Summer. We have found it to be a great opportunity to spend focused time learning more about our Loving Lord and His truth-filled Word while thoroughly enjoying time our children.
The kids are already talking about what theme they want for Camp YoungLives 2012!

Two for Two

And he lost the second tooth . . . without noticing!

Well into our fun first week of Camp YoungLives 2011,
it occurred to us that the hole in Davis' teeth seemed a bit bigger.
He had lost his second tooth!

Maybe the third tooth he'll notice . . .

Ballerinas

Our two ballerinas had their first ballet class today!

Last Splash of Summer

This past week, we lived up our final week of "free" Summer . . .

The kids (and I) thoroughly enjoyed building massive train tracks, digging holes in the yard, racing scooters down the driveway, constructing Lego villages, baking yummy treats, picnicing at Cypress Grove, finishing up our interior painting, catching frogs and caterpillars, first soccer practices, making our own musical band, reading lots (!), exploring the Train Depot Museum, and taking advantage of the final week of weekday operation at the Collierville Splash Park


Coming up at our house: Camp YoungLives 2012!!!! . . .

Followed by the start of another packed year at Parvae Vitae Academy!

Parvae Vitae Academy, 2011-2012

Is summer already over? Sheesh!

But seriously, we are pumped to kick off another year of homeschool!


Frey? Frey?

This year, we will have 4 little tikes taking classes, which will make for busy mom and busy dad.

The Curriculum

Hendrick, Tesfaye, Davis, and Burke
Bible: Long Story Short devotionals
Music: Making Music, Praying Twice
Phys Ed: soccer and baseball in Jackson city leagues

Hendrick, Tesfaye, and Davis
History: Tapestry of Grace, Year 2
Science: God's Design for Heaven and Earth
Art: Artistic Pursuits, K-3 Book 1

Hendrick and Tesfaye
Social Studies: Cub Scouts - Wolf level

Hendrick (Grade 2-ish)
Math: Math U See Gamma
English: Rod and Staff 2
Spelling: Spelling by Sound and Structure 3
Foreign Language: Rosetta Stone Latin
Handwriting: Handwriting without Tears, Printing Power

Tesfaye (Grade 1-ish)
Math: Math U See Primer and Alpha
Reading: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
Handwriting: Handwriting without Tears, My Printing Book

Davis (Grade K)
Math: Math U See Primer and Alpha
Reading: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
Handwriting: Handwriting without Tears, My Printing Book

Burke (Grade Pre-K)
Math: Math U See Primer
Reading: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
Handwriting: Handwriting without Tears, Getting Ready for School

As you can see - we place a high priority on curriculum that can be taught at multiple levels. This is necessary for our sanity.

The Schedule

The weekly lesson plans are completed ahead of the semester, and then each weekend we spend time together preparing for the week. This is particularly important for Tapestry of Grace, since it covers so many areas.

The daily schedule consists of 1-2 hours of school in the morning, another 1-2 hours during the littles' afternoon naps, and then another 1-2 hours when dad gets home. Tennessee requires 180 4-hour days, which will take us from the last week in August through mid-June.

The Philosophy

We believe God has called our family to raise a large family of Christian leaders through the ministries of homeschool and adoption. We subscribe to the classical education model, which is explained well here and in here. Education is more than just an information dump - it is holistic discipleship in which we prepare our children to live out the good works God has prepared in advance for them to do (Ephesians). It can be overwhelming and intimidating, but keeping an eternal view of the work we're doing makes the bumps less disruptive. In the end, we firmly believe the home is the superior environment for learning and that God has uniquely equipped parents to teach their own children.

Happy learning!

Green Screen and Grandparents

The kids love being the stars of their own music video!

At the Children's Museum of Memphis, the kids were rocking out to "Hound Dog" and "Can't Touch This" while watching themselves on TV.


It was wonderful having Gramma and Grandpa (Amy's parents) with us for a few days last week . . . making a mid-week museum trip possible; as well as treating the 4 big boys to a big screen showing of "Winnie the Pooh" (Tesfaye and Burke's first movie theater experience) followed by ice cream cones, delivering Ikea cabinets for home school storage, baseball in the yard, and enabling TWO date nights for our Anniversary!

We love it when Grandparents come to visit!