Scavenger Hunt Sunday

The scavenger hunt themes for this week were

• The Weather Today
• R is for...
• Green
• Joy
• Drink

The weather today is cold [relatively speaking] and clear

which is a welcome change from the weather we had most of last week...

cold...

A leaf with frost on it that Grace found for me

wet...

and generally dreary-looking.

R is for...reading, of course!

Josiah (11) and Grace (7) reading on our new sofa

Josiah and Grace reading in the dark in the van

Here is Grace peeking around the green Christmas tree before a skit during this morning's worship service.  I may be a little biased, but she was the prettiest of the "wise men."  

Joy has much less to do with this

No, this is not my house.

or this

Yes, this is in my house...from December 2010.

and everything to do with this.

For a child has been born—for us!

    the gift of a son—for us!

He’ll take over

    the running of the world.

His names will be: Amazing Counselor,

    Strong God,

Eternal Father,

    Prince of Wholeness.

His ruling authority will grow,

    and there’ll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.

He’ll rule from the historic David throne

    over that promised kingdom.

He’ll put that kingdom on a firm footing

    and keep it going

With fair dealing and right living,

    beginning now and lasting always.

The zeal of God-of-the-Angel-Armies

    will do all this. 

Isaiah 9:6-7 (The Message)

I don't have a photo for drink, so why not another sky shot?  This was on Friday at our homeschool group meeting.  I spotted a sun dog in the sky as we were packing up to leave.

 Click on the link below to see others' photographs or to join in on the fun!  

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

The photography prompts for this week's scavenger hunt were:

1. Where I stood
2. Silver
3. Tiny
4. In the cupboard (which I skipped entirely)
5. Shadows

From where I stood in the kitchen earlier this week, I looked out our window to see the last remaining bit of color on our trees in the front yard.  The window was open because of much warmer temperatures that we had for a few days.

A friend braved the rain to take us both to our church's "Secret Sister" party one night.  The raindrops on the windshield looked like gold and silver droplets with the house and Christmas lights behind them.  (Yes, I know it's a stretch.)

Saturday was the Christmas parade in the square.  I have a confession to make:  in the 14 years we have lived here, this was the first time we ever made it to the Christmas parade.  Most  years we planned to go but something came up (other plans or obligations, illness, etc.) and some years it just never made it on our radar.  We went this year, and it was wonderful!

There was a (relatively) tiny and impressive replica of the clock tower and court house as one of the floats.

And this is the real thing:

The clock tower is enveloped in shadows in the next shot.

But these two shot, from my archives and from a time when Grace was 6, are my favorite shadow photos.

June 2012

October 2012

Click on the link below to see others' photographs or to join in on the fun!  

Anticipation

Long before there was this kind of anticipation

Until our Christmas tree goes up, the presents are stacked--not quite like this now--in our bedroom. Grace (6) artfully stacked these.

there was this kind of anticipation.

Jesus talking with Jewish children.

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Merry Christmas!


This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom and Sarah Halstead at The Naptime Momtog for Wordless Wednesday, and to Ashley Sisk  for Wittle People Wednesday.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

This week's scavenger hunt items were

• Sparkly
• Door
• Decorate
• Stripes
• A Few of My Favorite Things

OK...I'm going to "cheat" a little with this week's post and cover it all with two shots.  Here is my new sparkly wreath on my front door.  It's a new addition to the things I decorate with since my 2012 Secret Sister gave it to me for Christmas.  (Thank you, Missy!)   Oh, and see the stripes?  It's candy cane striped mesh ribbon.

It's inside the house since I've been warned by a few friends that if I placed it on the outside of my front door, they would take it.  I think it's unanimous, at least around here:  females love this wreath; males do not understand it one bit.  

Have I mentioned I like chocolate?  Oh, yes, I do.  These are a few of my favorite things...

Click on the link below to see others' photographs or to join in the fun!  

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

This week's scavenger hunt items were:

• Season
• Colorful
• Weather
• Silhouette
• Calm

Season

How 'bout Christmas cookie baking time with my friends?

Colorful

There were colorful lights on my friend's Christmas tree...

...and lights reflected on the wall.

Weather

We had some foggy weather earlier this week.  You can barely see Josiah (10) walking our puppy Bono in the right lower quadrant of the photo (between trees).

Silhouette

I thought this was a lovely silhouette of bare trees against a pastel sky.

Calm

This was as calm a photo as I could get from this bunch of best friends.  :)  They played together all day while the moms baked cookies.  

Josiah (10) and Grace (6) are on the far left.

Click on the link below to see others' photographs or to join in the fun!  

The best of all is, God is with us

These are some photos from a trip we took to see family earlier this year.  We stopped by their church, and this quote by John Wesley was on the wall:

I went a little crazy taking pictures of the church during our visit...because that's what I do.  :)

February 2012

The stained glass windows...

The lights...

Yes, the lights.  I like interesting light fixtures.

Does that make me strange?  (Don't answer that.)

Josiah played a few pieces on the piano...with permission.

And I took pictures of the piano.

 Grace (5 at the time) checked out the playground with my dad

and stabled her horse Johnny.

This Christmas, and all through the year, remember...

"The best of all is, God is with us."

John Wesley

Christmas in July

Another flashback...

This is a video of Grace from 2009, when she was 3.  She started to sing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," but forgot the lyrics...

(What a look!  That's still her puzzled look at 6 years old.)

So she started over again:

Whoa...I didn't know that Santa drove slaves, did you?

Overheard

Grace (age 5) is doing very well with phonics and is about halfway through the Alpha-Phonics book I've used with each of the children.  She tries to read everything, whether it is on the refrigerator

or on Facebook.  

I don't have to wonder about her reading comprehension because she has a running commentary with everything she reads.  Here are some of the sentences she read today in Alpha-Phonics (in red) along with her comments and questions:

Dave had a date with Kate.  Is that a boy and a girl?  Are they married?  Maybe it was a friend date...or a playdate!

Jane paid ten cents [That's a dime!] at the gate.  Why did she have to pay to get in?  Did everyone have to pay ten cents?

If the train is late, Gail will take a bus.  Does the bus go to the same place?  Maybe she could walk the rest of the way.

~~~~~

And then the student becomes the teacher...

Grace decided to teach Josiah and me today.  One of her topics was Christmas.  She began by saying there were two parts to Christmas, and she would start with the second part and end with the first part because the first part was the most important.

So, she began talking about Christmas trees...

 

And then she talked about the most important part...

 

Jesus.

The angel said to them, "Don't be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David. This will be the sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a manger."  (Luke 2:10-12 HCSB) ¹¹¹²

You Capture: Circles

This week's You Capture photography challenge is circles, and we found circles on the tot-sized mushroom seats at the new library:


There were trendy circular lights at the new trendy library:


Tuesday night I used the last of the frozen blueberries we picked in the summer



to make blueberry pancakes. The batter was a funny shade,


and I rarely make circular pancakes, but they were delicious!


And, last but not least, the last of my Christmas-y decorations:


Check out other You Capture entries at I Should Be Folding Laundry.