Creationism for Kids

Will is at the age of questions, especially in relation to his ever-present interest dinosaurs.

"Why are the dinosaurs gone?"
"Did people live with dinosaurs?"
"Were there dinosaurs on Noah's Ark?"

Some of his questions I've had to answer honestly with an "I don't know." And while we aren't meant to know all of the answers, I have been looking for some resources that will help me to educate myself while we try to point our kids towards Truth and pray that they can embrace it for themselves.

I watched a short lecture today on "Dinosaurs in the Bible" which was very interesting and comprehensive. In case anyone else is interested, here is a link to the group that produced the DVD:

http://www.answersingenesis.org/

Too sweet...

A picture of the cousins before going Christmas Caroling last week:

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to our new niece, Mabel Katharine Farley!

I think it's impossible to get a decent shot of all three kids...

I might as well join in on the fun:

Christmas Party Photo Montage

Caroling Party



Cookie Decorating

Ladies Ornament Party/Cookie Exchange at Gretchen's house





CBC Christmas Party

Checking In...

Some recent items of note:
-Joy laughed for the first time yesterday. Best sound ever!
-I found my first gray hair (my hairdresser found a few a couple months ago but this was the first time I saw one staring back at me in the mirror). For some reason this was really weird for me. Oh, well. Many more to come! :-)
-Had our first date night since Joy was born at Daniel's Broiler in Bellevue
-Had a nice dinner with out of town relatives. John's cousin was interviewing for a Residency at UW so he and his fam were up for a couple days.
-Tonight we host our CBC Christmas party. Should be fun!

Here are a pictures from the past week:

Sisters


Joy and Uncle Dave-O got on pretty well

Date night

Sweet baby Joy is almost 3 months young. Love those michelin rolls!
My Dad's ridiculous loaner car

Clara and Jane

First Ballet Recital

We had fun attending Jane and Clara's first ballet "recital" at a local elementary school last night. Clara got into it but Jane decided to plop down and watch the dance rather than participate. It was, of course, very cute. The actual dance routine the girls "performed" was about 2 minutes long, so we decided to extend the night a bit by heading back to our house afterwards for some dessert and a sleepover with the Myers cousins who were kind enough to make the trek over to our neck of the woods in support of Janie.

Leading up to Christmas

I've been trying to think of something to do with the kids during the season of Advent. Our current tradition is to do a mini-devotional (attention span is VERY limited at this age) and prayer together each night and then open up one of the dates on those little drugstore calendars with a chocolate hiding inside.

This year, as the kids are growing and understanding a bit more, I am wanting to do something more as a family to help them understand this season.

I don't ever want to stress works over faith, since God's gift of His Son, Jesus is nothing we can ever earn, but sometimes "doing" things is a good way to begin having conversations with the kids that will naturally point them towards God and who He is.

I have a friend who started making a list of things she plans to do with her daughter during the season of Advent and here are a few of hers plus some I added that I'd like to try and do with the kids:

-Pick a Christmas card out of the stack and pray for that family
-Memorize scripture together as a family
-Make cards to thank teachers
-Picnic next to the Christmas tree and read the Christmas story
-Bake a food treat for a friend
-Surprise Dad with something special after his long day at work
-Send a card or package to a serviceman
-Go to store and pick out a toy for a needy child and donate
-Go Christmas carolling at the nursing home
-Make hot cocoa from scratch and walk around the neighborhood looking at stars and Christmas lights
-Look around house for loose change and take to a bell ringer
-Walk around neighborhood and gather canned food to donate to people in need
-Visit a neighbor or friend who is lonely or in need
-Make candy cane reindeer and give them away
-Make a pinecone bird feeder to put outside
-Make a small stocking and drop it off on someone’s door as a surprise
-Make a list of 5 things you are thankful for and put it on the refrigerator
-Make a small gift for your friends
-Make and send out Christmas cards

I'd love to hear what others are doing with their families!

Jane turned Joy into a Princess today:

Thanksgiving 2010

The house seemed very quiet today after the Axene family headed back home to sunny California. We had so much fun with Josh, Tiff and their three girls (Cadence and Brielle (3.5) and Peyton (20 months) this past week during their visit. We had a snowy Thanksgiving in Washington which made the week even more enjoyable. We made snow ice cream, did some sledding, built snowmen, played Scrabble, watched lots of movies, consumed tons of food and overall had a wonderful time spending time together and letting our kids get to know each other better. The 10 of us spent Thanksgiving with my parents and some extended family, who were gracious enough to let six kids under age 4 take over their house for the evening.
Today, Grandpa Dirk joined us on a trip to Squak Mountain nursery to pick out a gorgeous 8 foot Noble Fir Christmas tree. Every year, John tries to talk me into getting an artificial tree (I have yet to give in). This year he was definitely wishing we had gotten one, after we forgot that the tree was on the van and attempted to drive into the garage, breaking our tree stand and shedding branches and needles everywhere. Now that the tree is finally inside, it looks beautiful....addendum: the tree just fell over, shattering glass balls and needles everywhere. Hmm...an artificial tree is sounding better and better. At least the house smells good :-)

Here are a few pictures of the past week (the 'good' ones were taken by our good friend, Bryson. Thanks!):