Heart Reflections Live
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Happy Saint Patrick's Day!
Well, I can only lay claim to one Irish lass in my family tree (We're mainly English and German), but since hubby has a bit more Irish blood than I do, that definately makes our children of at least part Irish descent, and what a good excuse to make Saint Patrick's Day another memory making learning time for homeschool.
Today, we all searched our wardrobes for something green to wear, and started our school devotions talking about the doctrine of the Trinity and the life of Saint Patrick, who was responsible for converting the whole of Ireland to Christianity. The amazing story of his kidnapping as a child shows God's hand of sovereignty over that part of the world, as well as over Patrick's own life. It's amazing to note too, that it was a missionary from Ireland not long after who God sent to evangelize Scotland!
We watched the docu-drama "Patrick" (available at Koorong) narrated by Liam Neeson. It is meant to be very factual and authentic; and just for fun also watched the old black and white movie "Little Nelly Kelly" with Judy Garland playing both mother and daughter- really sweet and funny.
We don't do a lot of craft, but today made green Celtic Style crosses- the girls did a great job!
Dinner was something the girls will remember for sometime to come: GREEN Shepherd's Pie (The cheese was hidden in the middle) and green jelly for dessert. I usually avoid food colouring where possible, but made an exception for tonight. They eventually ate the pie after reassurance it tasted the same as usual!
So what did you do for St Patrick's Day?
If you are wondering what a photo of Talitha, then aged 4, swimming in my parents' pool has to do with St Patrick's Day- IT DOESN'T!!! I clicked on a picture of a Shamrock! Don't ask me what happened there! But it's a cute slice of life from the Roberts family, so I thought I'd leave it up! Ah Technology!(Grrrr) Blessings to you all.
Labels: family fun, homeschooling, memory-making
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Special Touches
The children got a great deal of pleasure helping add these special touches...
Labels: family fun, memory-making, Numbering our days
Making Holiday Memories
One of the things I love most about homeschooling, is the opportunity to make memories, as I have the priveledge of having our children with me daily, instead of being at school most of the day. (That's not to say our lives are perfect, and that every homeschooling day is a delight. I can assure you we have our Bad days. Our children have a sin-nature, whether born into a Christian family or not, and there are many times that I have to remind myself that homeschooling is a marathon and not a sprint, but nevertheless I feel very priveledged to have the opportunity to nuture 4 little souls daily.)
While thinking about memory-making and "numbering our days" recently, I came across Annie's Holiday Pages on the net http://annieshomepage.com/holiday.html . What a resource! Many links for heaps of different holidays and all from a Christian perspective. So, in February this year for the first time we celebrated Valentines Day as a FAMILY!
The girls and I baked some pink heart-shaped cookies for housegroup and Church that week, we did a children's bible study on love during homeschool and also learnt about Saint Valentine the Christian Martyr- Wow! and I thought Valentines Day was a pagan thing! On the big day itself, we had a Family Valentines Feast. The girls and I dressed the table up using things we had as a surprise for Daddy. They really enjoyed it!
Australians as a whole I believe don't really celebrate the holidays in a Christian manner. We are fiercely patriotic when it comes to Australia Day and ANZAC Day, but Australian Society is sadly very secularized, much more so, than the USA, though we hope and pray God will revive this land and change that. At the moment, there's nothing a typical Aussie loves more than a long weekend, and sadly that's all Easter has become to many. But for myself, I'm totally inspired by this website, and I'm sure it will help bring many more happy memories to the Roberts Household. By the way, Valentines Day already has a special significance to us, as it was on a Valentines Day 10 years ago now, that God showed my dear husband that I was "the one"- how time flies...
Here are some pictures of our Family Valentines feast!
Labels: family fun, family life, memory-making, Numbering our days
