Free Rice

I came across the most wonderful website and I had to share it: Free Rice !

You and your children play games and earn *free rice grains* (that are donated to the UN World Food Program) for every correct answer given. There are several subjects that they can play from including art (our favorite), vocabulary, grammar, math, foreign language, etc.

Ava played so much this morning she got over 4,000 grains of rice donated!

Caroline got so excited about it and she said, "I love this site because we're learning, playing & helping people all at the same time!"

Go play, learn and get rice grains donated... you will be blessed by blessing others! :)

http://www.freerice.com/

Sin and Weeds

Let me take you on a walk... the same walk I was on with Caroline last week when she said something so biblically wise and insightful, that it will forever permeate my heart. Let's start walking...

Ava found some dandelions and commented on how beautiful they were, even though they were mere weeds. She picked up another strange flower and looked at it ever so intently and admiringly, only to be disappointed that it was yet another weed.

Caroline looked thoughtfully over at the carefully handled weed and said, "That weed reminds me of Satan."

I asked curiously, "How so?"

She replied, "Because Satan takes sin and twists it to make it look beautiful. But, just like that weed will overtake the ground, sin will take over our soul. You know, he was the most beautiful angel, and he likes to trick us by making things that are ugly look beautiful."

Silence... more silence... then I uttered a huge, "WOW! That is such a deep thought for a little 11 year old girl!"

Caroline can be very insightful and wise beyond her years sometimes. She humbles me and God uses her to bless me in more ways than I can count.

So, back to sin and weeds: How many weeds do we have overtaking our garden? How many garden destroyers have we mistaken as flowers just because they might look pretty? Satan would love none other than for us to fall for his twisting and marring of sin into something that looks enticing or harmless.

It's like the balloon guy... you know the one that wears the HUGE button that says, "I WORK FOR TIPS". He takes a common balloon, and with some air (or a pump if he wants to work less for his tips) and some twisting and turning... voila! You have a crown, or a sword, or a puppy dog... but it's still just a balloon prettied up a bit.

Satan takes our sins and twists and turns them into something that seems "OK"... and next thing you know, we've bought into the lie; hook, line & sinker... and our sins don't look like sins anymore... they look like: "No big deal, because everyone does it," OR "I feel fine about it, so it must be fine." OR EVEN, "God will forgive me later for it."

Romans 6:1-2 declares, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

IT'S A WEED! Call it by name, pluck it out of your life and ask for God's forgiveness. Don't be fooled by Satan's craftiness... he will do his best to put his weeds of sin in the garden of your soul so that you will be overtaken.

Paul continues in Romans 6:11-14 saying, "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace."

Praise God for being mighty to save us from the deception of the tempter! Col. 1:13-14 says: "For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Today, I got a very timely devotional written by Charles Spurgeon which illustrates Caroline's point very well:

"Sin ... exceeding sinful."
-- Romans 7:13

Beware of light thoughts of sin. At the time of conversion, the conscience is so tender, that we are afraid of the slightest sin. Young converts have a holy timidity, a godly fear lest they should offend against God.

But alas! very soon the fine bloom upon these first ripe fruits is removed by the rough handling of the surrounding world: the sensitive plant of young piety turns into a willow in after life, too pliant, too easily yielding. It is sadly true, that even a Christian may grow by degrees so callous, that the sin which once startled him does not alarm him in the least. By degrees men get familiar with sin.

The ear in which the cannon has been booming will not notice slight sounds. At first a little sin startles us; but soon we say, "Is it not a little one?" Then there comes another, larger, and then another, until by degrees we begin to regard sin as but a little ill; and then follows an unholy presumption: "We have not fallen into open sin. True, we tripped a little, but we stood upright in the main. We may have uttered one unholy word, but as for the most of our conversation, it has been consistent."

So we palliate sin; we throw a cloak over it; we call it by dainty names. Christian, beware how thou thinkest lightly of sin. Take heed lest thou fall by little and little.

Sin, a little thing? Is it not a poison? Who knows its deadliness?

Sin, a little thing? Do not the little foxes spoil the grapes? Doth not the tiny coral insect build a rock which wrecks a navy? Do not little strokes fell lofty oaks? Will not continual droppings wear away stones?

Sin, a little thing? It girded the Redeemer's head with thorns, and pierced his heart! It made him suffer anguish, bitterness, and woe.

Could you weigh the least sin in the scales of eternity, you would fly from it as from a serpent, and abhor the least appearance of evil. Look upon all sin as that which crucified the Saviour, and you will see it to be "exceeding sinful."

Have a blessed, and weed-free day!

Adieu Hiver! (aka Goodbye Winter!)

Spring is in the air; so much that Caroline and Ava jumped in our swimming pool yesterday to "cool off" (85 degrees in February)! So, before it totally blooms into season, I wanted to journal and post some of our favorite Winter memories. (I tried oh so hard to narrow down the pictures to just a few, but there are just too many sweet ones that I failed at my task of "just a few"!) Enjoy:




Could Fly be any more submissive or what?!




Caroline's basketball team, the *Stars*, at Double Dip
for their end-of-the-year party. Erich just loved coaching their team and Caroline hated that the season came to an end.



Speaking of *Stars*, Erich took me to the Stars game for Valentine's Day... isn't he so sweet?! (ask me the real story behind it, and you'll get a good laugh!)

Caroline has learned the art of pie baking and so excited about her new found skill! This is her homemade pear pie that she baked for dessert at Popi & Kiki's! (I remember being her age and standing in this same exact spot at my home... if only I could find that picture...)

Another homemade pie... this one was an apple pie! Delicious! :)-

Caroline and Ava set up "store" in Ava's room. They donned name tags, had a check-out procedure and everything... very official!

Of course, Mommy and Daddy had to have our turn at cashier!

Here's their pretend money (obviously, some more pretend than others).

Here's a sampling of how they set everything up and priced it.

Obviously we haven't had any economics lessons, or the wallet with $88.41 inside wouldn't be selling for $15.00... lol!

Here's a view from Ava's window of our dreadful ice storm that warranted the schools to be closed (are we sissies, or what?!... lol!)

Ava and Caroline bundled up to play in the little bit of ice that they could find.



The girls have to have fun some way... add a basket and a little ice, and there's your fun!

We made a trip to the American Girl store, and Caroline surprised Ava with a gift of matching P.J.'s! They were so excited to dress alike that night!

We went as a family to the King Tut Museum. It was great since we just finished studying Exodus and were in the middle of learning about Egypt in geography! It wasn't so great that both of the girls got diagnosed with strep throat that day! :(

Ava lost her 7th tooth...

Emma, Ava & Liliana in book club making marshmallow snowmen!

Ava just loves her class... she has made some precious friends that we are so blessed to know!

Erich and the girls monkeying around. No joke, I originally was on the pile, too... but I had to hop down b/c somebody had to take the picture!

Caroline and Ava on Christmas Eve about to complete the Advent calendar with Door #24... baby Jesus!

All the cousins posing after they sung Happy Birthday to Jesus!

So, these pictures are out of order, but this was the first attempt at our homemade pie... we did this one together as a family. The other ones were special b/c Caroline did them by herself. Just had to make sure all the details are clear... :)

Fun times at our sweet friend's house baking cookies!

Ava and Olivia hamming it up (and rolling it out)!

Emma, Ava & Abby at the bowling alley! Sweet friends! :)

Caroline, Abbey & Jade posing between strikes.

We had lots of fun baking pumpkin bread... (it's not fun unless you have flour on your nose)

Ava just loves using the mixer (and I'm sure Erich is glad to see I have paper sitting on top of one of the burners)

I think this is a picture of another lost tooth... it's really such a cute picture, I'm posting it even though I don't remember the "memory" of it!

Caroline & Ava in front of a tepee at the Dallas Heritage Village candle lighting! This is one of our favorite family traditions! (not standing in front of the tepee, of course)

Aren't you glad we don't have to wash clothes like this anymore?!

The girls had fun sitting in the old school desks!

Ava finished her wonderful sewing class, and for her final project she made her best friend, Rachel, this apron! She was so excited! :)

Caroline and Ava in front of the manger at our church's Christmas production. Both of the girls had precious solos... and it was such a blessing to see them lift their voices up to praise God!

Abbey and Caroline dressed up like Charles Dickens' characters after reading A Christmas Carol in book club. Abbey was a "merry old gentlemen" and Caroline was a "wash maid". Fun times!

Nothing like making paper dolls with your friends...

Rachel and I had to get in on the action too (it was harder than we thought).

Erich is holding Ava and our friend, Kennedy, as we toured the local Heritage Museum. We learned a lot of really cool facts about our city and even watched a super old Mickey Mouse cartoon (I can't remember what that had to do with the tour... but it was fun).

Had to just throw this one in here b/c Erich looks so cute... I'm such a proud wife!

Of course, you have to make "mud pies" in your prairie clothes at least once in your life. I think this one was a "berry" flavored one!

Caroline and her friends make a race track at the Hands on Science field trip. They had a blast working together to put together pulleys and inclined planes!

And in the other classroom, Ava and her friends are working on some science experiments! These field trips are so exciting for the girls!

Well...that's all the fun memories from Winter. Whew, time really flies when you're having fun! I just relish in the blessing of being with my girls throughout the days so that we can enjoy each other and learn about God's creation together and have time for making sweet memories with friends and family!

Have a blessed day! :)

Daddy/Daughter Dance

Once upon a time...

Every year, Princesses Caroline and Ava are escorted to a wonderful royal ball by their "King Daddy". Photos containing their precious memories await you...


Duchess Heather is getting Princess Ava's hair just perfect



And I mean, "just perfect"! :)



Princess Ava is ready for the ball. She's only missing one thing...




Her King! :) Aren't they just precious?!




Here they are at the dance... could King Erich look any happier? :)




King Erich has a little "red-face" going on... he might need to take a break from dancing... lol!




Despite the 1,000 other princesses at the ball, Ava finds Haley and Mandy. According to Mandy's daddy, this is good b/c Mandy said she didn't want to dance until she found Ava... good for Gary that she found her! :)




Now it's Princess Caroline's turn... is Duchess Heather the best friend in the world, or what?!

Duchess Heather's "masterpiece"... what a gorgeous mane!

Princess Caroline awaits her King who is arriving shortly.

And, here he is! :)

I just love this one of them... simply darling!

Precious close up of Princess Caroline and King Erich

King Erich with both of his Princesses.

The royal carriage whisked them away to dinner and then to Caroline's ball. So, King Erich truly danced the night away.

(2 dances + dinner = tired and sore Daddy) But he loved every minute of it! :)

The girls are so blessed by their daddy... he loves them so much and takes care of them like the princesses that they are... God's Princesses!

Have a blessed day!