The proof is in the pudding

*Originally posted October 14, 2007

God has brought us so far already in this journey that I just had to recap the past couple of months into some of my favorite moments. Here are some of my favorite comments from Ava: (I'll give you some of Caroline's in my next post)

When studying RightStart Math, I asked Ava to picture the number 8 in her mind and then asked her what it looked like. She closed her eyes tight and said, "I see 8 orphans and I see 8 hands feeding the poor". Wow... our bible studies on God's character from Duet. 10:17 are seeping into Ava's math!!! It doesn't get better than that! :)

Ava was drawing the story of Rebekah and Isaac and the "stolen birthright" from our Bible study. She pointed to her pictures and said, "Mommy, this is the Hairy Guy, Esau, and this is the Not Hairy Guy, Jacob." I laughed at Jacob's other name being the "Not Hairy Guy".

We were going to do the Buckner Orphans Shoes for Souls service project, and had prepared ourselves by studying Ruth and several other verses on what God's character is towards orphans and widows. Ava summarized our lessons by saying this: "If you drop something, don't pick it up; leave it for the poor. God lets the orphan have food and He doesn't want them to run out of food and be hungry. I need to help orphans and give them shoes." Hiding God's word in your heart is really paying off! :)

Speaking of hiding God's word in your heart, I got a kick out of Ava quoting her Prov. 16:24 memory verse as this: "Pleasant words are like a honeymoon, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." Who would have thought that honeycombs and honeymoons could be interchangeable?!

After reading Prov. 14:1 about the wise woman building her house on a good foundation and the foolish woman tearing it down with her hands, I asked Ava if she understood what God is telling us in those verses (not thinking she would get it, but rather thinking that this would be a teachable moment). She answered, "We can take care of our lives by being Godly and not mean." Yep... she got it all right (in a 5 year old version).

Science and Geography lessons are also getting mixed into our Bible, because Ava drew a picture and said, "This is Satan blowing bad ozone everywhere. He's like cooking and blowing smoke." And, yes... she said "like cooking"... spoken like a true valley girl! :)

And you know Ava's tummy gets involved in her bible lesson too when she draws a picture of the foolish woman's house and has hamburgers and French fries coming out of the chimney!!! LOL! :)

Here is proof that reading good literature produces better vocabulary (this literature example came from God's word... so, of course it's going to be good): We studied 1 Cor. 13 and were talking about ways we can show love to others and as we picked apart each verse, I asked the girls to tell me how they could put it into action. When we came to, "Love does not delight in evil", Ava said that her way to put that into action was to, "Emulate nice people." I love it when the 5 year old not only uses the word "emulate", but also says it in context. I am so excited about her progress so far in so many ways! :) God is so good!

Final one for Ava (Caroline actually chimed in on this one first): When I told the girls that this week while we're in San Antonio we were taking a "Fall Break" and were not going to school, they begged me, "Please mom... can we take some of our homeschool lessons in the car and do them on the way there?... PLEASE!!!" OK, so when your kids are begging you to learn more, even when you're trying to give them a vacation, you know something is going right!!! I'll give you some of Caroline's great "lines" soon on my next post!

As I said before, and will keep on saying... all of these wonderful moments are from God. He is the one that is blessing our day with peace and putting the desire in the girls' hearts to study His Word and learn more about His world! To Him be the Glory for all the wonderful things He has done in our homeschool. May we serve Him well and emulate Christ in all that we say and do!!! Have a blessed day!