Today was Madison's 100th day of 1st Grade. Nowadays, the 100th day is a big deal, usually celebrated by counting 100 of something. Last year, Madison made a 100-eye monster, which was pretty fun to make. This year, we opted for 100 mini-marshmallows to bring in. Madison hand-counted them to make sure.
She did a few dot-to-dots with 100 points on them, and a few other 100-related things as well, which is all kind of fun. Tomorrow, we'll celebrate 101, right?
Probably not. I think the number everyone will be thinking about tomorrow is 7. That's the temperature in the morning, and the windchill will make it 0. This is clearly the coldest winter we've been a part of, and still yet no snow. I ask again, what's the deal with that?
The other number to throw around today is 10. As in, "10 Years." Today is my ten-year anniversary of working at the church. It does seem a long time ago - a lot has happened in ten years. Obviously, there's Madison. But a lot of other things have happened too, such as the move from one building to this larger glorious edifice. Sorry, channeling a little "Bishop's Wife" there. Anyway, we moved to this new building about ten years ago. Since then, we've had a shifting cast at KidPak, and even a shift in children's pastors. The children Mommy and Daddy taught in the third grade Sunday school have all grown up - these are the ones we saw before Daddy was even hired here. One we keep in touch with: she's getting married! This of course makes us feel ancient of days.
Daddy has been writing sermons and skits, and acting and doing so much more for ten years now, at least as a part of the staff. We were volunteers long before that, starting out with the food ministry and then going to the nursery. The idea was to prepare ourselves - or at least prepare Daddy - for what it's like to have a toddler around. That didn't happen until 2008, of course, but for around two years we worked with the nursery. Then, at one point we shifted gears to help out with the older kids, taking on the responsibility of the third graders. We were never happy with the curriculum we were given - at least the creative ideas behind it. We stuck to the bottom line, always, but took things a step further with the class ideas. Mommy and Daddy were a perfect team, and still are. This is what God made us to do, and for the past ten years we've been doing it for more kids than just a select group of third graders. We've been writing skits and curriculum for the thousand or so kids here, and even for a children's church in California. Soon another one in Gwinnett.
It was a choice to make, working for the church. Daddy had what he needed from graduate school to teach (we're still so close to that graduate's degree!), and was about to launch out to find a school to teach at, having passed the PRAXIS and taken all required classes and steps to become a teacher. And yet, there was this job here to take.
Obviously, the right decision was made. For one obvious reason, the insurance was much better. We had no idea how this would affect us at the time, but within a few years, Mommy got the diagnosis of cancer that had our world spinning.
The economy dropped out, and a lot of teachers lost their jobs, something unthinkable to begin with. The prevailing thought was that if you work for the government, you're the last to lose your job, right? Not so much. And the teachers with the shortest work history were the first to be let go, regardless of performance. So many of my classmates were let go, or lost jobs. And yet Daddy was able to keep his job through that storm. The storm is still out there - the economy is uncertain, and most Americans have a bleak outlook currently. We rely on God as always, as he's brought us through the storm and not just into it.
This is somewhat the basis for our upcoming series, "Storm Chasers." This will be a March-April series, one that will be a lot of fun and excitement. You'll see stuff for it here, although not quite yet. Daddy has written about three messages so far for it, some right after watching "Twister" and other storm chaser documentaries. We got some great ideas - God has always been good to turn that creative fountain on, giving us all kinds of inspiring directions to go in.
When Madison got home today, our direction to go in was ballet. It's Thursday, so that's where we go. Daddy did some chores while waiting for her, but also was able to finish "The Carpet People," a great old book about a race of people that live... in a carpet. They're very tiny.
We got home and did our piano, and did our fasting devotional. Madison is almost done with that one - just a few more days until the fast is over with! We managed to get all that done, and had ourselves some free time. The theme of the week on Disney Infinity was "Tangled," so Daddy downloaded the new Rapunzel-themed toy boxes, and we explored a few. Madison enjoyed it, and is looking forward to getting Rapunzel as a playable character. That's coming, but not until Valentine's Day, when Daddy wants to do a Rapunzel-theme with gifts. She'll get that character, a few related power discs, and we're going to go and get a Rapunzel doll from the Disney Store to go with the doll clothing we got her for Christmas. So all in all, it's Rapunzel for Valentine's Day. And in case you are wondering, yes, I really just wanted to type out the word Rapunzel over and over again for fun.
Mommy and Daddy did a lot of cleaning today. One epic project that Daddy was doing was taking off the lights on the new tree we got. This has taken - and I'm not exaggerating - six hours to do. There are tiny clips all over, and winding knots of lights on a seven-foot tree. It's been an ordeal. To help with that, we watched a few shows while doing laundry and so forth. We watched "Toys," which I'd never seen before, and a movie based on the story of Ruth from the Bible. It wasn't that bad, really - and it inspired us to actually use some of the clips when we do our "Walk through the Bible" series on Wednesday nights with the kids.
The neat thing about this was that the part of Boaz was played by Carman. That was a surprise - we didn't see his name listed in the credits. But there he was, and he wasn't a bad actor either. We've always enjoyed his music - back in the day. Lots of creativity there, always making Christian music fun. Lately, he's been battling cancer on an epic scale. Our prayers have been with him since last summer's diagnosis, hoping he can start that concert series he wants to do after he recovers.
It was a good day today, nice and sunny - and bitterly cold. We stayed indoors when we could, and took Madison to ballet, which she enjoyed as always. She's getting more and more graceful each day. Before class, she was practicing a bit in the halls, and Daddy was just enjoying the show. She's also doing great on her spelling tests - she's already mastered her words for the tomorrow, and we didn't even quiz her that much. The words are getting longer, but she's also spelling them out quicker.
And that's it for now. 100 days, and 10 years, and it was a day much like many others. But that's not a bad thing at all!
She did a few dot-to-dots with 100 points on them, and a few other 100-related things as well, which is all kind of fun. Tomorrow, we'll celebrate 101, right?
Probably not. I think the number everyone will be thinking about tomorrow is 7. That's the temperature in the morning, and the windchill will make it 0. This is clearly the coldest winter we've been a part of, and still yet no snow. I ask again, what's the deal with that?
The other number to throw around today is 10. As in, "10 Years." Today is my ten-year anniversary of working at the church. It does seem a long time ago - a lot has happened in ten years. Obviously, there's Madison. But a lot of other things have happened too, such as the move from one building to this larger glorious edifice. Sorry, channeling a little "Bishop's Wife" there. Anyway, we moved to this new building about ten years ago. Since then, we've had a shifting cast at KidPak, and even a shift in children's pastors. The children Mommy and Daddy taught in the third grade Sunday school have all grown up - these are the ones we saw before Daddy was even hired here. One we keep in touch with: she's getting married! This of course makes us feel ancient of days.
Daddy has been writing sermons and skits, and acting and doing so much more for ten years now, at least as a part of the staff. We were volunteers long before that, starting out with the food ministry and then going to the nursery. The idea was to prepare ourselves - or at least prepare Daddy - for what it's like to have a toddler around. That didn't happen until 2008, of course, but for around two years we worked with the nursery. Then, at one point we shifted gears to help out with the older kids, taking on the responsibility of the third graders. We were never happy with the curriculum we were given - at least the creative ideas behind it. We stuck to the bottom line, always, but took things a step further with the class ideas. Mommy and Daddy were a perfect team, and still are. This is what God made us to do, and for the past ten years we've been doing it for more kids than just a select group of third graders. We've been writing skits and curriculum for the thousand or so kids here, and even for a children's church in California. Soon another one in Gwinnett.
It was a choice to make, working for the church. Daddy had what he needed from graduate school to teach (we're still so close to that graduate's degree!), and was about to launch out to find a school to teach at, having passed the PRAXIS and taken all required classes and steps to become a teacher. And yet, there was this job here to take.
Obviously, the right decision was made. For one obvious reason, the insurance was much better. We had no idea how this would affect us at the time, but within a few years, Mommy got the diagnosis of cancer that had our world spinning.
The economy dropped out, and a lot of teachers lost their jobs, something unthinkable to begin with. The prevailing thought was that if you work for the government, you're the last to lose your job, right? Not so much. And the teachers with the shortest work history were the first to be let go, regardless of performance. So many of my classmates were let go, or lost jobs. And yet Daddy was able to keep his job through that storm. The storm is still out there - the economy is uncertain, and most Americans have a bleak outlook currently. We rely on God as always, as he's brought us through the storm and not just into it.
This is somewhat the basis for our upcoming series, "Storm Chasers." This will be a March-April series, one that will be a lot of fun and excitement. You'll see stuff for it here, although not quite yet. Daddy has written about three messages so far for it, some right after watching "Twister" and other storm chaser documentaries. We got some great ideas - God has always been good to turn that creative fountain on, giving us all kinds of inspiring directions to go in.
When Madison got home today, our direction to go in was ballet. It's Thursday, so that's where we go. Daddy did some chores while waiting for her, but also was able to finish "The Carpet People," a great old book about a race of people that live... in a carpet. They're very tiny.
We got home and did our piano, and did our fasting devotional. Madison is almost done with that one - just a few more days until the fast is over with! We managed to get all that done, and had ourselves some free time. The theme of the week on Disney Infinity was "Tangled," so Daddy downloaded the new Rapunzel-themed toy boxes, and we explored a few. Madison enjoyed it, and is looking forward to getting Rapunzel as a playable character. That's coming, but not until Valentine's Day, when Daddy wants to do a Rapunzel-theme with gifts. She'll get that character, a few related power discs, and we're going to go and get a Rapunzel doll from the Disney Store to go with the doll clothing we got her for Christmas. So all in all, it's Rapunzel for Valentine's Day. And in case you are wondering, yes, I really just wanted to type out the word Rapunzel over and over again for fun.
Mommy and Daddy did a lot of cleaning today. One epic project that Daddy was doing was taking off the lights on the new tree we got. This has taken - and I'm not exaggerating - six hours to do. There are tiny clips all over, and winding knots of lights on a seven-foot tree. It's been an ordeal. To help with that, we watched a few shows while doing laundry and so forth. We watched "Toys," which I'd never seen before, and a movie based on the story of Ruth from the Bible. It wasn't that bad, really - and it inspired us to actually use some of the clips when we do our "Walk through the Bible" series on Wednesday nights with the kids.
The neat thing about this was that the part of Boaz was played by Carman. That was a surprise - we didn't see his name listed in the credits. But there he was, and he wasn't a bad actor either. We've always enjoyed his music - back in the day. Lots of creativity there, always making Christian music fun. Lately, he's been battling cancer on an epic scale. Our prayers have been with him since last summer's diagnosis, hoping he can start that concert series he wants to do after he recovers.
It was a good day today, nice and sunny - and bitterly cold. We stayed indoors when we could, and took Madison to ballet, which she enjoyed as always. She's getting more and more graceful each day. Before class, she was practicing a bit in the halls, and Daddy was just enjoying the show. She's also doing great on her spelling tests - she's already mastered her words for the tomorrow, and we didn't even quiz her that much. The words are getting longer, but she's also spelling them out quicker.
And that's it for now. 100 days, and 10 years, and it was a day much like many others. But that's not a bad thing at all!
DAY NINETEEN
Psalm 106:1 says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!” You have almost reached the end of your fast! Look back at the last few weeks, because it is time to reflect. Write down below any special moments you’ve had, and use these warm memories to help you endure until the end!
Psalm 106:1 says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!” You have almost reached the end of your fast! Look back at the last few weeks, because it is time to reflect. Write down below any special moments you’ve had, and use these warm memories to help you endure until the end!
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Elijah fasted and prayed for direction and to hear God’s voice. Moses fasted to receive
God’s law and the Ten Commandments. Daniel fasted and got a revelation. Ezra fasted for
protection. Jesus fasted to begin His ministry. Ask others you know why they have fasted,
and write down a few of their answers below.
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Read today’s Bible story in Matthew 20:20-28. Jesus told everyone that He did not come to
be served. According to His own words, why did He come?
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