Giving Thanks

I Thessalonians 5:18, "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

1. My salvation through Christ (not of my own goodness)
2. My husband who loves me more than I deserve
3. John, my firstborn who is a sensitive soul
4. Gracie, my little girl who always has a song of praise on her little lips



5. Convicting sermon Sunday morning on needing revival
6. God's grace (God's Richest At Christ's Expense)
7. Singing with my children on the way to Church
8. Older women who've gone on before me
9. Our warm house when so many in this world don't even have a home
10. My dirty laundry, as it's a sign we've been blessed
11. My dirty dishes, again we're blessed
12. The Holy Spirit that speaks to me in a still small voice
13. Pure white snow, a picture of His forgiveness (Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.)
14. Read-alouds with my children
15. An afghan that reminds me of my grandma
16. Talking with a friend
17. The date with my husband this past Friday (few and far between)
18. Being able to talk to Amos about future schooling plans
19. The Word of God
20. Freedom in our country

Visit Ann at Holy Experience to read what others are thankful for.

Weekly Wrap-Up January 8

This is our first week back since the Holidays. I think the only hiccups we had were it seemed I had to remind Gracie a lot to get busy. By the end of the week, I was really having to remind myself to be gracious, then I realized that it was our first week back and that this probably goes along with not doing school for 2 weeks.

Math- John spent time learning to measure inches and use his ruler. Gracie is just starting with simple addition.

Spell to Write and Read- We all enjoyed a new phonogram game. Daddy even joined us playing, even though he's not familiar with all the different phonograms, but he did a great job.

Unit Study- We just started Galloping the Globe. We weren't enjoying our previous history studies, so I made the switch. Why be miserable the rest of the year? We really enjoyed using Geography Songs to help memorize the continents and oceans. John already knew them, but not Gracie. I'd say by day 3 she had them memorized. To be honest, I didn't know quite where all the oceans were, so this even helped out momma. Super fun. John is really enjoying using this geography book as well. We also learned a ton about Columbus. More than I ever remembered from school. We had fun playing this game as well.

Science- John continued on with his studies on Astronomy.

Read aloud- I read aloud Beautiful Feet Books: Columbus. The pictues in this book are beautiful.

I've been working on inspiring John to want to read more. I don't know. He loves to write his own books, etc. and will read to me whenever asked without complaint, but never just books up a book on his own to read unless it's to do with space and plants. So I've been determined to change that. I've laminated this reading chart and bought this bookmark timer and he's read 8 books in one week. This momma is super happy. Guess I just needed to inspire him some.

We didn't make it to our art and music like I'd hoped, but hopefully next week. Plus the kids have been playing in all the beautiful snow we've gotten and John has been praying for more.

This is our first week joining the Weekly Wrap up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers . It was fun reviewing what we've done.

Winter Fun

Today was on of those winter storm days. It's been snowing since this morning and still is. I love it!!! To be honest, I hate the cold, but I love when we get a lot of snow. It usually means daddy is home shoveling, John and Gracie are outside playing, and I'm inside (after taking photos) making yummy things for my family. Today I tried two new recipes, Mexican Hot Chocolate and Cinnamon Spiced Nuts.

Today I I whipped out John and Gracie's cleaning spray bottles, emptied them, and refilled them with water and some food coloring, so they could decorate the snow and their snow cakes they were making.

John has been waiting all winter to be able to get to a clean, safe icicle to eat. Today his wish was fulfilled.

Gracie was just rolling around and around in the snow. It was crazy. I don't know how she wasn't freezing except that she had 4 layers of clothes on. :)

John was praciticing turning the sled. Later on Amos got out the cornhole boards, and they built ramps at the bottom of the hill and the bottom of the swing set slide. They really had fun, even daddy.

Here's Gracie's snow cake she was hard at work on. They even requested sugar, which momma gave them. Of course it was the white stuff, that's cheap.

The above picture was the other yummy, new recipe that I tried today. Super good!!! It tasted very similar to those expensive almonds we get at the zoo once a year during the Festival of Lights.

Here's the recipe:

Cinnamon Spiced Nuts

1 egg white

2 tbs. water

3 1/2 c. mixed nuts

3/4 c. brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Beat egg white and water. Stir in nuts until moist. Drain. Combine dry ingredients. Stir in nuts until coated. Put nuts on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 250 for 30 minutes. Enjoy!!