I wish I had my camera! In one day Joshua lost both of his front teeth.
Speaking of teeth, my friend told me that her dentist told her (when she had 7 of her children with cavities!) that teeth (enamal) need time to rest (or recover or restore I guess); about 2 hours. If you eat anything or drink anything in that 2 hours the process starts again (breaking down of enamal). If this is true, it would explain why our children's teeth were fine in Brazil (where they only drank water and only had snacks (usually) at around 3pm). Back in the US they were sucking on pepermint candy a lot but even without that their meals and snacks were very unscheduled. Interesting!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
church
Does it seem to anyone else that Satan seems especially busy on Sunday mornings as we are preparing to go to church? I didn't notice it as a child although that doesn't mean it wasn't there; what I really remember is singing songs out of the hymnbooks for the 40 minute drive to church each week.
It only took me a few years of marriage to realize that Joel and I argued almost each Sunday morning! I also knew that it was my fault; I could almost feel myself becoming nit-picky and grumpy and annoying. I didn't know why I became like that; but I did. When I finally realized that this was a regular thing mainly on Sunday morning I started wondering why. I then saw that I was alowing Satan to use me; to disrupt Joel as he prepared to preach! Since then we have done what we could to make Sunday a more relaxing time where arguments don't belong. As we had children I had to plan ahead and have diaper bags ready, clothes laid out and shoes and socks sitting by the door so the stress of getting ready didn't give us something to argue about.
At the lake here in Malawi, church was just a stone's throw away and if the kids couldn't find their shoes they could just go without them. We each only had one church outfit unpacked too so finding something to wear was never a problem. Now we are in Lilongwe and suddenly today I realized that Satan might be looking for a foothold in our family once again.
The last two Sundays have been started with arguing and family frustrations as we look for shoes and figure out if falling down the steps in the yard (our yard has stairs)on a bike is reason enough to stay home; or if the real reason is because we still haven't found the shoes.
Today is the 2nd Sunday in a row where our attitudes have not been right and we seem almost eager to pick a fight. Satan used me in the past to cloud Joel's mind as he prepared to preach; I suppose now he can take his pick of our family; it only takes one to change the attitude of all of us pretty quickly.
Please remember to pray for us on Sunday mornings! Now that we realize again that this is a potential weakness for our family hopefully we can deal with it and be stronger than ever!
It only took me a few years of marriage to realize that Joel and I argued almost each Sunday morning! I also knew that it was my fault; I could almost feel myself becoming nit-picky and grumpy and annoying. I didn't know why I became like that; but I did. When I finally realized that this was a regular thing mainly on Sunday morning I started wondering why. I then saw that I was alowing Satan to use me; to disrupt Joel as he prepared to preach! Since then we have done what we could to make Sunday a more relaxing time where arguments don't belong. As we had children I had to plan ahead and have diaper bags ready, clothes laid out and shoes and socks sitting by the door so the stress of getting ready didn't give us something to argue about.
At the lake here in Malawi, church was just a stone's throw away and if the kids couldn't find their shoes they could just go without them. We each only had one church outfit unpacked too so finding something to wear was never a problem. Now we are in Lilongwe and suddenly today I realized that Satan might be looking for a foothold in our family once again.
The last two Sundays have been started with arguing and family frustrations as we look for shoes and figure out if falling down the steps in the yard (our yard has stairs)on a bike is reason enough to stay home; or if the real reason is because we still haven't found the shoes.
Today is the 2nd Sunday in a row where our attitudes have not been right and we seem almost eager to pick a fight. Satan used me in the past to cloud Joel's mind as he prepared to preach; I suppose now he can take his pick of our family; it only takes one to change the attitude of all of us pretty quickly.
Please remember to pray for us on Sunday mornings! Now that we realize again that this is a potential weakness for our family hopefully we can deal with it and be stronger than ever!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
school decisions
Life in the Molina household has been filled with discussions and debates and choices the last few weeks.
I have been a homeschool teacher since Kaleb was about 2 1/2 and asked me to teach him how to read. When he was 6 years old we found the curriculum that was a perfect fit for our family and have been using Sonlight Curriculum ever since.
Kaleb is going to be entering 9th grade this coming fall and life changes for a homeschool family when you have a highschooler, it seems to me. It suddenly became important that he had the right science class and that he finishes his mathbook on time. The letters "PSAT" have been tossed around lately and to be honest I am not exactly sure what exactly they mean for the future college student, but it must be important!!!
We live very close to an international, missionary school. Kaleb has been showing signs of wanting mroe of a challenge out of life and in my desparation to think of something I chose school as being a way he could become more independent. We looked into his attending ABC (the school I mentioned); even going as far as getting an application after talking to the headmaster on campus and checking out which vaccinations he would need.
I was just not feeling great about our choice. I mean, my stomach hurt when I thought about it but I thought that this might be normal for a mom who is disappointed that her direct part in the schooling of her son is finished. I was so disappointed at the idea of not choosing what classes he took along with him through highschool! I mean, it is almost like I put up with all the younger grades to finally get to highschool and then not be allowed to attend!!!
I didn't feel that this was a good enough reason to choose not to send Kaleb to ABC but after our meeting with the headmaster we realized that the three main reasons we were excited about the schol did not excist for him there. We were excited about him taking part in organized sports (nothing there), having music lessons or classes offered (nothing) and a math teacher that could actually answer questions (they don't teach anything past Algebra I and Kaleb took that this year).
So, this brings us up to the last few weeks of decisions and debates and choices. After all of this, we finally decided that the best thing for Kaleb is to stay home and study from Sonlight Curriculum again; studying the History of Christianity with his dad which will be a great challenge for him, I think. He will start taking Latin (unless he changes our minds before September; he wants Swahili) as well.
We occasionally attend an English service at a church on the ABC campus. They have a youth group and Kaleb is going to attend for the first time tonight. Friends of ours are starting a paintgun (I can't raelly remember what it is called) thing that Kaleb and Joel and maybe Andrew will take part in occasionally. We have heard about an ultimate frisbee game that takes place on Sunday afternoons. We are hoping for piano lessons in the future as well and Kaleb would love a way to continue with his guitar lessons.
So, that is where we are at right now!
I have been a homeschool teacher since Kaleb was about 2 1/2 and asked me to teach him how to read. When he was 6 years old we found the curriculum that was a perfect fit for our family and have been using Sonlight Curriculum ever since.
Kaleb is going to be entering 9th grade this coming fall and life changes for a homeschool family when you have a highschooler, it seems to me. It suddenly became important that he had the right science class and that he finishes his mathbook on time. The letters "PSAT" have been tossed around lately and to be honest I am not exactly sure what exactly they mean for the future college student, but it must be important!!!
We live very close to an international, missionary school. Kaleb has been showing signs of wanting mroe of a challenge out of life and in my desparation to think of something I chose school as being a way he could become more independent. We looked into his attending ABC (the school I mentioned); even going as far as getting an application after talking to the headmaster on campus and checking out which vaccinations he would need.
I was just not feeling great about our choice. I mean, my stomach hurt when I thought about it but I thought that this might be normal for a mom who is disappointed that her direct part in the schooling of her son is finished. I was so disappointed at the idea of not choosing what classes he took along with him through highschool! I mean, it is almost like I put up with all the younger grades to finally get to highschool and then not be allowed to attend!!!
I didn't feel that this was a good enough reason to choose not to send Kaleb to ABC but after our meeting with the headmaster we realized that the three main reasons we were excited about the schol did not excist for him there. We were excited about him taking part in organized sports (nothing there), having music lessons or classes offered (nothing) and a math teacher that could actually answer questions (they don't teach anything past Algebra I and Kaleb took that this year).
So, this brings us up to the last few weeks of decisions and debates and choices. After all of this, we finally decided that the best thing for Kaleb is to stay home and study from Sonlight Curriculum again; studying the History of Christianity with his dad which will be a great challenge for him, I think. He will start taking Latin (unless he changes our minds before September; he wants Swahili) as well.
We occasionally attend an English service at a church on the ABC campus. They have a youth group and Kaleb is going to attend for the first time tonight. Friends of ours are starting a paintgun (I can't raelly remember what it is called) thing that Kaleb and Joel and maybe Andrew will take part in occasionally. We have heard about an ultimate frisbee game that takes place on Sunday afternoons. We are hoping for piano lessons in the future as well and Kaleb would love a way to continue with his guitar lessons.
So, that is where we are at right now!
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