In an effort to get the younger two more involved in our home school mornings, I've introduced water paints and play dough this past week! I must say it was a hit, now the problem is keeping PJ's eyes on his lessons! Calvin and Adele enjoy it immensely. I am also trying to make a more concerted effort to teach Calvin his letters and sounds and to work on his drawing skills (they are lacking or maybe PJ is just really good?!). It's been fun and good for all of us. I continue to enjoy the library and have gotten out so many good books, I don't even know if we will have time to read them all. Two, especially are good, if you're interested. One is Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff based on The Illiad and the other is The Odyssey adapted by Geraldine McCaughrean. Both have beautiful illustrations. If you are not into teaching your children Greek mythology, then do not read these books...but they are classic works. We've only gotten to page 10 on the first book...we'll see how far we get!

PJ started Math U See yesterday. We received it in the mail last Friday. He exclaimed, "I LOVE this, I could do this all day!" I thought, "YES! This is how it should be!" Praise God. And Calvin also enjoyed playing with the blocks...and Adele desperately wanted to be playing too, but I just don't trust her with those unit pieces yet!

One major reason that we home school is so that we have a major influence over the spiritual upbringing of our children.

In the past few weeks and months I have noticed a hard heart in Calvin toward things of the Lord. So, we've been praying for him and with him, pleading with God to make the lights go on in his dear little head. The exciting part of all this is that we see God at work. For two nights in a row now, Calvin has prayed during our family devotion time (where as before the last two nights, he rarely would pray). And, these prayers he offers aren't just, "Thank you Lord for this day, amen." They are really heartfelt and precious. He thanks God for his toys, his family and He asks God to protect our cat, Simba, as he climbs the trees in the back yard. I am just amazed at the work of the Spirit in Calvin's heart. It's beautiful to behold...I pray that God would make all our children strong in Him, His Word and that He would use them to bring His salvation to many. I've also seen growth in PJ in the last few weeks. Now, I know I am a mom speaking here, but I really see a spiritual sensibility in PJ that, again, I know is of God. I thank Him for this. PJ has a very tender heart (like his daddy) and is easy to talk to about what God's Word says. Just yesterday he was having some problems obeying and being respectful towards me. I pulled him aside and opened the Word. It always amazes me that when I open God's Word and show PJ what it says how it takes effect immediately. I remind him that the words I am about to read, are not mine but they are God's words...He gave them to us to know how to live rightly before Him. I don't know why I don't do this more...and I am hoping to get more disciplined myself so that when I correct a child, it's done based on God's Word and what it says...not just my whims. All that to say, I thank God for His work in the lives of my children and in my life.

On another note, last Saturday we spent the day with Paul's first cousins and our kids 1st cousins at the beach! It was great. We had such a wonderful time together...and I was so impressed by Paul's cousins, Laura and Billy (pictured in the back left and right). They are two of the sweetest young adults I have ever met. I was most impressed by how they played with all their cousins and seemed to really, genuinely enjoy it. This is another prayer of mine, that when my children are older, they will invest in the lives of younger children and take the time to play and be silly with them. It's important and these children will probably never forget the hours they spent with Laura and Billy! So, a big THANK YOU to them.

So, this is the news from our corner of the world. Until next time...

Sunday Lunch

Here's an easy Sunday lunch in the crockpot recipe. I miss our weekly fellowship dinners with our church in Thailand. Now I have to plan ahead on Sunday mornings and have something ready to go once we return from church.
This week I made Old Settlers Baked Beans with Corn Bread. This recipe was passed down from my great-grandmother Carrier-Mayes and I don't think she'd mind me sharing it here! It's so yummy (if you like beans!).

Mix together in large casserole dish; serve with cornbread. (Or mix in the crockpot and keep heated on low heat for a couple hours).
2 lbs. browned, drained hamburger
1 can red kidney beans
1 can butter beans
1 can pork and beans
1/3 cup brown sugar or 1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
3 tsp. prepared mustard
Mix well. Bake covered 1 hour @ 350

I hope you'll enjoy it!

missing Thailand

my "fuan faa" or bugambilia against the beautiful April blue sky.

just a reminder...

to keep praying for the Thai people. Pictured here are some photos from one of the most revered shrines in Thailand...the Erawan Shrine located in downtown Bangkok. Many, many people come to this shrine daily for blessings and offer all kinds of offerings from incense and flowers to pigs heads.

Darkness permeates this people, please pray for the Light to shine.

The Light is going forth from people like us, missionaries, but also from our Thai brothers and sisters. Pictured below with Adele are two dear sisters in Christ. Phii Khiaw works as a staff member with our team, leading the handicrafts ministry as well as many other jobs! I will interject that my dear sweet girl, Adele, looks so sick in that picture with Phii Khiaw! I am so glad that she is no longer sick and is healthy and well (that picture was taken about 4 days before we left Thailand and Adele just came home from the hosptial with pneumonia). Praise be to God! The other woman pictured with Adele (in pink) is Fon. Fon and I became quite close in the six months or so before we left Thailand. Fon is a new believer (she came to Christ about 1 1/2 years ago) but has been growing in her walk with God. I am so excited to know that she is continuing to be discipled by my dear friend and teammate, Rhianna. Fon is not employed with the church, but she is the perfect example of what lay men and women should be doing. She is quite the evangelist...always telling others of her faith and love of Christ and what He has done for her. She, too, needs our prayers as she grows up in the Word and as she ministers among college students with our other teammates. Please pray for her to have clarity and direction from God on what His call is on her life.

never would've thought...

Four years in Thailand...tropical, muggy, and loaded with all kinds of pit vipers, cobras, and the like. We move to Florida, tropical, muggy and loaded with alligators, snakes and the like. Yesterday, one of those snakes somehow made its way into MY home! NEVER in four years did we EVER have a snake in our home in Thailand...outside, yes, but not INside! And after one month in our new home here, we have a snake. Is God trying to prepare me for what's ahead in our missionary career? O boy...here we go!

PS: It was only a baby snake and non-poisonous but he was very feisty...so feisty Paul didn't want to keep him around! Can you believe that?! With this, the learning continues!

Our first week of Home School is completed! Thank you to those who are praying for us. My two days away at the beach came at just the right time. I was well rested and recharged ready to tackle the tasks that laid ahead of me!

I am learning to find things to keep the younger two busy/learning while I am schooling PJ. To the left, you see two pictures of Adele. One is her playing with a bucket of bubbles on our back "porch" (one activity I have introduced to her, whether in our kitchen sink or outside!) and the other is her reading the book Hush! A Thai Lullaby. Excellent book if you ever happen upon it.

We also planted some phlox thanks to my mom and dad's neighbor, Betsy. We planted the seeds a few weeks ago and they are slowly but surely growing! It's so fun to see the little stalks sprouting up through the soil.

Four weeks ago, we were traveling in South Carolina and as we were leaving our friend's house we spotted this HUGE, green caterpillar. Our friend encouraged us to take it along with us, so we did. That very night, the caterpillar built his cocoon...as seen in the picture. We thought it might be a luna moth caterpillar. We waited for four weeks and yesterday while Paul was checking on the cocoon he noticed something sitting in the top of the container we had it in. It was the polyphemus moth. She is absolutely beautiful when her wings are opened. She will only live about a week and then die...and within this week she will not eat anything. You can see her pictured below on PJ's hand.