'water' fun day!!

So, we are studying rivers right now, and in several of our books, we have seen the process of river water being purified so that we can drink it and not get sick. So, today, we made water filters, and boy did we have fun!

First, we got to use power tools - yehaaa! when we drilled tiny holes in the bottom of milk bottles. Then we put sand and then pea gravel in the jugs and then some really nasty water from the sand table, and let 'em rip!

Then, we had a lesson on perseverance (doing things even though they are hard) because those little bottles were amazingly heavy and everyone got really whiney on me!! I took a break, and had the bright idea that we should hang the bottles, so that the kids could keep pouring the water through the bottles, without having to hold them. So, lots of bright pink nylon string and a box of matches later (oh, yeah, and a lesson on fire safety and why matches are not toys and why box knives are not toys...) we had some pretty nifty hanging water purification centers going on.

Then Pineapple finished speech and we had to have another lesson on water pollutants (he decided to put nasty water in Sweet Potato's almost clear purifier), but all in all, it was a great way to spend a nice fall day outside!!

Hope yours was as nice!

t

the wisdom of the little ones

My darling daughter, "Sweet Potato", said to me yesterday, "Mommy, I remember that you used to write in a book for me, when I was sad about my birth parents". I agreed that we had done that, and told her that we could still write in her journal, if she needed too. She responded, "That's okay Mommy. I don't get sad anymore, since I forgave them." Wow. Wow! If only I could forgive the way she is showing me she has forgiven!

What is the verse that says "Unless you come to me as a little child..."

We started writing in her journal shortly after she came, when she was so overcome with sadness and longing for her birth parents. She would verbally "write" a letter to them, and I would put it in the journal for her. The letters she wrote were very telling, about a little girl who missed her Mommy, and despite all that had gone on, needed to know that they loved her, even if they did not show it very well.

Fast forward a few months, and she and I had a half-day conversation about that very topic and forgiveness. That we all need to forgive the wrongs done to us, so that we can receive healing ourselves. Apparently, she got it.

God is good - that's all I have to say.

t

What a difference a year makes!

Wow! Last year about this time, I drove with the kids to see my brother in Telluride. My little Pineapple, whose vocabulary was limited to "wawa" (water) and "NO!", nearly drove me over a cliff with his insistence on pointing out every, and I do mean every, drop of water that he saw on the way there and back. I began to believe that this was my lot in life, and that I was going to just have to get used to it.

Fast forward one year, to a car ride in the rain last night. Still fascinated with water, my Pineapple pointed out that "the road is wet Mommy", yes, I agreed, it is wet. "It is probably raining" he said. Probably raining?!?! How in the world did we go from "wawa, wawa! WAWA!!!" to probably raining?? Oh, yeah - that would be God - doing miracles in the life a little boy (and his thankful mommy).

Have a happy, rainy day!!

t