Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Silly gear courtesy of Great Grandma

Well, I did not make any plans for St. Patrick's Day other than our family's tradition of corned beef, red potatoes, and cabbage. But they talked about it in Builder Boy's Sunday school class, so this morning he was full of ideas. He's going through a crafting kick, so he wanted to make green shamrocks. I taught them how to make one out of hearts.

It was all Builder Boy's idea to put the three parts of the Trinity on his project. We re-watched the VeggieTales St. Patrick's Day skit and Builder Boy insisted on adding that part.

Builder Boy also wanted a green lunch, so he chose a tuna fish sandwich with salad and Early Bird chose salad with spinach, tomatoes, and cheese. Not exactly your exciting, Pinterest worthy celebration. But I'm glad I went with Builder Boy's idea. They're happy.

A theological discussion sparked by...handwriting?

In today's handwriting lesson Builder Boy was to copy the sentence "Do you like dinosaurs?" Immediately Builder Boy started talking about dinosaurs and how they used to live but they died and turned into skeletons that people now dig up. Then he told me that dinosaurs came from another world.

Huh?

That started a discussion of God (that He made the dinosaurs a long, long time ago) which, thanks to recent readings, led to a discussion of heaven. I had to once more explain that we can't get to heaven by traveling (he asked how many days it took to get there.) He told me that we can't see God now, but we will see Him when we get to heaven. Then we talked a little bit more about heaven; what we think we'll do there, who we'll see there, and how people who love Jesus will go to heaven.

I am so glad that he encountered that handwriting assignment at home instead of at a public school. Not only would he have not been able to have a one-on-one discussion with a teacher at a public school, but other kids may have re-enforced incorrect information. And they aren't allowed to talk about God. So yea for homeschooling!

Santa, the Chirstmas Story, Jesus, and Heaven

We're not "doing" Santa, the Easter Bunny, leprechauns, or the Tooth Fairy. I know the arguments for and against. Some people think children need to grow up with a sense of wonder and belief in magic/something special. Others think that if their children find out that they lied about those things that they could think that their parents are lying about God, too. Some parents were traumatized as kids when they found out as children that Santa isn't real. For others it was no big deal. My husband grew up believing in Santa Clause, I didn't. We decided together that we would not pretend Santa was real or that he is the one that brings the presents.

Being horribly sheltered, I don't think Builder Boy had even heard of Santa until last year. I've talked with him, just like I did when his friend told him that the tooth fairy was real; that Santa Clause is a fun story that some parents like to pretend with their kids. I've told him that the kids think it's real but we shouldn't tell them it's not because that would make them sad. So far, as much as I know, he hasn't ruined it for anyone yet.

The boys don't know about flying reindeer or Rudolf or elves or the north pole being Santa's base of operations. We don't have regular TV, so they've not had many occasions to be exposed to it. Their Nana (Daddy's mother) has read Santa, Are You For Real? to Builder Boy, but I don't think it meant much to him last year. What has made an impression is the Veggie Tales video St. Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving (available on Netflix Instant Streaming.) It tells the story of Saint Nicholas and how he learned about Jesus, and shared with others because Jesus made him happy. Right now, I think that's perfect for where the kids are.


One of the tools I use to teach the boys the story of Jesus' birth is Little People Christmas Story Nativity Scene Playset though any nativity set would do. I like this one because I feel comfortable letting the kids play with it whenever they want, unsupervised. The only problem with the set is that there are no shepherds! You have to buy them separately. And that's silly considering that they were the ones that showed up at the manger, not the wise men. Oh well.
I found the Ultimate List of Nativity Resources at the SPELL Outloud blog. I also really like the DIY Printable Nativity for Kids from the Catholic Icing blog.

I love the "God Gave Us ______" series by Lisa T. Bergren. God Gave Us Christmas and God Gave Us Heaven are perfect for the kids' ages to explain why Jesus had to be born on Earth in the first place. ISBN for God Gave Us Christmas is 978-1-4000-7175-5 and God Gave Us Heaven is 978-1-4000-7446-4. I don't see a DDN in the information, but I'm sure your local librarian could help you find it.
 

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Okay, this post probably looks like I'm trying to sell you a bunch of stuff. But really I wrote this post to share what we use with our kids to make Christmas about more than just presents under the tree for those who are looking for similar resources.

Full disclosure: I am an Amazon Associate which means that if you click on the pictures or links and buy or place in your cart an item and buy it in 90 days I do get a small percentage. (In the 4 months since I've signed up I've yet to earn the $10 minimum.) But I do not get paid to review products, and I always give my honest opinion.

"I Celebrate the Day"

I grew up in a church that didn't celebrate Christmas; that thought that Christmas was bad and should be avoided as much as possible. When I was 18 I left that church. Not as a rebelion, or a rejection of God, but because my personal study of God's Word did not match up with what that church was teaching. Even so, setting aside practices and attitiudes that I had done my whole life took time and a lot of prayer and Bible study. One of the things I had trouble with was the celebration of Christmas. I no longer thought it was evil and wrong; I believed that the birth of Christ should be celebrated. But I still had trouble assimilating to a tradition that for the most of my life was something I abhorred.

There were two things (besides the Holy Spirit) that helped me accept Christmas. The first is a Warde family tradition. Every Christmas the Warde family makes a birthday cake for Jesus (yes, we know December 25th isn't the actual day He was born.) Each person lights a birthday candle for it and shares something that they are going to "give" to God that year. Fears or worries about something, plans for the future, something to surrender to God's will and to place in His hands.

The other thing that helped me was a song by Reliant K named "I Celebrate the Day." It really spoke to my heart and helped me to let go of my prejudices; to look forward to celebrating Christ's birth.
Here it is on youtube (this is the song played with a picture slide show, not an actual music video by the band.)

Here are the lyrics (emphasis added):

And with this Christmas wish is missed
The point I could convey
If only I could find the words to say to let You know how much You've touched my life
Because here is where You're finding me, in the exact same place as New Year's eve
And from a lack of my persistency
We're less than half as close as I want to be

And the first time
That You opened Your eyes did You realize that You would be my Savior
And the first breath that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever

And so this Christmas I'll compare the things I felt in prior years
To what this midnight made so clear
That You have come to meet me here

To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me
In the hope that what You did
That you were born so I might live
To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me

And I, I celebrate the day
That You were born to die
So I could one day pray for You to save my life 


Now today I celebrate Christmas with my husband's family and with my children. I play Christmas carols (which I love now,) I decorate a tree, and I teach my children what Christmas means to me and our family.

Most of the family on my side still attend that church, still think that Christmas is bad and that I've turned my back on God. I love them and they love me anyway. I don't judge those who think it's wrong. I've been there, I completely understand. I don't think that not celebrating is a rejection of God. (Unless you're rejecting it because you're an Atheist.) I'm just sharing why I changed my mind, and the peace that comes instead of the turmoil every December.

Giving God Permission

A recent talk with my mother and a sermon at church reminded me of something that happened with Early Bird's birth and it felt like something worth sharing. So although it is not strictly about homeschool, it is about my kids, so I thought I would post it here.

I never thought I would have a premature baby. I have no family history of any complications during birth (and I have a BIG family.) I was the first, and still only, one to develop pre-eclampsia or be required to have an emergency c-section. But that's what happened with my first pregnancy, with Builder Boy. I developed HELLP Syndrome, didn't present with any of the outside symptoms, and was almost sent home with a failing liver before they caught it in a blood test and I had to have an emergency c-section. Thankfully he was two weeks overdue, so he was not any longer in the hospital than I was. At the time I was so grateful that I got to keep him and I got to bring him home with me. I thought of the mothers with babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Mothers who had to go home empty handed, and my heart broke for them.

I prayed at that time to God that I would never have to go through that. But then I remembered "not my will, but Yours be done," (Luke 22:42) "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,' declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts," (Isaiah 55:8-9) and "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him." (Romans 8:28) So even though I didn't want to have to endure that I changed my prayer to "this is what I want. But your way is best, so you do what is your will." Even praying that, I never really thought that would be His plan for me.

And then it happened. I got pregnant and 7 months later I collapsed with severe pre-eclampsia. I spent the night in the hospital and when morning came I wasn't any better and my blood oxygen levels started dropping rapidly. Out came my baby with an 80% chance of survival and for over 36 hours I could not see him because I was too sick to get out of bed and he was too fragile to leave the NICU. And then for almost a week I could not hold him, could not even touch him. I had to drive in the car 45 minutes to get to the hospital every day from home. I could only hold him for half an hour every three hours when needed to be fed, and he couldn't be breastfed.

The hospital gave us some information about how parents, especially the mother, go through something very similar to the stages of grief. I had my moment when I asked God "Why? Why did this have to happen?" But, because I had already thought about this possibility, had already submitted to God's will, I was able to transition to "What am I suppose to learn from this?" For seven and a half weeks I commuted to the hospital with my husband. We were sustained by God's strength and grace as we dealt with Early Bird's glucose processing problems, low platelet count, transfusion, and non-health threatening (but needing a later surgery for him to function properly) birth defect.

Looking back at that prayer it looks like to me that I was giving God permission to "do this to me." I wondered if I hadn't prayed that, if I had been insistent on asking that it never happen to me, would it still have happened? If I had prayed against it, would God have listened and made it so Early Bird wasn't early? I don't know what might have happened if I hadn't submitted to God's plan for me. But I know now that that prayer prepared my heart for what was to come. Because I had already considered this possibility, because I had already submitted to God's will, I didn't feel like God had abandoned me, or that I was being punished. I felt His love and His guiding hand. He reaffirmed that love and support through the prayers and actions of our family and church family. And looking at our son now I can positively state that he is here because God wants him to be here; and that he has a plan for him, just as he does for us all.

I got to bring him home just a few days before Mother's Day, 2009, after 7 1/2 weeks in the hospital. He was just over 5 lbs.