30 Days of Thanks

It's not that I don't like Halloween, though it's not my favorite holiday.  But lately I've felt that the other fall holiday has been unceremoniously pushed aside.  Ornaments next to costumes.  Candy buckets on the same aisle as tree stands.  Thanksgiving has somehow been relegated to one day of gluttony and sports.

Last year, in an attempt to put more focus on thankfulness, the kids and I made a paper chain and leaf banner for the breakfast nook and tied the words of Psalm 100:4--"Give thanks to Him and praise His name"--to it with twine.  Very cute.  We did a tree craft with foamy leaves and card stock and wrote things we were thankful for on each of the leaves. I wanted the changing seasonal decor to be intentional.

 This year, after browsing through the PBKids catalog, I recreated their Tree of Thanks calendar (maybe not quite as fancy, but definitely cheaper--if I don't count man-hours).  And with help from my co-conspirator in all things kids & crafty, Kellye, we focused the activity on praising and thanking the One who gives all things.  Each day, the kids will pull a card from the pocket, read the Scripture or prompt, and respond by writing their answers on the cards. My hope is that we can begin a tradition and, more importantly, foster a mindset of thankfulness.  Even if you don't have a tree, maybe you can start a tradition of 30 days of thanks in your home.  Leave a comment and tell me about a Thanksgiving tradition you have found helpful!

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

Here's what we'll be reflecting on:

THIRTY Days of THANKS: Thanksgiving 2010

1. 1 Chronicles 16:34, I’m thankful to God because…
2. Thank you God for my family because…
3. Thank you God for providing…
4. Thank you God for answering my prayer for…
5. 2 Corinthians 1:3, Thank you God for comforting me when…
6. Thank you God for my siblings because…
7. Thank you God for showing me kindness when…
8. Luke 1:68, Thank you God for…
9. 1 Corinthians 15:57, I praise you Lord for…
10. 2 Corinthians 9:15, I’m thankful for grace because…
11. Thank you Father for being our provider! I love our house because…
12. I praise you Lord for using me to show your love to…
13. My favorite toy is… Thank you for good gifts & fun things!
14. Thank you for painting our world with color! My favorite color is…
15. I love my friends! I praise you for…
16. Thank you for the gift of my mommy. I love her because…
17. Thank you for the gift of my father. I love him because…
18. I praise you for creating me and knowing all of me. My favorite thing about myself is…
19. Psalm 119:105, I praise you for the Bible because…
20. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Thank you for being with me when I feel…
21. 2 Thessalonians 3:16, Thank you for peace when…
22. Psalm 121, I praise you Lord for…
23. Thank you God for my church because…
24. Zephaniah 3:17, I praise you oh Lord my God for…
25. John 1:14, Thank you for Jesus because…
26. Psalm 105: 1-4, God, I’m thankful for your wonderful act of….
27. Thank you for the cross because…
28. John 1:16, Thank you for grace because…
29. Hebrews 12:28, I’m thankful for heaven because…
30. Psalm 100, Thank you Lord for…

School so far

We're just about at that point, six weeks in.  The point where "they" say things should be settling in, you should be figuring things out, things should be running smoother.

And, well, they are.  I'm happy to report that the kindergartner and the preschooler love school, we have routines, we have tricks that get us through the week, we've made adjustments, figured out what works and what doesn't.

Not that everything always runs smoothly as this morning's rush to the minivan, shoes in hand, proves. But we arrived, on time, calmed down by Indelible Grace music and a bit of prayer.

Things I like: a four-day school week, homework that is over by 10 AM so we can go to the children's museum, uniforms, doing science experiments in our kitchen, having mommy school with Ben (right now he's made rockets out of the pattern blocks we created), having one-to-one or one-to-two ratios, not having to create lesson plans, getting to expand on lessons and challenge R as needed, seeing Rebekah smile as she comes out to afternoon car line, hearing good reports from teachers (Rebekah is sweet and a good friend; Ben is smart and answers questions!), having great teachers that love my kids.

Things I don't like: William's lack of regular napping, being in the car a lot, keeping up with paperwork, cranky or overly silly homework times, early alarm clocks, neglecting William (poor third kid), not being all together all the time, finding time for everything.

All in all, I'm happy with this school model.  Sometimes I feel like she doesn't get to do as much fun stuff at school, but that also means I get to do the fun stuff with her. Which also means I need to create fun stuff for us to do and not get caught up in running errands or housecleaning, though at times this is important too.  (Finish math work and then dust!)  And we'll have a class play date this week--how great is that?

I'm trying to claim Fridays as family days, which is hard.  Stuff just gets in the way and I can get so lazy.  This Friday I hope to play at the park as the weather is just gorgeous and do an activity for our current fruit of the Spirit lesson--LOVE.

In pictures:



home school--clothing optional



Learning the color spectrum with Crews' Freight Train book

Ben's first day of preschool--still has black eye



At the Houston Aquarium for R's b-day with Nana and Granddad (this is the shark train)




The girl wanted lasagna and cookie cake for Birthday #6 (that's a homemade cookie cake by the way--yum, yum)



Working on our flat-kids for a Fruit of the Spirit lesson (see impressyourkids.org)