Preschool and Adoption

This morning, Jill taught Kindermusik classes and so while Sophie and Jill were at that, Hannah was at my home. We had Nana's Preschool. We were ready for Day 6 of creation. After the story, Hannah wanted a snack. I was out of animal crackers, which would have been the perfect theme snack, and she wanted popcorn. Popcorn reminded her of sheep and also snow bears (polar bears).

After the popcorn had popped, she wanted some melted butter. While I went to put some butter in the microwave, she got ahold of the popcorn salt and dumped the entire contents into the popcorn. Needless to say, it was way too salty to eat!! Here is the bottom of the bowl.

We made some more popcorn. Salt is good, but too much is not good at all. Did you know that in Bible times, salt was used as money, as part of the salary? Our word "salary" comes from the Roman word "salarium" - allowance of salt. Salt kept meat from spoiling (a good thing if you don't have refrigeration). In the acidic Middle East salt acted as a fertilizer. It causes thirst. On the negative side, when an army defeated a town, they would dump lots of salt on the land around it. That made the land infertile for 10 years!

Jesus said "You are the salt of the earth". As we live for Christ, may we help prevent evil (as salt prevents decay). May we bring healing and refresh others, and give people a thirst for more of the Word!

After snack, we went downstairs and got out all the stuffed animals for a zoo. Here is Hannah at the herpatorium...

at the lion's cage...

with the elephants...

at the bird sanctuary....

Oh, did any of you see that piece on the news last night where this guy rescued 8 baby owls? He said he had to feed them 50 mice a day!!! And they showed them eating those critters. Gross!

FYI, in college at Hutch JUCO, Al used to have to feed baby mice to Oscar (one of those HUGE flat fish). I could not watch!!

Hannah's preschool work. We talked about dinosaurs. I know the world teaches that these giants lived way before man, but if you believe the Bible, that can't be. Animals were made on the same day as man. And even if you happen to be one of those who believe in theistic evolution, God says that death did not happen until sin entered the world, so Adam and Eve had to live during the time of dinosaurs.

Lunch time. Theme lunch.

Here is a picture of Sophie in her cute little hippo crocs. I got these at Dillons. Hannah wanted a pair too but they were only for toddlers.

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This afternoon, I went to the court house to see Mark and Anbeth Anderson adopt little Payton. As nursery director I was there when Payton first arrived at the Anderson home. It is official now. Payton is now Payton Grace Anderson. Very tearful and touching time. Remembering the day we adopted Mindy. Very sweet. So many analogies of God's love for us as He chooses to adopt us into His family.

Congratulations Anderson family!!

Trip to Arkansas

Here is a picture of our Thursday morning Bible study. Sarah Weber and I help lead the "not so" Young Marrieds small group leader wives. We are studying Beth Moore's study of the book of Daniel. Quite challenging right now but we plug on. We love to eat breakfast together, chat, encourage one another and of course, pray for each other and for the community life groups they are in.

We are at the point in Daniel, where we are talking prophecy. Of course there is much debate about the interpretation. Scholars disagree. But really, it is not for us to understand it completely. He is God, not us. We must trust Him and believe that He has His purposes and they will be fulfilled. Who among us can truly understand precisely what God is doing or why. But He is in control and if we know Him, we know all we need to know.

On Friday morning, Al and I packed up our bags and headed out for Fayetteville, Arkansas to see our son and his family. The storm was nipping at our heels as we left. You can see the ice beginning to form on our car. Luckily we stayed pretty much ahead of the storm and by the time we returned on Sunday evening, most of the snow was melted.

When we got to Josh and Staci's, Al helped Josh with his to-do list. Josh was tiling his laundry room so Al watched and learned how to do that for when we tackle our basement bathroom.

The door wasn't closing correctly so they worked on that and also put in blinds in Josh's art room.

Emeri likes to make "happy face"s. She wants us to make them with her food on her tray. That's ok if it is Cheerios, but when it is baby food green beans or yogurt....

Staci felt pretty sick while we were there. She might have mono, but it could be some other virus too. She works part-time as a pediatric nurse practicioner so is high risk for any junk all the little kiddos bring in to the office. So we let her rest and we fixed food, did laundry, watched Emeri, etc. Get well soon Staci!!

We love playing with Emeri! Emeri's name, by the way, is from using Al's mom's middle name, (Kathern Marie), Staci's middle name (Staci Marie) and her mother's too (Lisa Marie). But they decided not to go with Marie but a variation of it. Emeri's middle name is Kate so her name is like Al's mom's name backwards. She would have loved it and felt so honored. She died of cancer when Josh was about 10 years old.

Josh is the worship pastor at New Heights Fellowship. They meet at the Boys and Girls Club and are planning on building a facility at some point. Josh used to be one of the worship guys at Fellowship Bible but many people, including Josh, are now here. This is sort of a plant of that church. Doug Stucky's brother and family attend here (for those of you from Grace who know them).

It was good to get away for awhile. Lots of catch up to do - laundry, clean house, Bible study, nursery work for next Sunday, blogging, playing with Sophia and Hannah... Wish Emeri was closer!