New Family Pics

Brought to you by Jon Sprang, Blue Iris Photography.  Thanks Jon for some great pictures!  FYI -  if you live in/the area - the Sprang's are raising money for their international adoption - why not update your album and help give a little one a home?!

February Prayer Update

And now a word from hubby....

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your interest in and prayers for our ministry work.  We couldn't keep going without you.

First of all a praise-in our December newsletter we shared our financial need to finish the year and start this one in sound financial shape.  God is faithful, and our need was completely met!  Thanks to all of you who gave and prayed for this need.

Joshua Team
Every spring we do a six-week training time called Joshua team.  When God called Joshua to take over for Moses, He repeatedly told Joshua to be 'strong and courageous'.  The goal of the Joshua Team is to help students be strong in their walks with God and courageous in sharing their faith with others.  23 students are taking part this Spring, and last week they started spiritual pizza parties.  They invite their friends and neighbors for free pizza provided they bring a question about God, the Bible, or Christianity.  They went great and the students were all encouraged.  This week they will do it again, but at the end ask if anyone would want to continue but read through the Gospel of John and seeing what Jesus claimed about himself.

Please pray for the students doing the Joshua Team:  Taylor, Jonathan, David, Hannah, James, Erica, Amir, Danielle, Bethany, Brittany, Alyssa, Allyson, Kirstin, Josh, Layne, Emylee, Kyla, Keeley, Robert, Ben, Justin, Amour, and Evan.

Also, next week we will begin surveys on campus that lead into a gospel presentation.  Please pray for boldness and that we would proclaim the gospel clearly.

“REST-room” (what I secretly fantasize about while watching my kids play at the local museum)

"REST-room"

   A new exhibit at the Children's Museum in local Brookings, SD will open early next summer. Ecstatic moms can barely contain themselves. "It's just what this town needs!" says one local Brookings mother of three. Up until now the museum has kept the new exhibit upstairs hush-hush. And "Hush Hush" are just the right words to describe it. The new room is built for peace and quiet!

   A state-of-the-art soundproof napping room will provide local moms a much needed respite. The exhibit offers fifteen minutes of silence for over stimulated moms while museum staff watches their children. This wonderful exhibit is only open to members and the daily time slots are filled on a first come, first serve basis. 

    When you enter the room your body immediately begins to relax as you inhale soft lavender scents. The screaming, wet chaos of the water room disappears into the background as you levitate into the cozy, dry silence. Five comfy private bedrooms, low lighting and fresh linens all make moms want to jump up and down and scream "Yippee!" But no screaming is aloud anywhere near this room, even with the sound proof walls. You can, however, sigh as loud as you want as you slip into the silk pajamas provided for an extra cost.

   Finally children will no longer have to beg their moms to take them to the museum; moms will beg them to go! Projected membership sales have already tripled with the recent announcement of the "REST-room" and the museum board is more than thrilled with this expected outcome. Moms can be sneaky about their naps too –only telling their children (or hubbies) they need to go to the "restroom." 

    When asked what prompted the museum to offer this new exhibit the staff were reluctant to divulge. After some super-sleuthing I found out that more than once a mom has been found curled up in the teepee and/or the sod house catching a few zzzz's. "We saw there was a need and it would benefit the museum and the community," said one staff member. No matter why or how, this mom is thrilled and can't wait to go to the "REST-room" by herself – which is exactly how she longs to go!

"So how is home school going?"

I get this question a lot.  It is like anything else - we have our really good days and our not as great days.  For the most part thus far the pros have far outweighed the cons.  We enjoy taking advantage of a flexible schedule (taking a morning off when we are up late with student friends), doing things that we can't normally do (sledding on Wed. morning with friends...err..PE on Wed. morning), and using everyday things at home to make learning fun and interesting (counting out change with REAL money, the boys get to keep a penny if they do a good job).  Here are some pics of what we have been up to and our first field trip with our local home school group to a Living History Fair.

Making Patterns is Fun!

What could get the full attention of so many boys?

The History of the colt revolver of course!

The pirate presentation was Thing 2s favorite!

Back in the Saddle Again - Post Sabbatical

We were super excited to have students back in our home.  This is our first Oaks (leadership team) mtg about a week ago.

Some of our awesome guy leaders!

Thing 3 liked coming out to say "goodnight"

Amazing women leaders!

What does a giant roaster of chili at the Grafs mean?  Sledfest...err, due to technical error we were forced to host...SLUSHFEST 2012!

Hangin Out at Slushfest 2012

"I want YOU to play Don't Break the Ice!"

He was rather convincing.

Thing 1 is old enough now to play Carcazan with the big boys!  Very exciting!

Woman vs. Child: A Parody of “Man vs. Wild”

(Based on the show with Bear Grylls in which he strands himself in remote locations to demonstrate localized survival techniques. To be read with a British accent.)
This article depicts real life experiences. The views and experiences are real, but should not be attempted to be duplicated. When necessary Sher receives support from her Heavenly Father for emergency supplies of patience and grace. Only if circumstances become life threatening will she receive intervention from her husband, as required by health and safety regulations. On some occasions, situations are presented to Sher so he can demonstrate survival techniques. Professional advice should always be sought before entering any dangerous environment.

It is 8 degrees below zero and Sher Grafylls has been dropped via Providence into a populated but wild part of the American plains. She has minimal supplies and must get through her day despite the freezing temps and wiley man-cubs that are in her care. At the moment Sher is attempting to bundle up all three man-cubs with what she has on hand, finish making her bread, warm up the van and get out the door within a ten minute window. But circumstances are working against her, as well as nature. Luckily her husband has opened the garage door that would normally be frozen shut under these bitter temps. He has also plugged in her van – what a man!

After ensuring her cubs to remain inside she exits the house to start the van. Upon returning she instructs her man-cubs to all cooperate in exiting the house and entering the van. This is a dicey situation as they are known to fight and fool around in general instead of getting their seat belts fastened. Still she bravely sends them out while kneading down her dough to put into the pans – food that the man-cubs will need later to survive. A few minutes pass and she hears screaming from outside, her middle charge re-enters the house wailing. He explains the tussle between him and his brother and the resulting injury to his knee. She is running out of time and patience, she must get her eldest cub to his art lesson with less than 5 minutes to spare. Clear thinking and quick action are needed to ensure success.
Upon careful examination of the injury and some basic first aid, she bravely wills away the nausea produced by removing gravel from his bloody knee. She uses what is commonly observed in caring for such wiley creatures – her angry mom voice – to recall the offending brother into the house for a cross-examination. Patiently she leads them through apologies, trying but not entirely successfully to hold back her "I told you" so's. Arrangements are made to appease each other. Rules for entering the van are reassessed together as a group. They are once again sent out.
Upon completion of her last minute chores she heads out into the bitter cold and successfully makes it to the van. There she learns that while waiting on the two oldest man-cubs the youngest has taken this opportunity to poop in his Batman underwear. This is an emergency like none other. She breathes out her frustration, laughs at the irony of their current memory verse (the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience….ya-da, ya-da), looks at the clock – art class is beginning now. Upon discussing the situation with her charges and assessing the disappointment in her oldest cub's eyes at missing class entirely, she makes a last minute attempt to rescue the mission. After a quick clean up and review with the youngest once again of where we do and do not poop, they are back in the van and off to art class.
When they arrive at their first destination she has to decide if she wants to drag them all out in the cold or leave the youngest two restrained…errr…safely seat belted in…the van. Using the resources around her are key to survival in this bitter environment. She employs the two key method to avoid further delays – locking the children in the van with it running and the distract-a-tron (video) playing. She is back within 60 seconds and then must decide if they will go to the local grocery store with their 25 mins to kill or to the library. One cub votes grocery, the other the library. What's a mom to do? Eventually she chooses neither remembering another errand they need to run. Luckily the newspaper doesn't charge for their remnant rolls (which she will use later as art paper) bc upon arriving their she realizes she has her purse but no wallet. This actually comes in handy when they visit the library after all and her toddler asks to get Elmo Fire Station for the zillionth time. Rescued from having to watch it again, alas she has no wallet and no library card.
Later in the day they all arrive safely home including her husband close behind. Everyone is in tack and will be fed…eventually. Ongoing survival is dependent upon regular refreshment for this mom. So after filing a brief report with hubby she gathers her things and happily heads off to her lunch appointment. Her weekly half-day-out couldn't have come at a better time. At the last minute she remembers an important step she missed – she quickly brushes her teeth before leaving the house! Her husband once again is her hero and is left at home to manage the man-cubs… and hopefully remember to take the bread out of the oven before it burns.

Why We Chose Home School – For real this time, I promise!

Home schooling was never really on my radar before last August. I started thinking about it as a possibility for our family honestly for no particular reason, probably a combination of them. The thought of Thing 1 being gone all day again did make me a little sad. And then he and Thing 2 would have their 20^th brother-brawl of the day and I would start counting down the days for school to start! Fast forward a bit and home schooling remained on my mind, in fact I couldn't seem to get away from it. It seemed to be popping up everywhere I looked. I decided to pay more attention to this random thought floating around and start praying about it.
I picked up a few books from the library and liked what I read. The flexible schedule seemed like a great fit for our random ministry hours. I also loved the idea of my boys having more time together and becoming better friends. And the opportunity to integrate our faith into everyday learning appealed to me. At this point I thought I'd better mention the idea to hubby who had already raised his eyebrows at my nighttime reading selection. He calmly told me he would pray about it and hid very well his true feelings that I was completely nuts. Fast forward a couple more months whilst I kept my mouth shut on the subject to him(hubby) and open to Him(God) about as much as I could stand. Meanwhile God changed hubby's heart on the idea as well – not a complete turnaround like mine – he wasn't super-de-dupery excited to start it – but the flexibility it would allow our family interested him enough to give it a try. And that is what we are doing – giving it a try.
As it turns out Thing 1's classroom wasn't the ideal situation – which I observed a few hours a week as I volunteered in it. His teacher is amazing and the principal supportive, there are just too many VERY troubled kids thrown into one class. Even with an Aide in the class the environment was often very difficult to teach in and sometimes unsafe. This did not really affect our decision to home school as much as it affirmed it.
Once we made the decision to give it a try everything fell into place pretty smoothly, just the way I like it. His teacher helped me get me textbooks and showed me tons of helpful websites. She has tirelessly answered my endless questions and even agreed to copy me weekly spelling lists. What a gem! The principal agreed to let him come back once a week for Art class, lunch and recess. The Christian home school group I joined offers Art and Science twice a month for both the boys as well as field trips. Our schedule is filling up quickly!
I definitely have had my moments of panic at the thought of being solely responsible for their education. Yet somehow "mysteriously" I happen upon an encouraging verse or devotional in my daily reading on the exact days that I need an extra Word of encouragement. God is so good and gracious to hold my hand in this transition. Trust me I need a lot of hand-holding to make big life changes and hubby needs to actually get his work done so he can't always be the one to do it!
So why are we home schooling – I don't know if I can tell you exactly why. Perhaps it is God's leading – I'm hesitant to say anything for sure and for certain is God's will. I do know that it isn't outside of His will for us right now though and that is reason enough for me to follow that little persistent nudge. I can tell you what I love and don't love about home schooling…but since it is getting close to dinner time I'd better save that for later!

A Dozen Reasons why I chose Home School - NOT

Okay – I've received quite a few requests regarding the "why" we chose to home school this semester. Since I'm feeling a little bit sassy today here are not the reasons
we opted to home school.  
    1. I know more than the teachers who actually have a degree in education.
    2. Public schools are evil.
    3. If you are really a Christian you will home school your child(ren).
    4. I like spending every second of every day with these amazing, wonderful, brilliant little bundles of joy that I call my children.
    5. My kids are so extra super smart that they need an extra challenge that public school just can't provide.
6. Unlike most mom's who have told me "they just couldn't home school" (and I admit I have said in the past to other h.s. moms) I know that I am far better equipped with super home school      teaching abilities – my secret is in my new multivitamin.
7. I don't ever really need a break from my kids because they are so well behaved and never wear me out.
8. I love it when people stare at me blankly with that "why would you ever want to do that?" look in their eyes after I tell them I home school.
9. I want my kids to never interact with other children so I'm keeping them under lock-and-key.
10. I'm not ready to detach from them.
11. I just can't keep up on the household chores so I decided to make them do them all day and call it "real life skills"….actually…hmm…that is a pretty good idea!
12. There is nothing else I can think of to do with my time.

Now that we have that cleared up - I'll post on the reasons we DID choose h.s. soon.

First Day of Home School

Well, technically today was our second day, but since all we did yesterday was Bible and library I'm not counting that as a full day.  All in all I'm not ready to re-enroll them in public school yet, so I'd say so-far-so-good.  I'm taking this experiment one day at a time though. 
I admit I lay in bed this morning not wanting to get up and face the day - maybe it was because hubby is out of town - maybe it was the fear of our first "full" day of home school.  Either way, I got up, got a cup of coffee, some encouragement from Upstairs and got over my lazy mood.  After that and a second cup of coffee things went pretty well  (have I mentioned yet how much I LOVE our new Keurig? Seriously, how did I ever parent before this wonderful machine entered my life?!).  And the beautiful weather (if you consider sunny skies, no snow and upper 30s beautiful) made recess a lot more fun!

Here are a few pics of our first day:

                                             

Camo Verse Packs makes scripture memory fun!                                    Thing 3 needs to learn to read first though, maybe we will save that for tomorrow!

Sorting out all the critters in our house into animal groups.                             This took longer than I expected, they have A LOT of stuffed animals!

                                          

My favorite part of home schooling - reading books on the couch with my Things  (Hubby took this pic a couple days ago so it wasn't tech. "school" but I'm finding real life and home school are pretty interchangeable!).

Chocolate Doughnuts

December 20, 2011
Dear Mrs. Thing 3,
    An important event happened in your husband's life yesterday. He went poop on the potty for the very first time (and hopefully not the last or you probably would not be married today). Of all the Things he held out the longest on going #2 in its proper location. Of course he also potty trained the earliest so I guess you can decide if that makes him the smartest Thing or not.
    After over a month of bribing, nagging and praying last night it finally happened! While riveted to Peek-A-Boo with Big Bird on the computer he announced he needed to go. I immediately stopped cooking dinner and encouraged his endeavor. Thing 2 even wandered in to read him a book to help him along. But as it turns out Thing 3 likes to do his business alone (for which I'm sure you appreciate about him) so alas Thing 2 got kicked out after one story.     
    After a few minutes time – which I think is a record for males of all ages – he announced his success. Thing 2 could not contain his excitement as this meant everyone could finally go out for chocolate doughnuts for dessert. Many friends sent texts of congratulations wishing him well and general thoughts of encouragement for the future of mankind.     
    Some people probably think it strange to write about such uncouth matters – but the more children that I raise the more I realize the true importance of the basic things in life. It is all these little steps of independence that will someday lead him out of my front door as a man and into your life. So don't forget to reward all my efforts with lots of little grandbabies – girl ones! And when it comes time to potty train them I have two words of advice "chocolate doughnuts."

 

It is Always Easier to ask for Forgiveness than Permission

Today:

Thing 1: Mom, can I put stickers all over my kids computer (toy)?
Me: Ummm...sure, why not.
Thing 1: Great, you wanna see it? I already put them on.

Girlfriends

This morning I could just feel it, I needed some good time with a friend. It didn't have to last for hours, just a last minute coffee date would do. Too many days in a row of my normal chores at home had left me lacking luster for another day with my precocious toddler. Luckily another friend had the same need and also a willing husband to take his lunch hour at home with a napping toddler.
As I returned home I felt grateful for that hour. Friendship feeds my heart, refreshes my soul and helps me remember there really is a grown-up behind those mounds of laundry, board books and Elmo videos. Don't get me wrong – I LOVE LOVE LOVE that I get to be home with my kids. I wouldn't change a thing. But I know that in order to do all of that well, I need my girlfriend time too.
    It is all too easy to not send that last minute text or reach out to a friend with a quick phone call. I can easily talk myself out of it some days with my looming to-do list nagging my conscience. But on the days that I go ahead and make that call – even if it is only a few times a month- I'm always glad that I did.
    So today I just want to give a shout out to my girlfriends – Thank YOU! We may grow up- but we never outgrow our need for each other. Thank you, friends, for sharing your lives, love and laughter – it truly feeds my soul and is a gift from above.

Occupy Potty Chairs

All across the U.S. tents are pitched in protest of big business. The international protest phenomenon "Occupy Wall Street" has now reached stay at home moms (SAHM) in the mid-west. Mothers of toddlers all across the mid-west are gathering in protest of toddlers who refuse to occupy their potty chairs and these moms mean big business! The mothers are demanding that their toddlers stop going "wee-wee" and "poo-poo" in their "big boy" and "big girl" pants and do their "business" in the potty like big boys and girls. Protesters grew alarmed when one toddler defiantly went poo-poo in his underwear during the protest. Police were called to the scene before any more pants were soiled.
Mothers carried protest signs and extra back-up pairs of undies while demanding free pumpkin-spice-soy-decaf-lattes, extra hot, be delivered daily at 3pm. They also demand the right to no longer watch Elmo Potty Time a dozen times a day. And furthermore require that all "big business" be done in private by both parties. Toddlers everywhere are encouraged to occupy their potty chairs immediately so that mothers can return home.
"Please. Please. Please. Go poo poo for mommy on the potty! And don't forget to flush and wash!" said local Brookings SAHM, when asked by reporters what the main message was that the Occupy Potty Chairs movement is trying to send.
The occupy movement's next big protest is in Sioux Falls, SD on Wednesday.
Mothers of potty-training toddlers are asked to not play Elmo Potty Time on the computer for the day but join the movement instead. Let's encourage toddlers everywhere to occupy our potty chairs and push for real success!

 

 

Cute Things

The Things have said some pretty cute things lately. I wish I could write them all down as they happen so that I could remember them all. But I can at least capture a few.

Yesterday morning Thing 1 was memorizing a verse for his Good News club at school. The verse talked about loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us. Later as we drove to school he told me that he had prayed that morning for a fellow classmate to learn to be a better kid. Apparently this kid isn't very nice. I don't want to sound like I'm patting myself on the back. In reality we didn't spend more than a few moments even talking about the verse. But I was really glad he happened to mention his little prayer to me. It gave me hope that we are making inroads into the Kingdom in his heart. I might still be pulling my hair out at mealtimes to get them to sit still and stop goofing off, but it is moments like these that let me know at least a little of what we are trying to teach are kids is getting through.

Tonight at dinner Thing 2 was commenting how much he looooveeesss spinach. And lest you get a false impression of my parenting abilities when it comes to getting my kids to eat healthy foods don't let it fool you. It is just a strange anomaly with him who is by far my pickiest eater. The kid doesn't even like cheese even though he was born in WI! Or peanut butter! You get the picture. But anyways, he then pipes up with, "I hope there is spinach in heaven!"

Later as I was tucking them into bed Thing 1 prayed, "Thank you that Daddy can get time alone with you and that he will come home tomorrow." (Hubby is on a personal retreat for some extended time alone with God). And Thing 2 asked if he can have his Nee-Nee (blankie) in heaven. I said "no" but he quickly devised a plan that if his Nee-Nee dies then it will go to heaven and be there for him.

Thing 2 is also still planning on building a rainbow house in our backyard to live in with Thing 1 and their wives. Thing 3 is now welcome to join them. But it should be noted that Thing 1 told me today he doesn't ever want to learn to drive so his future wife will need to be willing to drive him every where in addition to the aforementioned accommodations. And Thing 2 thinks that possibly the girl he marries someday will have the same color hair as him. This all remains to be seen...but I thought I'd better write it all down now so some day when they want to move far far far away from their sweet mama I can remind them of the original plan.

The only sort of funny thing Thing 3 said to me lately that I can recall is, "I'm gonna kick you in the b___" Ummmm, Excuse me?!? Why, yes, he does repeat EVERY
THING he hears and it often times isn't appropriate but almost always hard to keep a straight face while I correct him.

A few Pics from FL

We are spending 6 amazing days sans kids in FL. This trip is partly due to our sabbatical and partly a delayed big trip for our 10th anniversary last year. It is definitely the longest we have been away without the kiddos. And though I miss them every day it is a treat to be footloose and fancy free!





Things I love:
Warm weather in Nov!
Extended time alone with hubby and God.
Amazing friends who keep our Things making this trip possible.
Yummy, yummy,yummy food!
Good times "playing" tennis with good friends. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!

Halloween Pics

I love living in a small town. And I love our awesome children's museum. This year they hosted a Halloween carnival complete with games, tickets to be redeemed for prizes, face painting and ice cream. The kids had a blast. We arrived after the major crowds so the lines weren't too long. Every had a good time!




Carving pumpkins at the very last minute! I wish I could have gotten a pic of the squirrel inside T1'a jack-o-lantern happily munching away yesterday!

Thing 2 is an off the charts ENFP, everything in his life is a party. Despite my best efforts I gave into his constant petitioning for a party. When he started inventing games for it before I had even agreed to one I knew I was in for it. Luckily I got away with just inviting one favorite neighborhood playmate and her folks over for a short dinner before trick-or-treating. And bc the Eye-Ball-Race and Spin the Gourd games were included along with a few Halloween shaped jello molds T2 was satisfied.


This year we tried something new. We went to campus to do trick-or-treating in the dorms. The college gals all thought the Things were "SO CUTE" and they made a haul in a short amount of time! I liked seeing the students, being inside where it was warm and eating a few chocolate candies along the way (just to keep up my stamina, of course! There are a lot of stairs in dorms!).