Grand Prix 2010

This was our first year doing the Awana Grand Prix at this church, and despite some differences, I think everyone had fun! There was a clubbers' and a leaders' division. Our family's cars are never big speed winners so we tend to go for Best Design, often with non-car designs. I didn't know what I wanted to do until the eleventh hour, because I really wanted to do something rectangular (a tradition starting with "Butter"), but Laura came up with a great idea the day before - dice! And then Chris and Michael did the drillwork. So all I did was sand and paint. But I am happy with how it turned out.

Before paint and wheels / After paint and wheels

The ribbon is just for participating. Sadly, the leader division had no Best Design judging.

If I can, I'll get a picture of our family's other cars. Stephanie made a skateboard and Michael made a working clothespin! (I think David was the only one that made a "real car", lol.)

Project Proverbs 365

Anyone into New Years' resolutions out there? It's not a tradition that I usually make much out of, but this year I decided on one. My resolution is to memorize a Proverb a day. Proverbs has been one of my favorite books of the Bible ever since the first time I read a chapter a day for a month and really meditated on the verses. I was amazed at how much they impacted my life. So now I'm going to hide them in my heart. My memorizing plan goes like this: Day of the month = Chapter #, Month = Verse #. So for example, July 15 would be Proverbs 15:7. Feel free to check up on me and see if I did my Proverb for the day. That's part of why I'm sharing. Happy New Year and God Bless!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I sure did! And although I made a peep last month about not being a "gift" person, when it comes down to it, I really enjoy the giving and the receiving at Christmastime. :-D

• My favorite gift to give - In our family the siblings do a mystery name exchange. This year I had Michael... and I did not know what to get him. Then, about a week before Christmas, I remembered that, last year, I had wished I had drawn his name so I could get him a cape, or the stuff to make it (If you know him well you would understand why.) So this year, that's what I did! I made him a calf-length black/red hooded cape. It was pretty crazy since I hadn't made anything like it before, but I finished it, well past the 11th hour, I might add. And he loved it! What was really funny: doing it as last minute as I was, I couldn't always wait until he was gone to work on it. When I was working on the red satin side, both he and Stephanie thought I was making a skirt! And after I had put the black and red together, Stephanie made some remarks. "You know what that looks like? A cape... like Michael's dream cape." I just kept quiet and grinned to myself.


• My favorite gift to receive - was a very special gift for the whole family - a violin!!! Valerie and I have wanted to start violin for a long time (longer for her) and we were thrilled! Everyone has tried it, but she and I have been practicing every day. I love it, and I've been picking it up pretty quickly. The smaller shape and fingerboard, the simplicity of doing only one note at a time (so far), it's all good.


• Oh, and if you care, my mom gave me a card reader for High-Capacity SD cards. :-)
  

Merry Christmas!

Here are the pictures that we put on our Christmas cards. Have a blessed Christmas!

Mute Monks Provide Words for Wednesday

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. The Bible commands over and over to "Give thanks unto the Lord". How great that we have a national holiday set aside for just that! Plus, for us, it's a generally relaxed day of visiting with extended family and sharing a great meal. (And, there's no stress about having to deal with presents, unlike a certain other holiday! Gifts is not my primary love language. ;) Have a blessed holiday and don't forget to take time and personally thank the Giver of all good things.

It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
Psalm 92:1

About our turkey flock: This is a resurrected tradition that we used to do every year. We also used to make them with chocolate-dipped marshmallows and chocolate sandwich cookies so they would be brown. Can you imagine, more sugar?! But they are cute, and fun to make.

PS: I'm thankful - we figured out what was wrong with the card readers... nothing! They just can't read my new High-Capacity SD card. But Chris' laptop can, so I guess I'm "back in business". :)

Brian is five!

The baby of the family is five today!
Of course he's not a baby anymore, but he'll always be my sweet, smart, and SO CUTE baby brother!
Happy birthday Brian!