Monday, March 30, 2009

OPERATION WELCOME HOME

ABC Homeschool Group welcomed home some troops at BWI on Saturday.
BWI is often the soldiers first stop into the states, and many have to take connecting flights to get home.
While we waited for the flight to arrive, we helped put some bags together. The bags contained items such as bottled water, prepackaged snacks, candy, and homemade cards.
The area was decorated with posters, banners and flags.
A little girl waiting to greet her Daddy. Sacrifice.
We tried to dress as "Patriotic" as possible. Some did better than others!

Paul, Kara, and Olivia Schnegelberger
Dylan, Me and Ashley
The Smith family
The kids waiting while the soldiers were coming through customs.
Operation Welcome Home is a wonderful volunteer program. The soldiers coming home truly appreciate the efforts. Some smile, some shake hands, some give high-fives... and some cry.
I think of the sacrifices they make, the time away from friends, family. The loss of their freedoms, so we can have ours...
Our kids had the honor of pushing many of the soldiers luggage carts. This allowed them to be free to shake hands and accept every ones "Thank You" and "Welcome Home."
Thank you for your service. Welcome home. May God bless you. May God bless America!
For more pictures of this event, see "First Flight" at http://www.operationwelcomehomemd.org/index_files/Page1408.htm
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THE WAIT IS OVER! SIDING!

Time... Money... Why are these two things never present at the same time?

10 years ago, we began a project. Dylan was an infant. Shawn had a month off from having a knee surgery. We decided to begin a project, that led from one thing to another. All we wanted to do was remodel the upstairs Master bedroom and bathroom. But that could only be done after the 1st floor bath was remodeled. A couple windows had to be moved. (BTW: A real pain when you have cinder block walls.) Carpet, paint... and the list went on... and on.... and on! Then, between all that - LIFE - happens!

Anyway, we finally broke down and decided to replace the siding on the front of the house. With the help of my dad and Shawn's dad, they got most of the project done in a week.

Shawn replacing and moving the patio window.

Jack adding some firring strips.

Dad cutting some siding.

We still need to get shutters for the kitchen window, so this is the "almost" finished product. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!



Home Sweet Home... looking a bit more-normal-again!
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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Winter Wonderland!

Monday, March 2 brought a beautiful snowfall. The trees were coated in white. Our back yard was a winter wonderland.
We invited some church families over for sledding.
Shawn made a fire. I made hot chocolate and cookies.
Ashley, Debi, Janelle Lamont, Lisa and Scott Moore
Nick, Scott, Deanna, Marty and Katrina
Josh Smith on Suicide Track
Lisa and Janelle on Suicide Run

Erika and Erin Nestruck
Pastor Josh and Joel racing on Suicide Track.

Geff, and Yvonne
Shawn's steam'n pants!
Sam, and Lisa Ozinga
Dylan going down Sudden Death.



Some tired kids after a day of climbing hills!
Our neighbors, Mark and Frankie. I used to babysit them before school, and summers. Now, Mark is taller than Shawn!
The cookie monsters! (This was NOT a black tie occasion!)
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Saturday, March 7, 2009

Homeschool Field Trip!

We had a great field trip to the National Cryptologic Museum on Feb. 27th.
Our home school group did the museum's "Who, What, When and Where" tour.
Ms. Jennifer Wilcox took the kids on an abbreviated tour of the museum.
She highlighted different wars and the cryptology associated with them.
The kids, split into teams, were then given pictures of specific items in the museum. They had to locate each item assigned to their group, and answer questions about that item.

The kids did a great job on their assignments, and learned a lot!
It was interesting to learn about codes and ciphers.

This was a fun example of codes during the Depression.
After the students filled out their "who, what, when and where" questions for their museum items, they shared their answers in a game format.
Our future Cryptologist, Jarad Lee, took the game... with his team of 1!
The students were all given prizes / souvenirs!
There was so much to see here, we had to revisit a few of the exhibits.


A particular favorite of mine. This exhibit was on identity... fingerprints, eye recognition, facial scanning... FASCINATING!
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Ephesians 3:14-19

"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height - to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen."