Psalm 139 October 31, 2008

The curriculum we are using for homeschool this year (Learning Adventures — A World of Adventure) has a Bible memorization component in each 30 day unit.  The second unit, Ancient Greece, which we are completing this week, included memorizing Psalm 139.  M and J both have it down and have written it on their hearts.  This week, though, in order to make sure the message of the Psalm was understood, I had J write in his journal about what Psalm 139 means to him.  The following is his journal in its entirety with original spelling and punctuation and no help from Mom. 

Psalm 139

Part of Psalm 139 means to me that God knows everything you are doing.  The other thing that I think it means is that God knows to much for us to know.  It also means that you can never hide from God; and that he created you.  The end of it means that you want God to see if there is any sin in you.

Not bad for a first grader…and precious to the heart of God (and me).

You Know You’re On The Right Track…

when your son says, “I think it would be really cool if they made a Bible Game for my Leapster.  I would really want that for Christmas!”

Proud, Proud Momma

At the end of every month, TaeKwonDo awards are given out for Student of the Month, belt promotions, and the like.  Several months ago, the Student of the Month night began to include a 3 board-breaking demonstration, starting in rank order and going down.  This month, J was the next highest ranking belt to be responsible for the board-breaking demonstration.  He was responsible for choosing which kicks to do, deciding how to set them up, and showing the board holders exactly where he wanted his boards placed during the demo. 

After much practice,  last night, J was ready to go.  In front of about 50 TaeKwonDo students and numerous other parents and children, J presented his demonstration.  I just had to share the pictures with everyone!

Setting up the boards just like he wanted them…

 

 

 

1st kick — Ban Dhal Chaggi — Ax Kick

 

  

 

2nd Kick — Step-In Yup Chaggi — Step-In Side Kick

 

 

 

Final kick — Dee Yup Chaggi — Back Side Kick

 

 

 

Way to Go, J!! 

After the Student of the Month awards, J participated in his regular class.  During this class, Master Konz had J practice yet another board-breaking kick…a kick that he loves, but he has never tried to break a board with it.  He was successful.

 

Dol Yo Chaggi — Round House Kick

 

 

 

It was a good night at TaeKwonDo.

One final story…there is a young man in J’s class who is 15 years old that J admires very much.  However, he came to TaeKwonDo months after J and is, therefore, behind J in his belt.  He has the orange belt now but received his a month or so after J.  One night at class, Master Konz had J show Tyler the steps of Tae Geuk EE Jung (a TaeKwonDo form for which they are responsible to know in order to test for the green belt).  J was so proud to be able to “teach” Tyler how to do the EE Jung. 

Last weekend, Tyler participated in a local tournament where he competed in “forms” and “sparring”.  He did EXCELLENT in forms, out-scoring every competitor that I saw across all the different forms.  After showing the crowd the scores, J leaned over to me and said coolly, “I taught him that.” 

Ty got 1st place in forms for his division.

J and Tyler together….Ty is moving to another Army post this Saturday.  We will miss seeing him at TaeKwonDo.

 

 

The Normal Stuff October 3, 2008

We did lots of fun stuff during R&R like a fabulous trip to Blue Ridge, GA.  But we also did a lot of normal stuff, too.  Here are pictures of the normal…enjoy for now until I have a chance to add the pics from Blue Ridge.

The first pictures are from the airport.  Build A Sign offered 10,000 free banners to military families to celebrate the troops’ homecomings.  We were able to design our own banner with any number of colors, fonts, etc and only paid for shipping!  WOW!  I thought it turned out so nice!  If you have a need for a vinyl sign, this company is a good one…good quality…and they support our soldiers. 

One of the things on Daddy’s To-Do List for Mommy was to fish out my muffin pan that dropped behind the dryer.  J and S did that the very first morning home…somebody was wanting some homemade blueberry muffins.  I use a fabulous recipe by Callie Latham out of my Perryton cookbook (pg 359 Red for those of you that have one).  If you are interested in the recipe, let me know.  

They also wanted to dress up handsome…and remind everyone where we came from…

 M wanted Daddy to take her rock-climbing and then out on a date.  As you can see, both of her requests were granted. 

 

I will post more pictures from our trip out of town.  They are beautiful photographs with lots of fun stories (and, of course, spiritual significance) so it will take a little more time to decide what to share.  Hope you enjoy these for now.

Am I Missing Something — Part II October 1, 2008

This will require a little explanation so bear with me….

Typically (or so I’ve been told), when soldiers come home for R&R, they fly a charter plane to one of four or five major airports in the U.S. and then take a regular flight on to their final destination.  The soldiers coming to the Fort Stewart area usually fly into Atlanta by charter and then take a commercial jumper to Savannah where their loved ones are eagerly awaiting their arrival.  I have also been told (OVER AND OVER) that the flight into Atlanta arrives around 7:00 a.m. every time and then the guys race to their next gate hoping to catch an early flight by stand-by rather than waiting around for their scheduled flight in the afternoon.  Usually, this puts them into Savannah around noon, giving them an extra 1/2 day of R&R. 

See…officially, the R&R time does not begin until midnight of the day FOLLOWING travel days.  So, the clock for someone arriving on a Monday in Atlanta at 7:00 a.m. and arriving in Savannah around noon does not actually begin ticking until midnight Tuesday, thus virtually giving them an extra day of R&R.

Unfortunately for us, S travelled for 99 hours to get home for R&R.  And because of flight delays, technical difficulties, and so forth, he did not arrive in Atlanta until 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.  He then tried to get on stand-by as quickly as possible but was actually scheduled for the 8:30 p.m. flight to Savannah.  He did make the 6:30 p.m. flight and arrived in Savannah around 7:30.    We finally made it home around 8:45 p.m. and his R&R clock started ticking 3 hours and 15 minutes later.

Although we were so excited to have him home, I felt cheated, robbed!  Oh yes, we still had the full 18 days of R&R just like everyone else…but we didn’t get to take advantage of the travel day afternoon.  I cannot explain how upset I was.  I really felt cheated.  When you only have 18 days after 10 1/2 months of being separated and are facing 3-4 months of more separation…EVERY MINUTE COUNTS!!  And I wanted my minutes to begin at noon on that Wednesday…not at 7:30 p.m.  I feel like we lost at least 8 hours of time together.  8 hours….that may sound pretty silly but 8 hours is EVERYTHING when you are standing at the airport 18 days later saying goodbye. 

So I was missing time…time spent just being together…another meal together, another movie, another walk around the block…another 8 hours of time spent with the one I love.

I wonder if that’s how God feels when we miss our time with Him.  Without even realizing it, we cheat ourselves out of so much when we miss precious moments with Him each day.  I wonder how much time I have missed with Him in my too busy schedule…what has delayed me from being able/willing to spend time with Jesus?  Makes me want to make sure I don’t put God on stand-by…I want to carve out as much time as I possibly can to spend with Him each day.