Fun Day

The devotion today was about the “Surprise” in a box of Cracker Jack. Then it transitioned in Jesus saying things that were said to be unusual or unexpected. Like: “The first will be the last and the last the first” or “The least in this world will be the greatest in my kingdom.” Jesus also said, “My purpose is to give life in it fullness (or abundantly.) Getting Jesus is like getting a surprise in the Cracker Jack box. Christ offers life with a prize inside!

The Purpose Driven Life reading was “Transformed by truth.” Here’s where I felt humbled and disobedient. Rick Warren said, “The bible is more than a guidebook. It’s as essential as food.” It what feeds our spiritual growth. So basically all the bibles we have sitting on a shelf or a table are worthless. Are you starving to death from spiritual malnutrition? (I’ll be the first to admit it. I am.) So to remedy this I learned something not so new to me. I should make the bible my authoritative standard for which I live. That’s not always easy because culture, tradition, reason, and emotion can alter those standards. I should fill my mind with the bible (the truth). I can do this in five simple steps. RECEIVE the bible with a receptive attitude. Then READ it, not just carry it. Rick Warren said if you cut the TV off for 30 minutes a night and apply that time to bible reading you could read from cover to cover TWICE in one year. JD said we should start on 1 Jan. I said, “We’re already at 19 Feb.” So we never reached a conclusion as to when to start. Then I should RESEARCH the bible. That means to ask questions and write them down. Ask who, what when, where and why and how. REMEMBER what I read. (I can’t remember what I had for dinner last night.) The mind is a muscle, and I guess I need to start exercising it. Memorizing scripture helps us resist temptation, make wise decisions, reduce stress, build confidence, offer great advice, and help us share our faith. REFLECT on God’s word. That means to meditate on it. (No the yoga position and clearing my mind, rather it means to focus on it. (I want to be called a woman after God’s own heart. I guess now’s as good a time as any to get started.) It finished up the days reading by saying “Now that you know the five ways to feed your heart, APPLY IT! Become doers of the word.”

Algebra today was “Patterns” and the “function rule.” Here’s an example. Say there are two columns. One is “x” and one is “y.” The numbers under “x” are 9, 12, 33, 42. The numbers under “y” are 28, 37, 100, 127. The job was to find the function rule (or relationship between the values.) It might be easier to look at it this way: 9 is directly across from 28 and 12 is directly across from 37. What’s the relationship (answer) to what the difference is between the two sets. Well, 9 x 3 +1 = 27. And 12 x 3 +1 = 37. But the key is getting the right rule written down. So our final answer looked like y = 3x+1. (Crazy I know.) My question is when will I ever use algebra in my life. Did you know event planners use algebra? They know they need 20 tables and now they need to find out how many chairs to have brought in. Other than that I can’t imagine what I need algebra for.

The keyboarding today included the letters “B” and “N”. He’s now on Level 3, Stage 8. Today he spent a lot of time looking at the keyboard (like I am right now.) I told him to try his hardest not to look. That if he could master this skill it would make a lot easier for him. He heard and ignored. As soon as he though I wasn’t looking he looked straight down again. I made mention that those “Oops pick me voices were not talking so that‘s how I know your looking.” (BUSTED!)

JD did not do anything in his journal this week so there would have been nothing to edit and rewrite. So we received an invitation from our co-op to go to Ft. Bragg’s ice skating rink from 11:30 - 1:30 PM for a Christian ice skating time. So I made a command decision to scrap edit/rewrite and go ice skating instead. We skated for about an hour. I skated once before as a child. All I can say is I looked like Bambi on ice. All four legs going opposite directions. I never got the hang of it and gave up. So today was the first “real” time for both of us. I think we did great for our first time. Let’s just say I do not see pairs figure skating in our future. Instead of a triple Lutz we did a triple klutz. Jeff said we’ll “be combining figure skating with break dancing.” JD fell a few times and then practiced his falls. He fell one time kind of hard and was ready to give up. I talked him out of (ok directed him from) taking off his skates out of anger. I skated a couple more laps and talked him into coming back out. I wanted him to leave only after ending it on a good note and not a bad one. Sorry to report that we did not bring home the gold. I feel confident with those professionals.

On the way to the rink I had JD read his health notes on “making friends” and then tried to put that into action at the skating rink. Everyone was so busy trying to stay upright or zooming past us to really talk to anyone.

I’m proud to report that JD scored another 100% on his spelling test of words that end in “O.” That is a definite moral booster for JD to keep seeing 100% on spelling tests. I just asked him how he feels when he gets a 100% and he responded with, “Great!”