Beautiful day

We did two devotions today because the one for Saturday was about genealogy. It listed the two places you can find Jesus’ family tree. One is in Matthew 1:1-17 showing Jesus was related to the Jews. The other one was in Luke 3:23-28 showing Jesus was related to all humankind. The next devotion was “The Ides of March. “ That is the 15th day of March on a Roman calendar. Most famous for the assassination of Julius Caesar by his “friends and followers.” Years later Jesus was betrayed by his so-called friend named Judas Iscariot. It reminded JD to take an inventory of his true friends.

We read the Purpose Driven Life together today. Then just before I called school done for the day I had him read independently for 15 minutes. He’s about halfway through “Hero’s Don’t Run.” The Purpose Driven Life was called Thinking Like a Servant. It listed five attitudes to have while serving. 1. Servants think more about others than about themselves. 2. Servants think like stewards, not like an owner. 3. Servants think about their work, not what others are doing. (This one is hard for me.) 4. Servants base their identity in Christ. 5. Servants think of ministry as an opportunity, not an obligation. The last couple of weeks I have been burdened with my relationship to God. I’m lacking in the constant prayer area and working on the die to myself and pick up my cross daily part. I definitely believe in God but without constant visual reminders I forget he’s with us during our school days. It’s easier to think about God at home rather than a work environment but I’m still disappointed that I fail to “feel, hear, or sense” that God is with me. I know there are times when he’s testing me. This is when I visualize think he’s busy with someone else who needs him more. I’ll just keep being burdened and doing what I sense he wants for Faith Christian Academy.

Today in math we learned “Volumes of solids.” More specifically, we learned the volume of cubes and rectangles. Cube formula: A cube is 3 inches high, tall, and wide. So the formula is 3 x 3 x 3 = 27. Rectangle formula: A rectangle is 3 inches high, 2 inches tall, 2 inch wide. So that formula is 3 x 2 x 2 = 12. We have now graduated out of “measurements and tomorrow we will move onto “geometry.” (Um, help!)

The keyboarding lesson today was Level 4, stage 11. It taught JD about “/” and “.” He did this independently while I mowed the dog yard. Therefore, I don’t know how many times he looked at his fingers. If I had to guess…probably the whole time.)

I took Jeff’s suggestion for JD’s journal time. If you remember he suggested having JD write instructions or a recipe or something that didn’t require “creative” thinking. The anger started outside when I told him, “It’s time for journal.” He started whacking away at the weeds in the yard. (Note to self…when the mower breaks down, tell JD to write in his journal.) I asked if he preferred typing it or writing it. His response, “I prefer not to do journal.” (Oh I didn’t see that one coming…wink, wink.) After I calmed him down he came in and I offered the topic “How to tie your shoe.” I didn’t think it would include all the drama that was attached to the assignment. He still required a lot of assistance getting the visual motions into words. He was freely able to demonstrate the movements but hit a wall when he had to form words for those actions. We even had a shoe on the table for demonstration purposes. (I’m not giving up yet…)

The on-line art lesson was acting funny so I had him stop that and we created our own paper. First, we made a drying rack from a coat hanger and old panty hose. Next, we took two pieces of paper and cut them into thin strips. We added some crumbed leaves and some water. Then, came the “fun” part for JD. We liquefied the concoction in the blender. Next, we gave that messy concoction a glue bath. The last step was to pour in onto the rack and set it out to dry. It’s kind of thick but steadily drying. I’ll let you know how it “turned out” tomorrow.

The spelling words this week all homophones. That is the pairs sound the same but are spelled differently. There are words like: horse/hoarse and poll/pole. Once I had his list in hand I moved the lesson outside. We sat in the sun making up partial sentences for each word to distinguish the differences. When Jeff asked JD how his day was and how he liked each topic he said, “Spelling was fun.” I guess it’s all about the location, location, location.

That relaxation thing I discovered is REALLY NICE. I like cuddling up in my bed with all the pillows fluffed up. I get most of my reading done when everyone else is asleep. I finished the book “The Shack” last night. It kind of makes me take a second look at my relationship to the Trinity. For a fiction book I liked it. But as for me, its only fiction. Jeff suggested I start reading Max Lucado next. He might have a point there. It will teach me some more theology.