This Week's Games

Megan had two basketball games this week, one on Tuesday (at a local school) and one tonight (about an hour away).

They lost Tuesday night's game, but from the first half to the second half, they only allowed seven points for the opposing team. Their defense came on strong. Alex arrived during the 4th quarter, so he was able to see the last few minutes of the game.

Tonight, we were short two of our players, so Megan got to be one of the starters. And, she actually put the first points on the board! Her efforts tonight added six points to their winning score of 33-10.

After receiving the inbound pass, Megan glances over at Coach to receive the next play to set up.

Dribbling around her defender.

Coach talking with the players and their parents after the game. He informed us of what they are working on to improve, what they need to improve, and how far they have come in just several weeks of practice and three games.

After the game, we stopped at McD's for a healthy (not!) meal with some of the team. It was fun to get to know some of the girls better, and it warms my heart to see how they have accepted Megan onto their school's team. Tomorrow is their team's Christmas party, which Megan is looking forward to. She is supposed to take a tree ornament, and we found a cute basketball one. We'll see what she comes home with.

~Wee

A Blessing from our Creator

Praise God that His mercies are new EVERY morning! This sunrise graced us with its splendor this morning.

~Wee

Which Jello?

Trying to decide which flavors to make for their finger jello, Leah laid all the varieties out on the kitchen floor and I heard her say,

"Catch a tiger
Meenie Minee Mo,

Catch a tiger
Meenie Minee Mo,

My mother told me to catch a tiger." :-}

BTW, she picked strawberry and orange. YUM!

~Wee

Let There Be Light

"Let There Be Light" was the theme of this year's Christmas program at church. Megan and Grace each had an acting part (no speaking) this year; Megan was a shepherd and Grace an angel.

We listened as the prophets of old looked on from Heaven and witnessed how their prophecies about Jesus' birth were being fulfilled. We watched as shepherds and wise men were also shown the fulfillment of the prophecies -- the shepherds, because of their humble hearts and the wise men, because of their searching and believing hearts. We were challenged to come to Jesus with humble hearts of faith.

Here is Leah's song ~ Jeremiah 29:13/Away in a Manger medley

Out of the six songs the choir sang, here is the theme song of the day, Let There be Light.

For some reason, this video is so choppy. I've included the words of the song, so you can at least "read" the beauty of them!

Let There Be Light

Star of wonder, star of night,

star with royal beauty bright;

westward leading, still proceeding

guide us to thy perfect light.

From the beginning the Father

had a magnificent plan,

revealed through the Law and the prophets,

to fulfill the redemption of man.

He spoke after centuries of silence,

in the midst of a still, starry night.

And Emmanuel came down among us,

and the Father said, "Let there be light!"

People who walked in great darkness

gathered from near and far;

shepherds with flocks in their keeping,

three kings who followed a star.

Together, the poor and the richest

witnessed that Bethlehem night,

and the sky full of angels announcing

the birth of the glorious Light.

We who are His have this calling:

to praise Him, and make His name known,

so one day the presence of Jesus

shines in every heart and every home.

Let there be light, let it shine bright,

piercing the darkness with dazzling white.

Hope for the hopeless was born on that night,

when God sent His Son and said, "Let there be light!"

~Wee

P.S. Sorry about the choppiness of the videos. I don't know why they are doing that during uploading. Suggestions, anyone, on what I might be doing wrong?

Sawmill

Last Friday was our December field trip. It was sunny out, but freezing! Dressed in layers, we first toured a local cabinet company. They were not producing or running any machines that day, but the guide led us through the process of first laminating the wood and showing us each step in the process of the making of doors, drawers, and finally cabinets.

Here, the girls are in front of various wood pieces cut and ready for use where needed.
At the end of the tour, we were able to freely roam their showroom, which "shows" all that this company makes. It was fun to open and close the cupboards and doors, enjoying some very unique designs, and to dream a little :) Isn't this kitchen beautiful?!
From the cabinet company, we went to a sawmill operated by the Amish.

This machine removes the bark from the trees.When all the bark is removed, the log rolls down the ramp and is later run through the sawmill.Inside the sawmill, the machines were running. On this machine, the logs went round and round as they were split into strips (you can see a strip shooting off the cutter onto a flat belt). Back outside, we watched this big crane at work. First, it picks up a tree trunk,
positions it in the sawand cuts it, then moves the cut pieces over to a different pile.
The girls in front of this fascinating machine.
Any unusable pieces of wood (from pallets, trees, etc.,) runs through a chopper and shoots into this barn. The sawdust is later used for mulch.From the sawmill, just a few of us families went down the road to a place that makes pallets (also run by Amish). This part of the trip was so neat, and I'm glad we took the time to see it. This machine is nailing the pallets together just after, and I mean "just after," the worker finished placing the boards on it correctly. There were a few times when the worker barely got out of the way of the machine before it moved back to nail on the boards. After the pallets are nailed together and before they are stacked like you see in the picture, each one is stamped with the company's name. All these pallets are going to a dairy farm.After the tour, I found out that the Amish man was a first cousin to one of my former massage clients from Topeka. It was fun to make that connection! It's such a small world.

I hope I don't bore you with posts like this, but my main purpose of our blog is to not only share what we are doing/learning as a family, but it also doubles as an online journal for our family. By the time I get around to scrap booking this field trip, I will probably have forgotten all the details. So, thanks for hanging in there with us! :)

~Wee