Good Books for Children

On Sunday's after supper, we take the opportunity to read good and wholesome books to our children. I wanted to share a few of the books that we have read through and have loved.

We are ENJOYING this Spurgeon book right now. This is one for your own personal bookshelf. The short chapters are easy to understand with great depth and vivid illustrations. Spurgeon had a gift of finding deep meaning in the every day and this is a book that our whole family has loved reading through and has helped create some great discussions.  I highly recommend it! (The book does make the assumption that you are from England, so you may have to do a little explaining to the younger ones explaining their currency and such.)

Each one of these Miller books have been read through and enjoyed. The missionary stories especially have sparked interest and it has been good to read about the different places where man has been called to serve.

We would love it if Christine Farenhorst would write some more amazing stories to share with us!

These three books written by William Boekestein captured our attention. He did a fantastic job relaying history in a way that children could understand and at the same time show how God divinely orchestrated events so that the confessions, creeds, and catechism could be written and taught.

 "Not By Sight" is a collection of short chapters of people from the Bible. The author takes the story and makes it come alive in a beautiful way but it remains biblically accurate. At the end of each chapter there is a practical application to meditate on. I am currently reading this book and it has been very moving. The love of Christ, His tender heart, and loving kindness that He showed to people just makes you marvel. I wanted to include this book even though it is too hard for children, but teenagers and older would benefit from it.

 

Joel Beeke's devotional series for children has been well received and our two oldest have read the series multiple times since we bought them.

And I just had to tell you about these DVDs. Wonderful! The footage is great, the information beneficial, and best of all God's name is continuously praised. These are great for all ages!

time change and a joke

Last year my dad stopped by on a Saturday evening wishing our little guy a happy birthday. Dad then asked me if it was the "time change" that night. I gave a laugh and said "YEP." Now to me that laugh was to be interpreted, "wouldn't that be a funny joke!" To my dad, a little more serious than I, it was "yes it was time to change the clocks tonight."
Our family woke up the next morning, welcoming a new Sunday and did our regular race to get ready for church on time. Usually when we are getting ready for church, our boys keep an eye on the neighbour's (my parents) driveway to see when they are about to leave for church and then we try to beat them. My dad is very predictable on Sunday mornings with getting into the car, backing up to the end of the driveway and then driving forward to the walkway. Usually a few minutes later my mom is ready and off they go.
Now that particular Sunday there was no action at all next store. We finally got the family loaded into the van and we took off, with the boys proclaiming victory. We had beat grandpa and grandma for once! Half way down our road, I felt my heart sink into my toes, and my hands took on a sudden clamminess. With a very serious, whispered voice I said "Oh no! Adam, I think that my dad took my half hearted attempt at a joke seriously and they think that church doesn't start for another hour."
 Ever calm Adam said to wait and see, and what happens will happen.
 Not so I told myself. This was no good at all.
 We shuttled our little ones into the babysit and then sat in the pew and that is when I saw the empty organ. "Oh no, oh no, oh no."
 Not only was my dad who never missed church now missing church, there was no one to play the organ. I started to do some quick problem solving.
 I could sort of play the piano, but it is better if only the four living room walls heard me. Not a congregation of four hundred people... I hurriedly scanned the song selections to see if I could attempt to play the piano. Four flats. Groan. Now my heart was beating very rapidly. I turned around and told my cousin sitting behind me that this was not good. Not good at all. He had no idea what my muttering was all about. And then, another organist walked down the isle and made himself comfortable at the organ. I almost hugged him.
After the church service was over we made our way home and the minute I stepped inside the phone rang. It was my dad. "Kerrrrrrri." Yes, I know. This was a joke gone bad.

Truth for Today

The ladies in our church bible study are going through the book of Hebrews using the John MacArthur study guide. Here's an exert from the first chapter that is beautifully written.

Someone has said that Jesus Christ came from the bosom of the Father to the bosom of a woman.
 He put on humanity that we might put on divinity. He became Son of Man that we might become sons of God. He was born contrary to the laws of nature, lived in poverty, was reared in obscurity, and only once crossed the boundaries of the land in which He was born-and that in His childhood.
 He had no wealth or influence and had neither training nor education in the world's schools.
 His relatives were inconspicuous and not influential. In infancy He startled a king. In boyhood He puzzled the learned doctors. In manhood He ruled the course of nature. He walked upon the billows and hushed the sea to sleep. He healed the multitudes without medicine and made no charge for His services.
 He never wrote a book and yet all the libraries of the world could not hold the books about Him. He never wrote a song, yet He has furnished the theme for more songs than all songwriters together. He never founded a college, yet all the schools together cannot boast of as many students as He has had. He never practiced medicine and yet He has healed more broken hearts than all the doctors have healed broken bodies.
This Jesus Christ is the star of astronomy, the rock of geology, the lion and the lamb of zoology, the harmonizer of all discord, and the healer of all diseases. Throughout history, great men have come and gone, yet He lives on. Herod could not kill Him. Satan could not seduce Him.
 Death could not destroy Him. And the grave could not hold Him.

after church struggles

  The sun is shining through the church windows and the last note has been sung as the congregation files out of the sanctuary. Peacefulness is felt in the air but as I step into the front foyer, mine and Adam's struggles begin. Cutting through the crowd of people I make my way to the babysit and sign out Caleb. He has missed his morning nap and his eyes are red. He is tired, hungry, and ready for his bed. I hold him close to soothe him and make my way to the next babysit. The door opens a crack and a ball of fire leaps out and takes off. I consider chasing Tyler but weaving through the crowds with a diaper bag, purse, papers and a baby is not that easy, not even for the agile. As I near the consistory door Adam steps out. With our eyes we signal across the crowd of people that boy#4 has taken off and is nowhere to be found. Adam starts to weave through the crowds and tries to remember what boy number 4 was wearing. Oh yes, he is wearing a bright shirt. This mother is brilliant and dresses him bright so that he is easy to spot. But that is also a problem, he is easy for everyone to spot and see what he is up to. There he is. He is tugging on great-grandma's purse and is trying to open it so that he can get some candy. Great grandma gives him a candy and as soon as we catch up to him, in a flash he is gone. Now we see him "begging" my mom for candy. (The kids only have to say "hi" and she opens up her purse) We think that he likes the challenge of my mom's candies because her gigantic King peppermints are meant for a horse's mouth. Tyler somehow stuffs the peppermint into his mouth and by this time Adam has caught up to him. Adam grabs him and holds him in a locked position. However within seconds slobber and drool is pouring out of Tyler's mouth all over Adam's clean pressed shirt and tie. Adam puts Tyler down to do some clean up duty, and poof, Tyler is gone again.
 Adam and I used to love after church time, fellowshipping with people. I loved standing in the library and placing some good books into the hands of eager readers, but I think that this will be on hold for the time being.
 We find Tyler again, nod hellos and wave to people and head off to the van. By this time Sunday school is almost over for the three older boys and we begin another round of activity - rounding them all up.
 Boy number 3 wants to go to his cousins house and after that is all arranged boy number 1 notices that there is now room in the van for him to have a friend over. Boy number 1 heads back into the church to find a friend. After some waiting boy number 1 comes back to the van with a friend and we wait some more for boy number 2 to show up. Boy number 1 graciously offers to head back into the church to find boy number 2 and we wait again. By this time, much time has passed, the parking lot is emptying and my impatient nature wants to leave too so that the baby can go to bed.
 Boy number 2 finally comes to the van but now boy number 1 is still missing. There are times that this can go in for another round or two before we are all finally buckled up in the van and can head off towards home.
I don't think that we are the only family that has these moments after church!
 And at least we haven't forgotten anybody at church...yet. That's another thing to remember on Sundays. Always do a head count before you leave church!

summer from the homefront

Time spent with family and friends makes summer! Just like everyone else, our summer flew right by. There were times of relaxing, hard work, reading, visiting, swimming, and yes, there were times that pestering occurred too (we just didn't take pictures of those times!)

 

 

 

The boys and their cousins were treated to an hour of horse back riding. How they loved it!

 

 

 

 

My friend Christine and I spent a day shopping and exploring in St. Jacobs. What a treat it was to talk and talk and not rush home to make dinner. We had such a wonderful day and were sad to hear that it burnt down at the end of summer.


Other friends told us about Geo-caching and that was a big hit. If you haven't heard about it, look it up. It is a great way to get outdoors and have everyone searching for a "treasure."  Just watch out for poison ivy.

 

Up north, we had a morning of fun with a skipping rope. There was high jump, partner jumping, push ups and skipping, and group skipping. The competition was fierce!

 

 

 

And then the rope became a finish line for human wheelbarrow races.
Apparently the races weren't just for the kids.

 

I had an "arrival moment" this summer. I heard the baby crying and all of a sudden he stopped. The boys picked him up and started playing with him. WOW! That has never happened before. Built in babysitters!

 

When Tyler turned 3 he still was not speaking. After some tests we found out that he had hearing loss. A quick little surgery corrected that and now we are finally able to communicate a little better. 

 

Good bye summer!

my rant against bird bangers

Walking along the beautiful country road admiring the perfectly straight rows of grapes can be a serene experience until a loud KABOOM shatters the silence. The grapes are almost ready to be harvested, and the birds are busy feasting on these delicious grapes. Farmers watch their hard labours being eaten away so they go on bird-control by installing bird bangers throughout the grapes. A bird banger is a tripod sort of thing that has a telescope mounted on to the top. Fueled with a propane tank located below the tripod, the bird banger turns around and around and then randomly fires- KABOOM!! Very loudly. Usually three short blasts fill the air followed by a flock of birds quickly flying away for safety.
Normally it takes a few days to get used to these loud bangs but eventually you learn how to tune them out. The bird bangers even provide some amusement when guests who are visiting suddenly duck after they hear the first shot fired. To the visitors it feels like they are in enemy territory or are about to be hunted.
During the past few weeks we have had a bird banger in the field across the street that has had a maverick temperament. The banger started going off at 2:00 in the morning and shocked me awake. Ear plugs did nothing. Counting sheep could not get me back to sleep. Finally in desperation I woke up Adam who could sleep through an invasion and he wearily headed off into the night in search of this banger that was going off. I laid in bed worrying that he would be surrounded by a pack of furious coyotes. Adam was worried about a LOUD bang going off in his ear if he couldn't disconnect the bird banger quickly enough.
The next day I got the farmer's phone number and since then we have called him twice in the middle of the night because of this out of control bird banger. It is a little humorous hearing his golf cart riding up and down the road in the middle of the night.
There is another type of bird banger that is called a bird screecher. I think that the farmer was trying to be nice to us by putting this bird screecher right near our home instead of a bird banger. This bird screecher goes off every few minutes and it imitates different bird predators that scare the flocks of birds away from the grapes. What the farmer didn't know is that our boys are rapture lovers and have spent countless hours trying to perfect their red tail hawk call. Andrew does his red tail hawk call so well that the red tail hawk that lives by our house actually answers back. So in our house we have these loud screeches from our boys who are mastering their bird calls and then when I go outside there are more screeches!
I hardly dare to complain about these loud KABOOMS and screeches that go on during the grape harvest because after all we have chosen to live out in the country. In our defense, however, our family is so loud that if we lived in a subdivision, I would have to sleep with one eye open for fear of what our neighbours would do to us!


 

 

up north 2013

We had a wonderful, wonderful week up north and were spoiled with many beautiful memories to bring back home.

 

Tyler woke up a little early one morning and after he emptied the kitchen drawers he was bored. At that moment my dad walked past our cottage to go fishing off of the dock and I sent Tyler chasing after him. After watching Tyler and my dad talking and seeing the beautiful sunrise, I decided that it was the best morning ever. One to cherish. 

Daniel

Renee and Luke

This is Liam all of the way. Always interested in nature and exploring.

 

 

 

 

These three girly cousins spent most of the week dressed up and playing house. Just adorable.

 

 

 

 

You know that you have an "interesting" family when you pick up your little one from your aunt and he greets you like this.

Can't miss candy river. Its a one of a kind river where you can catch candy! Of course Tyler didn't remember it from last year so when he caught this candy he was shocked.

Heather and Daniel

 

 

 

These four boy cousins are so fun to watch. They are all born within a few weeks of eachother and their lively characters are taking shape. Some are daring, others more cautious, some more leader like, and others more peace maker like. They add a lot of spice and fun in our lives!