Last night, I had My Prince announce that we needed a few more people to be secret encouragers for my Bible Drillers. One of the moms who is already an encourager called me to tell me that her daughter wanted to be an encourager as well. I was thrilled that this young lady wanted to be a part of helping to encourage my drillers. That alone was very encouraging to me!
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It was a normal, good morning.
The First 5 devotion was from Exodus 16. It was about how God provided manna for the Israelites as they wandered in the wilderness. It was about how God provided manna on a daily basis. They were to gather what they needed for that day alone, until it came time for the Sabbath. They were not to gather on the Sabbath, so on the day before the Sabbath, they were to gather for two days. Every other day of the week, the manna would spoil if they kept it overnight, but not on the day before the Sabbath.
God wanted the Israelites to look to Him for what they needed each day. And as God wanted the Israelites to look to Him, He wants us to look to Him as well. He wants us to trust Him to provide for our needs. On a daily basis. That is a scary thing. Unless. Unless you know God. Unless you know God's character. Unless you know that God is good, and that He is going to do what is best for you always. Unless you know have proved God time and time again. Unless you can look back and see how faithful God always was. Then, you want to trust Him. You want to allow Him to be in control, because you know that He can do a much better job at getting things done and meeting your needs. Then, instead of being scary, it becomes complete comfort and peace. That's good stuff y'all!
This morning, I received a text from another young lady at our church. She told me that she and her mom wanted to be encouragers for some of my Bible drillers. I told her that I only had one left, but they were welcome to have that driller. So, not one but two young ladies felt led to be encouragers for my drillers! That makes me so excited!!! I would love to give more information and tell you how precious these girls are and just why I am so thrilled, but that might give away their identity, and they are supposed to be secret. So for now, just know that my heart is thrilled by their willingness to step in and help.
Then, at school in Bible, we have been talking about how Samuel was a man of prayer. We were looking at I Samuel 7, when the Israelites are fighting against the Philistines. Samuel prays for the Israelites during the battle, and God sends thunder so loud that it totally confused and rattled the Philistines, and the Israelites end up winning the battle. My students loved that God won the battle for the Israelites with thunder. I mean really! How cool is that!
Then I gave a math quiz. I was very proud of how well the kids did. And then we worked on reviewing rounding, and I wanted to cry. Rounding is a tough concept for fifth graders. They get rounding to the nearest 10, they get rounding to the nearest 100, but much past that really gets some of them. Practice helps, so the more we do it, usually the more they understand it, but we've been at it about a week now, so some of them are still struggling with the whole concept.
In reading, we had a vocabulary/comprehension quiz. Usually I call out the definitions, and they match the corresponding vocabulary word to the definition. Today I called out the vocabulary word, and they had to match the corresponding definition to the word. They were nervous when I started putting the definitions on the board, but they all did great on the quiz! On the days when we have vocab./comp. quizzes, we have a Bible passage to read, instead of reading out of our reading books. Today our passage was Joshua 7:1 - 8:24. The story of Achan and how his disobedience led to the defeat at Ai. We had already studied this story in Bible, so the students were familiar with it. Our reading today went a little farther than we went in Bible, so they learned that after God took care of Achan for his sin, that He blessed the Israelites with a win against the Philistines. How they won that battle was a pretty cool story as well. You might want to check it out. My students loved it. Two great battles, one great God, two great victories.
In language, we covered writing post cards and thank you notes. It was a quick and easy lesson today.
Then we went over our spelling list. This week the theme is Government. Words like House of Representatives, citizenship, unanimous, and judicial. We talked a little about the three branches of government, because they are some of our vocabulary words.
In history, we are studying Ancient Rome. Exciting, I know! To start off, they had a "pop" quiz over the pages they were supposed to read for homework. Then we were neck deep in crossing the Rubicon with Julius Caesar. If you are the parent of a student in my class, ask them what "crossing the Rubicon" means. My fingers are crossed that they will remember and be able to tell you.
Science found us unraveling the mysteries of why there is dew on the ground in the morning, and why a lemonade glass has water on the outside of it on a hot summer day. Condensation, dew points, and relative humidity: just some of the cool wonders of God's creation, and just how marvelous He was to create it all in just the perfect way that it all works together. He thought of everything, and the more I study it, and teach it, the more I have to praise Him for how great He is!
In penmanship, it was only fitting that they copied this verse written by John Milton:
Let us with a joyful mind
Praise the Lord, for He is kind,
For His mercies shall endure,
Ever faithful, ever true.
After penmanship, while the students worked on their spelling homework, I read the next chapter of our Josiah book. In this chapter Josiah and his friend hear Argamore (Satan) plotting how he will win the hearts of King Emmanuel's loyal subjects by using a "spellavision" (television). It was the perfect chance to talk to the kids about what they watch. And how that Satan does use television to steal the hearts of Christians away from being totally surrendered to God. We discussed how we should not just watch television and not think about the things we are watching. How we need to think as we watch, and ask ourselves if what we are watching is pleasing to the Lord. I challenged them to reevaluate what they watch and what they listen to, and consider if it is pleasing to the Lord or not. If not, they should probably not be listening to it, or watching it.
After school, a couple of other moms and I did the cheerleader shuffle. We had to get our girls to a local church who was allowing them to use their gym to practice. The basketball teams had our school gym, so we had to have a different place for the girls to practice. We are at the two week mark before competition, so time is tight, and they need to get in all the practice that they can. We managed to get them all there, and we are thankful to the church for allowing us to borrow their gym.
I dropped the girls off and came home. When I walked in the door, My wonderful Prince was folding clothes. Oh, yeah. I dig a man who will fold clothes. Especially without even being asked! He is a keeper! For that and for many other reasons as well.
All afternoon, I battled an upset stomach. I have had trouble off an on for several days now. I battled this a while back, and had been doing pretty good for a while, but it looks like I may have issues again. And, on top of that I am dealing with sinus/head cold issues. I know. Maybe too much information. But, I'm striving to keep it real. The good, the bad, and the ugly. The bad is that sometimes I feel crummy. And this afternoon, I have felt crummy.
The Youngest Princess found a piece of a broken yardstick. She said, "Oh look! It's a broken footstick!" In her defense. The broken piece was twelve inches long.
I worked on my blog for a little while before the Youngest Princess was done with cheer practice. Then My Prince cooked dinner (did I mention that he is a KEEPER?!?) so that I could rest and study, while the Youngest Princess played on the trampoline.
The Oldest Princess breezed in to change clothes and ran back out. Today is a day that she has looked forward to for a long time. Every year the cheerleaders go together to Build a Bear, and the Senior cheerleaders each get a cheer bear. It is a fun little way of honoring the Seniors and letting the girls have a fun time together before the season is over and they are done cheering for the year. They usually spend the night with the cheer coach, but she has a sick little one, so they are going to spend the night at one of the cheerleader's house.
The Youngest Princess came in from the trampoline, and I sent her straight to the shower. They Young Prince came home from practice about that time. They were both able to get their showers before dinner was done. We ate dinner and then the boys watched some ballgame on TV, while the Youngest Princess and I worked on her history vocabulary words. I introduced her to the wonderful world of Quizlet. She love it. I loved that she loved it. She studied and made three 100's in a row. Things look good for tomorrow's quiz. Woo hoo!
The Oldest Princess text me from bath and body works to see if I needed a new cartridge for my car air freshener. Yay! I told her absolutely. That was a very nice surprise.
The Youngest Princess practiced her piano. I worked on my Exodus study.
The Young Prince came down, and we did our family devotions minus the Oldest Princess. We read Proverbs 25, and then discussed it, and then had prayer. The Young Prince went to his room to play a soccer game and listen to music. My Prince and the Youngest Princess went to snuggle while I finished up my blog. I have a few things to do to get ready for tomorrow, and then the Youngest Princess and I have a date with chapter nine in a Mandie book.
It has been a wonderful day, filled with the things I love: God, family, and school. I am blessed beyond measure!
Until tomorrow...
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