Fall: How I love thee . . .

It is October and Texas FINALLY feels bearable outside.  As a result, the A/C has been turned off for most of the day in lieu of open windows, and the family has been spending more time together outside--without getting heat stroke!  Woo Hoo!

We are blessed to live in one of those quiet neighborhoods where people walk their dogs and children play outside, but I could never seem to get the timing right to join them.  People seemed to appear right when dinner was going on the table or it was bath time, or even when it was 98 degrees outside which I just CANNOT do.  I mean, I love my neighbors and all, but in that heat, I'd prefer to smile and wave from my window.  (Ha!)  BUT thanks to cooler weather, and a little planning on our part, we've been heading outside for the girls to ride their bikes and play, and for Gregg and I to meet more of our neighbors. 

Let them see we aren't JUST that crazy homeschool family down the street.  :-)

The girls have also been playing a lot of Wii sports with their Daddy.  I join in sometimes, but both girls have already surpassed my abilities (and yes, they are 4 and 5, which just shows how sad I truly am)  . . . so I make a really good cheerleader! 

I think it is funny to watch how easy they've picked up technology, thinking back to my old sad games on the huge computer in my room when I was little with the green screen and big white blinking boxes.  Back when my favorite video games were Ms. Pac Man and Kaboom on Atari.  It's kinda scary to think what technological games will be around when they have children. 

Finally, I've been so impressed this week with the girls biblical knowledge.  Gregg took out one of the bigger, more advanced bibles the other day and started reading it aloud.  Jordan immediately cuddled up next to him and kept asking him to read more.  Cali still prefers her Veggie Tales Bible, staying up late to read it to herself (but, hello, she is four years old), but she played--mostly quietly--with blocks during the read aloud. 

One night after Gregg finished reading and we'd tucked the girls into bed, Jordan came out of her room asking to borrow the bible.  She'd found a devotional written more for the middle school grades called Sticky Situations, where they give a scenario with several choices on the best outcome, along with a bible verse to help you choose how God's word tells us to handle the particular predicament. 

This was cool on many levels:

First, she was choosing to read a devotional at night instead of the many "fun" options she had to choose from. 

Second, she is five years old and it is written for 8-12 year olds but she was fully immersed in the problems and wanting to figure out the best answer. 

And finally, when she asked for the bible, she said she needed to read "Proverbs Chapter 3 verses 5 and 6."  But of course, it had been written like this in the devotional: Proverbs 3:5-6.  The girl is FIVE YEARS OLD!  I remember sitting in my eighth grade classroom in my Catholic School and having them explain how to read verses to us.  It just blows me away how much more they know about their faith then I did at their age. . . and how important it is to them.   Both of them inspire me daily.

Speaking of which, tomorrow all four of us are heading to our church for our first Taking It To The Streets Mission Day.  We are going to be putting together care packages for Operation Archangel (serving our military) and Sparrow's Nest (a ministry for human trafficking victims) as well as food packages for Kids Meals of Houston.   The girls are really excited to wear their bright yellow church shirts and do something to help others and let them know God loves them. 

The faith of a child, huh?

And this week on my writing blog The Ending Unplanned, a lot has happened in the past two weeks.  I've done a ton of book reviews/spotlights, updated my current work in progress, talked about writing tips, why I'm a dork, and talked about how I'm putting my homeschool knowledge to use crafting my own educational writing plan.

Have a wonderful weekend with your own families!!