Merry Christmas!

The day after Thanksgiving: most know it as Black Friday. In our house, it's Christmas! As soon as I get up, Christmas decorating begins. I'm the self-appointed chairman of the decorating committee with lots of very eager and willing helpers! First someone (usually Knut) takes everything from the pantry floor so we can access the closet behind the pantry where we keep all the Christmas decorations. Next we bring all the decorations to the living room so we can put the pantry back together. We organize the decorations into piles: the tree decorations in the corner to wait until we can get a Christmas tree, the Christmas village boxes stacked neatly beside the piano, and everything else on the couch. 'Everything else' is usually put up first:

 the greenery for the front stair railings,

the Advent wreath,

the embroidered stockings Mom makes for each of us, the red candles, etc.

Next is the Christmas village. This year we used cotton stuffing to make 'snow'. It took quite awhile, but it looks much more real than the crimson velvet cloth underneath! :)

Later in the afternoon, we went to get a Christmas tree! We had a lot of delays before we actually got out there. Our departure was postponed twice so Bjorn could have a good nap, and then a third time because the people who used to live in our house came by and asked if they could look around. Then the first Christmas tree farm we went to was closed, so we had to go to a second. When we finally got out there, we found a perfect Christmas tree almost at once. Knut and I cut it down, with everyone else yelling, 'hurry up!' and 'Christmas is over!' and laughing. I noticed that they didn't get down under those low, prickly branches to help. :D

When we got back home, we had dinner and then decorated the Christmas tree.

When we had finished, Cecily put on the star at the same time as Knut plugged in the colored lights, Gloria plugged in the light for the star, and Thor plugged in the Christmas village lights... and Cecily almost fell over the railing on the stairs as she tried to get the star to stay in its place. :D I finally had to tie the base of it onto the branch with a cord.

When the house was completely decorated for Christmas, we proceeded to exchange gifts with Grandpa and Grandma since they won't be here for Christmas. At bedtime we said goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma since they will be leaving early tomorrow morning before any of us are up. That's kind of a sad note to end this blog post on, but at least we will see them again this spring.

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Excitement

What are you thankful for today? I am thankful for Rosemary... even though she caused trouble this morning. :) There was a Thanksgiving service at one of the churches here in Mascoutah: Zion Lutheran. Papa was directing the choir for it, Mom was playing the organ, and I was playing the violin. Well, during the sermon I found out that Rosemary had a very leaky diaper, so I went to the bathroom to change her. The sermon was much shorter than I had anticipated, and I was supposed to be playing violin for the offertory! I had just finished changing Rosemary when I heard the pastor finishing the sermon and saying, 'we will now collect the offering'. I didn't have time to take Rosemary back to the pew, so I just grabbed her up and ran up to the choir loft. I set her on the floor while playing. At first she was content to sit and stare at me and the other violinist, but then she started crawling around! I kept trying to see where she was; I was afraid she would try to crawl to the steps and then fall down them. Thankfully, one of the ladies in the choir came and picked her up until we were finished playing. Now that should be enough excitement for one day, right? Not for us! After church Mom, Grandma, and I hurried home to make the pies for tonight. Grandpa, Cecily, Thor, Gloria, and Rosemary came along, and Papa followed a few minutes later. Knut and Bjorn, however, were left at church! We're so used to having to drive home from church instead of being able to walk just one block that we didn't think of making sure that everyone was there! We sent Thor back to make sure that Bjorn got home and to tell Knut that everyone else had gone. :)

The pastor's family of the church we went to today have something very special to be thankful for... a new baby boy! Little Isaiah Theodore Clayton was born the day before yesterday.

First Lego League, by Knut

First Lego League is a robotics program. In it you are supposed to use the Lego Mindstorms robots to get missions done on the mat.

 Also, every year there is a theme. This year’s theme is biomedical engineering. The missions on the mat always have something to do with the theme.

 The second part of FLL (First Lego League) is the presentation. In it you have to find a problem that has something to do with that year’s theme and also a solution for it. In the third part, the judges ask you questions about how you made your robot, how you made your presentation, and about how you thought of your solution.

The problem we selected for our presentation is that concussions are hard to diagnose. Our solution is a concussion kit that has many different ways to test for concussion symptoms. We presented our idea in the format of a skit, “Five little monkeys jumping on the bed.” In this skit four monkeys get concussions but our concussion kit shows that the fifth monkey doesn’t have a concussion.

When we were preparing for the robot game, we split our team into three sub-teams, one for the part of the mat that is close to base, one for the part of the mat that is the farthest from base, and one for the area right in-between the two. In each of the sub-teams we had a head builder, a head programmer, and a head risk manager. The three head builders built attachments to help with the missions. The three head programmers programmed the robot to do the missions. The three head risk managers made sure that everything is in place when we start the missions.

At competition our skit went well, and we answered most of the judge’s questions. We had a few problems with the robot but we were still among the eight who made it to state. I hope we do well there too!

Drama

Wow... I can't believe that the drama performance is over! It went so quickly! I think all of our skits went well, and the main play went much better than everyone was hoping. I don't have any pictures of the actual performance (I was busy!) :) but I did get a few of 'backstage' where we were having dinner, putting on makeup, and fixing hair. The older sister of one of the girls in the cast came to help with makeup and hair. She had a few other people helping her some of the time. She did a fantastic job! I was a little shocked at my makeup at first, but the spotlights drowned most of it out so that it looked pretty normal. (I didn't see it, but that's what everyone else said.) :) She knew what she was doing. :) Thank you Katelyn!

 

Josh here,

The last couple weeks I've been house painting. We've had beautiful weather for mid-November, and I've been pleased to be able to paint most every day. Some people don't like painting, but I really enjoy it, especially with good quality paint, like Sherwin-Williams. I simply love that company! Their products are absolutely superior, the customer service is fantastic, and the people are so friendly and knowledgeable. However, that's not what I wanted to post about.

What I like most about painting is the fact that it is a completely brainless endeavor, which leaves me free to listen to my MP3 player all day long without the need to pause and calculate numbers or think about the job at hand.

I've been listening to the lectures from Summit Ministries (http://www.summit.org/), a worldview seminar for kids and/or adults to teach them how to know and live Biblically. It's a fabulous ministry that brings in excellent speakers, pastors, authors, professors, and other top-notch Christian leaders. Good stuff. Let's move on to another idea for the moment:

I just finished my morning bible time, with 1 Cor 15, which end with that glorious verse 58: "Therefore my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." Gosh, I love that verse!

Here are another couple of great ones:
Jesus came "so that we would have life, and have it to the full," and "our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." (John 10:10, and Rom. 8:18).

One of the Summit speakers was talking about spiritual gifts, and as he read 1 Cor, he noticed that there was no gift of 'Bible reading,' but since the Bible commands Bible reading, he realized that it was a matter of obedience or disobedience. Likewise, there was no gift of prayer, but that it was a matter of obedience or disobedience. Same with tithing - it's a command, not a spiritual gift, and a tithe is 10% (that's what the word means - 'tenth'. Offerings are above and beyond the tithe.) It's a matter of obedience or disobedience. Going to church, sharing the Gospel, and a great many other things are not spiritual gifts, and they're not optional - they are commands from the Lord who saved us. According to some statistics, only a small percentage of Christians tithe. Campus Crusade reports that only 2 to 3 percent of Christians witness to others on a regular basis.

One of the great quotes I heard on these Summit lectures was this: "It isn't that we believe one way and live another - the point is that we really don't believe." (Dallas Willard). John Stonestreet maintains that "we may not live what we profess, but we will live what we really believe."

If you really believe that God will provide, then you will tithe 10%. If you really believe that you're speaking to God almighty Himself who actually listens, then you will pray. If you really believe in the Great Commission and that our witnessing can lead people to eternal salvation, then you will share your faith (and ask your pastor to start a class or sermon series on how to do that).
In the same way when Moses was whining to God about being sent to bring Israel back to Mt. Horeb, God told him (Ex 3:12) that the sign of God's sending him would be that they will return and worship God on that mountain. I always thought that was backwards - first God gives then sign, and then the prophet knows he's being sent. Here God reverses it - he sends the prophet first and the sign that he's being sent comes afterward.
So it is with us today - God commands us to tithe, read, pray, witness, help, etc, and only afterward will we see His power displayed in those areas. So therefore my dear brothers, stand firm! Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, for we know that our labor in the Lord is not in vain.
God Bless!
Josh

Sewing Uniforms

Mom's parents, Grandpa and Grandma Davis, are here for Thanksgiving! They got here last night at about 6:30 and are staying until next Saturday. Grandma fixed one of our sewing machines so that we have two that work! Right now she's helping with our new uniforms... I think she's making Papa's vest. Hopefully all of our uniforms will be finished by December 2nd for the SCCCHE concert. We're having matching brown vests for everyone over white, long sleeved collar shirts and jeans for the guys; long denim skirts for the girls. I finished my skirt on Thursday and Mom is cutting out Cecily's and Gloria's skirts right now.

My Lyceum drama class is doing our performance this Monday! We had a dress rehearsal this morning.

Music, Bright Lights, Thansgiving, and More!

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging much lately. Life has been even busier and crazier than usual! We have a bunch of Christmas concerts coming up, which means tons and tons of rehearsals and practicing! Check out our website for our singing/playing schedule! That just has what we're doing for Peterson Family singers; there are also both of the homeschool choirs, the children's and chancel choirs at church, the church handbell choir, the church and homeschool orchestras, and pieces that various members of our family are doing as individuals. We're also planning to go caroling: once with the church choir, once with the Lyceum choir, and once with CCC.

Music isn't all we're involved in right now! Cecily and I are involved in our Bright Lights group, which meets the first and third Tuesdays of every month. I also have a leaders meeting the first Saturdays of each month with Allison and the other small group leaders. Knut is involved in First Lego League, and just had a competition yesterday! His, team, the Robo Raiders qualified to advance to the state round. One of his school assignments for the next week is to write a good-sized blog post about FLL, so you'll be hearing more about that soon.

Let's see... what else is going on right now? School, of course... baking... sewing our new uniforms (well, until part of the sewing machine broke)... the last day of Lyceum... church... all the rest of the usual stuff. I have a drama performance on the 22nd, with a couple more rehearsals before. On Thursday, some friends of ours will have a presentation at their house about their mission trips to Ecuador. They had one last week which was really awesome! Our maternal grandparents will be coming for Thanksgiving, and our paternal grandparents in the middle of December.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we have our blessing tree up! Our blessing tree has been a tradition since I was in first grade. We tape the trunk and branches of a construction paper tree onto the glass of our front door and cut out lots of leaves out of red, yellow, orange, green, and brown construction paper. Every day, each member of our family writes down something they're thankful for on one of the leaves, puts their name or initial, and tapes it onto the tree. By Thanksgiving, the tree (and the rest of the glass, too!) is full of leaves/blessings! Here is our tree so far.

Hmmm...I wonder if the entire door will be filled with leaves before Thanksgiving? :)

In case you were wondering, some of the 'blessings' listed on the leaves are:

Hot Chocolate

Legos

Gorillas

My monkey

Oatmeal

Bagels

Me

(Note: these are some of the silly ones. We do have more serious ones on there, such as 'freedom', 'salvation', 'family', etc.) :)

Beach in November

A greeting from Rosemary:

(Awwww... so cute!) :)

Anyway... :)

Our Sunday afternoon adventure today, we went up to Grafton and went on the ferry across the river to a little beach on the other side. It was a great little place to watch motorboats, picnic, and play in the water/sand/mud.

Afterwards, we got soft-serve ice cream in Grafton and walked around licking our cones.

Yummy!!!

Switching Rooms

We've done some major moving of furniture in the past few days, right after our cousins left. We bought a new bunk bed and a crib for Rosemary, and switched around all the beds. The queen bed which was in Gloria's and my room we moved down to the guest room in the basement. We moved all the other furniture out of that room and put in two sets of bunk beds. That is now the girls' 'dormitory'. The bottom bunk of one set of bunk beds is empty until Rosemary is big enough to sleep there. Well, it's not exactly empty... in the meantime there are a couple hundred of Cecily's and Gloria's dolls and stuffed animals. Don't ask me where they'll put them all when Rosemary starts sleeping alone. :D

 Top: Cecily

Bottom: Rosemary... right now, stuffed animals and dolls

 Top: Sylvia

Bottom: Gloria (the cute little monkey)

In the 'fishbowl' room which used to be Cecily's and Bjorn's, we put the other bunk bed and one of our old twin beds which was in storage. That is now the boys' 'dormitory'.

 This is actually quite a big room! It didn't seem like it with the big bunk bed right in the middle. 

 Top: Thor (who is very pleased about that)

Bottom: Bjorn

Compare this picture to this other picture when this desk was Cecily's. Boys' minds and girls' minds tend to be rather different when it comes to what they want on their desks! :)

As for the room which used to be Knut's and Thor's, it is now a lovely sitting/dressing room for the girls with our dressers, Cecily's desk (which used to be mine), a bookshelf, and our instruments and music stand.

Our 'wanted' wall with Christmas 'wanted' lists, pretend 'wanted' posters for criminals, and advertising posters for help with homework or buying old toys or whatever. This wall is in the girls' sitting room, just because that's where we found a single wall without a window in it or furniture against it. The boys can put things on as long as it's approved by Cecily or me.

Cecily wants a swivel chair for Christmas... in the meantime she'll pretend

Cecily gets my desk because it's too big and heavy to bring up to my new office!!! Yes, I (hallelujah) have my own little office in the attic loft! It's unfinished, with plywood floor and just the paper cover of the insulation for the sloped ceiling, and the big air conditioner unit is at one end, but do I care? In a way I'm glad that it's so unfinished because that means I don't have to worry about scratching the floor or staining the walls! :) We also use this office for a CCC meeting room, and had a meeting in it today! I haven't finished moving up furniture and rugs and 'beautifying' it, but here is what it looks like right now (with the chairs from the meeting still up there):

Papa built a beautiful ladder just two days ago for me which is absolutely wonderful! It attaches with metal 'hooks' so I can lift it up to unfasten it and move it to a different place in the opening as I want. And yet, it's very sturdy and reliable! Thank you so much, Papa! :)



Josh here,

Just finished my morning Bible reading, and was amused to note that the Scripture I used from memory last night for our family Bible time came from the same passage (Romans 12). Last night I quoted, "Do not be conformed to the image of this world, but be transformed by the continual renewing of your mind..." (NIV, with an extra word added). We took two weeks off school while family was visiting, so last night was a pep talk designed to get us in the right frame of mind - to buckle down and get back to work, and to mentally prepare ourselves for the tasksthat lay before us.
The only problem is that they will probably need that reminder again this morning. And again a little later on. And again. And again, until it's so ingrained into their heads that they no longer need frequent reminders, but only occasional ones.
I rather like to make startling comments that on the surface seem harsh or crazy, and then explain what I really meant by what I just said. Sometimes that gets me into trouble with those who are easily offended, but here's one of those phrases: We don't need to read any more Bible. Personally, I already know enough of the Bible to keep me going for the rest of my life. What I need is to live out what I already know, and once I master that, THEN I can read some more. In other words, we must be doers of the Word, and not hearers only. My problem is not that I haven't heard - (Indeed, I've read it straight through several times), my problem is that I don't do everything I've heard yet. I need continual reminders to do what I have read, hence the pep talk last night, and that's why our family verse is Heb. 10:24, "Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." We all need to keep reminding each other of how we are to live.
One problem is that we have fallen prey to political correctness and this silly idea that we must never offend one another. 'Hogwash' I say! We've adopted that idea, and yet society is now more offended by everyone else than ever. The Word commands us to 'rebuke one another in love' and that means we must risk offending them. We are to speak the Truth with love and tact, and we've heard the phrase, "truth hurts." It's true.
A very wise man once told me what he believed to be one of the signs of spiritual maturity: "The inability to get, or to remain offended." Wow - the inability to get offended. Can you imagine such a person? Wouldn't you love to know that person? Think of the opposite kind of person - one who gets offended at everything. We all try and avoid people like that. What about you? Are you easily offended? How would you know? Others see your blind spots more than you can, maybe you should ask others. After all, our family verse is all about that. One tip though - people don't want to offend you by telling you you're easily offended - you may have to drag it out of them, but a good friend will tell you where your problems are. Your spouse knows you best, and will probably be only too happy to let you know your weaknesses!
Anyway, I'd better get on with the day. I don't want to make this post so long that it offends anyone. (yuk yuk!) God Bless you all.
Josh