A couple of weeks ago our family arrived at the Creation Museum. We had greatly anticipated the visit. We were provided 4 free media passes, which gave us the opportunity to write a thorough review for my blog. We were surprised to learn that our day would also include an interview with the CCO and VP of Outreach, Mark Looy. We must have seemed a bit befuddled as we winged our interview with questions that came to our mind on the spot as Randy jotted the answers into his blackberry. It is the stuff memories are made of! Mark was a gracious and informative host. We give a hearty thank-you to Mark and to the Creation Museum for their hospitality and free passes.
Mother’s Day is just around the corner. For some of us, it will mean getting hand-made cards and flowers picked from the yard. Perhaps for you, it’s breakfast in bed or a day off from dishes. For every woman, it’s a day filled with memories of our own growing up years that can cause us to smile, or cause us to shed a tear.
For me, it’s a little of both. This year, I find myself thinking about heaven because that’s where my mother is. She literally gave her heart to the Lord on her death bed and this is her first Mother’s Day in heaven.
A book that my daughter and I read together many years ago comes to mind at this time. In The Last Battle, C. S. Lewis paints a beautiful picture of Heaven in a section called “Farewell to Shadowlands.”
“’There was a real railway accident,’ said Aslan softly. ‘Your father and mother and all of you are – as you used to call it in the Shadowlands – dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.’”
Then C. S. Lewis concludes with this wonderful paragraph:
And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read; which goes on forever; in which every chapter is better than the one before.
We are all writing our stories that will live in the memories of our children. As YOU write your own line on your “title page” this Mother’s Day, may it be one that will cause your children to smile for years to come.
Just click on Leave a Comment (below) and tell us if you enjoy the great outdoors or if you prefer to experience the outdoors from the view of your window. lol!
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This week I’m giving away a Complete Zoo Adventure Guide.
Sometimes The Best Learning Happens Outside The Schoolroom!
With the Complete Zoo Adventure, a family field trip to the zoo becomes an unforgettable learning adventure with this unique, evolution-free guide to the incredible world of animals!
Did you know:
That the flamingo’s pink color comes from the food that it eats?
That the hummingbird’s heart beats 1,000 times per minute?
That the polar bear has a third eyelid that acts as “sunglasses” to protect it from snow blindness?
The Complete Zoo Adventure sets the stage for learning with “Before the Zoo” preparations, gives you the tools you need for an awesome “At the Zoo” experience, and then continues to deepen the understanding of God’s Creation with fabulous “After the Zoo” activities. Truly a complete guide like no other!
Includes:
7 Devotionals
27 Encounters with God’s Creatures
“Looking Ahead” – 7 Creation Foundation Lessons
Detailed Professional Educator Guide
27 Scripture Memory Aids
12 Name Badges
Over 35 Reproducible Activity Sheets
27 Field Fact Cards
3 Field Journals
Spiral Casebound • 9 x 9 • 150 pages • 4 Color • Authors: Gary and Mary Parker
Just click on Leave a Comment (below) and tell us if you have any plans to visit a zoo, aquarium, or museum this summer.
EXTRA ENTRIES!!
- Become a Fan of PWL on Facebook – 1 ENTRY
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- Facebook about the giveaway – 1 ENTRY DAILY
- Blog about this giveaway and include the URL – 1 ENTRIES
Then be sure to click on Leave a Comment (below) and tell us that you did it.
RULES!!
- Contest will close at 11:59 p.m. EST on Wednesday, May 5th, 2010!
- One ENTRY will be randomly chosen.
- Contest open to U.S. residents only.
- Void where prohibited.
- No purchase necessary
A bomb blew up a van across the street from my house last week. I am still trying to absorb that fact. A literal bomb! You must be wondering where I live. Am I writing from a war-torn country? From a crime-infested city? No, I live in a little country village of about 5,000 in western NY.
The van was parked in front of a house where two guys and two girls lived. Shortly after they moved in last fall, this became a party house. Many nights, the activity would spill onto the street as fights broke out. I later learned that these were fight-clubs and they liked to fight. Imagine that! The drug activity there was not hidden, but openly used during the afternoon on their front porch as they waved at those who walked by.
I often prayed for my neighbors. I asked the Lord to help me to reach them – or to move them out! Meanwhile, I went on with my busy life and waved to my neighbors as I went on my way. And then, the bomb, and an amazing fire in the middle of the night. Within days, one by one, they slunk away.
I missed my opportunity to reach these lost neighbors.
I’ve often felt that this is the case for parents who send their children to school. Moms and dads are very busy doing good things. They wave to their children as they send them off to school. Meanwhile, opportunities are missed.
Homeschooling gave me countless hours of teachable moments with my daughter. I loved the time we had to talk about things that were on her heart. If she were sent away to school, there would be others that would mold her and plant things in her life that may or may not be what we believed. I was so glad that I never had to regret missing opportunities with her.
The video was taken from Randy’s Blackberry inside one of the tunnels at the Newport Aquarium in Cincinnati. We took a visit a couple weeks ago when we were there to attend the Midwest Homeschool conference.
Sometimes The Best Learning Happens Outside The Schoolroom!
