/M/-/M/-Moon

The week after we studied the Sun (and the concept that Jesus is the light of the world), we began to study the moon (and I am the light of the world).  I was so amazed at how my four-year-old was able to catch on to this concept so well when it's such a hard spiritual lesson to grasp.  First, we locked ourselves away in our upstairs bathroom that doesn't have a window. (What? You didn't know that we had an upstairs bathroom? That's because we've lived in this house for 4 years now and it's still not finished with the remodeling phase and so only immediate family members have ever been allowed to enter it.)

A random school picture brought to you by the letters d-i-e-g and o. 

Anyway, back to being locked away in a dark room.  I took a globe, a flashlight, and a mirror into the room with me.  Yes, I had to bring a mirror into the bathroom because our bathroom doesn't have one... not finished yet, remember? We talked about how the sun gives light to the world like the flashlight pointing on the globe.  Then we discussed how the mirror didn't make light of its own, but how it could reflect light from the flashlight.  We talked about how this is why the moon isn't as bright as the sun and only gives us a little bit of light and then we talked about how we are like the moon and can't make our own light, but if we are close to Jesus then we can reflect his light in our lives.  And then we sang This Little Light of Mine about a million times...er, we didn't stay in our dark, unfinished bathroom for the singing bit.  In the evening or over lunch break, I often have the kids share with Jesse what they're learning... (it's my way of evaluating what they've actually learned and what I need to repeat again).   I was amazed at how well Diego could explain these concepts to Jesse right away. 

I am grateful for the opportunity to teach both of my kids about the Lord and I pray for the days when they will both make personal decisions to follow Jesus.  Sometimes, I begin to wonder: How long is it going to take Diego to grasp it and make that decision?  But Jesse and I met through an organization called Youth For Christ and one of the things I love about that ministry is their vision- part of which says they want young people: to make an informed decision to be a follower of Jesus Christ.  So, when I'm in a hurry for Diego to make a decision, I remind myself of the importance of not making a rushed decision that isn't carefully weighed.  I want Diego to understand what he's committing to and Who he's giving his life to- so in the mean time, I am so thankful that he is learning so many great concepts of who God is and what it means to live in Him.

Wow, this post just took a much deeper turn than I had originally intended.  But my main goal is to record my thoughts and our days to (hopefully) one day share with my kids.  (I don't scrapbook... and the kids baby books' are dreadfully underfinished.) So, I guess it's okay.

M is for Meatloaf... I know, not very exciting, but really easy to do and throw in the oven while we venture off for 30 minutes of soccer practice. 

And Mosaics... I loved how careful and thorough Eliana was when making her Letter M Mosaic.

And of course the Moon- which we had to figure out how far it was away from earth and then how far away that was from the sun.  Do you see our green earth in one corner of our paper and our moon down at the bottom right of the paper?

Eliana and I held the sun down on our picnic blanket (and may have taken a short nap)  While Diego and Jesse took the earth and moon paper and measured out 300 some yards at the park.  Another excuse to get outside and also a perfect way to get Jesse involved in a piece of our school- which we really like since he can't be there for the whole thing.  Why must Papi go to work?  Oh, we have to eat?  Oh, yeah... thank you, Papi!  We love you and miss you when you're at work!