These are a few of his favorite things.

Archery? Who would have thought? Not me! That is not until November on our last trip Honduras 

when we visited a local market. While there Pierson picked out a handmade toy bow and arrow set as his treat. This set has provided him HOURS of entertainment. He has shot it at virtually anything that stands still... and well... for that matter his sister who doesn't stand so still. 

So naturally when someone in our local home school group mentioned that there was a home school archery class nearby I knew that Pierson would jump at the chance! 

He loved it and he hasn't stopped asking for his own bow and arrow set since! gulp!

 As you can see he did a great job! On his first day of class the teacher made a point to tell me that "He has great form!"  Pierson was so proud!

 One balloon down! Even though this session is over I fear there will be many more downed balloons to come. ;)

Another one of his favorite things right now is his brand new skateboard (which he bought with his own money). On an afternoon trip to Walmart Pierson carried in his box of change. He had $16 worth of quarters dimes, nickles and many pennies. We walked up and down the aisles... and we walked. He was determined to buy something that day even as I reminded him that he could hold onto his money and buy something next time. All the sudden his eyes lit up. He remembered from at least 6 months ago that there were skateboards behind the bike section... so off we rushed. I was shocked at how expensive skateboards can be! geeze! At least there were a few which were under $15!  
And now, after painfully paying with loose change, I have a skateboarding son! :o

We should probably get him some knee pads that fit a little better!?

Field Trip to the Mint

Have I told you how much I love Home Schooling?  Let me just say it again! I love it! Not only do I get quality time with my kids all week but we also get to plan field trips any time we like and with who we like.

This time it was to a local art museum with the Murray's. I have to admit even though I had heard several people rave about the things this museum offered for kids I was still nervous. Would the kids run wild? Would they be too loud? Would they try to touch everything? Would their attention spans hold?

Turns out all my worries were in vain! The day went perfect! It was so much fun.

When we arrived they gave us two backpacks. Each backpack had a picture of a specific piece of art and what floor to find it on. Once it was found there were several activities inside the backpack that pertained to that piece of art.  

On the hunt for the first piece of art.  

 How cool is this piece of glass? It was our first activity pack. The instructions in the pack encouraged the kids to look at the sculpture from every angel, see what was behind it and see how it seemed to change as you walked past it. They took this task very seriously.

 Pierson and Calvary were peeking behind the glass to see how the colorful shapes were reflected.

 There was plenty of space for the kids to spread out on the floor with sketch pads from the backpacks to draw what they saw. This kept the kids focused on one piece of art for at least 30 minutes if not longer.

The packs also had a kaleidoscopes, frames and interesting information about the artist.  

 The second backpack pertained to a beach painting. It too came with artist info, drawing supplies, and games It came with miniature figurines to play a memory game which Cassie led. The kids were loving this!  It was a great way to keep the kid interested in the museum.

 They enjoyed drawing sea shells that went along with the theme of the painting.

 Pierson did a great job! He was very proud of his accomplished drawing. This made the former art teacher proud!

  Fortunately the museum allowed us to leave for lunch then come back to finish. Our crew was getting hungry so we headed out for lunch at Fuel Pizza.

 Along the way we stopped for pictures with sculptures. I call this one "Rio".  :)

 Along the way we crossed the park which has a literature theme. The learning possibilities never end. The kids enjoyed playing on the sculptures in the park so much that we had to remind them that they were hungry!

 Pizza was ordered! Not a crumb ended up being left! This crew was hungry!

 On the way back to the museum Pierson did some pole hopping. (That was a parked car by the way.)

 The second half of our time at the museum was in a room designed just for kids. We spent hours here.

 Maylin was in HEAVEN! This area had an endless supply of paper, tape, staples, drawing supplies, pipe cleaners... the list goes on and on. Maylin and Harper spent most of their time sitting here being creative!

 Pierson enjoyed the magnetic pipes. He worked and worked to make just the right path for the balls to fall down and land in the appropriate hole. The enthusiasm he exuded each time a new path worked was priceless.

To finish out the day the kids worked together building magnetic towers. It was great to see the kids play so well together while getting a little culture on the way!

I have been so blessed to have amazing people to share this homeschooling journey with!

How has it been three years?

It has been three years since the moment we first laid eyes on Yong-Sheng and Yu Fong Li. 

Sometimes that day seems like an eternity ago. I can't even remember what life was like before they arrived in our lives. 

Other days it seems like just yesterday that I saw their nervous grins. Grins which are familiar now.  Life turned upside down that day and it has never quite up-righted itself.  From the moment we laid eyes on them in the middle of a park in Nantau county, Taiwan we haven't stopped chasing them, laughing with them, stopping them from climbing to the top of anything that stands still or even some things that are in motion.  Life has never been the same and I am grateful for that! 

We have come a long way. About 5 years ago when we announced that we were adopting instead of attempting to have biological children we faced many different responses. Most of which were positively thrilling. So many people were excited beyond belief for us. I don't know that they all understood why we chose that path but they were at least excited with us. There were also those who weren't so excited for us... that was what we didn't expect. To us a child was a child... To us it didn't make sense to bring more children into a world when there were so many who already existed and needed families. To us we knew we could love any child God put in our family. However I actually had someone say to me "Awe, I just feel bad for you that you will never get the joy of having your own child." and another say "Oh no! Growing a child in your own belly is so cool... God created our bodies for that purpose... " (seeming to insinuate that adopting wasn't going to be nearly as 'cool' and I wasn't using my body the way God intended) Please know that I am in no way criticizing biological children. I do believe biological children are a gift from God... I just don't believe they are the only way God gifts children to us. I just wished I would have have been eloquent enough at the time to express how their words made me feel. 

Those people, who probably don't even remember saying those things to me, left a mark on my heart. At first it was a mark of hurt and disappointment. Now however, 5 years and two kids later it is just a mark... I carry that mark with pride. Those marks, in a strange way give me pleasure. Pleasure in being living proof that they were wrong. I don't know how any other children could bring any more joy into our lives than these two. And while others may or may not see them as 'adopted' we see them as our "own".  Period. They are our children.  And for the one who thought I was missing out on something cool by not carrying biological children... How could you get more cool than traveling to the orient, learning the in's and out's of a foreign land, playing 'charades' to figure out what your kids want to eat and when they need to go potty and MOST OF ALL giving two beautiful, amazing, deserving children a forever family?!  In my book it doesn't get more cool than that. And in the only book that matters, I was created to adopt! 

James 1:27  Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

   I have always heard that verse and clung to the first half but just skimmed the second part never giving it much thought. I think I get it now. Sometimes following God's calling doesn't' go with the 'mainstream' world. We must not let the world pollute our individual calls. Fortunately for us this time we held tight to that call and we have two gifts from God to show for it! 

Our traditional present for Gotcha day is a 100 page photo book of the year past. I did it for their first year home because I just had to document every bit of that year along with our time in Taiwan. The second year... well, I was still camera happy and things still seemed so new that I did it again. For this year I had no choice. Months ago Pierson began saying "I can't wait until Gotcha day 'cause I can't wait to see my book this year!" ... Well I guess this is going to be an annual tradition. :) 

Since we are homeschooling now we'll just consider these their "yearbooks".  (Good thing I had lots of practice with those at GCS!)

Happy Gotcha Day my two beautiful precious children! We love you more than words can express! 

Giving it a shot?!

While this may just be a backyard game Pierson has decided that he wants to give baseball a try. He is hanging up the soccer cleats (at least until soccer camp this summer). 

He's a pretty good little hitter.  I am predicting that it will be too slow of a game for him. But I could be completely wrong about that. He may surprise me and love the great American pass time. Either way we have been having fun playing as a family in the backyard!

Science Projects: Part II

Making our own bubbles. 

Science experiment: Water Bulge

Did you know water has skin?

 Start with a full cup of water.

 Gently add coins to see how high the water can bulge before it spills over.

 Gently... gently

 Getting kind of high!

And that is the last coin it could handle before the skin of the water broke. 

This project is easy, clean and exciting! Best of all it is only a 1 paper towel clean up project!!

I think their favorite part of school is science experiments!

Gymnastics: Maylin's favorite pass time

Maylin: I want to go to the 'lympics
Me: OK but you have to work really hard and practice a lot.
Maylin: hmmm... ok I will.  will you sign me up tomorrow?

If only it were that easy sweet girl.