Christmas 2014

There are just so many good things about living in a house instead of an apartment that it is hard to enumerate them all upon command.  We stumbled into another one this month, however: The ability to put up all of our Christmas decorations, including our full-size tree.

Here are some other photos of decorations that we put up this year.  Some of which we were able to do in past years and others not (due to the confined space).

We actually have a fireplace with a MANTLE that we can put decorations on, and so our nativity went there this year.  Did we mention we LOVE living in a house?

We discovered, though, that with the nativity in this location, at about 9:30 AM every morning, the light shines just perfectly through the window so that it can illuminate the baby Jesus.  The following is a close-up picture, but the light exposure was not right to catch the awesome light display.

And now, the obligatory kids gift pictures...

For Jacob, a Minecraft shirt (so he is now Powered by Redstone), a series of Minecraft "manuals", a Captain Underpants book, a telescope, some space-themed wall hangings for his room, a nerf gun, and a set of head lamps for those nighttime exploring expeditions.

For Meagan, the latest Rick Riordan book, a microscope, a shirt, a dress, some nail polish, a trading card game, and a quilt (made by Grandma Walles)

This Christmas has been one of focusing on others.  We went to Tent City here in Lubbock to help other members in our ward feed the homeless and it was a fantastic opportunity to teach about service and the true meaning of Christmas with Matthew 25 as a text.  We were able to pass on the tradition of the 12 days of Christmas that we were introduced to last year to another family.  We went caroling with our Bishop and his family (in the rain no less) to bring some Christmas cheer to some of the members in our congregation.  We have read Christmas stories, spent more time together as a family, and in general focused (as much as possible) less on material gifts and more on things that actually matter.  As a result, the feeling in our home this Christmas has been one of more peace, more love, and closer to our Savior than in past Christmases.  I think, that this is going to be a goal for us for next year to try and repeat and improve upon.  I am grateful that we had the experiences we did and that we could share them with our children.  Hopefully, like Dickens said of Scrooge, we can learn to keep Christmas throughout all the year.

- Josh                                

Breakin' the law! (With permission, of course)

The last 18 months have been torture for Sarah.  Ever since our trek through life has led us to Texas, she has been missing her family.  They live so far away...except for her youngest sister, Elizabeth, who is currently serving a mission in Dallas, TX for our church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints).  This is something that I did as well, though I served in California with the hispanic migrant workers.  For the time that we serve, however, as a general rule, there is no contact outside of letters and packages with family and friends (with exceptions for calls to parents on Mother's Day and Christmas) in order to allow the missionary to focus their entire effort on the work of the Lord.

Once in a while, however, the person who directs the work in that area (the Mission President) will make an exception.  A missionary has one day in a week, called preparation day, where they do mundane work (such as laundry, house cleaning, shopping, etc...) in order to allow them to focus on their primary work of preaching the gospel the other 6.  Today, was Elizabeth's last P-day (preparation day) in her mission prior to going home.  With her Mission President's permission, we made the trek down to Dallas to visit her for a few hours.

For those of you not familiar with Texas geography, Texas might as well be a country in itself it is so big, geographically.  The trip was a 6-hour drive, one-way from Lubbock to Dallas, and that's not even close to a "cross-state" drive.  The trek started at 5:45 in the morning.  We arrived at about 12:15 and as it was lunch time, we took Elizabeth and her companion to a Japanese Restaurant that they had wanted to go to but were unable to the time that they tried (it was closed).

Liz, adventurous soul that she is, opted to try all kinds of different varieties of Sushi... which my daughter promptly offered to help her with.  Yes, Meagan likes raw fish.  Thank you, Caprock Ward Young Men and Young Women.   You've corrupted my daughter... 

I on the other hand, am not so adventurous, though it's not from lack of trying, as I did, many years ago with a good friend who is also a sushi-lover.  No, it was not Sarah.  She still hates fish even when it's cooked.  I WILL break her of that one day, however...  I have an eternity to work at it.  Muah ha ha...

 So glad that Sarah was able to see her sister again before she flew home. 

One last picture before the trek home.  I was good...Liz only got a handshake from me even though there were hugs from everyone else.  Another long drive back put us back at home right about midnight, with the next day being a work day.  Needless to say, I was kinda tired, but it was definitely worth it.

- Josh                            

Cub Scouts

Sarah was called this year as the ward Webelos leader.  Our son happens to be a Webelos scout, so that works out kind of well...  For one of the activities this month, since it is December, Sarah decided to make a Christmas tree ornament.  Sarah found the concept for the ornament on Pinterest, her current idea organizational tool.  You can see it HERE.  Armed with hot glue guns, felt, and markers, the kids tackled the project.  Much fun was had, and afterwards, many Christmas-y Rice Crispy Treats were eaten. 

Lots of good kids, having a good time.  What could be better than that?

- Josh                                        

Classification Unit

As part of our organization trait unit study, we did a section on animal, plant, and rock classification.  The first part of the unit was on animals.  For one of the activities, King Phillip Came Over For Good Spaghetti.  No, we do not personally know any regents, however, this one can be used as a mnemonic device to remember the classification parts of all animals (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species).  We learned about the 5 characteristics that an animal must have to be classified:

1. Must have many cells
2. Cannot make it's own food
3. Must have eukaryotic cells (they have a true nucleus)
4. It must move about
5. It must digest food

We went deeper and talked about the 9 different Phyla of animals

1. Porifera (sponges)
2. Cnidarians (jellyfish, coral, anemonea)
3. Platyhelminthes (flatworms)
4. Nematoda (roundworms)
5. Annelida (segmented worms)
6. Mollusca (clams, oyster, squid)
7. Arthropoda (insects, spider, lobster)
8. Echinodermata (starfish, sand dollar)
9. Chordata (vetrabrea)

Then we talked about all the different areas and aspects of each of those 9 Phyla. We talked about how they were different from each other.  We talked about specific animals and fish.  We would look at pictures or go on walks and look for animals and the kids would classify them.  We discussed how the animal classification system came to be with it's origin in Aristotle, through LaMarck, and finally to our current system started by Linnaeus.  We even classified stuffed animals.

For plant classification, we started with flowers and what each of the different parts were and the 5 sections of a tree which are:

1. Heartwood
2. Sapwood
3. Cambium
4. Phloem (Inner Bark)
5. Outer Bark

This is a poster that I made to help the kids review that material.

We talked about vascular v. non-vascular (water distribution systems) and gymnosperms (no flower) v. angiosperms (flower).  Then we went into leaves and their classification.  There are three types of leaf edges:

1. Lobed
2. Serrated
3. Smooth (or Entire)

There are also two types of leaves (simple and compound).  Then we talked about how there are two types of veins a leaf can have: parallel (moncot) and palmate (dicot).


Then we went to the Lubbock Memorial Arboretum and collected plant specimens.  Once home, the kids created posters displaying their specimens and the classification characteristics of each specimen.

I had never thought the kids would be excited to learn such things, but on one of our later trips to the Public Library for more source material, the kids were pointing out the leaves on the trees in the Library yard and talking about their characteristics, completely un-coaxed by me.  It impressed me how I didn't have to quiz them, they were applying the learning all on their own.  It's not much, but it was one of those moments you look for as a teacher to tell whether your students are "getting it".

For the rocks portion of our study, we talked about igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks and the difference between rocks and minerals.  We discussed mineral properties which are:

• Luster
• Streak
• Hardness
• Cleavage

We discussed Mohs hardness scale.  We went into the layers of the earth's crust and finally the rock cycle (shown below).

Luckily, we have a son who likes to collect rocks, so I was able to go into his collection and pull out samples to use to teach with and for the kids to examine and classify.

With me being the perfectionist that I am, I wanted to make sure that they were indeed learning the concepts that I was presenting so when I tested them, I did so several grade levels above where they are in order to see if they had picked up the advanced concepts that we had discussed.  The kids both exceeded all expectations.

We also incorporated other subjects into our study.  For example, during the plant unit, I had the kids write a persuasive letter to a deciduous tree to try and convince it to not lose it's leaves in the winter.  We also did a celery experiment where we put a celery stalk in water with food dye and watched the progress as the celery "drank" the colored water and how it changed.  In our rock unit, the kids did an oral presentation about a specific type of rock, and Meagan created a song to help us learn about rose quartz.  In the animals unit, the kids wrote a fictional story about animals.

The kids learned a lot of information, and even now (a month later), they still seem to retain much of that information.  I truly believe that it is due to the hands-on approach we are taking with their schooling rather than just learning from books and paper.  They get out and actively engage with the world around them and it helps them to remember and appropriately apply the information that they have learned.  Even though they still frustrate me with the frequency which they are unable to focus to my standards, I am incredibly proud of them and the work they are doing.

- Sarah                                

Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving this year was a blast.  We spent it (along with the other days I had off) as a family hanging out together.  Dinner was of the traditional fare: turkey, potatoes, green bean casserole (more on this below), cranberry sauce, rolls, frog-eye salad (also more on this below), along with 3 kinds of pie.  Our close friends, Heath and Nicole and their two wonderful kids came over to help us devour the feast.  Despite our attempt to keep the meal somewhat subdued by beginning with each of us sharing what we were thankful for, at the end of the night, some of us (I'm looking at you, kids) were completely incapable of taking a decent picture.

Games were played, rug rats were chased, and laughs were had.  I was reminded once again how blessed we are to have friends good enough to consider as family.

*For those of you who may not know what frog-eye salad is, I'll tell you.  Frog-eye salad is a fruit pasta dish made with Acini de Pepe, pineapple, mandarin oranges, peaches, etc... (basically whatever kind of fruit you like, but the pineapple is important).  It is something I had never heard of until I married Sarah but her family has it every year at least at Thanksgiving and often at Christmas as well.  If you're interested, I can probably get you the recipe.

*As far as the green bean casserole goes, we have perfected the dish this year.  For all our lives, both my wife and I have been "traditional" green bean casserole people.  You make it with green beans, cream of mushroom soup, milk, pepper, and fried onions.  This year, we added something and it revolutionized this dish.  Drumroll please............

Crumbled Bacon.

Yes, for all those out there who already know the power of bacon, this is probably not a surprise.  We had never thought of it, however, and it changed this dish for us forever.  We will never be making it without bacon again if we can help it.  It.  Is.  THAT.  Good.

Anyway, we are thankful for all of you and hope that this past year has given you much for which to be thankful and that you are able to realize as we do that all those blessings come from Him to whom we give thanks.

- Josh                                         

Texas Snow

So when you think of Texas and weather you might endure there, one doesn't really come to the conclusion of the word SNOW. Well on rare occasions it gets cold enough for the wonderful beauty of snow to grace our presence right here in west Texas.

When snow comes, one must stop all things and go out to play in it before it melts away (which it usually does within hours).

It may not look like much, but to us it is. We take what we are given and love it. 

So the kids started out in the backyard and really wanted to make a snowman this year because we really haven't been able to since we moved to Texas.

Since we didn't have enough snow in the backyard we brought our starting forms of a snowman to the front yard to finish the work on good ole Frosty.

Now our Frosty may not be very big for those of you who have ever built a snowman before, but we sure had fun getting every bit of snow we could to make ours.

What snow man is not complete without a hat, scarf, eyes and carrot nose?  Although we didn't have any carrots at the time, I did have a bag of vegi straws (which are chip like, and have a variety of vegetable flavors but are in the shape of a straw). So I gave the kids a carrot flavored straw and they used it for Frosty's nose. We decided to leave our Frosty in the backyard, which we thought would keep it safe.  Well...we were wrong. Within seconds, our lovely dog Shadow smelled the food on its face and ate poor Frosty's nose.

The kids had a blast and really enjoyed having their own backyard to play in.....especially when it snows!!

- Sarah                                  
 

Modern-Day Miracles

I have, for all intents and purposes, been a member of the church all of my life. I have done all of the standard activities including, but not limited to: church meetings, temple trips, youth conference, general conference, meetings with General Authorities, and more. I saw something today, however, that I have never seen personally before.

My daughter and I have been practicing for over a month to sing a duet in Sacrament Meeting at church. The song we chose to sing is the primary song, "A Child's Prayer". Sung as a duet, it is a conversation between a Child and her parent. The child asks if Heavenly Father actually hears and answers prayer, and the parent, reassures the child that they are indeed heard and that children are so precious to Him.

We got up to sing. We were prepared, we had practiced, and if I might say so without sounding too proud, we sounded pretty good. The song started, and as my daughter sang her part, her breath gave out to nervousness and her voice failed. She was so embarrassed. The song stopped. I held her. She ran off the stand in embarrassment. My wife and I followed her out.

What happened next was the most amazing thing I believe I have ever witnessed personally. A group of 6 young women, got up, essentially as one, and went out after her to comfort their sister who was hurting. These young women then proceeded to convince her to get back up and sing and so that she wouldn't feel alone, they would sing with her (even though they had not practiced and were not prepared). At this point, I was also in tears and was concerned that I would not be able to sing my part of the duet. My wife came and sang my part of the duet with me (so I wouldn't be alone - thank you, honey). I am no professional singer, and neither are these girls (though, I must say that my daughter has talents that lie in that direction). There are not words to describe the sound that came from the pulpit this morning, but I can authoritatively say that it was the single most beautiful piece of music I have ever heard in my life.

I am reminded of a scripture in the Book of Mormon. We covenant with God at the time of our baptism to "bear one another's burdens", "mourn with those who mourn" and "comfort those that stand in need of comfort" (Mosiah 18:8-9). I saw that in action today. I have never seen such a beautiful group of young women in all my life. Today, they were an example of the boundless mercy of the Savior. They taught a young woman that she was valuable and loved. They taught me that even with all the evil influences arrayed against those who wish to follow the Savior in today's world, that there are still some who are willing to raise youth that are powerful pillars of good.

I am blessed beyond measure to associate with these young women and their families. I am grateful for the opportunity that my daughter has to associate with them, to learn from them, to be strengthened by them, and to share HER strength with them.

I am grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord that remind me as a father that the efforts that we make to teach our children do NOT fall on deaf ears, but that there are miracles that happen even today.

- Josh