Much to be thankful for this year

It has been a sweet time of learning about the meaning of Thanksgiving and it's significance to our Christian heritage. Andrew and Kathlena had no idea what Thanksgiving was, but have had so much fun learning about it. We used a book called Cranberry Thanksgiving that is a cute tale set in the New England cranberry bogs, about a Grandmother and her special cranberry bread recipe. Grandmother and granddaughter invite two friends for Thanksgiving exploring the concepts of relationships, charity, honesty, and Thanksgiving. Andrew's favorite character is Mr. Whiskers. It has been so fun to learn anew through their eyes.

At dinner each night Daddy went through ThanksLiving Treasures devotional by Family Life. We learned about the six treasures: God's Word, Protection, Freedom, Health, Salvation and Provision. We talked about the hardship and perseverance of the pilgrims, and God's sovereign protection over them.

We also made our annual "Thanksgiving tree" made from hand print cut-outs everyone got to write down the things they are thankful for and put them on the tree as a reminder of all the blessing we have been given. Here are some pictures of us making our tree.

Emily helping trace Andrew's hands. Andrew was thankful
for Mommy and Daddy, sisters and J.Michael, Mema, friends,
Uncle Darrell "who is so good at catching all the fish", grandparents,
God.

Kathlena and J.Michael working on their hands.

My very thoughtful Emily filling up her hands with all she
is thankful for. Things Emily is thankful for are...Laughter, joy,
parents and grandparents, brothers and sister, country music,
that the God-given rights and liberties to worship the Lord freely and
openly are acknowledged by our government.

Some of the things J.Michael is thankful for are...pets, family
and extended family, Jump-Jump, C.S. Lewis, John R.
Erickson, Nana's Beef.


Putting the tree in place...thank you helpers.

Andrew and Kathlena gathering up their hands.

Proudly displaying them.

J.Michael handing some out to put on the tree.

Kathlena putting hers on...she was thankful for her bed,

bubbie, Andrew, Mimi, Mommy and Daddy, Mrs. Hoood, grandparents,

Uncle Todd, Happy the goat, Lucy the gecko, Chase and Charlie.

Imagination Station

Andrew and Kathlena are growing so fast and their little minds are quickly revealing a greater depth to their personalities through there English language development. Pay close attention to Andrew speaking...truly amazing that he did not know a word of English just 5 months ago and is learning to speak his own thoughts and give clear directions to his sister. They are such adorable playmates together and with Emily and J.Michael too.

One of my favorite new phrases of Andrew's is "da do da dis" only his "da's" are not yes but "the" in English. We asked him the other day what "nyet" meant and he looked at us with a quizzical face and said "I don't know" The rapid loss of language is as amazing as the new one emerging. I had read about this in preparation of A and K coming home until my brain hurt, but there is nothing like seeing it happen to catch a glimpse of the complexity our minds have to adapt and change given by our infinitely wise Creator.

Kathlena has recently begun to say her full name now...Yeena is fading. Here is a video of her saying it over and over while running around. Nana you may need to have your motion sickness patch on to view this and anyone else who gets sick on the merry go round...just a little warning : )

*a note to remember when viewing video scroll to the end of the blog to pause/stop the music so you can hear them talking on the video.