Adventures in Our Home & Hearts: Summer Fun ~ August 2015

Giving God Glory

God is faithful to grow us! ~ Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 ~ The Lord showed His faithfulness in growing and sanctifying both Wes and me in similar lessons of surrendering specific desires to Him. Wes sensed the Lord leading him to sell his video game console because it was taking away from spending time with the Lord at times. So, Wes sold it, and the Lord has blessed his obedience with still giving him opportunities to periodically play multi-player video games with others. I (Christina) thought Samuel was giving up on nursing cold turkey (due to a variety of factors), and I sensed the Lord encouraging me to surrender my desire of nursing Samuel until Samuel was a year old to Him. So, I let go of my desire and cried while I fed Samuel a bottle. However, it turned out to be just a temporary "nursing strike," and the Lord has continued to bless me with being able to nurse Samuel. :) It can be challenging to recognize and let go of idols, but the Lord is faithful to sanctify and refine us in His perfect timing and ways.

What's on the Harrisons' Hearts

AWANA ~ Wes and I are grateful that the Lord has blessed us with the opportunity to be involved in AWANA another year. It is a joy to serve together as directors of T&T (Truth & Training) and invest in the hearts and lives of many 3rd-6th graders. It is also a joy to help our sons hide God's Word in their and our hearts. An additional joy this year is that 3 of the boys in our neighborhood wanted to come with us to AWANA, so we have a full van on Sunday evenings - super fun! :) This year was Josiah's 1st year of Cubbies, and he was excited!!! ~ except when it came time for the AWANA song, which scared him since it is loud to him so he gets a little extra TLC in Opening Ceremonies.

Bring a friend & throw a pie in a leader's face night!

The kids really enjoyed it! We had fun with it too! ;)

Praises & Prayers

Tami - Continued prayers for the Lord to give my dad and other loved ones His perspective and that God would heal Tami, but ultimately that His will would be done. Prayer of Galatians 5:22-23 that the fruit of the Spirit would abound in Dad's & Tami's lives during this trial. Also, prayer of James 1:5 for wisdom with this trial.
Wes - Praise for the Lord growing Wes in recognizing and surrendering when video games had become an idol. Please pray for the Lord to continue to show His faithfulness to Wes in growing him and for the Lord to also encourage him in the process (Philippians 1:6).
Christina - Praise for all the ways the Lord was at work during the informal summer Bible study on Revelation that I led on our front porch with neighbors, a couple ladies from church, and also several children since I included a little lesson for all the children at the end of each Bible study. Please pray for the Lord to grow me in my love for Him and in surrendering idols that He reveals to me (Matthew 22:37).
Noah - God would graciously save him at a young age and lead him to walk with the Lord all of his days, if that be the Lord's will. Continued praise for the Lord growing Noah in loving his brothers, especially Josiah since Noah will sometimes provoke him. I asked Noah what he would like loved ones to pray for him - "Pray that I would grow in my love for Jesus."
Josiah - God would graciously save him at a young age and lead him to walk with the Lord all of his days, if that be the Lord's will. Praise for the Lord helping Josiah to communicate more often with his words rather than screaming when he doesn't like something. Please continue to pray for the Lord to grow Josiah in using his words to communicate (Psalm 19:14).
Samuel - God would graciously save him at a young age and lead him to walk with the Lord all of his days, if that be the Lord's will. Praise that Samuel is able to fall asleep in all kinds of positions now, since he kept rolling over onto his back and "getting stuck" on his back, which used to prevent him from falling asleep, since he was a tummy sleeper. Also, praise for no major prayer requests for Samuel presently. :)

Samuel asleep on his side & back! :)

Marriage Memories

Wes and I enjoyed hiking Stanley Canyon for our date. Dozer came too. ;)

Family Fun

We enjoyed celebrating my 35th birthday! It was a low-key day since my birthday was on a Sunday and was also the first night of AWANA. I made ice cream cake (one of my favorite desserts) for snack for T&T to celebrate. :)

Playing at the Park

Samuel started dropping his late afternoon nap, which has made it easier to go to the park more often. :)

Noah News

Age - 6 years old

Cute Communication

*Praying for Samuel, "Pray that he would love Jesus and be a man of God as he grows older and older & that he would love Your Book [Bible]."

*When I was reading the boys a Bible story one night before bed, Noah asks, "Would you please pause the book while I go get a drink?" I am guessing he was thinking about how we pause movies and figured you can "pause books" too. ;)

*Me - "That cheese is tempting to me until I remember there is horseradish in it."

Noah - "How can cheese tempt you?" ~ Since we often talk about not tempting others to sin by provoking them, Noah was trying to figure out how an object could tempt me since it's usually a person. ;)

Latest Likes

Riding on wheels ~ bike, rollerblades, skateboard; riding with no hands & doing stunts on his bike ;)

Giving Samuel zerberts on his belly & making Samuel laugh & smile :)

Playing outside with neighborhood friends

Cruising on his bike with no hands

Learning how to rollerblade :) * Noah was a pro in no time & quickly began rollerblading down our driveway

*Video ~ Noah showing off his bike jump & riding with no hands!

Josiah Joys

Age - 3 years old

Cute Communication

*When Josiah prays, he almost always says, "... Noah and Daddy's turn. Amen." When I asked him if he wanted to pray for Samuel one evening when we were putting Samuel to bed, and Josiah said yes and prayed, "Pray that he would grow older and older and bigger and bigger. That he love Jesus. Amen." So sweet...

*Josiah one day exclaimed out of the blue, "I LOVE HIM!" in reference to Samuel. :)

*Josiah adds "ie" to everything ~ ex. bookie, milkie, etc. He started calling Samuel "Sammie," and it caught on with Noah saying calling little bro "Sammie" too, so Samuel may have a new nickname. ;)

Latest Likes

Participating in homeschool activities such as Science experiments, "Go Fish" speech sounds game

Legos

Playing outside

Cruising on his trike & roller-skates

Snuggling with Dozer

*Video ~ Josiah's slide skills

Samuel Sentiments

Age - 5 months

1sts - swinging at the park, finding his feet, saying "d" sound at ceiling lights, eating solids, drinking from a sippy cup, sucking on a popsicle, falling asleep in other positions besides on his tummy

Latest Likes

Interacting ~ Smiling, cooing/talking, reading/looking at books, being sung to, playing peek-a-boo

Veggies (avocado, carrots, & peas); doesn't like fruit!

Rolling over & putting toys in his mouth ALL THE TIME!

Sweet smile :)

Raking his spinner toy in the exersaucer * Cracking himself up ;)

1st solids - avocado * 1st popsicle

Everything in the mouth

Samuel found his feet

1st time drinking out of a sippy

*Video ~ Samuel rolling over

Bro Bonding

Noah helping Josiah make his "fiddle stick gun" * Shooting the "bad guys"

Noah holding Samuel

Having fun helping feed Samuel & opening their mouths with him :) ~ Noah * Josiah

Josiah & Samuel hanging out

Josiah is always giving Samuel kisses :)

Homeschool Highlights

Click on these links if interested in seeing more info about the K-8 skills/benchmarks books I use:

Please let me know if you would like to know about the specific curriculum I use. :)

Core Knowledge Sequence: Content guidelines for K-8 (Fyi ~ This is not the same as Common Core.)

What Your Child Needs to Know When: According to the Bible, According to the State: with Evaluation Check Lists for Grades K-8

What Your [Grade-level of Your Child] Needs to Know ~ Core Knowledge books corresponding to grade-level

Repeating Kindergarten

Back in January at our mid-year parent teacher conference with Mrs. Campbell, she asked what our thoughts were about having Noah repeat Kindergarten this fall. It hadn't crossed Wes' and my minds, but after praying about it and seeking wise counsel, the Lord made it clear that it was wise for a variety of reasons for Noah to repeat Kindergarten. So, this was his second year in Kindergarten and with Mrs. Campbell. :)

RMCA Homeschool Program's Field Day

Josiah, Samuel, & I had fun hanging out and watching Noah do all the field day activities

Parachute Activities * One big blessing of Noah repeating Kindergarten is that he is now in the same class as his best friend, Luke. :)

Some of our favorite homeschooling spots

Front porch

Playroom / Frontroom

Basement

Life Skills

Cooking ~ Noah making scrambled eggs * Josiah helping me make a cake for Noah starting school back up at RMCA' s homeschool program

Variety

Science ~ Planting seeds * Bird nest that fell out of a tree in our backyard

P.E. ~ Noah playing a little 1-on-1 street soccer with Daddy

Josiah ~ Helping & having fun on laundry day * Using his creativity & imagination

Memorable Moment of the Month

Liam, AJ, Noah, Caleb, Landon, Dylan, Xavier, Wes, Jacob, & Josh

Sweet summer day! ~ There was one day that was one of those super-fun-in-the-summer-sun kind of days in our neighborhood. All the neighborhood boys were out and decided to play a game of football. They had a great time! Then to finish off the afternoon, the snow cone truck came by, and everyone enjoyed splurging on a sweet treat. :)