It Takes A Village: December 2010

Friday, December 24, 2010

Family Arrives!

Yes, Family arrives and there is lots of smiles and happy times!!

The were tired but happy to be here! It was so nice to see the little midget and what a week we have had!!! The boys are about to go nuts waiting for Tomorrow to get here!!!

Iso Takes her FIRST STEPS!

A couple Sundays ago the boys were reading with Mr.X and Iso just could not contain herself! She took 2 steps towards Zman!!! He was so excited about her walking to him!! She is as cute as she can be and is ALL over the place!!!!

Singing at the Nursing home!

Every Year our Home School group goes to at least one nursing home and singes Christmas Carols and this year the presentation was the best that we have ever done! Our kids did so well and it was so nice to hang out with friends we have not seen in a while!

After we sang and had lunch, the S's and some friends came back to play and do Christmas Crafts! We enjoy doing the crafts with the kids and this year was just as fun! The 6 kids had such a good time with the crafts and playing out in the woods!

A little boy in Need

A little boy from our town was hit by a car leaving the fair with his family. He was flown to a critical care unit about 4 hours from here and the family had been by his side for a couple months. He is now home but it was touch and go for a while. The town got together and had a benefit for him and our older Cubs and Boy Scouts spent one whole Saturday helping with the benefit. I was very proud of all our boys for helping out. They only needed to do 1 hour of community service for their badges but most all the boys stayed from 10am until 3:30pm to help with anything that was asked of them!

Working With Grandpa!

Grandpa is helping with a couple of the boys Merit Badges and they got together before the Christmas break to start on their project... They will finish it up next week and will have earned one of the 100 year Merit Badges that will go away December 31st!

While they were working on the badges the boys got to see a DOUBLE RAINBOW!

Zach spent his time playing on the computer while the boys were working!

Favorite Quotes

Love is the immortal flow of energy that nourishes, extends and preserves. Its eternal goal is life. Smiley Blanton

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.
~ Bertrand Russell, Earl Russell

"Happiness is in the comfortable companionship of friends" Pam Brown

"The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by Surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us" Ashley Montagu

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us." Helen Keller

"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead." Louisa May Alcott

“If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment.” Henry David Thoreau

Not only is our love for our children sometimes tinged with annoyance, discouragement, and disappointment, the same is true for the love our children
feel for us.
Bruno Bettelheim

“Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you. Love me and I may be forced to love you.”
William Arthur Ward

“You need to be aware of what others are doing, applaud their efforts, acknowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits. When we all help one another, everybody wins.”
Jim Stovall

Fall seven times, stand up eight.
~Japanese Proverb

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey. ~Kenji Miyazawa

When written in Chinese the word "crisis" is composed of two characters - one represents danger and the other represents opportunity. ~John F. Kennedy, address, 12 April 1959

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
— John Quincy Adams

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.
— Albert Schweitzer

No matter what our achievements might be, we think well of ourselves only in rare moments. We need people to bear witness against our inner judge, who keeps book on our shortcomings and transgressions. We need people to convince us that we are not as bad as we think we are.
— Eric Hoffer

Your opponent, in the end, is never really the player on the other side of the net, or the swimmer in the next lane, or the team on the other side of the field, or even the bar you must high-jump. Your opponent is yourself, your negative internal voices, your level of determination.
--Grace Lichtenstein American Writer & Editor

Love is the answer, but while you're waiting for the answer, sex raises some pretty interesting questions.
Woody Allen

Seek that which within lies waiting to begin the fight of your life that is everyday.
Ian Anderson