Forgotten God

One of the gifts under our tree this year was the book Forgotten God by Francis Chan.  I've only just begun to read it, but so far, it is exactly what I need to focus on.  Number one on my New Year's Goals for 2012 is to do an indepth study on the Holy Spirit and His role in MY life.

Here is a little intro to Forgotten God...

Back in the Swing of Things

Our baby has arrived, and we took a few days off for our "babymoon", and when we started back to school, somehow the blogging fell by the wayside in the midst of getting the more important stuff done (like times tables!)  In the meantime, we left North America, and spent a couple weeks learning about Brazil and Peru.

Thanksgiving week, we did lots of activities centered around the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving and learned about England (as an intro to our unit on Europe).  We listened to the story of Squanto and learned how God used him like a modern day Joseph to help those in need at a crucial time when they needed a friend.

We also made pilgrim and indian hat napkin rings and pilgrim hat cookies to share with our family at our Thanksgiving dinner.

The next week, we left on our virtual trip to Europe, stopping first in Norway.  We learned about coniferous forests and the plants and animals that live there.  We read books about the Vikings, listened to music from Grieg and read the story of Peer Gynt.  We made a paper quilt about Norway, each contributing a square.

For the month of December, we are taking a break from our Countries and Cultures lessons to do a unit study using The Cinnamon Bear, an old time radio show that ran from the late 1930's through the 50's.  It was broadcast nightly beginning the day after Thanksgiving and wrapping up on Christmas day.  The kids are making a lap book and doing various activities each day as we listen to the episodes.  They are covering handwriting and creative writing, math, geography and map skills, spelling and English and science as it relates to the places, characters and events in each episode.

We are also doing our Living Nativity this weekend on our farm.  It is our chance to give back to our community and give our friends and neighbors a chance to pause and think about what Christmas is really all about.  While the girls are working on costumes, the boys are helping Dad build a stable and places for the sheep and cows.  This year we are giving out candy canes and small gifts for the children as a reminder that Christmas is Jesus' birthday.  We are encouraging folks to get out of their cars and come close to the action and interact with the characters and animals.

Come January, we will head back to Europe and virtually visit France, Germany and the Czech Republic, where their ancestors came from.

We will be sharing some of our Cinnamon Bear activities and photos of our live nativity in the next few days.

As you spend time these next couple of weeks hustling and bustling through the gifts, wrappings and writing of cards, please take time each day to think about the God who loved us so much, He sent His one and only son to die for us.  For this... this, is what it's REALLY all about.