Thank You!

I just wanted to write a quick post to thank everyone that has viewed our blog, followed our blog, and commented on our blog during the past few days! We have been greatly encouraged by your responses! Please take a look at the comments again, as we have left responses for you to read. :-)

I hope that you are all enjoying your Christmas and New Year's as much as we are! We are immensely enjoying spending time with family (thus the lack of posting.) Please check back for a new post shortly after the New Year!

~Bianca for the family.

Launch Day!

3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . Blast Off!

Hello and welcome to our blog! We are so glad that you joined us here on this day, December 24, 2010 to see the launch of our family blog. We pray that it will be an encouragement to you and that you will enjoy this Christmas gift from our family to yours. We invite you to look at our pages located at the top of the web page (“Welcome,” “About our Family,” and “Our Beliefs and Values.”) We have also created a few posts for your enjoyment.

Please leave us a comment to let us know that you visited our blog! God bless you, and have a Merry Christmas celebrating our Savior’s birth!



Christmas at Northridge

This Christmas our family attended “The Glory of Christmas: Night at the Nativity” performance at Northridge church! We had never heard of this event before, but my Dad’s boss at work—who attends Northridge—told us about it.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Northridge, it is one of the largest churches in the country, and the largest in Michigan, with an average weekly attendance of 12,000. They also have started 2 satellite churches in other parts of southeastern Michigan. We have visited Northridge’s Sunday morning service on two occasions, but not the Christmas program. We were in for quite a treat!

My siblings and I in the Northridge lobby.

Here we are in front of a Christmas display at Northridge.

  

A side view of the Christmas display.

Thankfully we made it to the church on time, as we were having a huge blizzard that day! We all settled in with warm chocolate chip cookies (which Ben so kindly bought for all of us) and were ready for the show. The first song was one of the most stunning, visually and audibly. There was a full orchestra during the whole event that blew us away! They opened with “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo, 12/24” that is played by the Trans Siberian Orchestra. Two men played timpani drums at the front of the stage. The drums had reflective glitter on them, so every time the drummers struck them, there was a poof of glitter that changed colors when different colored lights shone on them. This song was everybody’s favorite!

The first half of the show reminded one almost of a Broadway show. There were singers, choirs, candles, dancers, and more! They performed the songs “Jingle Bells;” “Winter Wonderland;” “White Christmas;” “Let it Snow;” “Baby, It’s Cold Outside;” “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree;” “Santa Claus is Coming to Town;” “Christmastime;” “Happy Birthday, Jesus;” and “The Little Drummer Boy.” I wish I had pictures or could describe each song in detail, but I’ll just say that you have to see it!

We had a 15-minute intermission before they began the second half of the performance. It opened with a video montage of skiing and snowboarding accidents (think “America’s Funniest Home Videos”) while the orchestra played another Trans Siberian Orchestra song called “Nutrocker.”

Next came the drama. The story line centered on a lawyer named David, who is fighting in court to have a public Nativity scene removed. He is about to win his case, when he visits the Nativity for the first time. The Nativity comes alive and he experiences the whole story of who Jesus is, why he came, and why it matters to us. One amazing song was “Gloria! Hallelujah!” In this song, angels came flying—literally—into the room. They had harnesses and were attached to the ceiling. It was just breathtaking!

One of my favorite songs was “Healing is in Your Hands.” In this song, Jesus is walking the earth and healing the lame, blind, and dead. I started crying at the part where a couple walks in with their dead daughter. Jesus picks the girl up, and holds her up to the heavens. She awakens and goes running to her parents. We serve an amazing Savior who truly cares about us, and has the power to heal even the deepest of wounds!

In the climax, we saw the crucifixion and resurrection. We were just in awe of God’s power over death. Because of His death, we now have hope, for He has risen from the dead!

The crucifixion scene.

After seeing all of this, David accepts Christ’s gift of salvation and decides to immediately drop his case. He is a changed man! The performance then ended with the songs “Ready for a Miracle” and “Sleigh Ride.”

We will definitely be returning to this show in the future. It was very special, and focuses on the true meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate. Jesus came to die for us. Most people think we only celebrate His death at Easter. But Christmas is truly the beginning. At Christmas we celebrate the fact that He was willing to be born into the humblest of circumstances and to live a very poor life. He did all of this for us! He was truly born to die.

After the performance, it took us hours to drive home! We spent half an hour just getting out of the parking lot, and the rest of the delay was due to the previously mentioned blizzard. Look for an upcoming post on our first winter storm!



Snack Time!

At Grandma’s house there are many treats that we normally don’t have at home. Two of those treats are grape soda and Grandpa’s homemade fudge. It is hard for me to resist either one!

Going . . .

going . . .

gone!

Thanksgiving

This year we spent our Thanksgiving with my Grandparents in Pennsylvania. We left our home on Wednesday morning, and arrived late afternoon at their house. We were very thankful that the weather was good for traveling. There’s nothing like a surprise snowstorm to put a damper on the trip!

We had some “good eatin” while we were at Grandma’s house! For dinner Wednesday night we had hoagies (sub sandwiches). They are a favorite!

We ate the leftover hoagies for lunch on Thursday.

Thursday morning was spent watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We relaxed most of the day and just spent time with Grandma and Grandpa.

Daddy and Grandpa working on the laptop.

Around 4 o’clock in the afternoon, we began dinner preparations. Grandma and Grandpa had purchased a Thanksgiving meal from Bob Evans restaurant, so all we had to do was heat everything! It is SO easy and tasty.

 

Our delicious Thanksgiving meal. We had turkey, rolls with butter, herbed corn, mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin bread (not pictured.)



Dessert consisted of pumpkin and pecan pie with whipped cream!



Friday morning brought snow to my Grandparents house. We were all excited as this was the first snow of the season for us. The younger kids enjoyed playing outside.



I'm sorry the picture isn't very good, but the children were very excited!

Saturday morning we awoke to this. . .



Snow!

Thankfully, it didn’t snow while we were driving all day Saturday. But everyone was a little disappointed when there was no snow at home. I’m sure we’ll have plenty soon!

Riding in the van for many hours can lead to slight boredom which leads to picture-taking!

We're almost home!

And that was how we spent our Thanksgiving! We are so thankful for family and the time we could spend together!



The Family Pets

We are blessed to have several pets in our family. Since my parents got married almost 22 years ago they have had 7 cats, 6 fish, 2 or 3 snails, 2 dogs, and 1 hamster! The “first generation” of pets all died off back in 2009, and we began another “generation” recently! Allow me to introduce you to our current family pets:

Zinnia when we first brought her home.

Isn't she just precious? She was only 1.6 pounds when we adopted her!

Zinnia on her 1st birthday.

This is Zinnia, my muted calico kitten. We adopted her and her brother Zack from the local Humane Society in the summer of 2009. They were only six weeks old at the time! They were litter mates, and had been left at the Humane Society’s door. Unfortunately, shortly after we adopted them, they came down with horrible Upper Respiratory Infections. We began treating them with medication, but while we were on vacation, Zinnia’s eye ruptured. Thankfully, our neighbor who was watching them rushed her to the vet, and he gave them a higher-strength antibiotic. Her eye has scarred down significantly, and it is hardly noticeable anymore. She is such a sweetheart! She is very petite at only 6.13 pounds. She has a very sweet personality, and loves to “talk” a lot! But she also has spunk and can be feisty at times.

Zack, after we brought him home from the Humane Society.



A recent picture of Zack.



This is Zack (fondly called “Poonie” for some reason.) He is Zinnia’s brother, and is quite a character! He is nearly twice her size, and he uses his size to his advantage! He is definitely the “boss” around here. Even the dog knows that Zack’s in charge. J He is very docile at times, and very crazy at other times. It just depends on what mood he’s in. I guess most cats are like that. He will let select people do whatever they want with him (i.e. rub him pretty hard, scruff him, give him tummy scratches, etc.) But when he’s had enough, he will let you know! One feature we love about Zack is his good looks. He is a beautiful tiger tabby with big green eyes and a little French mustache!



Michelangelo (or Mikey for short) soon after we adopted him. He loves to give "doggie smiles!"



Mikey looking a bit more forlorn (he may have been in "time out!")



Mikey is the newest addition to our family. We adopted him from a local shelter this year. He is a yellow lab mix and has beautiful auburn markings down his back and on his ears. He will turn a year old in early 2011. Though he is still in training, he is a well behaved dog and has a desire to please people. Mikey has a great personality and we love having him around!

About Our Family

This is the patriarch and matriarch of our family. Mark and Betsy met each other in college in Ohio. They have now been happily married for 21 years! Mark enjoys cars, trains, flying planes, Boy Scouts, missions, reformed theology, Creation science, teaching at church, and being the Daddy of our family! Betsy enjoys writing, reading, cross-stitching, homemaking, gardening, supporting Mark’s interests, and homeschooling their five children.

Bianca is the oldest of five siblings and is in High School. By request of her Daddy, and with his oversight, she designed, built, and also maintains this blog as a homeschool project. When she is not busy with school she enjoys reading, working in her organic vegetable garden, reading (and writing!) blogs, cooking and baking for the family, learning how to process and preserve fresh produce, learning about Biblical daughterhood and being a “keeper at home,” babysitting, RUNNING (especially in road races), organizing and simplifying our home, writing her monthly newsletter, writing devotions to share with her Sunday School Class at church, listening to music, playing the piano, studying biology and creation science, and just being a big sister! She has a very outgoing personality and loves to be around people.

Benjamin is next in the family line-up. He is in Junior High School, and is the “Knight in Training!” He stays busy with school, Boy Scouts, and serving at church. When he has free time he loves landscaping, working in the yard, running with Bianca, cooking (without a recipe!), reading anything and everything about history, playing on the drum set, learning about Biblical manhood, and playing football, basketball, and baseball. Most of all, he loves just “being a boy!” Ben has a big servant’s heart and loves to serve his family.

Rubia and Roma are twins, but Ruby is older by a few minutes! Ruby is in Junior High and is becoming a young lady. She loves anything related to animals (especially dogs) and therefore loves walking our dog and playing with the pets. She loves writing, reading, cooking and helping in the kitchen, Worship Dance, learning Spanish, saving money for a guitar, babysitting and being a “Mommy’s Helper” to our friends, and much more! Ruby is great with little children!

Roma helps our family stay sane! J She too is becoming quite the young lady along with her twin sister. Roma enjoys playing piano, Worship Dance, babysitting and being a “Mommy’s helper,” saving up for a digital camera, taking videos with the family camera, playing with and loving on her “baby” Zack (one of our cats), doing her handwriting, making the rest of us laugh, playing in the woods, climbing trees, getting dirty in the creek, catching frogs, baking, coloring pictures, and having “adventures” with her friends and cousins. She is very outgoing and funny! Little children are very drawn to Roma!

Josiah is the youngest of our family. He is in elementary school and loves to learn! In his free time he enjoys playing, building things, drawing pictures, spending time outside, playing any sport that uses a ball, practicing reading and writing, helping in the kitchen, reading devotions with Mom, taking videos and pictures with our digital camera, fiddling around on the piano, and anything “little boy-ish!” J Josiah is very outgoing and loves to talk and explain things!

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to our blog! We are a homeschooling family of 7 and live in southeastern Michigan. Our desire for this blog is to encourage other families and homeschoolers through our everyday lives and to encourage all believers to grow deeper in their relationship with Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:11.)

The name of our blog is based off Isaiah 40:31 (“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”) We have chosen this Bible verse because we want to encourage others to hope in the Lord, who is the giver of true strength; to attempt great things for the Lord and to “soar on wings like eagles” in their aspirations and in their daily walk with the Lord.

We will post on our blog as time allows and as events occur. We appreciate and welcome comments, but we will monitor them for content. Our desire is that our blog brings glory to God, and we will not post any comments that would do otherwise. If there are any issues or questions you would like to discuss outside of our blog, please feel free to contact us by clicking on our “Contact” page.

Thank you for stopping by! We hope you enjoy reading about our adventures!

Off to a Flying Start