The Bible Bee, Week 1

Our studying for the Bible Bee is in full swing here on the "farm". We are all a bit excited, and a little overwhelmed, at the scope of this challenge. We started out a little slowly, but we are in full gear for this week.

First we cut out some of the verse cards and put them on index cards with holes punched in them. Then we put them on rings... my ever present combo of index cards and rings... I love those things.

We started in to work. They "worked" all week while I was trying to figure out how to break down the verses into the 16 weeks we have to study. There are really 18 weeks, only we have two weeks of vacation built in.

At the end of the week I had them count up the verses they memorized... most had done 7 or 9 verses in the 5 days. One learned 15, and my eldest learned 34. She had worked really hard.

I delivered the news that the two younger children had to memorize 15 verses each WEEKDAY, and the bigger kids needed to do 25! Wow were we all shocked. So we needed to figure out a way to memorize more effectively... we fell back to our old standard of putting the whole verse on one side of the cards, and just the first letter of each word on the backs... so Joshua 1:9 (a category 1 verse) would say on the back of the card, "HIncy? Bsavc. Dnbt; dnbd, ftLyGwbwywyg."

I figure if we spend some time at each meal reading over the verses for this week using just the first letters, and the verses for next week using the full words, we will have read it over many times and they should have an easier time remembering them.

This leads us to knowing which verses need to be learned each week... I plan on putting up a full schedule on the blog for those who are studying for the Bee, but until I get to that, here is the first week. We counted out the number of verses in each Category and divided it between 16, so we would know the amount to memorize each of the 16 weeks.

Category 1: Week 1:
Genesis 1:1-2
Joshua 1:9
Nehemiah 9:6
Psalm 1:5-6
Psalm 19:14
Psalm 23:4
Psalm 23:6
Psalm 23:4-5

Category 2: Week 2
Genesis 3:14-15
Genesis 8:20-22
Exodus 15:11-13
Exodus 34:6-7
Duteronomy 1:29-31
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Deuteronomy 32:1-4

Category 3: Week 1
Genesis 1:26-31
Genesis 2:20-25
Leviticus 19:11-18
Deuteronomy 7:7-10
Deuteronomy 8:2-6
1 Chronicles 16:23-33

Category 4: Week 1
Genesis 2:15-25
Exodus 20: 3-17
1 Samuel 2:1-10
Nehemiah 1:4-11

We also go over 5 Bible Knowledge Questions every day (25 a week), and 3 chapters of the books we need to know from the Bible. So for Week 1, we are discussing (and outlining) Chapters 1-15 of Genesis. (Eventually we will have gone over Genesis, 1 and 2 Samuel, Matthew, Acts, and Romans.)

Yes, this is a lot of work. I think it is good for them... when else are they going to be able to have the undivided time to hide God's word in their hearts? Certainly not as adults. I am pretty sure that none of us with our old and weary brains are up to this challenge.

We are basically done with school (legally only need 5 more days, but don't tell them that!), so as long as they do Math (and read) every day, they can choose to work on these verses or do the other remaining school.

What is more important? Grammar or Bible? Of course Bible. So we are taking the time this summer to do this. We may not be able to memorize EVERY verse they ask us to. But we will have memorized far more than if we hadn't tried to do it. And that is a winning situation no matter how you spin it.

Oh- and people who see us in real life... feel free to stop my children and give them a pop quiz... ask them any of these verses at the end of the week. Hopefully they will reward you with a word perfect rendition of the verse.

Here is a video I snuck of some of the children reviewing their verses... evidently they had to jump off the swing if they got something wrong. They did not know I was videoing them... it sounds as if they are right next to me, but really they are across the driveway. I did ask all their permission to put this online.



So is anyone else with me out there? Are there other families working on hiding God's word in their hearts in preparation for the Bible Bee? Let's join together and let each other know how we are doing!

Warning: A photo heavy post!

In honor of Mother's Day tomorrow, I am posting a bunch of my favorite reasons to be a mom. ;) We had a fun day at our friend's house the other day, and now the kids are begging for a cart pony. I already vetoed the snake, but could be very convinced of the pony. I have it on great authority that if the children are all outside with the pony, the house stays clean. It's worth the try!









And now: in order of age... a few of my favorite reasons to be a Mama!

Angela... age 16...





Matthew ... Age 15 ...



Josiah ... Age 12...



Anna ... Age 9 ...



Emma ... Age 7 ...



Sara ... Age 5 ...



Nathan ... Age 4 ...



Mercy ... Age 2 ...



Bethany ... Age 10 months ...



And now, at the risk of bogging down your computers, but because I have so many beautiful photos of my children taken while they and friends were playing with cameras, some of my other favorites from the last couple weeks:













These all show Emma so very well... her personality is wonderful!

Garden Club 5/ 8/ 09

Good morning garden friends! Anyone else having this horribly WET week that we are? I am sure that once the sun in out our plants will grow like gangbusters, but right now they are a little soggy!

We did have ONE quick moment of sun... I blogged about it Here. The gardens are mostly weeded, except for the one which has corn in it... since corn and grass look similar, to say the least we need to wait to see which is which.

My peas look wonderful. My beans are growing, and the strawberries are flourishing. My broccoli and cauliflower are weak. I doubt they will be doing much. My peppers look good, but the tomatoes are still weak. We'll see if they grow or die.

Something is getting into the side garden, through the fence we put up. I suspect it's rabbits. They seem to like one of the three boxes over the others... all I have are stems left in them. Cucumbers, tomatoes, anything... just stems. Anyone have any ideas for keeping the critters out? It is right next to the house, so I thought the dogs would do a lot to keep things out, but maybe not.

It seems that Mr. Linky is on strike today, so just leave your links in the comment section.

Hope you are doing well!

I've been wrong before...

But after walking out of the doctor's appointment yesterday when I was treated rudely by a receptionist, I returned to the practice which delivered my last three babies. It's 15 minutes farther away, but no issue now.

So I went to my appointment today. Remember it's the first time I've been seen this pregnancy? I thought I was 19 weeks. Turns out I am actually 20 weeks! Gotta love when a pregnancy goes this quicky, huh?! The midwife decided to see if there was a cancelation in the ultrasound department. Wouldn't you know there was one in a half hour? So I had an ultrasound too!

I was convinced we were having a boy. I even had a favorite name. But we have to start the process again, as we saw a perfectly formed GIRL!!!

If we saw right, the count will be 7 girls, 3 boys.

All you people having boys... raise them right. We'll need a plethora of Godly men to marry these beauties in a couple decades.

A Busy Time on the "Farm"

Spring has come to central Kentucky... and we are BUSY!!! We have raised several batches of chicks in our bathrooms, and now they are all out in the henhouse, pecking away merrily. I really think that chickens pecking in a field is one of the more peaceful things on God's Green Earth.

Our gardens are in (mostly), and enjoying the bountiful rain we have gotten over the last week. Our yard was looking so nice, but was quickly beginning to look suspiciously like a jungle. It stopped raining yesterday. I THOUGHT it was going to clear up, so I was waiting for it to dry a bit before weeding, doing a little more planting, and getting the yard mowed. Until Eric looked at the weather report and saw that there was supposed to be a second set of rain coming for the next few days... so we dropped everything and made hay while the sun shone. Well, actually, while we got the garden and the yards under control.

(As a side note, the rain started as I was writing this, so I suppose it was a good idea.)

Our other big project (besides just living and getting things done with 9 children running around) is the Bible Bee. We downloaded the study guide last Friday, and... OH MY WORD is it going to a a wonderful challenge for the kids. There are a LOT of verses to memorize. I'll be posting a schedule when I figure out exactly what each child needs to memorize for their age group. I think there will be a minimum of 13 verses a week for the younger children, and 10 additional ones for the older ones... and by verses I mean sections of verses. Many of them are between 3 and 11 verses long! So we have been getting busy going on that.

As far as a Mercy update (since I have been remiss in updating our blog), she continues to do well. Her heart is obviously feeling better without the added pressure of the blood flow needed for the hemangioma. She is gaining weight and developing beautifully. She has been off the prednisone now for almost two weeks, for the first time since she was 10 weeks old.

We do think that the hemangioma is slightly puffier again, but that is the only negative thing to report.

On the 18th - 19th I will be taking her up to Cincinnati to have a full run of tests... the first since we started the propranalol. We will have an echocardiogram and EKG scheduled along with a meeting with our cardiologist. The next day we will have an MRI, a blood test to see if her body is making whatever the prednisone took over, a bone density X-ray (due to long term prednisone use), and a meeting with our WONDERFUL vascular doctor. Add a 4 hour trip each way, and it will be a long series of days no matter how I do it.

I need to go... I have my first appointment for the new baby. I am 19 weeks. Ahem. Yes, I know most people see their midwives by now, but well- we've been busy. I guess that's the difference between baby #1 and #10. Haha.

Have a great day!

Garden Club Friday May 1, 2009

We have been busy living real life around here... Grandparents visiting, soccer, gardening, and a multitude of other things. So once again I don't have photos, but we did make progress on our gardening!

I bought a few plants to put in. Some we didn't get to grow ourselves, and others just looked stronger than mine so I figured to spend a couple dollars to insure we had some! I bought 18 tomatoes (mine are looking pretty weak), 9 green peppers, a banana pepper, a jalapeno pepper, a lemon balm, and a pineapple sage. Oh the last two smell so good!!!

We still need to finish planting some of the green beans and corn, some of the tomatoes, and the melons... watermelon, canteloupe, pumpkins (for pie and muffins), and a couple birdhouse gourds. It finally rained last night, so they should be growing great now. So will the weeds, unfortunately, but if we are diligent now, the weeds will not grow after about 4 more weeks.

My broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower in one of my gardens is looking stronger than the other garden's... and my strawberries look wonderful. The ones from last year will give us some berries. The others will not produce until next year.

How have you done in your garden this week?

A Playpen in your Purse

Head over to Happy to Be at Home to read my latest post over there...