Memorial Box Monday: Elizabeth C. and George Mueller

SpIGoT--Where Learning Flows, was started with the intention of being a homeschooling blog. I remained focused on that intention for exactly as long as it took me to set up and name the blog. My first posts were blurbs on each of our children. I discovered that they were much more fun to write about than our school work and I never looked back!

All to say that I do still homeschool my children. On Wednesday of this week, I was reading to Alex and Anna about the amazing Mr. George Mueller. If you haven't read of Mr. Mueller yourself, I suggest you stop reading my blog and immediately locate a copy of his autobiography and read it, then come back. To say that reading it has been life-changing for many, many people would be putting it mildly.

George Mueller is most famous for his faith and his praying on behalf of the 10,000+ orphans he housed, fed, clothed and educated over his adulthood. His goal, however, was not only the housing, feeding, clothing and educating of orphans; his goal, his overarching purpose, was to show a watching world that God is real, God is trustworthy, God answers prayer [John Piper, sermons].

Back to Wednesday, we were reading what is arguably Mueller's most famous day at the orphanage. He and the hundreds of orphans had awoken to a new day that contained no food, no milk, and no money to purchase any. One of his friends was visiting with his little daughter, whom George took with him to the cafeteria where the orphans were assembling. George led the group in a prayer of thanks for their daily bread, knowing none was in front of them.

In no time, a baker knocked at the door. He said God had awakened him at 2 a.m. and told him to bake bread for the orphans and he was just delivering it. Moments after that, a milk wagon broke an axle in front of their building. The driver had to unload all the milk to fix the wagon, meaning the milk would go bad before he could sell it. Would the orphans have use of his milk?

So, on Wednesday morning I challenged Alex, Anna and myself to take a minute and pray like George Mueller. We did so, and then we talked about the times we've prayed and seen God work immediately and the times we've prayed and God hasn't answered the way we would like, but we still know we can trust Him for our good.

Thursday morning, I got up and started scrolling through facebook updates on my phone. I didn't get far at all before seeing an update from Andrea Roberts, Reece's Rainbow founder, that said we need to get busy finding homes for all the other older girls with Down syndrome now that Elizabeth C. had her family find her.

I dropped that phone like a hot potato and ran into the kitchen were John and the kids were gathering for our morning family devotional. "Alex and Anna! Guess what I prayed yesterday? I prayed that Elizabeth would find a family and guess what!!! I just found out she did!!!" I think overjoyed would be a good word.

In one day, God had strengthened the faith of my family and found a home for a girl who desperated needed one. He's very efficient that way, our God.

My challenge to my readers and to myself is to continue to pray like George Mueller, trusting that God cares, God loves, God is real, God is trustworthy and God desires to make His Name known in a fallen world by answering our prayers.

I know that this isn't Monday but I don't think it matters. I'll post it on A Place Called Simplicity next Monday. I was gone all day yesterday and couldn't post this wonderful news and I just couldn't wait any longer to share the news.

How great is our God?

Now, where's the family for Elizabeth's best friend, Angelina? I believe it's time to pray.

 Angelina R., July 8, 2004

UPDATE: Here is the link to the family blog of Elizabeth C's family! They just returned from China in September with a new blessing, also found on Reece's Rainbow. What a lovely, God-honoring family He found for our sweet Elizabeth!!

Anna's debris hut

Anna is taking an online course called Adventures in Literature. They are reading through a number of different books with adventure themes. One of the books, Brian's Hunt, is set in the Canadian wilderness. Brian is mostly alone and builds a debris hut for shelter. Anna's class was asked to build one as well and then send pictures of their results to the teacher. The kids and I had a great time assisting Anna in building her hut. We are fortunate that we live with some woods on our property. We even threw some flowers on the hut for decoration (seeing as it's the end of the season and some of our flowers had grown incredibly large due to all the rain).

I thought she did a great job! She has really blossomed this year in school as far as taking a lot of responsibility for her assignments. With each new book assigned, her teacher will give pages of project ideas, vocabulary, etc. Anna will disappear to her room for hours and work diligently on her assignments. It's been a fun experience, and she is already looking forward to next semester's class!

Funny wish list from The Bitter Homeschooler. I don't endorse each item, per se, but other items certainly ring true. As an example:

7 We don't look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear they're in public school. Please stop drilling our children like potential oil fields to see if we're doing what you consider an adequate job of homeschooling.

As an added example:

16 Don't ask my kid if she wouldn't rather go to school unless you don't mind if I ask your kid if he wouldn't rather stay home and get some sleep now and then.

Not that I'm bitter. ;-D

Only in our home...

...would you hear these comments. OK, maybe in a few other multi-national, special needs households, but really, how common is a family like this? :-)

The kids recently had a couple of friends over to play. As part of a homeschooling moment, I made African Groundnut sauce over rice. I was explaining to our friends about the dish (and that I would happily provide a substitute lunch for them!) when one of them said, "My favorite type of food is Mexican."

Luke's deadpan response? "My favorite kind of sibling is Chinese."


A frequent conversation at our house involves the four big kids (Luke, Alex, Song, Anna) placing a future 'claim' on one of the Downsey girls. As in, "Ella gets to live with me when mom and dad die." I found out, though, that one of the big kids thought they had to take one of the Downsey girls with them when they left home! Appealing as that thought may be some days, I assured this child that they were all welcome to grow up and have their own lives! I am glad, however, that they feel like having one of the girls around would be a plus.

Yesterday, as I was teaching the big kids, Vera comes waltzing into the school room wearing a camo cap (backwards) and...something related to hunting in cold weather that we were given by a friend who clearly doesn't realize we don't hunt. I took the pictures on my phone because I had it in the school room, so the pics aren't particularly clear.

Boy, did we all have a huge laugh! When Luke stopped trying to pose Vera for all these pictures I told the kids that I didn't think their future families would ever be as endlessly entertaining as the family they have now!! So, of course, they again started to lay claim to their Downsey siblings...I guess they believed me and didn't want a future without their silly sisters.

The funniest thing I've heard lately, though, comes from the Daddy of the Downseys. John's family was having a semi-serious discussion of words they would like on their headstones when John chimed in that his should have a mere four words:

GOOD LUCK WITH VERA

San Francisco--Days 3 & 4

Now that Dad was in meetings all day we three girls went out on our own. And where did we go? Where else--Chinatown again! That was what they had most looked forward to seeing and experiencing and so that's what we did.

We stopped in a Chinese bakery where Anna selected a Lotus Moon cake and Song a 'Chinese tamale.' The tamale seemed to be wrapped in seaweed and contained sticky rice, some veggies, and some sausage. Whether the wrapping was seaweed or not, it flavored the rest of the ingredients in an interesting way.

I'm glad we tried it, but I don't know that it will make Song's top ten list.
After doing some heavy-duty shopping in Chinatown John met us for lunch there. This time, we decided to forego the touristy Chinese restaurant and found a restaurant where we were about the only non-Asians. Three of us, anyway. ;-) It was very good and we loved people-watching there.

We walked back to the hotel and ventured over to the Yerba Buena Gardens, which includes not only a garden area but also the convention center and an entertainment complex with a bowling alley, childrens' museum, and an ice skating rink. The girls were set on ice skating and they had a great time there.

When we left we found this huge globe sculpture. Notice Song pointing to Shanghai.
I love this picture! Such pretty little girls.
This is the upstairs part of the gardens, which we discovered when we took the elevated walkway/bridge back from the rink. There is a little cafe' and the top of the waterfall we had noticed the night before.

I had the girls pose in front of these flowers--they are my favorites!

I loved this picture of the gardens. I love the symmetry in the plantings and containers.

I actually don't know for sure if these pictures were taken on day 3, after ice skating, or on day 4, after seeing Kung Fu Panda on IMAX. The theater was also part of the entertainment complex. I know that we visited Chinatown one more time on day 4, and the girls went swimming a couple more times, and we went to eat dinner on night 3 with some people who were also at the conference with John. We ate at Bepo de Buco, or something like that, and it wasn't very good compared to all the other great food we had. But night 4, well that's another story, and I'm saving it for the next post....

School's out! School's out!

Someone let the monkeys out!

Yes, we're done for the year. OK, not for the calendar year, but the school year, of course. I have big plans, however, for each of the big kids to pick a topic and study it in depth over the summer. I also have big plans to work on some math issues with Song and Luke, but we'll see how that goes. Believe it or not, the kids are fine with doing more work. They like school days at home.

I haven't ordered our curriculum for next year yet, but I plan to do so soon. For the last few years, Luke has always grabbed one of the main history texts and read it for pleasure over the summer and on into the year. Actually, I don't think that adequately explains what Luke does. Somehow, he manages to memorize the book! When I tell the kids what the history topic for the day is, he can immediately tell me which title/page number we will be studying and tell us all about it. It's a little freaky! So, I have disturbed him greatly by reminding him that we're about to have all new books this year and we're going into American history, which he has not studied. Poor baby...he'll have to learn along with his siblings. So, in support of his history habit, I will likely order the books soon so he'll have a head start. Actually, it helps me, as the teacher, to have a back-up brain! Luke not only knows the material, but understands it and sees the connectedness of all the pieces and can easily discuss it with us while we study. I'm sorry for all the bragging, but as the teacher and as his mom it is really fun to watch!

I don't know where he picked up this love for history. I hated it in school. I actually like it now, and I guarantee I'm learning at least as much as the kids! I couldn't have told you what the Magna Carta was until I taught it this year, or the Pax Romana, or even why the Reformation started with Martin Luther, even though he wasn't the first to discern the abuses of the Catholic Church. Now, I know. ;-)

So, school's out for a while, but I'm hoping it's never completely out. We will continue to practice the various Bible passages we learned this year. For instance, all four big kids can say Philippians 2:3-16; well, one of them struggles, but has still learned a LOT. That's pretty cool! Especially since one of the verses is: Do everything without complaining or arguing. And another verse is: Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Those are good verses to have handy!

Random pictures

Vera holding one of our new, and unexpected, puppies, all of whom are black.
Song playing the air Guitar Hero, mentally trying to help Luke. Please note that Luke is not, repeat NOT, wearing a Texas Rangers hat. His cousins gave him a Dallas Cowboys hat and a Texas Tech hat and he actually wears them. It's a miracle. He has a rotation of hats now, so we only have to see and smell the Rangers hat every third day.
That Emma girl loves to dance, and she's quite dramatic. Prissy, actually.
More proof that school occurs in our household. Well, at least it's proof that we have a school room, school table, and some books, not to mention some goofy looking students.
Yes, we have tables, but apparently no beds. So, so sad. So, so cute!

Ella looks more comfortable this go-round, and you've gotta love those hot pink boots!
Song, the puppy's greatest champion. I promise she has other clothing besides the yellow vest, but she surely doesn't mind wearing it for several days in a row. Considering how big Mt. Laundry can get in our home, I surely don't mind her wearing it more than once! If only more of the children could stay clean enough...
I thought this was a pretty cool castle that Luke built. We've been studying Medieval history and were looking at castle layouts so Luke had to demonstrate his knowledge of the subject.

Funny homeschool video

It isn't on youtube, so I can't put it on the blog, but it's short and cute. Click here.

Homeschool is really hard

Especially when you're lying on a granite countertop, listening to Jonathan Park audio tales.

I think Ella looks much more comfortable!

School's in

Actually, school has been in session at SpIGoT for three weeks now. We started off slowly and I think we're still going fairly slow, but we're enjoying ourselves.

The kids are all crazy about an audio series called "Jonathan Park." The fifth edition was recently issued and so we have been listening to it. Each edition has twelve episodes of about 30 minutes each. Although the storylines are interesting and compelling, we do this as school work because of all the science that is discussed. Each edition comes with a study guide and that helps us to reinforce the information presented.

We are going to go back to the first edition soon, because we didn't utilize the study guide when we first listened to it. It's been a fun way to add in some science, my least favorite subject to teach!

Of course, the kids are working on math and grammar. I switched Song to the same math curriculum as Luke. That lit a fire under him, as he just realized she is about to catch up to the same book as he uses! I think he could finish his book in a month if he put his mind to it. It's obviously plenty easy for him. I am just making him finish it so we don't miss anything important.

Last week we started going through a new little curriculum I picked up at the homeschool bookfair. It's about Ancient China, so naturally we're all enjoying it, although Alex wants to know why we aren't doing Russia. Well....I do have a curriculum about Russia, too, but right now it is more chronologically consistent to study China. We'll get back to Russia, eventually.

Last week, the three big kids had to find and read about a different dynasty in the encyclopedias we got from my grandparents. They reported what they had learned the next day. We discussed what inventions went with the different dynasties. We had a great time.

On Friday the girls decorated our entry hall (which has the most empty floor space) with Chinese lanterns and we hung a quilt from China from the balcony. Song and Anna dressed up in their Chinese dresses. We moved the coffee table in, brought pillows to sit on, and ate our Chinese take-out! OK, not entirely authentic, but fun. We were going to do a study on Chinese family life, but were interrupted by friends. I'm sure they wondered what on earth they had stumbled upon!

I wish I had pictures, but alas, my camera is on the blink. I finally learn how to use it and it fritzes out on me. Why am I not surprised!

Junior Builders

Yesterday the big girls (as we usually refer to Song and Anna) found some craft sticks and glue and got to work building a home for some of their Target animals (the little Schleich figurines from Target). They worked for well over an hour on those houses, coated them in glue, and let them dry overnight. Today, they are painting them and putting sequins and pom poms on them! What a fun summer project that they initiated! I am so impressed that they are being very careful and neat and cleaning up for themselves. Gotta love those girls!!

Rain on July 23rd in Texas!

I'm also throwing in a couple of pictures during the rainstorm that show off my lovely Chinese lantern valance that the the kids made while "rowing" The Story of Ping a few years ago, and the Japanese carp they made while rowing A Pair of Red Clogs.



Could it be? Pouring down at an angle from heaven above! What a blessed year we have had with rain around here! I have had to hand water very few times, although I am still expecting to have a hot and busy August and September.





Song decided that during the rain was a great time to throw out our leftovers on the compost pile, though she didn't get as soaked as I predicted!

What is Spigot?

Spigot is an acronym for our homeschool:

SP*** Institute of GOdly Training. My dear friend Melissa suggested SPIT, the Sp**** Institute of Training, but because we're hoping to instruct our children in righteousness rather than bad manners, we thought Spigot, where learning flows, was better. Less appropriate for our crazy household, perhaps, but aspirationally better.