Sky with The Kore Kids

 Sky is in a singing group at church called The Kore Kids.  Last Sunday they did a performance of 2 songs that they had been working on. 

 It was a bit of a country-type song so they dressed for the part.  Sky had a much better shirt option but it was Brad's shirt and she just couldn't bring herself to wear a BOYS shirt. 

 Anyway, Sky had a solo and she did great.  She LOVES to sing and takes any chance she can get to be involved in a production. 

Learning Fun

 We've been having lots of fun adventures around here but it has also been very busy with the end of the semester too so I haven't been able to blog as much as I would like to.  Sky had a project on landforms with her co-op and she chose to do a relief map of Israel (with some help from her dad).  The labels on the map are various landforms in Israel.  We're thinking that this map will be fun for the kids to track where we are while we're gone. 

 We captured an alligator lizard a few days ago.  It was missing most of its tail which is why we were able to catch it (those little guys are usually very fast).  We looked up some information online about them and discovered tthat they eat all kinds of insects (and even fellow lizards), including black widows.  So, we saved it to show Ken when he got home and then we let the little guy go free.  The kids had fun hunting for bugs for him all day. 

 We've discovered this wonderful book series with science experiments.  We already "made" a rubber egg (soaking an egg in vinegar for a few days).  And today we made a liquid rainbow using different liquids that had different densities with the help of some food coloring.
Sky's last day (according to the charter school) of school was Thursday but she still has 2 days at her co-op left this week.  Then it's summertime, here we come!  We will still do some homeschooling over the summer-reading, of course, and also learning cursive along with a few other odds and ends. 

The little cherubs

Good times on Mt. Baldy

 A few weeks ago we took the kids to Mt. Baldy for some fishin' fun.  This particular place stocks these little ponds with BIG rainbow trout.  It's definitely cheating but it's great for kids who don't want to wait all day for a fish.  You have to buy whatever you catch and they clean them for you and pack them on ice.  We let each kid catch a fish.  Lila's was the biggest and she named it "Cocoa".

 Sky named her fish "Flippy" because it flipped around a lot (and she squealed each time it did). 

 Brad named his fish "Die" because that was what it was going to do...  By the way, doesn't Brad look handsome in his glasses? 

Then we drove up the mountain a ways to see the rapidly melting snow.  When we got home, we marinated the fish, grilled them and everyone ate some.  Pretty fun!

Museum Acquisition

What has Ken been doing lately?  Besides being an awesome husband and father, keeping up with the ever-present yard work, teaching his classes, being on a search committee for a new Old Testament professor, planning a trip to Israel, trying to finish up his commentary on the biblical book of Judges, and teaching Sky and Brad to play the piano, he also is the head of a committee that is in charge of moving The Museum of Biblical and Sacred Writings (sacredwritings.org) to BIOLA's campus.  No wonder he drinks so much coffee! 

The Museum of Biblical and Sacred Writings was established several years ago in Irvine, CA by Dr. George Giacumakis, and has recently moved to the Biola University campus. A partnership is being developed at this time wherein the Museum and the University will exhibit ancient inscriptions and archaeological artifacts related to the world of the Bible.
Biola is providing office space for two Museum staff members in the Biola Professional Building, storage space for its non-exhibited collections, and display space in the lower level of the Library for exhibits that bring the ancient world to light.
 The following items are on display:

• The Habakkuk Commentary Scroll (1QpHab) of the Dead Sea Scrolls in facsimile. The original scroll was copied in the second century BC.
• The Testimonia Fragment (4Q175/4QTest) of the Dead Sea Scrolls in facsimile.
• The Copper Scroll (3Q15) of the Dead Sea Scrolls in facsimile: three framed mountings on the wall, each featuring four columns of the text.
• Archaeological charts and equipment (e.g., camera, theodolite, etc.) from the Dead Sea Qumran excavations directed by Roland de Vaux in the early 1950’s.
• Terracotta artifacts (lamps, vessels, diagnostic sherds, etc) from various Near Eastern sites/periods.
• A Hebrew Torah Scroll from the late nineteenth century AD (105.5 ft. wide, with 172 columns on 54 panels) that survived the Holocaust.
• Near Eastern Grinding Mill from Lebanon, probably from the Middle Ages.
• Copies of archaeological artifacts that can be handled by students in classes which focus on these items. 

 Here are some pictures from the displays that he has set up on BIOLA's campus.

Easter Egg Hunts

 I haven't been able to blog in some time because blogger wasn't allowing me to publish.  So, I submitted a report and I am finally back online with blogging.  So, there is a lot to catch up on! 

We did a few Easter egg hunts this year.  I hosted a party for the MOMS Club and we had an egg hunt.  We also had our friends, the Denhams, here for Easter dinner and had an egg hunt with our kids.  Below is a picture of an Easter egg hunt that our town puts on every year.  Brad is in the center, if you can see him.  That was a hot day so there was lots of melted chocolate but everyone had fun. 

The best part of this Easter, however, was watching Sky and Brad understand the meaning of Christ's death and resurrection more fully.  It is so wonderful to see it all through a child's eyes again. 

Ken's Birthday

Ken and the kids with the birthday cupcakes (made by the kids).