Danika lost her first tooth!

Tonight Danika lost her first tooth! Dad gave her some Enjura and Rescue drops and rubbed Traumeel S on the gums and then he pulled the tooth with his fingers.

Where were the days where my parents would tie a piece of string around the tooth, the other end to the door knob, and then pull it? For a start it is almost impossible to tie a knot around the tooth and then, when you pulled, the string would break and we would have to start the whole process again!

I remember once my grandma pulled one of my teeth. She was pushing me on the swing in their garden. Grandma thought it a good idea to knot the other end of the string to the swing pole and then gave me a strong push on the swing. It worked very well, too well. I didn't feel anything, but my tooth got lost in the grass. We looked for hours, but the tooth was gone! Oh! The disappointment of loosing my tooth!

Maybe you too have an interesting tooth story and would like to share it with us?

Little Danika is all smiles now and very excited to see how much the tooth mouse will pay her for her tooth!

God visited me!

This past weekend we discovered that life, as we as a family know it, is going to change. We are going to have another baby! Yes! I'm pregnant!

Sometime during the past 5 weeks I was visited by God. In the following scriptures we read that God visited these women to give them conception:

Gen 21:1
“And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived…”
and 1 Sam 2:20-21
 “And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she conceived…”

Wow, God Almighty visited me and put a new soul in my womb. Isn’t that amazing? A soul that will live forever. I can't imagine, that right now, at this very moment, a tiny little human is growing inside me, in the image of God! Over the next 8 months my body will have the privilege of nurturing and protecting this baby while God puts together everything he or she needs to fulfil his or her calling in life! A precious new life that will bring God glory and be part of God's army that will destroy the dark works of the enemy! Wow! Isn't that awesome! It is such a big idea; my mind cannot understand the full meaning of it.

I want to sing like David in Ps 139
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

For this little person to answer the call on his or her life, the Lord entrusted Christo and I with his or her training. Training in God’s ways. I also cannot comprehend the full meaning of that! How God can entrust a brand new person in the hands of sinful parents, whom themselves are trying to get rid of sin, and fail tremendously in the attempt to do so. Still our almighty God is so gracious and merciful and has so much faith in the good work which He started in us - to become more like Him – that he gave us another baby. What a precious gift! What a privilege.

I got promoted as a mother. I'm not the mother of seven children anymore, I'm now the proud mother of eight children - Wow, I feel like singing and dancing, praising my wonderful God!

Daddy and Josua already bought a blue(?) outfit for our new baby. But Oh! Danika is already praying for months for a baby sister….

Daniel’s First Haircut!

Daniel (9 ½ months) got his first haircut! He was so good and didn’t even cry once!

He is my first baby that didn’t cry hysterical, but I must add, Lizelle is a natural in cutting children’s hair.

The finished product!

Organizing Toys

On Tuesday morning I decided it was time to sort out the children’s toys. It had been 2months since we last sorted out the toys, and everywhere you looked there was a mess of toys in cupboards, under the beds, on top of cupboards and in plastic buckets.

Heidi-Mari is really the one who has the gift of organization. I haven’t yet decided if my home is disorganized because too many things happen at once, and I cannot prioritize or plane since being organized is not one of my strengths! I like things to look neat and I always try to put things in their right places. Though part of the problem is not having an allocated place for certain stuff…, if you have a successful plan, please let me know!

So, every month or two, I have to come to a stop and try to sort out some areas in the home. Almost every member of this family, myself included, are hoarders and we hate to throw things away. But on days like Tuesday I would suppress my tendency to keep stuff, and practice decent decluttering!

All the toys sorted out and put in plastic buckets.

What a joy for children and Mom. Each boy could just grab a plastic bucket and play with his favourite toys.

Now the challenge is to keep it like that for at least a week…?!

Muscle System Lapbook

Heidi-Mari and Josua made a Muscle System Lap book as part of the Konos Unit Study, Cooperation. We got 3 books on the Muscle System from the library and we used the internet, where you can find very interesting sites on the muscle system. I tend to use the internet more and more for school, instead of using the library. It really become ‘mission impossible’ to visit the library with my three small boys. To visit the library with energetic and inquisitive the little ones, while trying to focus on the older children’s subject related books, is a real challenge for me. It’s a totally different story when we are looking for story books, as then the older ones can help themselves.

When you use General Science from Apologia you have access to multiple websites with stunning illustrations on the muscle system on a child’s level.

The children focused on the anatomy of the muscle;

and where muscles got their energy from (cellular metabolism);

the three types of muscles;

they demonstrated some of the muscles in their faces by making faces (this was great fun), they learnt how muscles contract in pairs and demonstrated the lever action of muscles attached to bones;

they gave a brief explanation of the Latin names for the different muscles; they discussed some muscle injuries;

How to treat a cramp and how to keep your muscles healthy and strong with your diet and exercise.

They used a variety of folds in this lapbook. Tab books (to illustrate the 3 types of muscles); accordion books (to illustrate the muscle injuries) and wheel books (to illustrate food groups in the diet) to name just a few.

My main goal was to illustrate to them the cooperation between the muscle system and skeletal system and also the cooperation between the muscle system and nervous system. This is a fine example of how smooth a house can run when there is cooperation between family members, but also what a disaster it can be for the other members of the family, if one family member does not cooperate and has a bad attitude.

Dress for Heidi-Mari

This past weekend I finished a formal dress for Heidi-Mari. The material is the last of a few meters of winter cloth I bought 3 years ago; I was still pregnant with David!

It is so difficult to get decent, winter material for girls. Now I have to start the search for winter cloth all over again.

Our next sewing project is a beautiful, flared skirt with multiple tiers of varying widths, also for Heidi-Mari. We got different fabrics in various shades of pink for the multiple tiers. I cannot wait to get creative with these fine, lovely pieces of material!

Kayleigh

My heart broke into two as I learned this afternoon that little Kayleigh went to Jesus last night after a courageous, but much too short, life.

Would you please keep the Freeman family in your prayers as they mourn their beautiful daughter's passing?

Praise the Lord, they will see her again!