My Little Pilgrim

On Tuesday, Sarah's 4-year-old preschool class performed their Thanksgiving play.

The class was split up into a group of Indians (Native Americans, if I'm forced to be politically correct) and a group of Pilgrims.

Each student had one line to memorize. Sarah's line was "The boat ride from England was long and hard."

She memorized it with no problems and by the day of the performance she had memorized most of the other kid's lines as well.

She said her line loud and clear and I video taped it all. That evening after dinner, we hooked up the recorder to the TV so that Daddy and Peter could see the show.

Sarah was quite pleased to see herself on TV.

I wasn't able to get a picture of her during the show because I was videotaping it. Although I did try to hold the camera with one hand and the recorder with the other but all the shots were blurry.

Apparently multitasking photography is something I'm not capable of doing well.

But I got a picture of her back in her classroom before she took off her costume.

Doesn't she make an adorable pilgrim girl?

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie...

...and I'm not referring to myself...at least not until tomorrow, anyway. And you can bet I'll be swallowing a lot of pie then.


The turkeys at Peter's Thanksgiving celebration were a bit of a bust but the story and activity that we did were a hit!

I read There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie . The kids seemed excited to see what she was going to swallow next and most of them were sure that she was going to die.

Before I read it the second time, I gave each student a piece of the food that she had swallowed. And when I got to the part in the story about the food they were holding, they got to come up and put it in her mouth.

I made the old lady out of poster board and cut out the stomach and mouth.

I then cut the bottom out of a large freezer bag and tapped it to another large freezer bag. Then I taped them both to the back of the poster board where I had cut holes for the mouth and stomach. This way, when the kids put the food in the old lady's mouth it would drop into her stomach and they could see it.

I made the "food" out of clip art that I glued to index cards. I also wrote the name of the food item on the card to reinforce the spelling of the word.

Reinforce the spelling of the word? That sounds all kindergarten teachery doesn't it?

I wasn't sure how they would like this activity but they loved it! But I should have known it would be a big hit because I got the idea from Kristen's Kindergarten. Thanks Kristen!

Mr. Potato Turkey

Yesterday Jennifer and I were in charge of the Thanksgiving celebration in my son's kindergarten class.

We sang songs, read a story and manned 4 centers. One of the centers was the craft center and we made these cute little Turkey Potatoes.

I had already cut the beaks and the wattles out of construction paper and glued them to toothpicks. So all the kids had to do were poke them into the potato along with feathers. They also had to glue the eyeballs on to the potato.

I thought this would be an easy craft for the kids but it turned out to be a little more frustrating for them than I had anticipated.

A lot of the craft feathers broke because they kids were so eager to cram place them into the turkey's back. So I ended up having to help most of them with the feathers.

And even good old Elmer's glue was no match for googly eyes and potatoes.

I guess we won't be making potato Santa Clause heads at the Christmas celebration.

Miracle Monday

It's Monday again! Time for another edition of Miracle Monday.

I have a wonderful friend named Christie. She's not a blogger but let's not hold that against her! Maybe one of these days she'll start one!

Christie has a cousin named Maggie who is battling Lymphoma. Here is an email that Christie sent to all of her friends asking for prayers and help for Maggie:

Maggie is only 25 years old and is married to Shane and they have an 9 month old baby girl, Allison.

Last month Maggie was experiencing a fast heart rate and was scheduled to see a cardiologist for some tests and a 24 hr EKG. They weren’t that concerned, but thought it best to check it out.

Before she ever made it to that appointment, she went to see her primary doctor thinking she had a sinus infection…as well as some shortness of breath…and she was rushed to the hospital on Tuesday evening, Oct. 21st.

A CAT scan revealed fluid around her heart and lungs and a tumor that was attached to her heart and trachea. Maggie was sedated and a chest tube drained 2 liters of fluid from her chest that first night. She spent over a week in ICU…on a ventilator, sedated…fighting for her life.

During that time many tests were done and she was eventually diagnosed with Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma. This was terrible news as it is a very aggressive form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Fortunately, however, this type of cancer responds well to chemo.

They started Maggie on chemo as soon as possible and within days the tumor had shrunk by 1/3! The doctors were amazed! They were able to remove the ventilator and move her out of ICU. At that point she had to be told what had happened to her since she had been unconscious much of the time.

She had a few other complications…blood clots in her arm from the constant BP cuff & needles, low immunity from the chemo, staph infection, etc. She was given antibiotics for the infection and finally released from the hospital on Wed, 11/5. She is now living at her in-laws’ house along with her husband and baby girl.

Although recent news has been good, her ordeal is far from over. She will continue chemo treatments every few weeks for the foreseeable future and will have frequent appointments with her oncologist and other doctors.

This is an ugly form of cancer and often recurs in different areas of the body, so she will probably never rest easy even if she wins this particular battle.

The medical bills are starting to stream in now and they are very overwhelmed with that…I’m not sure how much will be covered by insurance. They were on Maggie’s insurance, but have switched to Shane’s since Maggie can’t work and she didn’t have disability, etc. Shane has missed a lot of work as well with Maggie’s hospitalization and all of her appointments.

Christie is asking for prayers for Maggie and Shane and Allison. And if you can provide any financial help - even $1 or $2 makes a difference. Here is the PayPal link that Christie set up:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=1304324

And just so you know who you are praying for, here is a picture of Maggie holding Allison. (My friend Christie is in the green).

Please pray for Maggie's healing. I would love to write a post one day that tells that Maggie is free from this cancer!

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." (Mark 11:24)

If you have a miracle you would like to share, it's easy to participate. Just post a miracle on your blog and link it back here using Mr. Linky below.

Please mention "A Mom's Life" and my URL in your post. And if you want, you can use the Miracle Monday button in your post as well.

This edition of Miracle Monday is now closed. Please come back next Monday if you would like to link to a miracle on your blog. If you are looking for other miracles, please check our Miracle Monday archives located on the right sidebar.

As The Kindergarten Turns

An interesting letter came home in Peter's backpack yesterday.

It seems that all four Kindergarten classes are at or over the North Carolina state law limit of 23 children. So the principal is in the process of hiring a new teacher and when the kids get back from winter break there will be five Kindergarten classes instead of four.

How exciting for the kids! And of course I say that with my tongue gouging out of my cheek.

They will be taking 4-6 kids out of each of the existing classes and putting them in the new class.

We don't know yet which kids will be uprooted from their current class and placed in the new class.

We don't know who the new teacher will be. I can only imagine that there are large numbers of excellent teachers to hire from in the middle of the school year. (I hope I'm wrong.)

I'm not even sure where the actually fifth classroom is going to be.

The only positive out of this whole mess is that all of the classes will be smaller and each child will theoretically receive a better education.

I just want to know why they didn't plan for this before now. Last year there were 5 Kindergarten classes. Why didn't they just keep 5 Kindergarten classes this year expecting that new kids would join raising them up to their limit?

I am sure the school was trying to save money. But it seems to me it was at the expense of at bunch of unsuspecting 5-year-olds.

Peter is not happy about this potential change and neither am I. I am trying to keep an open mind and I'm praying for the best possible outcome for Peter.

But why do I find myself Googling "Homeschooling" more and more these days?

The Housewife's Holiday Gift Guide

I normally like to have all of my Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving so that I can enjoy the Christmas season without all of the stress of shopping.

But at this point, I have done ZERO shopping. And after a quick glance at the calendar, I just realized that I don't think I'm going to make it this year.

But never fear! Jo-Lynne from Musings of a Housewife to the rescue! She has created The Housewife's Holiday Gift Guide. (I've also got a link on my sidebar - it's to your left.)

I'm not sure if I will meet my Thanksgiving deadline, but with this guide, I may get close.

And Jo-Lynne has 13 giveaways going on so make sure you check it out!

Miracle Monday

Is it Monday already? Well then it must be time for a miracle!

Nikke posted a wonderful miracle last week that I wanted to share with you all today.

This past summer, Nikke worked at her church's Vacation Bible School. The woman that helped her was fairly new to the church and at the end of each class, Nikke was able to spend some time getting to know this woman.

She had a rough childhood and her parents died when she was 4. She had been on her own since she was 16.

She had been into drugs and alcohol and got pregnant young. She told Nikke that a few years ago her apartment building caught fire and she lost everything she had, even the few items she had from her childhood.

By the end of the week, they had gotten to know each other pretty well and she told Nikke what had brought her to their church.

She had been really depressed, started drinking and decided to kill herself one evening. She grabbed a 9mm handgun and started driving to a remote place. She failed to use a turn signal and was pulled over by the cops.

She was arrested and taken to jail. She spent almost a month in jail, where she started reading the Bible. One day during her time in jail, a woman from prison ministries came in and they talked to her about God and the Bible.

She said just before the woman left the woman told her "I don't care what you did to get yourself in here, I just want you to know you will be in my thoughts and prayers when you get out."

After she got out of jail she did two months in drug/alcohol rehab. One day, while at a gas station, she bought a few food items and came up short. The man behind her in line gave her the money to pay for her items. She was thanking him and they started talking and he ended up inviting her to church.

After coming to our church a few times, that man's wife invited her to a ladies Bible study class. She connected with several women there and was attending regularly. After one of the studies, one of the women invited her to go to lunch with her and her mom.

They met at the restaurant and she was seated next to the woman's mother. As she sat listening to the mother talk, she thought "I've heard that voice before." Before lunch was up she realized that this voice belonged to the woman from prison ministries!

At first neither one could believe it. The mother leaned over, hugged her and said "I never thought I'd see you again but I have been thinking about you and praying for you ever since I met you!

There are many small events leading up to what would appear at first glance to be a coincidence. Or just another one of those "Wow! It's a small world" moments.

But it was God working all of these moments together to save this woman's life!

Look around you. What other things have you been calling coincidences? Could they in fact be God working small miracles all around you?

If you have a miracle you would like to share, it's easy to participate. Just post a miracle on your blog and link it back here using Mr. Linky below.

Please mention "A Mom's Life" and my URL in your post. And if you want, you can use the Miracle Monday button in your post as well.

PLEASE NOTE - when linking make sure to link to your Miracle Monday post. Do not link to the front page of your blog.

This edition of Miracle Monday is now closed. Please come back next Monday if you would like to link to a miracle on your blog. If you are looking for other miracles, please check our Miracle Monday archives located on the right sidebar.

He may be bossy but I'm the one that acts like a kid.

Peter happened to wander in the room when I was writing his "Six is..." post, so I read it to him.
"Bossy! You can't put that!" he exlaimed.
"Hmmmm...but you just proved that you really are bossy by telling me not to put that. And besides, it is MY blog and I can put anything I want on it. So na na na boo boo!" I taunted.
Sometimes it's fun being the mom.

Six is...

Six is...

smart
funny
shy
talkative
observant
bossy
a rule-follower
a picky eater
tender-hearted
a good tee ball player
loving
Mommy's little man


Six has my heart.

Happy Birthday, Peter!

Love

Mommy