Vacation Nature Pictures

The Vacation Is Over

More fun with cousins.

Enjoying the train ride.

The vacation is over and we are into our third day of school. In order to take as much time as we need when the new baby arrives (sometime after Christmas) we have started school early this year. So far so good. We have had rain almost everyday which has made the temperature delightful. It has also caused us to be really ready for Autumn.

I am hoping that I will soon have time to post what we are doing this year in our little homeschool. This year I have a second grader and a kindergartener (not to mention their busy 3 year old little brother!)

Wordless Wednesday

Gone Fishing

Wordless Wednesday

The Cousins

It is hard to believe that the summer is almost over! We have had a summer packed full of family. It has been good having the chance to spend time with family that we don't often see. The boys have absolutely loved their time with "the cousins." Next week we will be spending time with more cousins as we go on vacation together to Colorado!

Wordless Wednesday

Honey Glazed Chicken

This recipe is really easy and kids love it!

2T butter
¼ cup honey
3 T mustard
2 t curry
½ t salt

Melt butter in a 9x13 dish. Add remaining ingredients to butter. Coat chicken and bake. Uncovered. For 45 minutes at 375

THY JOHN

by Amy Carmichael

As John upon his dear Lord's breast,
So would I lean, so would I rest;
As empty shell in depths of sea,
So would I sink, be filled with Thee.

As water lily in her pool
Through long, hot hours is still and cool,
A thought of peace, so I would be
Thy water-flower, Lord, close by Thee.

As singing bird in high, blue air,
So would I soar, and sing Thee there;
No rain nor stormy wind can be
When all the air is full of Thee.

And so though daily duties crowd,
And dust of earth be like a cloud,
Through noise of words, O Lord, my Rest,
Thy John would lean upon Thy breast.

Wordless Wednesday

‘God never places us in any position in which we can not grow. We may fancy that He does. We may fear we are so impeded by fretting, petty cares that we are gaining nothing; but when we are not sending any branches upward, we may be sending roots downward. Perhaps in the time of our humiliation, when everything seems a failure, we are making the best kind of progress.’

-Elizabeth Prentiss

Texas Horned Lizard

Wordless Wednesday

UPDATE: Polyphemus Moth Eggs

I am sorry to say that our moth eggs had a bad end. A few days ago, Mark and I were surprised to find that the eggs had hatched and we had tiny little larva crawling all over the box they were in and all over the books and papers next to the box. We tried to round them all up and put them into an insect house that we previously used for hatching butterflies. Then we went around gathering leaves that were supposed to be their favorite. They seemed to like the leaves; so we had hopes that they would grow and eventually go into their cocoons and hatch as the beautiful Polyphemus moth.

Well, last night we had to go and pick up Mark at the airport. He was just returning from the Together For The Gospel conference. While we were waiting at the airport a huge storm blew through our city and neighborhood. When we arrived home our insect house was nowhere to be seen. We searched the yard with a flashlight, but found nothing. Today we will have to scout the neighborhood and see if we can find any clues about our missing larva.

Wordless Wednesday

For Sweet Lilly

HOMECALL
By Amy Carmichael

Out of the heat and out of the rain,
Never to know or sin or pain,
Never to fall and never to fear-
Could we wish better for one so dear?

What has she seen and what has she heard,
She who has flown away like a bird?
Eye has not seen, nor dream can show
All she has seen, all she may know,

For the pure powers of Calvary
Bathe little souls in innocency.
Tender, tender Thy love words be:
"Dear little child, come home to Me."

Polyphemus Moth

Mark is busy writing a paper for his Aramaic class. Therefore, to be a help we have gone to visit family. The boys are having a great time playing outdoors almost all day long. My mother lets them dig holes in her backyard, which she says will one day be a fish pond. I am not sure what it will be, but they are loving it.

Last night we were having dinner at my cousin's house and she showed us a moth that had made its way into her garage and was laying eggs on the cement! It was a beautiful Polyphemus Moth, like the one in the above picture. It was a very bad place to lay eggs (right in the driveway). So, we gently loaded them into a box and hope to see them hatch. I found that the usual host is "A wide variety of trees and shrubs including oak (Quercus), willow (Salix), maple (Acer), and birch (Betula)" I found the information and picture here .

This will be a fun way to tell the story of Odysseus and Polyphemus. I think the moth is much more beautiful than its namesake, don't you?

THE AGE-LONG MINUTE

By Amy Carmichael

Thou art the Lord who slept upon the pillow;

Thou art the Lord who soothed the furious sea;

What matter beating wind and tossing billow

If only we are in the boat with Thee?

Hold us in quiet through the age-long minute

While Thou art silent, and the wind is shrill.

Can the boat sink while Thou, dear Lord, art in it?

Can the heart faint that waiteth on Thy will?

Paper Kite

Idea leuconoe

Wordless Wednesday