Going Worldly?

In general, our days these days consist of trying to finish up some schoolwork for the boys, getting the little girls in ‘line’ and trying to get on some  semblance of a schedule. (Thank you Stephanie for the inspiration) It has been an adjustment for sure.  No sun, indoors all day.. blech.  BUT, it has been nice to really focus in on the family, listening to sermons together, singing together (albeit  off key!)  One of the fun things we have been doing is unit studies again.  Now, I know that some people view unit studies as unprofitable and even worldly-minded;  but for us, we have to do something here to keep us from going stir-crazy! LOL. In addition, as our family continues to pray for the Lord to enlarge our hearts for the world, we do see the benefit of studying cultures and countries at this time for our family. 'Unit Studies' as a whole seems to be a great way for us at this time to accomplish that goal! We are greatful to Amanda Bennett who has offered all of her Unit Studies to us FREE of charge due to us being missionaries. What a blessing. Her unit studies are in E-Book form and although we as a family are trying to lessen our time on the internet, we have figured out ways to utilize her study without being online much. We open her ebook and  (plan on) printing (once I can figure out how to! LOL) some of her pre-planned worksheets (blank maps etc) and then look at her list of complimentory books in order to check them out from the library. We try to stay away from the youtube links included as we have recently seen such trashy clips, you know, the ones after the great youtube you just watched! Ugh! But really with a little pre-planning I think anyone interested in this type of curriculum would be very happy with it.  She does such a great job organizing her information! Check her exhaustive unit studies topics at http://www.unitstudy.com/

 Our latest study has been on the country of Ireland. Traditionally a Catholic country, riddled with generations of warfare and infighting, it has been very interesting to learn more about.  There are many prayer needs for the country of Ireland…  mainly that there would be a true revival of authentic Christianity. Praise the Lord, wouldn’t that be a blessing in and amidst a very atheistic and godless continent?

  Of course the kids all want to move to ‘The Emerald Isle’ next  (or at least have Grandma Bonnie take them all for a visit!) But for now we had to settle on preparing and enjoying a nice traditional Irish meal!  Our friends the Kings, graciously allowed us to spend the evening  in their home and share it with them! 

Amanda and Ryan prepared an ‘Iced Beet Salad” (which was my favorite!) Mandy made some” Irish Soda Bread “(both gf and wheat) served with orange marmalade.. Ashley and Amanda with the help of a few of the King children prepared “ Irish Ginger Cookies” w/icing and Mama made some traditional “Irish Lamb Stew” (which by the way was really horrible and needed a LOT more salt! LOL)

Did you know that Ireland is separated into 2 part.. Northern Ireland actually

 being part of the UK?The main differences being that Ireland (proper)

 has been mainly Catholic while Northern calls itself Prodestant.

 Hence some of the violence between the two over the years..

The children in our outdoor kitchen, preparing the meal..

                                                                                           
                                                                                  

Yummy Iced Beet Salad

Irish Soda Bread

Becca helps pass out the cookies

Clover shaped cookies!

Irish Stew

Mandy

Stephanie's sister, Susanna

Here is a 'shamrock', much like the ones reportably used by St. Patrick (who almost single handedly converted all of Ireland) to describe the trinity.

 Now onto China!  Library here we come!