Just Friday night ...

We didn't have an OVERNIGHT Friday night, we just had Friday night! We enjoyed a taco meal right here at the Beach House and ate until we were very full. We had ice cream cones for dessert too.

Our Bible story this week was Esau and Jacob, or Jacob and Esau--those rather confusing twins we meet in Genesis! I wasn't sure I liked either of these fellows, but the story is there for a reason and God is much wiser than we are!

The children painted along as I tried to tell the story as best as I could. We talked about Esau being the firstborn and what that meant, and how the Bible tells us (in other passages) that Esau despised his birthright and gave it away to Jacob (couldn't Jacob have just given his brother that bowl of lintel stew without making him pay for it?!). We learned that Isaac (the dad) favored Esau but mother Rebecca's favorite was Jacob.

We talked about Rebecca and her lack of faith that God would bring about what He had told her when the twins were fighting in her womb. We have been studying the whole issue of FAITH and what a journey of faith looks like. How gracious God is! He rewards those who seek Him and He increases our faith if we ask Him.

The children did a really nice job on their paintings, don't you think? We followed the story of Jacob and Esau all the way to where their dad, Isaac, was deceived into giving THE BLESSING to Jacob instead of Esau and how bitterly Esau wept over missing out on that blessing ...

We learned that Esau married two Egyptian girls and that this was a source of grief to his parents. Why? Probably because these girls worshipped other gods, not the True and Living God. What would that mean for Esau's future children? They would not have a mom who would teach them about God's ways … so sad.

Jacob did receive THE BLESSING, but as a result Esau was so angry he made it known that he would murder Jacob once Isaac was no longer alive. Rebecca, not wanting Jacob to marry one of the local pagan girls, sent Jacob away to her home country to find a wife from her family. Rebecca never saw Jacob again. We talked together about sometimes the choices we make can never be changed and that sad things happen as a result, and we asked God to help us to seek Him and His ways, and to give us "eyes of faith."

More Brendan ...

 This is dolly. She lives at Brendan's house and gets involved in a lot of playtime activities over there. Brendan really loves it when people pretend and animate his toys with him. He gets a real kick out of it. So dolly was included in as many of our Thursday activities as possible, but this is my only picture of her.

A rather soulful picture of Little Fellow

I could only play for a little while Thursday. I wasn't feeling 100%--lots of colds and flu going around that were trying very hard to catch me, so I was a little bit tired Thursday. But since Brendan had been sick with a cold the prior week, I didn't think I could possibly re-infect him, so I stopped by for a little while at least. So glad I did--I could see Brendan jumping up and down at his front window as I pulled into the driveway. Such a nice greeting.

Brendan was "crazy" wound up the whole time I was over at his house on Thursday. I don't think I have ever seen him quite this … ACTIVE! We played in his room, "jumping on the clouds" (his bed sheets are pretty blue clouds and Brendan loves to jump on his bed like a trampoline), we played in the basement with his trains, we played in the front room with his balloon ball and his other toys too.

I love spending time with these guys. Happiness abounds. Thank you, Lord.

An early birthday celebration for Matthew

Since I am never quite certain what each weekend will bring and this year is Matthew's GOLDEN birthday, AND his presents had all come in the mail this week, we decided he should open them up and we would have an early celebration of his special day right here at The Beach House.

There were no surprises here because we had ordered these LEGOS on line a few weeks ago ... 

But still … Matthew was quite excited to open them up anyway!

 I love these pictures of Matthew! 

Matthew was worried about ordering LEGO Friends because they were originally made for girls, so that girls could have cool LEGOs too; but I think it is just fine that Matthew ordered these. All of the children (Emma, Chris and Matthew) have been building a city in their playroom in the basement at their house, and Matthew felt this would be a nice addition to it. 

 Several months ago when I had asked Matthew what he especially wanted for his GOLDEN birthday, he told me he wanted his very own Bible--NOT a children's edition--but a REAL Bible. I checked out many Bibles, but came back to this NIV Adventure Bible because it is laid out so nicely for kids Matthew's age. I was able to get his name engraved on it too. He was very pleased.

 The children started building the sets right away. Matthew was very gracious and allowed everyone to play and build ...

 I baked Matthew's favorite double-chocolate brownies, plopped some candles on top, and voila'! 

 We sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY and then Matthew made his wishes ...

 Way to go, Matthew!

 Saturday morning, after a less than good-night's rest (due to all three children having nasty coughs and colds), we had our Bible lesson about Isaac and Rebekah. I was able to purchase some watercolor paint sets for each of the kiddos, which made their art time more interesting this week.

 They did such a nice job painting the story … and it is such a beautiful story of God's faithfulness.

I really enjoyed watching the kids paint these illustrations. We learned all about Eliezar, Abraham's servant, and his faithfulness to Abraham and to God. We heard about how God led Eliezar all the way to Abraham's family to find a wife for Isaac, how Eliezar's faith in God sustained him, how Rebekah's faith enabled her to make the long journey to an unknown country to join Isaac. We have been studying these stories of faith and praying that God would give us eyes and hearts of faith to follow Him wherever He would lead us!

Together Tuesday ...

Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day, a favorite holiday of Kelly-O's for many reasons … chiefly, though, because she is IRISH, which is enough right there! So I offered them a date night (which we have been trying to do monthly anyway)--and they snatched it right up! I met Kelly and Brendan over where Dylan works, and we got Brendan all snug in his car seat and then we drove straight over to the ...

 CAR WASH!!  Brendan LOVES car washes!

 I tried to get some good pictures of his dear little face while we were passing those glorious spinning brushes. These snaps were the best I could do under the circumstance.

I know Brendan does not appear to be ecstatically happy about this … but he IS. He is taking it all in and his little mind is working it out … how the brushes spin, the water sprays, the dryers blow … he doesn't miss anything. 

I love it when Brendan comes to visit my little Beach House. He loves it here. I was really pleased when the first thing he asked for was the bean bags. A few weeks ago when he spent some time over here, we had gotten them out and I had put on "The Bean Bag" song, perfect for three-year-old kiddos. 

We did the song together over and over again … mostly with Brendan up in my arms and ME doing all of the work! But then throughout the night, I would hear him humming the tune and singing the song. He has a really sharp memory and is VERY musical. 

 We also enjoyed tossing the bean bags around ...

 Brendan was really enthused about this ...

 I love the above picture of him. Sweetheart!

See the alphabet puzzle on the floor? We played with that for a long time too. AND I got out my animal memory cards and we had so much fun matching all of the animals up together and seeing if any of them were on our alphabet puzzle too! 

 While I was throwing some dinner together, Brendan requested I light some candles and get a few lighthouses out for him to play with … what a great little kid! He so enjoys these lighthouses.

 We read many books--train books and lighthouse books. We played our instruments for quite awhile too. And we naturally put all of the matchbox cars through our own pretend car wash.

 We topped off the night with an ice cream sundae! Brendan really loves ice cream sundaes, especially the whipped cream.

Kelly-O brought some shamrock cookies over--wasn't that sweet of her? We were too tired to eat them after all of that playing! I sent three back home with them and kept one for my lunch! Such a lovely together Tuesday!