a word from God

Recently I attended a "Ladies Night Out" event at our new church. It was a crafting night. For any of you that know me well, this is kind of a big deal. I'm not the type of person who is comfortable in a large group of people, especially when I don't know most of them. And I'm definitely not crafty. Not even a little bit. (In fact, I recently went to a craft store and bought some cheap photo frames and spray paint, thinking that I would save a bunch of money by doing it myself...they are now in the trash.) So this event was the epitome of out-of-my-comfort-zone.

For the project, I had to look up the meaning of my name, and think about what it revealed about my character. I had always known that Naomi means pleasant and delightful. Pretty excellent name, right? But that evening, I found out that it also means holy. That kind of freaked me out at first. Holy? I'm not holy! I am sometimes pleasant (depending on the time of the month), often delightful, but holy? Hmm...maybe I would leave that one out of the craft.

I couldn't get it out of my head, though, so I started to think about what it means to be holy. Set apart. Not conforming to the world. These were some of the phrases that kept coming to mind, and I knew they were in the Bible somewhere. Later on, I did a search to find those phrases and found lots of verses, one of which was Romans 12:2 (NKJV): And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The funny thing was, I had just written down that exact verse a few days earlier, but in a different version (NLT): Don't copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Huh. So maybe this is why God wanted me to go to Ladies Night Out.

I thought a lot about what God wanted to tell me through this verse, and it occurred to me that the lifestyle we have chosen is very "set apart" from the world. It seems like we have been questioning everything lately. Big things and little things. We have chosen not to be part of the school system because we knew that it was best for our kids and our family. We have chosen not to have Barbies in our house because we don't like they message they send young kids. We have chosen not to let our kids watch cable TV because we have witnessed how much it changes their behaviour and hinders their imagination. We have chosen to give our kids freedom to make their own decisions because we recognize that they are human beings with their own desires, just like any adult. We have chosen not to over-schedule our kids in activities and groups because we want them to have free time to play and just be kids. We have chosen to parent our kids in a gentle way (rather than using punishments, rewards and spankings to force them to obey), because we recognize that their needs and feelings are just as important as any adult's, and we want to treat them with respect so they will learn how to be respectful. So many of these choices are not the choices that other families would make. But I have realized that it's ok. Romans 12:2 tells us not to copy the behaviours of this world. For our family, that means making a lot of choices that might seem odd to other people.

I think God wanted to let me know that I'm on the right track. That I'm learning to know His will for me. His good, pleasing, and perfect will for ME. And that His will for me (and for our family) is going to look different than His will for other families. So I am happy to continue this journey, to keep learning, and to keep discovering what God has in store for us.

As a reminder and testament to what God is doing in our lives, I decided to make a poster of this verse. And since we all know how crafty I am, I designed it in photoshop and had it printed really big. It now hangs in our front hallway. Ella reads it every time we go out, so I hope it helps her realize that she doesn't need to copy the behaviours of this world, either.

a stormy evening

This is not my photo, but it's awesome.

Last night there was a thunderstorm. It was about 4:30 and I should have been starting dinner, but how can you ignore a thunderstorm? How can you say "no" to three very excited kids who want to sit and watch?

So all three kids and I gathered in the living room, opened the blinds, turned out the lights, and watched the lightning. It was awesome! It was the first time that Liam could remember seeing lightning, so he was especially excited. And Gavin, at 19 months, sat looking out the window for over an hour! I couldn't believe how focused they all were!

As the storm progressed, naturally, they started asking questions about storms and lightning and how it all works. I was a little surprised at myself for not knowing the answers, so it's a good thing we have Google. We learned how the thunderclouds are formed, how the electricity builds up inside them, and how the lightning finds its way to the ground. We watched some amazing videos of lightning bolts (their favourite was a video of a tree being hit by lightning and burned up). We talked about what lightning can do to the things that it hits, and about storm safety. We all learned so much!

And then when Daddy came home, the kids were so excited to share their knowledge of storms and clouds and lightning with him.

I think the best part of the evening, however, was when Ella said to me, "I love to learn new things!" And then Liam asked, "Do you know what my favourite thing to learn is? The thing that is happening right now!" They are so excited to learn! They are so awed by the simple things that I have grown to take for granted. I love being able to see the world through their eyes: discovering, experiencing, learning.

We ate spaghetti with sauce from a jar that night. But it was worth it. Spending time experiencing the world with my kids beats making dinner any day.

our favourite iPad apps!

My kids love the iPad. LOVE. In fact, I would guess that they love the Apple store more than a 22-year-old hipster in skinny jeans and a scarf, simply because of the kids table with all the iPads to play on.

When I'm looking for a few minutes to get something done, the iPad is a great way to keep them busy, especially since they don't watch TV anymore, which used to be my go-to distraction. But the iPad is way better than TV, because on top of having fun, I know they are also learning lots while they use it! Since my kids love it so much, I figured I would share our favourite apps with all of you, in case you were looking for something "educational" for your kids to play with.

Disclaimer: my definition of "educational" might differ somewhat from the standard definition. Consider yourself warned. Also, I found these apps in the Canadian App Store. If you are located somewhere else, I don't know if they will be available in your App Store (or at what cost).

Fotopedia Wild Friends

Basically this app is just a collection of photos of different animals. Many of the animals are ones I've never heard of before, and the photographs are stunning. We like to play a game where we pull up a photo and each of us guesses what type of animal it is, and then we toggle on the photo's information and see who is closest. It seems easy, but most of the time we are wrong.
Cost: FREE

DK The Human Body
I think I might like this app more than the kids do. It is an overview of all the different systems inside the human body. The graphics are awesome and the definitions are great.. There are annotations that you can turn on or off. There are close-ups of certain body parts, such as the ear or eye. There are animations of how certain things work, such as the heart beating or a nerve impulse.
Cost: $6.99

Solar Walk
This app is SO COOL. It's the solar system that you can zoom in and out of. You can check out the planets, moons, sun, and even all the different satellites orbiting the earth. There are tons of facts and info about everything, and it's super easy to use. Not to mention the pleasant music that plays in the background as you float through our solar system. I highly recommend this app!
Cost: $2.99

Angry Birds

You're probably thinking that Angry Birds isn't very educational, right? Liam plays this one more than the rest of us, and he's getting pretty good. He has had to figure out how a slingshot works (the right angles to use, the right force to exert) in order to smash the pigs structures. He plans to build his own real-life Angry Birds with balls (that we have to paint like birds), a slingshot and some wooden blocks. Very cool!
Cost: $0.99

Sudoku
Ella plays this one more than anyone else. I am actually amazed at how quickly she figured it out and can now complete a puzzle on her own. I never would have guessed that a 5-year-old could do that, but she saw me playing and wanted to try it out. I told her the basic rules, and gave her some hints, and off she went!
Cost: FREE (or you can upgrade for $0.99)

Flow Free
In this game you have to connect different coloured "pipes" from one dot to another. The pipes can't cross other pipes and you have to cover the whole board. It takes quite a bit of planning and trial-and-error to get each puzzle figured out. The kids could play this one for hours if I would let them. In fact, I'm certain that I have wasted many hours playing this myself. And it's free! This is a great game.
Cost: FREE

Doodle Buddy

This is a drawing app. You can choose different types of brushes, colours and backgrounds. And there are even "stickers." You can also save your drawings. I really like that the kids can have complete creative freedom. There are plenty of colouring book apps out there, which they enjoy as well, but they really love to create their own masterpieces.
Cost: FREE

ABC Phonics
I'm a little surprised at myself for including this app, because it's much too "schoolish" for my tastes, but the kids love it. It's very simple - there is a list of animals on the side, you tap one, the name and picture of the animal pops up, a voice reads out the name of the animal, and you trace the name. That's it. I guess it teaches reading and writing? I don't know, but Liam spends a lot of time writing on this app.
Cost: FREE

SiriusXM
We LOVE our satellite radio. I don't think I could ever go back to regular radio, honestly. The kids love the station "Kids Place Live" and I actually like it, too. The songs are fun and, best of all, completely appropriate. They know all the words to all the songs, and I know it would be the same if we listened to pop music...and they definitely don't need to know the words to those songs. This app lets us play any satellite radio station over the iPad (or iPhone), so we will often hook it up to a set of speakers in the playroom and have a dance party. Fun!
Cost: FREE (but you need to have a SiriusXM subscription, which is about $15 per month)

So there you have it. I could go on and on, because there is so much great stuff out there, but I'll stop here (for now). Do you have any great apps that you want to share? Leave me a comment! I'd love to hear about them!