A Week of Milestones

So I'm going to keep to my goal of blogging once a week . . . barely :-P And in addition, I'm going to throw you the lame "it was a busy week" excuse. I don't use it very much though, so cut me some slack this once ;-)

Several school-related milestones happened this week. First, I passed Business Ethics & Society, so I now have 90 credits. Yes, I am now officially a college senior! :party: I spent the next day relaxing and taking a study break :-) I also had my advisement call with Thomas Edison, and got my template set up with them so I know all my classes and tests have transferred/will transfer. So the rest of my degree is now mapped out!

Also, I helped my brother move to college, where he is starting his freshman year. I got to check out the campus, meet the roommate I haven't already met, have a picnic with some of the students, and attend an evening worship/consecration service which was great! It's very exciting, and also kind of wierd not having him around anymore. We are very close and I'm going to miss him! Fortunately we still have lots of ways of staying in touch.

So it's been a week of milestones and adjustments! Looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow and then tackling Principles of Marketing on Monday! :-)

~Mac

Siblings' Handiwork Part 1

Well, I haven't had much to blog on lately - at least anything that would make a good post. So instead of blogging about me, I've decided to start a series of posts sharing some of the things that my siblings have created!

First up is one of my brothers, who has really gotten into building plastic models. Here is his latest one, a P-51D Mustang!

^ Some of the beautiful cockpit detailing!

^ More cockpit detail.

^ Gun and magazine detail.

He really did a fantastic job on this one - and it's only his third model he's built! He did the painting, decals, and gluing all by himself too :-)

~Mac

1:11:11 1/11/11

Our family likes to celebrate all kinds of occasions, some a bit stranger than others. Some of the unique celebrations take place for dates and times where all the numbers match, and one such event occured this afternoon!

^My sister and some of my brothers use military time.

I think the whole thing is really some kind of strategy to get more dessert per year than we would otherwise have, but regardless of the motives behind it, I heartily endorse such celebrations! I hope everyone else had a wonderful 1:11:11 1/11/11 too!

~Mac

Random Happenings and Accomplishments

I was thinking about doing a "remembering 2010, goals for 2011" post but after reading everyone else's excellent posts on that topic, I don't think I can compete. So I will list some of the things that I have done over New Years:

1) I attended a New Year's Eve Gala with the family. We went to our friends' church and used their fellowship hall for a dance! There were about 60 people there. We danced line and circle dances, a polka, and the broomstick waltz. Nothing like ringing in the new year with three plus hours of dancing! :-)

2) New Year's Day we had our unit celebration for our homeschool curriculum. Each student picked an ancient culture to represent, gave a presentation based on the culture, and made a food of the culture - my favorite part :-D

^ My sister's AMAZING phyllo spinach triangles from Greece!

^ Leek soup from Egypt.

^ Greek salad! :-)

^ My laden plate (clockwise from top): Greek salad, chicken couscous from Israel, noodles from China, flat bread from India, squash from North America

45 minutes later . . .

what a great curriculum huh? :-)

3) January 2nd I sang a duet for the offertory for our church as part of a wonderful New Years service :-)

4) I went to a book study Monday night. A group of about 12 guys are going through Crazy Love by Francis Chan. A challenging and thought-provoking book!

5) Random accomplishments:
* I made my bed completely by feel in the dark Saturday night
* I tied my tie while singing a hymn during choir rehearsal Sunday (good thing I can tie ties without a mirror!)
* My brother and I made two batches of "mookies" (man cookies) Monday afternoon. We taped ourselves doing it and made it into an impromptu cooking show/MythBusters episode.

Jesus' Birthday!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas; I sure did!

We all have traditions that we do every year; one of my favorites is Jesus' birthday cake. This is a special cake because the way it is made is very symbolic.

^ The big red candle represents Jesus, the light of the world. The candle sits in the middle of a Star of David, showing Jesus's lineage, and the cake is round, symbolizing the earth. The hearts represent believers around the world, and the white frosting represents Jesus' righteousness covering us.

^ The bottom, dark layer represents the sin of the world. The red layer represents Jesus' atoning sacrifice for our sins, and the green layer represents new growth in Him.

We read the Christmas story, sing Silent Night and light our candles off of the big candle, showing that we are to take Jesus' Light into the world! We also sing the Happy Birthday Song, with different lyrics:

On the first Christmas day

From the Father above

Came the little Lord Jesus

To show us God's love!

Happy birthday to You!

Happy birthday to You!

We love you dear Jesus!

Happy birthday to You!

A wonderful reminder of the reason we celebrate Christmas, and a delicious one too! :-)

~Mac

Benefits to Living In a Large Family

While I was doing some of my chores today, I suddenly thought of how many ways being in a large family helps me. One way is that it's easier to stay in shape! Here are some examples (I may edit as I think of more):

~ Taking out the trash: This is my job, and let me tell you, carrying two giant full bags of garbage to the can, one in each hand, does wonders for your arm strength!

~ Carrying siblings around: Whether it's moving the babies and toddlers from room to room to playpen to changing table, or giving piggyback rides to older children, there's nothing like carrying around siblings for keeping those core and leg muscles toned!

~ Carrying in groceries: This is a great time for group exercise! All of us children form a relay team of sorts and carry all the groceries from the car to where they are needed. Carrying four gallons of milk, two in each hand, keeps your arms and legs in shape!

It really is wonderful how God has built an exercise routine into a typical day!

~Mac