One of our favorite places on earth

Our family just got back from a wonderful trip to the Great Smoky Mountains. It is one of our favorite places in the world. OK, OK, we are a little biased because Dave and I honeymooned there, and so it does hold a special place in our heart for that, but we do love still it there. We went to South Carolina to visit my parents for a few days and then met Dave's parents in the Smokies for a few days as well. It was so great to just get away, spend time with our extended family, and most of all, just relax with one another.

I have mentioned before that we miss fall down here in Florida, so it was esp. gratifying to see such beautiful views as this:

 a view from the top of Clingman's Dome 

a view as we drove through the park (near the Sinks)

While in the Smoky Mountains, we hiked and hiked and hiked some more. We love hiking. Although I will mention for the record that some of these trails that Dave and I did on our honeymoon were significantly harder with 5 small children in tow. :) That being said, we wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I am just saying we didn't move quite as fast.

Take for example, Abram's Falls in Cade's Cove. We hiked the 2.5 miles to the falls on our honeymoon in record time. This time it was the same 2.5 miles, but it seemed longer and more difficult. Maybe it was because Anna was less than thrilled to be in the backpack carrier we had taken for her and it was time for her nap when we started, but hey, we hiked it and it was lovely. It was great having Dave's parents with us as well.

Abram's Falls

 We made it!

Josh and Bob being funny by the falls

The second day in the Smokies, we went to Clingman's Dome and some of us did part of the Appalachian Trail. (The children and I had studied the Appalachian Trail in our school, so it was esp. gratifying to see part of the 2,200 mile train in person.) Dave, his dad, Josh and Sarah were the only ones who hiked the part of the AT and from what they said, it was pretty tough. (Except for Josh whom Bob compared to a mountain goat the way he skipped across the trail.) Sarah was so cute and when they were done said, "Mom, I feel a real sense of accomplishment doing that!" Here are a few pictures from Clingman's Dome and the AT.

 Notice the part that says how far to Katahdin, ME - the end of the trail

 Tim and Sam by the Appalachian Trail sign

 the courageous and tough hikers who braved 3.8 miles of the AT

 at the top of Clingman's Dome (the highest point on the AT)

On Thursday of our trip, we went to Grotto Falls. This is a really cool waterfall because you can walk underneath the falls. This was comparatively an easier hiking day (compared to the other two really tough hikes). We all enjoyed this hike.

 

taking a small break on the way to the falls

at the falls

That evening. we went into Gatlinburg for a walk around town. We watched them making candy at the candy stores and walked around looking at some of the hokey shops. The kids also found some souvenirs at some of these stores.

These last two pictures were of all of us in the cabin the morning we were leaving. What a wonderful trip.

Anna loved the pool table (Daddy was rolling the balls to her and she just thought it was great!)

Mexican Fiesta!

I love our home school co-op. I have shared that before. It is such a huge blessing to us. It has been such a gift from the Lord for us while here in Florida. The kids have made some dear friends and they have learned a lot (and they always say they have a free school day because they don't realize they are learning!) This year we are studying World Geography and it has been soooooo cool.

Today we had a Mexican Fiesta! It was so fun. We played Futbol (soccer) and played a Matador game. We did two Mexican crafts - a god's eye and  tissue paper flower. We had all the moms make one mexican dish to share (tacos, chicken enchiladas, beef enchiladas, taco salads, etc.) and side dishes and desserts. Then after lunch, we did pinatas. (OK, so the pinatas were fun, but unfortunately not everyone got to hit them. They broke pretty quick, but that's OK everyone still got some of the candy.)

 Tim and one of his friend's with their craft

 One of the ladies at our co-op has a flare for decorating. Doesn't the room look amazing?

 Josh started a trend with the Popsicle stick craft - he made his with 4 popsicle sticks rather than just 2. Lots of the boys tried to do this too!

 The younger kiddos playing soccer (Futbol)

 
 The older kids about to break the pinata!

The younger children with their pinata. 

We broke it!!!


What a fun day.

Fall, Oh Fall, Where Art Thou?

Alright, I know all you friends who are up north are enjoying fall weather, cooler days and nights, and even some of the beginnings of lovely autumn colors that we know and love. And really, I can't complain because it really will be beautiful weather here soon. (November, December, and January have their own loveliness here in Florida, even if we really don't experience the change of seasons.) But, alas, I do still miss fall.

So here is the Mateer's tribute to fall:

J painting his fall tree. He had a very creative idea - he made a stencil for the top of the tree like he did this summer when he made his shelf with his Pop-Pop Mateer.

 Anna and Sammy doing yellow, red and orange hand prints for their "leaves." 

 Sarah's creativity was obvious with her neat tree. She also added 20 things that she is thankful for.

Tim painting his leaves. 

The finished products:

Let's Go To Mexico!

Yesterday in our co-op, I taught a class on Mexico! It was so fun. We are doing World Geography in our co-op this year, and my class was Mexico. We did salt dough maps of Mexico - one for each child in the older children's class and one large one for the younger children's class. (We teach 2 classes every day that we teach - one class for 3rd -6th graders and one class for K-2nd graders.) We also made our own flags of Mexico.

 The younger class with their salt dough map of Mexico.

 Senora Diane

Tim being silly with the sombrero.

 J & S with their salt dough maps. They did a great job!

It has been neat studying world geography this year. We are studying it in our regular homeschooling too with our Sonlight Curriculum. I esp. love the way the Sonlight incorporates the need for Christ into all cultures around the world. They handle it so carefully and yet also introduce the children to the concept that there are many people all around the world (and in the neighborhood next door) who need Christ. We have even been praying through the 10-40 window in the mornings before school and I think it has awakened us all to the need of these countries for Christ, and for people to be willing to go. We are all learning a lot. I think it is broadening all our of horizons. Thank you Lord! 

Romans 10:14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

The Homeschool craft that went really, really wrong

OK, so I was going to blog about a "normal" day for us. I even took nice pictures of the kids doing their school. Then I did this craft with Sammy, Anna and Tim for Sam's preschool. It was the grossest craft I have ever seen in my entire life. I mean really gross.

It sounded like a really great idea! I thought, " How creative" this neat website Hubbard's Cupboard is. We were doing the letter K in school and they suggested putting glue down on the paper and then "painting" with kool-aid. (We actually just sprinkled the kool-aid on top of the glue.) Well, we used this nasty raspberry flavor that wasn't my favorite flavor anyway and when it fell on the glue - it looked like blood! Awful. Then to make it even worse - Sammy licked some kool-aid off of the table (not glue, mind you, only kool-aid), but it really grossed me out.

So, maybe I am blogging about a normal day in our homeschool. Things you think are going to go incredibly smoothly - sometimes end up a little bit crazy!

Josh working hard at his math - he didn't even know I was there!

Sarah also doing her math, but she turned and gave me a smile!

 The kids doing the craft that turned gross very fast!

OK, don't judge me for letting my two year old hold a bottle of glue. Maybe I shouldn't have included this picture! :)

You can't really see how gross it ended up looking, but take my word for it.

The picture below is actually from another day. Every year, we have this homeschooling tradition where we buy t-shirts from Michael's and then everyone gets to paint their own shirt. They decorate them anyway they want. (I did help Sam put his name on his shirt and helped Anna do all of hers.) It is so neat to see how creative they can be! 

The Humility of Christ

Dave is up in Pennsylvania this weekend. He went up to do a Sunday School class at our sending church, as well as spend some wonderful time with His parents. Yesterday, I got to give a devotional at a ladies meeting at our church. Here are some of the thoughts I shared and things that I have been thinking about for a while in my own life:

Have you ever really considered the humility of Christ? I mean really considered it? The Creator of the whole universe - worthy of all glory, honor, and praise - humbled Himself and became part of His creation. He willingly laid aside His glory and came to earth as a man and clothed Himself with death. He came to earth from heaven to save sinners who didn't even want Him. I guess in the past few months, the Lord has been impressing upon me the need for humility. I guess I have been marveling at the humility of Christ. 

This is a quote from Andrew Murray's book Humility:

Our one need is to study and know and trust the life that has been revealed in Christ as the life that is now ours, and waits for our consent to gain possession and mastery of our whole being.

In this view it is of inconceivable importance that we should have right thoughts of what Christ is, of what really constituted Him the Christ, and specially of what may be counted His chief characteristic, the root and essence of all His character as our Redeemer. There can be but one answer: it is His humility. What is the incarnation but His heavenly humility, His emptying Himself and becoming man? What is His life on earth but humility; His taking the form of a servant? And what is His atonement but humility? "He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death." [Phil. 2:8] And what is His ascension and His glory but humility exalted to the throne and crowned with glory? "He Humbled Himself, therefore God highly exalted Him." [Phil. 2:9] In heaven, where He was with the Father, in His birth, in His life, in His death, in His sitting on the throne, it is all, it is nothing but humility. Christ is the humility of God embodied in human nature; the Eternal Love humbling itself, clothing itself in the garb of meekness and gentleness, to win and serve and save us. As the love and condescension of God makes Him the benefactor and helper and servant of all, so Jesus of necessity was the Incarnate Humility. And so He is still int he midst of the throne, the meek and lowly Lamb of God.
If this be the root of of the tree, its nature maust be seen in every branch and leaf and fruit. If humility be the first, the all-including grace of the the life of Jesus - if humility be the secret of His atonement - then the health and strength of our spiritual life will entirely depend upon our putting this grace first too and making humility the chief thing we admire in Him, the chief thing we ask of Him, the one thing for which we sacrifice all else. (p. 14, The Wisdom of Andrew Murray - from his book Humility.)

The thought of humility used to not exactly thrill me. Why in the world would I want to pray for humility? The Lord might just decide to answer that prayer and then I would just go through some horrible trial and then I would receive humility. I never really wanted humility, to be perfectly honest; I figured I wasn't really all that bad.

I guess you could say that the Lord has taken me on a journey - a journey from really having no desire for humility at all to a desire to embrace it. Before we moved from Kentucky and started this journey with New Tribes (we were going to be moving to Pennsylvania to raise our support), I assumed that it would be an easy move. We were moving 5 minutes from Dave's parents. We knew the area. We knew where we were going to be living (in Dave's grandparents' house). We knew which church we would be attending. Easy. No problem. Boy was I wrong! When we moved, it was like everything I had known and loved was all the sudden uprooted. I cried for a solid month. I told Dave it was as if I had left both my arms in Kentucky and I didn't know what to do with myself.

Then 6 months later we moved to Florida to join the New Tribes staff. My friend from Kentucky asked me if the move to Florida was easier, I told her, "No, but I don't think I am kicking against the Lord anymore." After we moved here, life was different. We were living in an apartment, far away from friends and family, and it was all new and different. I would have these conversations with the Lord, "Lord, what about our house?" ...He would respond (not audibly, but in my heart) "Lay it down." 

"Lord, what about our backyard?" ..."Lay it down."

"Lord, what about Dave's paycheck? His insurance?"..."Lay it down."

Silly things like, "Lord, what about our pediatrician? Our wonderful library?"... "Lay it down."

In the journey of His gently and lovingly prying open my very tightly clenched fingers around these things that I held so closely, He led me to Himself. And you know what? I found that He IS sufficient. 

"Our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being the nature of God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing..." (Philippians 2:5)

Even though He had all the rights as Creator of the Universe, even though He would have had the right to demand praise and honor and glory (and be totally just in demanding it), He is humble. He didn't grasp His equality with God. He laid it down - willingly. We serve a humble God. What an amazing thought. It was almost as if He folded all His beautiful kingly garments and laid them aside and clothed Himself with humanity, humility and death and for the sake of love.

Don't you see? In studying the humility of Christ, we see the lack thereof in ourselves. I am the ultimate prideful person - that's why it rears its ugly head when I feel I am not getting what I deserve. You know what though? Actually what I deserve is hell and death. Christ deserved glory and honor and all the praise due Him and He willingly laid it aside to seek and save the lost.

Maybe the Lord is teaching me to lay down all those things that I think I deserve so that He may receive the glory. Maybe He wants me to learn to embrace humility so that all of His glory can shine through and I realize it is all of Him, and none of me. "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, ACCORDING TO HIS POWER THAT IS AT WORK WITH US, to Him the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21 (emphasis mine.)

Our little drawing boy

Tim loves to draw. He seems to have a certain aptitude for it as well. I had to put these two pictures in our blog too. The first picture is of Tim holding his kitty. The second is the drawing he made of that same kitty.

Now take a look at his drawing:

He originally named his kitty "Kitty Tac Toe", but he eventually changed the cat's name to "Nip." 

Kite Flying and Hill Rolling

 I think one of the joys of children's lives is to be outside. While they are outside, they might just see a hill. There must be something magnetic about a child and a hill. They are compelled to roll down it. We do miss having a backyard, but there is a small hill outside the back of New Tribes. This is the children rolling down the hill. (When we got out there and they just started rolling down the hill on their own, I decided to run upstairs and get my camera to capture it!)

We originally were going outside to fly Sarah's new kite that she had gotten earlier that day. That was our other fun activity for the evening. We did eventually get it up and flying. The kids loved it when it took off!

 Daddy was the main kite flyer

  All of the children were running around trying to catch it if it fell low enough!

What a fun night.

Fun With Grandpa and Grandma

This past Labor Day, my parents got to come down for a visit. The kids loved having them here and we spent lots of special time together. One day we went to the pool. Everyone had a great time. The older two really loved when Grandpa would throw them in the water (over his shoulders and such.) It was a fun weekend.

Other festivities included trying to make jelly. (I say trying because when we were all done, they were completely runny the next day. Didn't quite work.) We also did some shopping some hanging out and even went to IHOP. A fun Labor Day weekend indeed.

 Hello everyone!

 Grandma and Anna in the pool

 Two cuties

 Grandpa and Sarah

 I think I have another picture like this of Josh. It must be his favorite pose!

 Tim playing in the pool

 Josh making our hot dogs for Labor Day

Grandma and Anna washing dishes :)