Monday, Monday...

This week seemed like it was going to be incredibly stressful (and looking at the weekend's current events I think the week will continue to be at least a smidge stressful), but on Saturday one of my professors emailed and instructed the class to hold off on a major assignment due Tuesday because she wanted to talk to us about it more before we started it (I had finished all the readings for it but was still kind of like..."Uhhhhhh???"...and was going to cluelessly make something up...but now maybe I can create a more...informed...project) and then another professor emailed on Sunday evening to say that she was extending the deadline for our major project due at the end of this week for two more weeks. 

So that was all quite a relief, considering I was about to implode from stress.

I did have revisions of a paper due today (that is accepted for publication...with revisions) and I also had to review an article. And I, of course, have to be working on the aforementioned (and other upcoming) assignments. And I need to write a talk for Sunday and prepare another conference presentation for mid-March. And...so forth...

But I took the kids to the park this morning (since I didn't have a meeting this afternoon) and let them play for a while.

I didn't have internet access at the park so could work on my revisions with minimal distraction. The kids had a fun time playing and didn't even get a little sandy. 

They got a lot sandy.

So, so , so , so sandy.

There is now sand all over my house.

But that's okay. 

For FHE we chose pictures about stories in the Old Testament and then retold them to each other using a different medium. Phoebe knew immediately that she wanted the picture of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Daddy helped her to learn about their story and why they were thrown into the fiery furnace and how they survived. She drew a picture about it and retold the story to us when we gathered again.

It was an interesting retelling to say the least. She told us she was talking about Shadrack, Meshach, and Abimelech. When Andrew asked her why they were thrown in the fire, she answered correctly that it was because they were praying. When he asked her why they'd be thrown in the fire for praying she said, "Dunno. Maybe because...they were praying too loudly or something..."

And for every question Andrew offered after that, trying to prompt her to say more she'd just answer, "Dunno."

So we've still got some work to do. 

Zoë drew a sequence of pictures telling the story of David and Goliath:

I chose the story of Daniel in the Lion's Den and wrote part of a poem about it (I ran out of time) and then just retold the rest of it.

Daniel prayed three times a day,
gave thanks unto the Lord.
The king was forced to punish him
according to the law.

As he was cast into the den of lions, the king said,
"Pray to your God, believe in Him! You'll be delivered then."

Something else needs to come before this part:

My God hath sent His angel, 
He hath shut the lion's mouth...

And obviously more needs to happen after that part. Like I said, I ran out of time and just told the rest of the story.

Benjamin made a LEGO diorama of Moses With the Brass Serpent:

Alexander joined him in the basement and made a diorama of Noah Building the Ark:

Miriam wimped out and just told the story of Moses (and, well, Miriam) without creating any new content:

She was such a riveting storyteller that even the cat came to join us.