Happy New Year! China Style...

One of the great things about homeschooling my kids is that we get to do a few things out of the norm. We have a study called "Galloping the Globe" and we study all sorts of things about different countries. What better way to kick off a study on China than to celebrate the Chinese New Year, which happened to be today. We made our own fortune cookies.. which was a minor disaster! I do not recommend the recipe I used, or maybe I don't recommend asking me to make you any fortune cookies! They turned out horrible! It was great fun though, Ethan wrote his own fortunes so in the process he was working on sentence structure! English lesson, cooking lesson, and geography all rolled into one activity! Yippee!!!

We talked about China and their customs and traditions behind the New Year and made our own Chinese lanterns. I remember making these when I was little! How fun! I even
decorated a couple of lanters with glitter and pictures! The kids learned how to write "Good Luck" in Chinese, too. We had a great day and topped it off with a "New Year's Party". Ethan was so funny, he said it was a good thing the whole world didn't have a New Year's Party on the same day because if we did, the Earth "would be shaking from all the partying!". How funny kids can be!

It is such a great thing to be able to be with my kids and teach them even though a lot of days it seems like I am pulled in too many directions and that I am slacking in several departments. I hate missing all my weekends because I am working but I am working weekends to be able to be with my kids during the week. So many things, and so many ways the devil tries to discourage me but I try to stay focused and remember that I am doing all these things for their benefit. They are my focus and they are my prize! One bible passage I rely on daily is Phillipians 3: 12-14

2Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

What a great motivation that is! It is all worth the struggles to be with my kids. What a great feeling it is to see their smiles, even when their fortune cookies are a mess because their mother is a horrible baker! They thought it was the best thing in the world!!! I am so blessed to have my family!

What do you do to stay on track? Do you have a special verse or saying that helps you get through rough days? I would love to hear it.

Happy Chinese New Year to you all!