A Trip Back in Time

For the past few years, five or six times a year, our family packs up our car with many items from the 1860’s, and we camp out for the weekend, all while participating in Civil War Reenactments. All of this came about when Matthew became very interested in history, especially Civil War history. Being in California, our group really doesn’t reenact specific battles from the Civil War, but during the weekend, we try to make things as authentic as possible for the many visitors that come through our camps and watch the battles.

When we first thought of the idea of participating in these events as a family, my husband was not really excited about the thought. I really felt this was something we needed to do to support Matthew’s interest and mentioned that if Matthew was playing football or some other sport, we would be at some stadium or ball field a lot. My husband agreed, we became ‘official members’ of the 20th Maine, and our journey as Civil War Reenactors began.

At this last event, after spending most of his time in the Union camp over the years, Matthew decided to ‘join up’ with his friends from the 43rd Virginia. He is the third one over from the right in the brown cap.

Participating in these events as a family has given us something to do together. And for this I am really thankful. During the teens years, it seems like so many kids are going off to one thing or another and families don’t spend as much time together as they used to. This has also been a great time of Matthew developing some leadership skills that he may not have been able to gain in other activities. Plus, this has really enhanced his love of history.

Is there something you like to do as a family? What do you do to support your children’s loves and interests?

Investing in us

No, this post is not about where to put your money (because we don’t have a lot of money to put anywhere anyway!). This post is about making time for our spouse. You know, the one who leaves the house early every morning so we can stay home to do what God has called us to do. I know that my husband works hard and he deserves more of my time than sometimes I have to give (or am willing to give, which happens sometimes, just being honest here).

A few weeks ago, Kevin and I took the opportunity that we now have an adult child (who could be left to care for his younger sibling), and we went on an overnight getaway to the coast. This was the first time we had left our kids overnight at our home by themselves. We left in the morning on Friday and came back late Saturday afternoon.

 (In my opinion, not the best picture of the two of us, but had to use the self timer on this one and I know the settings were a bit off.)

I know it is not always easy to get away when you are right in the midst of raising up kids, but I do know it is important for our kids to see a healthy marriage relationship. We have made plenty of mistakes over the years (and our kids know this), but we are really working on helping our kids to see that marriage is a life time commitment. It is a choice.

“Let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.” – Ephesians 5:33

Need some ideas on how to invest in your marriage? For a while now, I have subscribed to The Generous Wife’s blog posts. Her blog posts are short, but filled with great tips and encouragement to help you to be a more generous wife. She usually shares a few links also if you want to do a little more exploring on the subject. (There is also a blog for The Generous Husband, if you are interested)

Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. - Deuteronomy 15:10

Any tips you would like to share on how you invest in your marriage?

Working With My Whole Family!

One of my favorite things to do as a Compassion Advocate is to work at different events, being able to answer questions of potential sponsors, and encourage them as they begin their journey as a Compassion sponsor. Up until the past weekend, I have not been able to work at an event with my whole family. But now that Kelsey is a Compassion Advocate also, we were able to work at the Rock and Worship Roadshow together!

The Roadshow stopped in Sacramento on Saturday night, so we all put on our Compassion shirts and made the drive up to work the event.

b8b53574891611e2aa6822000a9f1730_7[1]

This picture was before the concert started, this place ended up being completely packed with thousands of people!

17625bb8892d11e2ae8022000a9e2946_7[1]

I had to have Kelsey help me with this picture! Hadn’t taken a selfie with the new phone yet. We were getting ready to do the child packet pass during intermission.

d6406b02893611e2a76e22000a9f1968_7[1]

I know you can’t see him all the way down there on the stage, but that is Jeremy Camp down there. Other than helping to get Compassion kids sponsored that night, his performance was my favorite part of the concert. And he is a Compassion Artist which gives him brownie points in my book (wink).

While we were waiting inside the stadium for the child packet pass, I was able to listen to Kutless. I didn’t realize that I knew so many of their songs! They were selling their CD for $5 a piece at the concert, so I have a little giveaway for my readers since I bought 2 of their CDs!

Giveaway: One new Kutless CD

Giveaway rules: In the comment section below, tell me who your favorite Christian artist is. I will give you a bonus entry if your favorite artist is also a Compassion Music Artist. Deadline for entries is Friday, March 15th at midnight pacific time. Limited to readers in the continental US. Winner will be announced next Monday, March 18th.

I can’t wait to hear who your favorite Christian music artist is!

Update: Congratulations to Jill for winning the Kutless CD!

The Walt Disney Family Museum

Today our family drove into the city (San Francisco) for a day trip to

The Walt Disney Family Museum

.

 The museum is located on the grounds of

The Presidio

which is a beautiful area in San Francisco.

 We started off in the hands on studio where Kev and Matthew worked on a stop motion video with Kelsey looking on.

 The subject of the movie short, very colorful!

 While they were creating, I took a walk around and found a couple of fun things to photograph. Wouldn't this look great on someone's bedroom wall?

 Kev's dream desk...animation desk at Disney!

 Matthew ended up working on his little short by himself

 One of the very few things I was able to photograph in the lobby area

 A replica of the apartment that sits above the fire station at Disneyland. While we were at the museum, we watched an hour long movie about Walt and his love for Christmas. This was included with the admission price. After the movie, we toured the museum. Like a lot of museums of this type, no photography was allowed.

We learned a lot about Walt's early life, saw a lot of pencil sketches that had been saved, and saw many old family photos. The museum had many different rooms filled with a lot of history and artwork. Toward the end of the museum, there was a large model of Disneyland with a few things that I remember from my first trip a long time ago.

 I was able to take this picture from inside the museum. It was a beautiful clear day!

 Once we were outside the museum, I took just a couple more photos...

Wish I could grow these at my house!

Again, I took these photos in RAW and did a quick edit in Lightroom. I was really hoping that a book that I had ordered would have arrived today to help me to establish a good workflow in Lightroom. Guess I will need to wait until next week.

This trip will be a great topic for my next letter to my Compassion kids! And I will be sure to get some of the photos printed to send to them. Which photos do you think I should send?