a new member of family--at least temporarily

Blink

Mentos and Diet Coke

Wimpy in comparison, but then it was our first try.

The kids weren't the only ones who felt tired after the long day. It was a very fun weekend all around!

These are our friends we stayed with. They have the three boys you can see. I am almost off the picture to the right and you can see Sam in the background along the rail. We didn't see all the zoo either. The youngest boy was 6 and we stopped when he was tired. We didn't take lots of animal pictures--we took pictures of the people we went with--these are the pictures that are most valued later. So, if you want to see the animal, you have to visit the zoo yourself.

This is the station where we transfered from the orange line to the red line to go to and from the zoo. Of all of us, I was the only one who had experience with the Metro, so I was in charge. Thankfully it was not hard to figure out. Buying the pass was the most complicated step.

Do we look tired? This is after walking from the museum past the Washington Monument. This is taken on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The walk from the museum to the Washington Monument was just as far as the walk from it to Lincoln. My feet were rather tired. Then we walked to the Viet Nam Wall and then about 6 blocks to the nearest metro station.

Guess what was Sam's favorite part? The metro! Not the museum or national icons we visited, but the metro we took to get there. Isn't that just like him?

Here is our boy at the Smithsonian National American History Museum. He is playing with the controls of a tugboat as we walk the time line transportation. It was a long day and we ran out of energy before we saw even all of this one museum. I guess we'll have to go back.

Near Future

Praying for Joel! May God speed his recovery and give the doctors insight into the truth about his condition!

Okay, so we had no plans for Independence Day. None. Then on Sunday night, we called our dear friends to plan at least one get-together before they return to Africa. It turned out they had no plans for Independence Day either. So now we all have plans: eat, play, watch fireworks!! Woo-hoo. This family defines fun, so we'll be having a good time.

Thursday, July 6th, we head off to Washington DC. We have friends who moved there last year. We'll be doing Smithsonian (focusing on American History) on Friday and visiting the Zoo on Saturday. Then we'll go to their church on Sunday and come back home. These friends are Korean and are graciously allowing us to taste some of Korea's culture. This coming year we will be studying the Eastern Hemisphere, so this will be a foretaste. Sandy has offered to give us a taste of Korean food and culture. This is learning at its best--to live it rather than just read about it.

Character development: Sam is not a list-checking person. I am. Every time I have tried to get him to learn a routine, I have always started with a list for him to check off. I have never seen success. So, I adapted a FlyLady concept. She has acronyms for many things. If your house is a mess, it is in CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome). I am not quite that creative, but was able to list all the tasks Sam is to complete and create a silly sentence.

So, Sam's morning routine is:

Eat Crumbs, Don't Make Burned Toast

Eat breakfast
Clean up after breakfast (bowl in dishwasher, cereal box closed and put away)
Dressed
Medicine
Birdbath (filled unless it rained)
Teeth (brushed)

He loves the sentences and is amazed that I am so talented to be able to come up with them (ego boost for a 10 year old--imagine that!). Once they weren't new anymore, though, we were no longer seeing compliance.

So, according to John Rosemond, a child has free will and can choose not to obey, the parents job is to instill consequences that make it "worth it" to obey and wait for the child to adjust their behavior. For stubborn children, this may take a bit longer, but sticking to your guns is the way to succeed. So, the consequence for running over to Eric's house before the routine is done? No computer gaming time that day.

This morning we had a particularly unattractive meltdown b/c we are sticking to our guns. Aah, there goes the ego boost...down the drain.

Enjoy the freedoms that others laid their lives down for...and pray for those whose lives are in danger right now!