KiDS Family   KiDS/ESTHER'S NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER
Mike and Gretchen Ward <wards@5pillars.com>
 

 
 
ESTHER'S/KiDS NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER
 

If you want to make small, incremental improvements, work on your behavior.
  If you want to make quantum leaps in improvement, work on your paradigms.
-Stephen R. Covey
  1. WHEN: 
    1. Our regular meetings will be held the first Thursday of each month
    2. at 7:30 p.m. : 
  2. WHERE:
    1. at Northwest Bible Fellowship,
    2. 96th & Grand Ave.
DATES OF MEETINGS FOR 2002/2003 SCHOOLYEAR-
 
We will also be meeting informally for discussion and fellowship at KiDS bodyshop
the third Friday of each month.  Here's a fun website that we discussed at the KiDS/ESTHERS discussion time.  www.flylady.net   -simple tips for making your home run smoothly.
 
 
Please  send any info
that would be helpful for our
December Newsletter! 
We love your input...
Send to wards@5pillars.com
 
 
Thought you might like this web-site.  www.enchantedlearning.com
It has alot of great things on it for schooling, like blank maps, science sheets, geography sheets, animals, foreign language, etc.  I use it alot for the kids.  -from Joi Stratman
 
Another really great website about dinosaurs is  http://www.christiananswers.net  Also from time to time Dewayne and I have a question and answers time at our home to answer questions about Creation  vs. Evolution, did God use evolution, Did dinosaurs really exist and were they around with  Adam and Eve.   
 
This is our passion. Dewayne is very gifted with this subject and if any of you is interested for yourselves and/or for your children, please email me or call me any time and we will organize another meeting time.  We are hoping to have one again soon.-Michele  michele@onsitedesign.com
 
We're having a great time at KiDS body shop and in November we'll be doing...
Tap classes are temporarily on hold at KiDS body shop due to a family needs that have called our
teacher out of town.
 
contact Gretchen Ward at 451-8932 or at wards@5pillars.com for more details on the body shop.
 
 
FREE MEMBERSHIP TO WWW.KIDTEST.COM;
HOME SCHOOL FRIENDLY
 ONLINE FLASHCARDS;
NO HASSLE-ONLINE TESTING FOR ALL AGES AT GREAT PRICES! 
 HSLDA DISCOUNTS FOR JOINING! 
POPULAR IN STATES WHERE TESTING ISN'T REQUIRED, BUT PARENTS LIKE TO SEE HOW THEIR CHILDREN ARE DOING. 
 
 
If you do not get what you want, it is a sure sign that you did not seriously want it.  - Rudyard Kipling
 
Dan Marr and Anne Marr teach
 martial arts at Dragon Martial Arts.  
 
QUESTION:  WHAT WAS ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE FIELD TRIPS?
ANSWER:  Our hit field trip this fall we did without dad, but had a great time.  We went to Arbor Day Farm and learned about how we got trees in Nebraska and the Arbor Day holiday and lots about apple trees and apple orchards.  We got to see the trees in the orchard and learn about different apple varieties, how bees pollenate the orchard, and other cool facts.  Did you know that there are over 160 different varieties of apples including one variety that grows as big as a cantaloupe? And that a tree in it's prime, with perfect weather conditions, yields 2,500 apples in one season?  We were amazed.  We got to see apples being sorted, washed, polished and bagged or boxed up for sale, and what each size and grade of apple is used for.  We saw how they make fresh apple cider and
 even got to sample some - yum! 
 
A trip to the cooler showed us how important temperature and humidity are when storing apples and how long they last.  We also saw honey bees at work under glass and learned about the role of different kinds of
bees in the colony.  This was a terrific field trip in our opinion.  
 
 For those who are interested, you can line up a tour for $1.00 per hour per person (we did 1 and 1/2 hours).  There is a minimum of $15.00 I believe, but it doesn't take too many families to reach 15 and it was worth the money.  Arbor Day Farm has an apple house that is open year round and gives educational tours to about 14,000 school kids each year. They also offer education camps and classes on trees and other things. You get a school group discount on the frozen apple cider slushes and caramel apples too.  Cool field trip!
     -Linda, Alicia, and Sarah Goodrich
 

Home School Family looking for an adult to come and help in their home.  Mom is down due to pregnancy problems and have small children in the home.  Need help most week days; with sporadic times off!  Please contact
 Cori Pearson. -Chris, Cori, Sami Jo, Ethan William & Hannah May Pearson
 
We have a few military families that come to KiDS body shop and we are looking for a group of people who would be interested in praying for and possibly helping meet some of the needs these families face.   Some spouses are deployed for a few months at a time; some have just moved to the Omaha area and a bit of a helping hand here or there would be greatly appreciated:-)  We are so thankful for these man and women who give their lives for our freedom and we'd like to show them our support in some small but significant day to day ways!  If you would like more information on this please contact Mike & Gretchen Ward at wards@5pillars.com or call 451-8932. 
 
QUESTION:  HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOUR CHILD IS READY TO READ?
Teaching my children to read has been one of my favorite Home-School memories. It is the first experience with school they will have and I want it to be a pleasant one. So as you might guess I hold to the "Better late than early" theory. There are some things that I look for when deciding.
 
   I watch to see if they can sit through a story when I am reading to them. If they can't sit still for me to read TO them, then they can't sit still to be taught to read.  I also watch to see if they can follow along as I run my finger over the words when I read. That takes a coordination that all 5 year olds don't have. I watch to see if they are interested in letters and what words say on signs. Are they pretending to read? Are they asking me "what does this say?". Their own curiosity has usually been the best indicator. 

     When I do start, I watch to see if they are still enjoying the experience. I make the sessions short and as fun as I can. I don't necessarily tell them we are starting to learn to read until we are progressing and things are going well, that way if I need to stop they don't feel as though they have failed.

   Kids just love the one-on-one time it takes to learn to read. Playing games, doing flash cards whatever form I  have taken,  I hope that I am making a beautiful memory and creating a love for reading that lasts a  lifetime. What a great privilege we have as home schoolers us to make this memory with each of our children!-by Cindy Norton
 

New Boy's Homeschool Basketball Team
starting up this year.
  We need 7th thru 12th grade boys
for a junior high team, ,jr. varsity and    varsity teams.

         Practices start Oct. 21st 2002

      Our coach will be Jim Martin. He has lots of experience and loves to teach boys to reach their full potential.

Please call Mrs. Pierce: 426-5246
 or Mrs. Krahling: 451-7261  for more
information.

"My best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read."

Abraham Lincoln
Born February 12, 1809 - Died April 15, 1865
16th President, 1861-1865 (Republican)


For our Keepers of the Faith Club we're having an American Girl Sewing Club on November 15 from 115-330pm at Mike & Gretchen Ward's home. We're having a small engine repair and tool class for older and younger boys respectively at Clint & Antoinette Cave's home on November 15 from 115-330pm. For more information email or call Gretchen at wards@5pillars.com or 451-8932

FLORENCE BRANCH LIBRARY is having a Home School KiDS Storytime on Monday mornings from 11-12!  It's a blast.  JoAnn, the Children's Librarian will be reading to the kids about Colonial KiDS.  The Florence Library is on the north end of Florence on 30th St.close to I-680.  It's not too far from the north, east, central, and Benson areas of Omaha.

So far, we've read about Felicity & a black slave boy from the Colonial Time; and Kirstin and a boy who worked with the railroad; and Addy and 'Follow the Drinking Gourd'.  The kids used 'feathers & ink' and type set letters & ink to write with like in the Colonial Days.  They also baked bread like Kirstin knew how to do.  They made necklaces with leather & sea shells & got little beanie baby animals that Addy would have seen.  We have a great time!   There's room for a few more kids who might be interested in this...

A letter from an American mother in China.  She and her husband got married later in life and have spent their married life  in China.  They have been praying for a baby...

"It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it."  Proverbs 10:22
"This verse describes in a measure the truth in our family recently.  The Lord blessed Marty and me with a blessing that has brought joy every single day.  Her name is Mercy Janeen.   We have been in a process of paperwork, prayer, interviews, etc. for almost 2 years to adopt a child from China.  We were notified in July this summer that the China Center for Adoption Affairs was ready to "match us with a child." 
 
We saw a photo of this child for the first time when we visited their office on Wednesday, September 11th.  She was beautiful!  We couldn't wait to take her into our arms.  We waited in Beijing for 2 more days to receive the letter to take to Nanchang in Jiangxi Province to pick up our daughter.  At this time we were re-entering China for the academic year of 2002-2003.  We took a train to our home in Changsha, Hunan Province to unload our bags and spend two nights. 
 
On Monday, September 16th we took a 6 hour train ride to Nanchang to visit the Civil Bureau in order to do the paperwork to get our baby.  We arrived in Nanchang at 2pm and checked into our hotel room at 3.  We called the Bureau to get directions.  They asked when we wanted the baby!  "Tonight or tomorrow morning?"  We said tonight. 
 
 We received a knock at our hotel door at 8:20pm that night.  My heart was beating so fast!  When we answered the door there stood a young women and an older women with a frightened little girl in her arms.  She had no bag, bottle, or teddy bear just the clothes she was wearing.  I looked at Mercy (Hong Hu Chu) and she looked at me and she started crying. 
We were probably the first foreigners she'd ever seen. 
 
 The ladies came into our hotel room and talked with Marty in Chinese after handing Mercy to me.  My heart ached for this little girl who was experiencing such a life changing moment.  My heart also felt grateful for this little person that God had brought into our family.  Mercy cried and cried for an hour and a half and then went to sleep w/o moving for the entire night.  Marty and I kept getting up to look at her.  It was hard to believe she was ours.  She was so cute.  She was bigger than what we'd expected.  She looked very healthy.   We stayed in Nanchang for 5 days to complete paperwork.

Today we've had Mercy for 3 weeks.  I have fun with her every day.  She is a blast to watch and get to know.  I know she's changed some since we've had her too.  She holds her own bottle, feeds herself finger foods, does a fake cough to get attention and a multitude of other things that probably only her mother can appreciate. 
 
 She's a little girl full of energy.  The papers at the Adoption Center described her as "obsinate, outgoing, likes to be outdoors, likes music, likes salty food, likes the color red and these are all true.  Her favorite food next to a bottle of milk is rice (go figure).  She is a real explorer.  We got a walker for her which is the reduced ratio of a teen in a Corvet.  She goes everywhere - fast!  She wants to touch everything then taste it.  She's into chewing, especially paper, tags, and labels. 

I am tired every night but happy.  I am also learning.  How to organize our schedule so as to get meals prepared, have time with the Lord, and try to do some other thing in the day that's not related to baby.  Pray for me.

Having Mercy draws a crowd because "she looks Chinese".  We tell people she was born in China. 
We pray for opportunities for the Lord through our encounters."

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us..."
-from Roann McAndrews in China

 
 
CONTACT PEOPLE:
Pat Graves-President 551-3120
LPGraves2@cox.net
 
Sandy Hawes - Treasurer/Phone Tree/E-mail-455-6595
shawes@glx.net
 
Gretchen Ward - Newsletter-451-8932
wards@5pillars.com