Friday, March 26, 2010

Ladybug Hunting


Flowers seem to attract aphids. I love having a garden, but I hate the little pests that come with it. However, the ladybugs are breeding in our yard and they like aphids, so I love ladybugs. Here's a ladybug and a larva.

They like the trees in our front yard, and we're getting an abundance of them now. My boys have been hunting for them, and then taking them to our garden in the back yard.

I'm sure all of you knew that they have multiple stages. Here's a photo of 3 of their stages. 
 In the center is a little larva (yes, that little bug), down between the blades of grass are two shells from the pupal stage, and there on the right is a little ladybug that has just come out and doesn't have her spots yet. 

A photo of three in the pupal stage, attached to our tree. We took this photo this morning, and this afternoon, one of these had hatched.

We are homeschoolers, so everything becomes a lesson around here. One of my boys came in and drew this picture. His info isn't quite accurate since you really can't tell the boys from the girls by color, but I took a photo of his drawing.
I hope your weekend is wonderful, and you're able to enjoy the glory of God all around you...even  the ladybugs!
Blessings,
Marcia

Friday, March 19, 2010

Spring Day in the Desert

This is our local view. It was taken from the parking lot of Target. We've been planting flowers today and getting the vegetable garden ready too. This is the time of year when I really enjoy living in the desert. I hope you're having some beautiful Spring weather too.

Thanks everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes for my mom.
:-)
Blessings,
Marcia

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Happy Birthday Mom!

Yesterday was my mom's 84th birthday! We celebrated by going out to eat with my parents, my brother and his wife, and my whole family. We had a wonderful time.

I'm blessed with a wonderful mom. She and my dad waited 9 years to become parents. They adopted my brother, and 3 years later I was born to them. My mom always told us that there were two ways to get children and that she and my dad were so lucky because they got one each way.
My mom is also a breast cancer survivor. She had a mastectomy about a year and a half ago. Her attitude through it all was such an inspiration. 

 She has made quilts for everyone in the family. Here are a couple of the quilts she made for my children. 
 Another little tidbit about her, she doesn't dye her hair, she's just never grayed! Her mother and her grandmother didn't either. Unfortunately, I'm taking after my dad on that one :-)
Her love for God and her love for her family has always been such a blessing to each one of us.
 Happy Birthday Mom, we love you so much!

I hope all of you had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day and that you didn't get pinched! My husband is half Irish, so we all wear green around here or suffer the consequences if we don't :-)
Blessings,
Marcia

Monday, March 8, 2010

Reading and Thinking

It's been over a week since I've posted and I want to thank the wonderful ladies who wrote to ask if everything was okay. Your friendship means so much. I've actually been fine, just catching up on some reading. I seem to start more than one book at a time, which is not the best idea, I know. With homeschooling, my reading time is limited anyway, so I just decided to catch up.

Both books had to do with Holland. It wasn't planned, it just turned out that way. The first one, "Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates" was written as a children's book, and I'd picked it up to see if I'd like to read it aloud to my kids. I loved it. Maybe some of you read it when you were a child, but I hadn't. Along with learning about the strong moral character of the Brinker family, I learned so much about the history of Holland.

This second book was "Anne Frank Remembered". It is the story of Miep Gies. She died in January of this year at the age of 100, and was one of the people who helped hide The Frank family. A wonderful book, this was another story that had me digging deeper into info on WWII and the terrible extent of hardship endured. I'm not sure I'd ever realized the extent of occupation that took place during this time, or how many countries were occupied. Since becoming a blogger, I've met several people from those countries, and realizing that their parents and grandparents lived through this, makes it more real. Maybe some of your own family did too.

My father and uncles were in that war, but occupation is something that I'd only heard about. We don't know what it's like, living here in America. When I was a teen, I heard Corrie ten Boom speak. I remember this little old lady walking up to the podium, and I also remember thinking that this was going to be boring. Oh my goodness, was I ever wrong! You could've heard a pin drop. She held the attention of everyone in that room as she shared about her life. Her book, "The Hiding Place" is one of my favorites.

Books get us thinking, don't they? Am I teaching my kids to work hard as Hans Brinker did, and not think that hand outs are something they are due? That even in the face of adversity, we are to do the right thing? I hope so. I'm also very thankful that I haven't had to live through these hardships. Not the hardship of the Jewish people. Not the hardship of the people living in countries occupied by a foreign dictator. Not wondering where my next meal will come from. I know I've been blessed. I hope that I teach my children never to take these blessings for granted.
Blessings,
Marcia