The Breeding of Hagar

Tirzah is starting to read more and more, and to my delight she likes to read the Bible. She would rather read it than some of the short little stories they make for beginner readers.

Anyway, she was looking in her Children's Bible and saw a picture of Hagar. She informed me "This is Hagar who Abraham bred before he bred Sarah."

I could not keep from laughing out loud. I guess that is what you get when you have goats that you breed. I did correct her in saying that men don't breed women but that was all I said.

Talitha Playing Peek-A-Boo

Talitha at 10 Months

Talitha is 10 Months old. She is growing like a weed. She now has 6 teeth with two more very near the surface. Talitha decided to take a few steps this month, though she isn't walking too far yet. I think by next month she will be. Her favorite activity this month is to be pushed around the house in the Little Tikes cart. She does not lack for people to push her. There are plenty of little people clambering for the opportunity. There were two times she wasn't happy in the cart. One was when everyone rushed out to talk with some friends outside and she was forgotten. Well, I didn't know she was left stuck in the cart until I came back inside to find her crying her eyes out. Azariah was the one who "forgot" her. Then the other time was when Azariah picked the cart and her up, put them in the wagon, pulled them over to Gramgees, picked the cart up again with Talitha still in it. He climb the two steps into Gramgees house without a problem. The problem came when he tried to take off his boots before putting the cart down with Talitha in it. Thus he dropped the cart on it's side and Talitha received a rather nice bump on the head. I told Azariah not to do that again and stepped him through putting things down before trying to take off winter clothes. Talitha is full of laughs and loves to smile.

Mystery Box Night

Each night of AWANA we have a theme. Some of those themes allow the children to make guesses about something each time they say a section. For instance, we had M&M night and each group had there own M&M jar that the children had to guess how many M&M's were in it, the one closest to the correct number won the jar.

About a month ago Mystery Box Night was announced. It was December 16th, but they announced it and showed us the Mystery Boxes in November. Each week our Commander gave another clue about the boxes. There was a box for Sparkie Girls and one for Sparkie Boys.

Here were the clues:
Girls: Week 1: it is larger than most, Week 2: It is cuddly, Week 3: It licks and Week 4: It barks
After the clue on week 3, Tirzah just knew it was a dog. On week 2 I think she guessed a puppy dog, then on week 3 she had about 9 guess and each guess was different but the same it went something like this:

A brown and white dog with an electric licking tongue
A black dog with an electric licking tongue
A black and white dog with an electric licking tongue
A white dog with an electric licking tongue
etc.

It was rather comical because she was so sure of what it was and she stuck to it. Well on Tuesday when it was time to award the boxes Tirzah was given the box to open. This box was probably 2 foot by 1 1/2 feet by 1 foot. She opens the box and pulls out this huge puppy. You should have seen her face, it was priceless.

When we got home I found out that when Gil asked her what that nights theme was as we were leaving she said in her matter of fact way. "Mystery box night, and don't be surprised if someone comes home with the gift."

Tirzah with her beloved puppy.

What Child is This?

The great Christmas hymn "What Child is This?" states on the first line of the second verse:

Why lies he in such mean estate, where ox and ass are feeding?

This prompted a discussion with Tirzah that went like this:

Tirzah: "What are ashes?"
Daddy: "An ass is a donkey."
Tirzah: "No it isn't."
Daddy: "Yes it is, it's another name for donkey."
Tirzah: "Donkey's don't like being called asses, because they are used to being called donkey's."
Daddy: "Donkey's don't mind being called asses, they have been called asses for a long time."
Mommy: "Ass is used in songs instead of the word donkey."
Tirzah: "I don't like asses."

Christmas Tree Hunting

Today, we drove up the Grand Mesa to find a Christmas tree. It was a good time. Here are some pictures of our time.

The boys lying in the snow getting all wet.

Gramgee telling the boys to get up. Zeb would lay down and then ask for help. The only problem was that he only wanted Daddy to help him, so Gramgee kept walking.

Of course, when you have children and snow, the boots and gloves come off at some point and must be put back on. Here is Azariah after his boot came off. The good thing was that he didn't let his foot touch the snow.

Taneil and Talitha, Gil and Zebdiah
Azariah and Tirzah

Here is an action picture. Tirzah threw a snowball and it hit Gil on his coat.

Gil and the boys, cutting down the tree.

The tree falling down.

Time for Sushi

Friday night, we had a sushi party. At a silent auction earlier this year, my parents bought a certificate for a Sushi demonstration party. So Gil and I were able to go to my parents house and learn how to make sushi. A chef from No Coast Sushi as well as the one of the owners came. It was a really good time. They taught us about the sauces, how to put together the sushi rolls and taught us about raw fish and fish quality. Each of us made our own rolls. We tried eel, raw tuna, raw salmon, crab, musculs and other stuff. I had a really good time.

Adam the Chef, the owner of No Coast Sushi and Megan

We talked with the owner and she told us all about where they get their fish and the high quality that it is. The Chef explained all about it and surprisingly the raw fish was really good. Like my dear friend Mrs. B always says, by the best quality of ingredients that you can afford.

Some of the rolled sushi