Stellarium and The Star of Bethlehem

 

I found this over at SouthForte Farms, a blog I like to read.  It's called Stellarium and you can find it at:

www.stellarium.org

It is a free downloadable program that lets you type in the latitude and longitude of your current location and see the star scape that is over you at that moment.  You can even add layers to the stars, like the names of the constellations and over that, the diagrams of the constellations.  We haven't finished checking out the whole site yet but so far we love pulling up the star scape on the computer, then running out to the front yard to check out what we see in the sky.  We have a nice big view of the sky where we live and on a clear night, the stars are incredible. 

Another something we discovered is a documentary called The Star of Bethlehem.

This movie is an amazing presentation on the Star of Bethlehem. Approaching the star from somewhat of a skeptic's viewpoint, presenter Rick Larson uses Biblical and historical clues with some sophisticated astronomy software to take you through what was happening in the sky the night of Jesus' birth.  But what he discovers is more than just that.  He also shows what happened in the sky that set the stage for Jesus' arrival as well as what happened the day of his death...and how all this was set in motion at the time of creation. We have watched it more than once because it's a lot to wrap your brain around actually. But it's a unique and thought-provoking presentation that caused us to stop and consider the vastness of God, his creativity, and the lengths to which he has gone to reveal himself to us.

"The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."

Psalm 19:1-4

Field Trip

The fall weather has been beautiful around these parts, so the kids and I decided it was time for a field trip.  Where's our favorite place to go?....Silver Dollar City, of course.  This just happens to be one of our favorite times of year to go too because it's the National Harvest Festival and there are visiting craftsmen all over the park.  We spent a full day there and didn't begin to see everything there is to see.  But here's what we did do...

Of course we started the day at the bakery.

Having a giant cinnamon roll first thing in the morning helps you keep up your strength.

 We looked around quite a bit at the different demonstrating craftsmen and saw some amazing things.

This is our friend Dee's dad.  He and his wife make sorghum at the park.

 SDC has a whole section of downloadable lesson plans available on their website so we printed some and took them along on our outing.  One of the things we did was interview the master craftsman at Carrie's Candles.  Candlemaking is one thing that we enjoy doing so we were interested in learning how they do it at SDC and what candlemaking was like in the 1800's.  We learned that candles back then were made out of animal fat called tallow and were made more out of necessity than for any other reason. (We had guessed that scented candles weren't a big thing back in the 1800's.)  We dipped our own candles which is something I remember doing myself as a child when we visited SDC.

From there we headed over the Oak Trail Schoolhouse.

We sat at the desks and wrote on the slates.

We learned how to make a 5-pointed star with a few folds and one snip of the scissors.

We watched the big "Headin' West" production at the Opera House and spent some time at McHaffie's Homestead looking around and sitting on the front porch listening to the storyteller tell the true story of Birdle Mannon.  It was fascinating.  Birdle lived in a 2-room cabin in the Ozarks from 1916 until she died in 1999.  Her cabin was moved to SDC and now sits just behind the Homestead.

Well, perhaps the most exciting thing about the day was that the lines were short so everybody got to ride their favorite rollercoaster!

Ready for blast off!

A Family Project

We've been having fun lately singing and playing music as a family. This past weekend we sang downtown at the Autumn Daze Festival and got to use our newly completed stage.  With a lot of help from a talented welder (thanks Uncle Bob) we've built a kid-sized version of a big concert stage. We have to say, it was pretty exciting to see how it looked at the festival surrounded by the clown station, the big bouncy houses, kids, grown-ups and lots of other fun stuff. A very colorful place to be!


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August 12th...What a day!

Yesterday was a whole bunch of fun stuff all rolled into one day.  It started with an early morning trip to Kanakuk K-7 to pick up A and C from a very fun week at kamp.  Here are a few pics of the kamp...

The blob (the big burrito)...

  Treetops!

A partial picture of the steps leading up to the awesome waterslide...The Zimmy Shimmy!

 Oh yes, they sleep in tee-pees.

 

Now here's a picture of a happy reunion.  Being without his brother and sister was fine with B...for a couple days.  Then he was ready to have his playmates home.  But he was extra-happy to see them today, because today is his birthday!  Yep, the big 5.  Let's count 'em!  1,2,3,4,5, boo-sha, boo-ya, boo-ya, boo-ya, ah, hey-la, hey-la-la-la, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, BOO-YA, boo-ya, BOO-YA, boo-ya, ahhhhh

Whoa!  Sent us into a cheer there. (Caution:  While driving home from kamp, random words spoken by you may incite wild chanting and cheers from your children which could last indefinitely.  Avoid saying words like okay, alright, today, so, pool, lake, fish, numbers 1-25, baseball, flag, and many others )   

Tee-pee awards are a special time for the kids and their counselors.

All kamp awards is a special time too.  We were proud parents as we watched A receive the "Quiet and Gentle Spirit" award for Division 1 and C, the "I'm Third" award for all of Junior Kamp.

Oh yes, I did mention we had a birthday to celebrate!  From kamp, it was off to the Landing to eat at the Fish House for lunch (B's birthday choice).

Then celebrating at Grandma and Grandpa's house with cake and presents!

When it was all over, we were pooped but what a great day!

Remembering Birthdays

If you ask me what shoes I was wearing in my 3rd grade music program or the phone numbers of all my best childhood friends I could tell you.  So why is it I can't seem to remember what it is I walked into the kitchen to do or the birthdays of dear friends and family??  Unfortunately, not much can be done for my short-term memory issues but thankfully there are "special" calendars that can help with the birthday problem.  I think it's time to invest in one of these or these or perhaps a more high-tech but FREE option here.  Hey, I feel a family project coming on...

At any rate it's time to stop forgetting birthdays so we can make those birthday phone calls on time and (heaven forbid) even get birthday cards sent on time!

We'll let you know how it goes.

Veggies from the garden

Here in the Ozarks, about the only thing we grow naturally is rocks - and lots of 'em.  Luckily, the previous owners of our home built raised garden beds in the backyard which we've enjoyed planting in every summer for the past few years.

Grandpa is the chief gardener and comes over several times a week to tend the crop. The kids enjoy working with him and are especially excited when the first radishes start peeking through the dirt.  The fun has begun the last week or so, when we get to go out to the garden in the late afternoon and see what we can pick for dinner.  So far we've enjoyed radishes, green beans (green beans fresh from the garden-YUM!), a few beets, swiss chard, cucumbers, zucchini, squash and the tomatoes are just starting to turn.  The kids say there's nothing better than eating food that's traveled hundreds of inches from the garden to your table!

Fun with friends and family

Friday we headed out early in the morning.  First stop was Warrensburg for a quick (but fun) visit with Spencer, Tessa and Tanner before they had to travel back to Albuquerque the next day.  From there it was on to Lee's Summit to visit the Padget cousins.  We got to see Connor's tee ball game, go out for awesome ice cream at "Here's Your Scoop", and help Connor celebrate his birthday on Saturday with a BIG party.  And even though BIG storms rolled in Saturday morning threatening the BIG party, tables were quickly set up in the garage and the party moved indoors.  It was perfect!  It was a great weekend of visiting friends and family.

Peaceful Puppy

This is the newest four-legged addition to our household.  He was given to us by our good friends, the Walkers.  His mama is a very sweet dachshund named Sherlock and his daddy is a Schipperke named Shadow.  He came to us with the name Shalom (he truly is a peaceful puppy) but we're calling him Buddy.  He loves to sit on your lap and tries his best to tag along wherever Lola goes.  The problem is that his short little legs are no match for her long Lab legs.  He tries though!  We'll have to post some video of Buddy soon.  He's a very good puppy and quite cute if we do say so ourselves...

"76 trombones..."

Okay, well actually it was more like "5 or 6 trombones", but impressive nontheless!  Uncle David and his high school band were here last week for a few days.  We got to hang out with them and do lots of fun stuff but definitely one of the highlights was the band's performance at Silver Dollar City.  Here are a few photos from the day....

We arrived at Silver Dollar City VERY early...even beat some of the employees to work and got a front row parking spot.

Uncle David got the band organized and warmed up.

We got all lined out with our banner holding duties.

At 9:00 a.m. we headed into the park and the band played a short (but AWESOME) concert at the Gazebo Stage.  Although you can't see the crowd, they played to a very appreciative audience.

 We loved being the banner carriers!

 It was great to spend time with Uncle David and Aunt Kelly and hear the band.

 And when the concert was over, we ate some big ol' cinnamon rolls!

A great way to spend a Friday

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The weekend in pictures...

...mostly because I'm too tired (and sunburned) to write much.  I will say that we had a VERY fun weekend.

Our family performed music Friday and Saturday at the Plumb Nellie Days Festival in downtown Branson.

We also provided sound and lighting for all the main stage acts.

To add to all this fun, C and A finally got to play their first ball games of the season!

A trip to Bonniebrook

Today was girl's day out.  Adrienne, Grandma and I headed out to visit a place nearby that we've wanted to visit for a long time now.  It's called Bonniebrook and you can read about it here.  It's the home of Rose O'Neill, who is probably best known as the creator of the Kewpie dolls.  You can read about Rose here.  Now around this area most everyone is familiar with the name Rose O'Neill and her famous Kewpies. Bonniebrook is where Rose's family lived when they moved to Missouri and settled in the Ozark hills.  But today we learned that there was much more to Rose O'Neill than simply the chubby, smiling little cherubs she created. 

We learned that in the late 1800's, at the age of 19, Rose headed to New York City to seek work as an illustrator.  Quite a bold move at that time.  Because of her talent, she was able to sell her illustrations to magazines such as Life and Harpers and was eventually hired as the first female staff artist at Puck Magazine (although she signed her illustrations with only her last name so readers would not know the artist was a woman).  Not only a gifted artist, Rose was an author and a staunch advocate for women's rights, especially women's right to vote.

In 1909 she created the Kewpies and they soon became a phenomenon.  For several decades, Kewpies were everywhere.  These chubby little cherubs were extremely popular and their smiling faces helped sell a variety of products over the years.  The success of the Kewpies made Rose a very wealthy woman, however, we learned that she did not hoard the money she earned but spent it quite freely to help support family, friends and fellow artists.  So much so, that when she died in 1944 at the age of 69, she had very little money left to show for the huge amount she'd made over her lifetime.  But the value of her life, we learned, was not to be measured in dollars.  She was an artist, sculptor, writer, advocate of women's suffrage, businesswoman, and philosopher.  She lived a very rich and full life.

We topped off our girl's day out with lunch at Ruby Lena's Tea Room.  It was SO yummy and check out that meringue on the piece of pie we're about to dig into!