USS Hornet

Since Kevin has the week off of work, we planned to do a couple of day trips since he doesn't always get to go on field trips with us. Yesterday, we went somewhere that none of us had visited before: the USS Hornet.

The USS Hornet is an aircraft carrier that was used during WW II, the Vietnam War, and was used for recovering astronauts from their moon missions.

On a clear day, like we were blessed with, you can see San Francisco from the flight deck:

While on the Hangar Bay, you can re-trace the steps of Neil Armstrong after his return to earth from the moon:

The Second Deck has many areas to explore with many exhibits displayed:

US Flag that had flown on the USS Hornet from April 1942 until February 1945. Notice how many stars are on the flag.

Looks like Matthew and Kevin found something interesting...

The Flight Deck has a few planes on display:

We also took the opportunity to go on a docent led tour of The Island. This includes the Primary Flight Control area and the Navigation Bridge. We had a great view of the city from this area:

It was a beautiful day to learn and explore an important part of history that is very close to our home:

We will have to be sure to revisit some of the facts we learned when we study WW II in a few weeks.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Tradition: Paper Snowflakes

I love paper snowflakes! And I found the neatest way to make paper snowflakes on Pinterest.

Source: madebybritta.com via Yvonne on Pinterest

Who knew that coffee filters could be used to make the coolest looking snowflakes!

Since we have been hosting Compassion Sponsor Letter Writing Nights at our home, I thought it would be fun to make a bunch of snowflakes to send to our sponsored kids. We all made a lot of snowflakes that night!

They all turned out so pretty!

I have been reading about different things that sponsors send their kids over at the Our Compassion web site. (Our Compassion is like Facebook for Compassion sponsors, lots of great ideas being shared over there!) So I decided to put together a folder of snow items for our sponsored kids. Here are some things that I found:

On the front of the manila folder, I glued on blue paper, colored the snowman, and added paper punched snowflakes.

On the inside left of the folder, I pasted the instructions on how to make the snowflakes, as well as a pocket to hold some coffee filters so the child can make their own snowflakes.

On the inside right of the folder, I found images of snowflakes online taken by Snowflake Bentley, and a photograph from our recent trip to Yosemite with snow on the ground.

Inside the folder, I added this paper I found at Michael's in the dollar section, as well as:

the printable of the snowman from the front cover for the child to be able to decorate on their own.

This is the first time we have put together something like this for our Compassion kids. With the new online letter writing tool, I am not sure how many sponsors will continue to put together folders like this for their children. I sure had fun putting these together and am already thinking of other folder ideas to share with our Compassion kids! I pray these folders are a blessing to them when they receive them!



Christmas Tradition: Homemade Gifts

I know it takes a little more time and planning on my part, but I really enjoy making gifts for my family and friends for Christmas.

For years now, I have usually made pajama bottoms for the kids to open on Christmas Eve. This way they have new jammies to wear for Christmas morning pictures. One time I did make each of them robes. That was quite a few years ago, because Kelsey can now wear the robe that I had made for Matthew... :o) 

During the summer, we are surrounded by plenty of fresh fruit. I try to make enough jam for my family as well as for gifts. Apricot, plum, and cranberry-strawberry are some of the favorites. Kevin likes to share these with some of the employees at his work.

For the kid's friends, I found a fun gift idea on Pinterest.

Source: splitcoaststampers.com via Yvonne on Pinterest

We added something extra to the candy bars.

With Kevin's help, I love the way these turned out!

For my friends, I decided to try this lemon sugar scrub recipe I found on Pinterest.

Source: bystephanielynn.com via Yvonne on Pinterest

I was hoping to find some cute spoons to pair with the jars, but our thrift store only had knives. Oh well!

And it looks like my mom is the winner in my last giveaway for the knitted dishcloth! She was the only one who left a comment, so the dishcloth will be on its way to her tomorrow with her other Christmas gift. Thank you for entering my drawing mom!

Knitted Dishcloth Giveaway

Time for another giveaway!

I love to use knitted dishcloths almost as much as I love to make them. My favorite knitted dishcloth pattern book is 'Love to Knit Dishcloths' by Evelyn A. Clark. All of the dishcloths have at least one heart in the design. I like to make these and have them on hand for bridal showers.

In order to be entered in this drawing, please tell me something that you like to make and giveaway. Entries will be accepted until midnight Pacific Time on Monday, December 19th. Good luck!

Christmas Traditions: Making ornaments

Before I moved my blog over here, I had been posting about some of our Christmas traditions at my old blog.

This next entry has to do with taking the time each year to make new ornaments. I was inspired by a craft I had seen on Pinterest.

Source: iammommahearmeroar.blogspot.com via Yvonne on Pinterest

I decided to use this idea, but make the ornaments with small pieces of craft wood, scrapbook paper, and mod podge.

Kevin cut all the wood pieces down and drilled two holes toward the top. Then I cut the printed scrapbook paper to fit the wood pieces, and cut a smaller piece of solid paper for the names.

We looked up 24 names of Jesus that we wanted to put on our ornaments. Then each of us wrote out the names on the solid paper and attached them to the printed paper, then to the wood pieces with the mod podge.

Once these are all dry, we will be adding a small piece of wire so we can hang them on our Christmas tree. I am really happy with the way these turned out! It will be so nice having our tree decorated with 24 names of Jesus!

And the winner is...

...Dani!

I loved reading about everyone's special ornaments. Thank you to each of you for sharing! So Dani, send me your mailing address to kymk99 at yahoo dot com (or send me a Facebook message) and I will get the ornaments out to you in the mail!

Stayed tuned to this blog as there will be another handmade giveaway later on this week!

Compassion Sponsors Needed

As a child advocate with Compassion International, I usually have on hand a couple of child packets. These child packets include information on children who are currently attending a child development center in one of the countries where Compassion is working, but these kids currently don't have a sponsor. I would love to see every one of these kids find sponsors!

Mukumdwa is a beautiful young lady from Rwanda. She lives with her father and her mother. She is responsible for carrying water and gathering firewood. There are 5 children in her family. Mukumdwas has been waiting 7 months for a sponsor.

Little Liuwork live in Ethiopia and she lives with her mother. Liuwork helps her mom by running errands. There are 4 children in her family.

Young Carlos lives in Brazil and has been waiting for a sponsor for 8 months. He lives in Brazil with his uncle and his aunt. Running errands is his household duty and there are 5 children in the family. His birthday is next week. What a blessing it would be for him to find a sponsor for his birthday!

If you would like to help release one of these children from poverty in Jesus' name, please comment on this blog post or send me an e-mail at kymk99 at yahoo dot com. I'll be praying that sponsors are found for each one of these precious children.

Week of birthday blessings!

December is a busy birthday month for our family. Kelsey had her birthday this week and here is where she wanted to go:

There is a farm near our home that does a huge light display at Christmas time. You can drive through or go on a hay ride. This is the second year Kelsey has wanted to do this on her birthday. It was a beautiful clear and cold night with so many colorful lights to see.

My birthday was this week too, and here is where I wanted to go:

Today was a gorgeous day at Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite. We were the only ones wondering around the meadow. Tuolumne Meadows is a wonderful destination in Yosemite that gets you away from the crowds in Yosemite Valley. If you have only visited Yosemite Valley, make some time to visit Tuolumne Meadows. You won't regret it!

This week we also found special cream colored envelopes in our mail box! For those of you who sponsor children with Compassion International, you know how special these envelopes are!

First Kelsey received a letter from one of her correspondent kids:

His name is Rocky and he lives in Bangladesh. Rocky is 5 and loves vegetables and the color blue. He requested prayers that he stays healthy because it is getting cold. Will you join us in praying for him?

Another cream colored envelope arrived today!

This letter is from Abner. He is one of my correspondent kids from Colombia. I love his drawing! In his letter, he told me that his family has a parrot named Rebeca. I am going to ask him to draw a picture of Rebeca for me. He is looking forward to his birthday this month on December 26th when he will be nine.

If you would like to be a blessing to a child in poverty, Compassion International helps to release these children from poverty in Jesus' name with your help. A monthly sponsorship is $38 a month. Just over a dollar a day. By becoming a sponsor, you too can get excited when the mail comes each day.

A Christmas Ornament Giveaway

Because today is my birthday....
Because it is advent season....
Because I made these cute ornaments I found on Pinterest...

I am giving away these three felt ornaments!

How to enter? Leave a comment here on my blog letting me know what is your favorite type of Christmas ornament.

My favorite type of Christmas ornament is snowflakes. We don't get any snow here where we live (and I am kind of glad that we don't. I am not one who likes to be cold.) But I love how snowflakes are so unique and beautiful...kind of like each one of us. God created each one of us to be unique and beautiful in His eyes. Our world puts too much emphasis on exterior beauty, but God is concerned with the condition of our heart. I pray that each one of you takes time this advent season to truly consider how much He loves us.

Be sure to leave your comment by Monday, December 12th. All comments must be entered by midnight pacific time to be considered for the drawing.

Changing locations

After blogging with Homeschool Blogger since April of 2006, I am changing blogging locations! There is certain to be a learning curve as I learn my way around blogger, so please bear with me.

I would love it if you could join me for this journey as I share about our life in our little corner of the world. As promised on my other blog, I do have a couple of giveaways planned for the next couple of weeks, so be on the lookout for those posts. You won't want to miss out!