Fun with Bugs!!

We have been having fun with bugs the last few months! In May, I ordered a butterfly garden, ladybug farm and an earthworm factory. The kids LOVE it!!! We received the butterfly kit and ladybug kit on the same day. The butterflies arrived a small caterpillars in a plastic cup. They looked like they were sitting on brown sugar. After reading the instructions, I learned that that was their food that they ate until they built their chrysalis's. These things ate and ate and ate for days! As they ate, they spun webs for them to crawl around on. The caterpillars looked huge and I couldn't beleive the webs could hold them up. After 2 weeks of eating, they crawled to the top of the cup and hung down and turned into these coccoons right before our eyes!!

taking abreak to head to Maine for vacation!!

The hole in our Gospel

I am reading a wonderful book called "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns, CEO of World Vision. It is an excellent book!! I want EVERYONE to read this book. It is changing the way I am shopping!! It talks about how we as Americans are so blessed and don't always share that blessing with others.. If a family's income is $50,000 a year, that family is wealthier than 99% of everyone else in the world!! I have slowly read the book and am wondering what more we should be doing as a family. We have SOOOOO much!!
D and I just completed the Dave Ramsey course on Financial Peace. He talks about building your wealth in a Christian manner along with tithing. I don't know if I can build my wealth without tithing MORE. Why should I "build my wealth" when so many people are dying without having clean water, starving, can't feed their children. There must be a balance somewhere and I am trying to find it.
Early in the year, I decided 2009 was going to be a year of gratitude. I have been journaling along with this theme and trying to let my family know how much I am thankful for. Instead of always grumbling. I would rather be thought of as a happy person! So that is one reason I wanted to read this book! I want to share our blessings! I want to train our kids to think of others more than themselves so I need to show that I do that in my life too.
I am not going to list all that we are doing because I don't want to appear that I am bragging but what kind of things does your family do??

Update on the Garden

It is now about 2 months after we put the garden in. Everything that we planted from PLANTS is growing so well - lettuces, tomatoes, celery - but absolutely NOTHING that we planted from seeds even sprouted!! So I added several bags of new potting soil and tilled it in. Then I planted new seeds in teeny pots to see if they would sprout from there. So I just added tiny carrot, more lettuce (since it grows SOO well here!), green beans and sugar snap peas to the garden. I guess they will now be ready in September.
We went strawberry picking two weeks ago. I briefed the kids before we left. "What color are strawberries??" Well, Bodie loved picking the green ones!! "We don't have enough green ones!!" Everyone in the patch started laughing each time he said that! I guess Kaylee was out of her element because she just stood in the patch screaming for me!! We picked 10 quarts of berries!! Yum. I canned for the first time and made 16 jars of strawberry jam. I was so proud of myself!! :) I felt like a pioneer woman. Maybe I could survive 100 years ago! We will go blueberry picking at the end of July when my parents are here. I LOVE New York!! :)