Monday Morning Bits and Pieces

Here's what on my mind this Monday morning:
* I appreciated all the comments you gave on relevance in the church. I hope to write some more about it soon.
* I went to my very first homeschool curriculaum fair on Saturday. I picked up a few books in the used area, and then a couple of "chapter books" from Rod and Staff. Two of them are stories of a little boy named Mohan who lives in India and is befriended by a Christian family. We are already seven chapters into the first book and Peregrine is loving it! It's important to us to expose our kids to other cultures and impart a heart for missions, and Rod and Staff has a lot of books along these lines from different cultures.
* I also picked up a demo DVD and some information from Math-U-See. I'd read a bit about this program and wanted to learn more. Erik and I watched most of the demo last night and it made so much sense. I think kids would grasp math concepts much more easily this way because it's visual and hands-on so they're not trying to understand some very abstract concept merely represented by symblos on paper. This program goes all the way up through high school. On the DVD he even showed how to factor polynomials with the blocks and it made more sense to me than it ever did in high school. I never thought Math was a subject I could get excited about teaching my kids, but after seeing how this works I can hardly wait to start! Do any of you use Math-U-See? How has it worked for you?
* Erik's company and his union have been wrangling over a contract for the last several months and have been unable to reach an agreement. Watching it unfold has been interesting- it's like a big game with high stakes, but very much a game. The union has called a strike that will start tomorrow. Erik has been really divided over what to do- he feels that this loyalty should lie with his employer, not the union, but of course that doesn't sit well with his co-workers. He just learned last week that he can opt out of being a full union member and not be bound by their rules. (They can fine a person $500 per day for going to work during a strike.) So, he's decided to opt out. He will still strike, at least at first. The guys he works with made it very clear that he'd better not show up to work. So he's trying to find the balance between being a good employee and maintaining good relationships with his co-workers and foremen. The strike is expected to last four to six weeks, but he is hoping to be able to get back to work within a week. Please pray that he will have wisdom to know what the Lord would have him do in this somewhat delicate situation!
* Erik is almost done with the coffee roaster he's been building, and should be ready to roast in the next week or so. The strike will actually afford him time to work more on this project. He's been roasting his own beans for about a year now and is excited to try to get the "big" roaster up and running. It will have the capacity to roast up to 15lbs at a time, and he's hoping to establish some customers here in the coffee-crazed Northwest!
* Lastly, Peregrine was sent a chain letter sticker club thing by one of his friends. He's asked to send two packs of stickers and then send the letter on to six others. Is anyone interested in having your child participate in this? I don't usually go in for these things :> but I know that it's fun for kids to get mail, especially if stickers are involved! So, if you're interested, email me with your address.

I think that's about it. I hope you all have a great week with your families!
Rebeca