Aidan's big Day

It was Aidan's birthday yesterday. My baby boy turned 8. We found ourselves in a bit of a pickle as it was a school day but also a day to be celebrated. So being the good homeschool family that we are we declared it Field Trip Day and took the kids into Philly to look through the Natural History Museum. We have been studying Dinosaurs in Science and knew that they would love the hall of dinosaurs. We began our tour through the diorama exhibits. We all loved seeing the animals and were amazed at the size of some of them.

Brea and Aidan enjoyed pretending that they were going to be the polar bears snack after he polished off the seal that is under his paw.

Emily being ever so patient waiting for the two little hooligans to finish goofing around.

Next stop the hall of dinosaurs.

This was our first sight of the dinosaurs. Needless to say the kids did not use their inside voices and throughout the entire hall you could hear the kids shouting "it's Rexy!" of Night in the Museum fame. At least we provided entertainment for the guards.

It was awesome to be able to put a visual picture to all the words we have been studying.

The final stop on the tour was the Outside In room. In this room they have all sorts of animals that you can see and touch. Everything from hissing cockroaches, to turtles, to a bee colony, to the rabbit and snake that we were able to touch.

Yes that is a skunk you see. Yipes!

Did you notice that a kid was missing in these pictures?? Where is Brea??

This was definitely not her favorite stop on the tour. So she put herself in the corner and waited until we had all seen enough of the "yucky stuff". It was a great time! The kids loved being in the city. We took time for one last stop to visit the fountains and gardens across the street from the museum.

The bee colony from the outside in room has a tunnel through the window allowing the bees to leave the exhibit and return back. The gardens across the street were filled with the bees gathering to take back to the colony. It was just another exciting find for the kids.

I hope that this will be a birthday memory that last's forever.

LOVE - Jaeson Ma

Legacy

A Legacy or legacies is what someone or something is remembered for or what they have left behind that is remembered, revered or has impacted current events and the present day.

It is no secret that I love facebook. The one thing that I both love and hate are the memories of me that have stuck in the minds of old friends. There is this one embarrassing story that involves a zip line, a certain broken cable, and a declaration of stupid teenage love shouted loud enough for an entire campground to hear, that will forever live in infamy. I have one friend that loves to remind me of said indiscretion and every-time I hear it, I cringe. For quite a long time before I set up an account I fought joining the Facebook bandwagon for fear of that very thing happening. I didn’t want people to remember my indiscretions, or the crushes I had, or the many stupid things that I have either said or done in my lifetime. But not joining wasn’t going to keep people from remembering the unfortunate things that I have said or done.

In Psalms 90:9, it says that we live our lives as a story that will be told. What is your story? Each of us has our own idea of what a legacy is and how we will go about establishing one. Some set up trust funds, others build monuments, donations to charity. Many pass on family heirlooms to the next generation. Unfortunately so many of us forget that we daily add to the legacy we will leave. Every action, decision, and word spoken adds to the legacy. How sad would it be if the only thing you were remembered for was having a bad temper.

Now I can’t go back and un-do every mis-spoken word, or slight, but I have an opportunity to show those around me how beautiful a life changed through the power of Christ can be. I have the ability to help lead my children to a stronger relationship with Christ.

I will close with this story. I received a “friend request” through someone that I had gone to church with for a very brief time. I accepted, interested in where and what they were up to now. Shortly after I accepted her request I received an email from her. In the email she thanked me for my kindness to her and for how welcomed I had made her feel. Truly I hadn’t even realized that I had done anything out of the ordinary for her. When I woke up that day I didn't stop to think, hmm this is forever how so and so is going to remember me. It is only through staying close to Christ and allowing him to work through us daily that will allow us to leave a Godly legacy. That is the legacy I want to be remembered for! I want those around me to see Christ in and through me.

It’s time to think about the legacy you are leaving.

There will be one-whether you plan it or not.