August 2023

Hope everyone is doing well, we have had a wonderful month, and are currently waiting for the birth of our daughter Abigail, If our daughter is born today, that will be awesome because today is my sons birthday as well. Fang is sure she will give birth any day now, so please keep us in your prayers. 

Planning

So with the daughter coming, we have had to plan a lot for her birth. We are sleeping on an air-mattress downstairs so that Fang doesn't have to climb the stairs in the evening or when she is giving birth. Its a bit weird to sleep in my classroom, but it is comfortable enough for now. The biggest thing I am planning other than my daughters birth is my children's homeschool curriculum which i will borrow from in my English class as well. I am reorganizing my shop area which is going well, but turning into more work than expected. 

Writing

So last month i mentioned the worksheets, and i couldn't find a starting point for this massive project, and for fear or starting int the wrong spot and feeling like i have to go back and redo things, i decided to mind map out an entire curriculum for my sons homeschooling, and highlight areas of that curriculum that i will include and specifically design to be included in class.  So this includes much more than worksheets, and includes activities to go along with existing reading material, and short children's books i will need to write for not yet existing concepts, and songs and vocab card sets. I have written several good songs that i would like to expand, and i have several good card sets i can work with. I will work to build onto my existing system. The worksheets will serve to tie everything together, the reading materials, the songs, the vocab cards, etc. But because i don't know where to start, i need to finish the mindmap and then work off of the branch that i think is most important and most useful first. 

In my attempt to start making worksheets that aren't terribly boring, i came across a bit of software that will allow me to create coloring sheets from any image, and at the same time crop it into comic book like sections at the same time, so this is a great tool for making books, but also for making good looking worksheets quickly. 

Teaching

I'll start with how calvins lessons are going, Calvin is a very curious boy and he loves words, and books, so I give him 1 potato chip for every 3 pages he reads of a childrens book, and 1 chip for every 10 random words he reads from the random words app. The app is useful because it cycles words we have already learned back into the mix, so this allows calvin to practice words he missed the last time around, while still introducing new words. He loves to play the bible game, his favorite story is "God's amazing promise" which tells the story of abraham. I'm not sure why he finds the story interesting, but i like it because God is calling me to focus of my family as well. 

I've been practicing preaching to my wife and son on the sabbath, working through the tracts. At first it was a bit weird, but i really like it now, a lot of scripture reading, and less opinion. I think this kind of simple sermon is key to church planting. The bible already exists, and you don't need a degree to read it. Heretical churches arise when people don't read the bible, but replace it with their fancy opinions and loud words. I think having uneducated readers in the pulpit is a good thing. Like ive said before, i think there should be some kind of standardized theology test, which i believe goes along with what Paul told timothy, but i think it should be simple. The duty of a preacher is to humbly relay a message, not preach a new one. As my reading gets better, and we get some more videos out there, we will work on promoting our group, and try to invite as many people as we can. As of now, its just us, and thats ok for now, as we obviously have a daughter coming soon. The space is big enough to seat 20-30 people though if God wills. 

Making 

I made calvin nuts and bolts out of wood, and 2 different styles of wrench to go with it for his birthday, and some boards with holes for him to put together and build with. He really likes the wrenches, and i knew he would because he can't keep his hands off of my wrenches. I gathered up all my scrap plywood, which is quite a lot more than i thought, and i started cutting it into strips that i will glue together to be a new countertop for some draws made from plastic drink crates that i got for very cheap and are compatible with some other smaller crates i have. They all stack up quite nicely, and i think it will really make organization much easier. Still haven't done the french cleat yet, but ill get to it someday. 

Needs

This month i believe we are pretty well provided for, I have enough for my visa now, and also have enough for the bills, and the hospital room. Thankyou for everyone who helped us get to this point, it really means a lot to us. 

Conclusion

God has been good to us, and we work to pass that on to others. Please pray for us, that we would be effective, and faithful. Thankyou.