On day 3 of our stay-cation last week, we headed out to the OC Zoo in Irvine Regional Park.
We had such an excellent day and learned a LOT too!
We had no idea about this little zoo just around the corner.
And, admission was only $2!
Aida worked intently on her scavenger hunt...such a neat educational idea to engage the older kids!
The petting zoo was a highlight for sure!
India insisted on kissing (and wrangling) all of the goats.
Boden liked brushing the biggest goat best (with his blue brush of course).
(Brodie's favorite)
Of course now we've been talked into chickens and goats (and ponies?!) of our own...
just need that property we've been waiting on...
Elka, our bird lover, was especially excited about the parrot who repeated everything she said!
"Hello, Elka!"
My personal favorite wasn't even an animal, but the beautiful covered wagon we passed on the way out.
I think I would have liked the prairie....
After the zoo, we had planned to go to the pony rides in particular for Olia who has always dreamed of riding a real pony...BUT...poor girl! She was too tall for the only size they had to ride that day! What are the odds?! Noble, Nova, and Boden had the time of their lives, though, and Olia was beyond understanding about the whole thing!
(Surprise! Mom and Dad have to...I mean get to...walk the ponies around the loop!)
...and...
SURPRISE!!!
On our way home from our Lake Arrowhead trip at the end of our week (which happened to be the weekend...the only time her size pony was available), we stopped off spontaneously to let Olia ride a pony after all...her brother too...
...and Olia's pony riding dream finally came true!!
After our pony rides and the zoo, we had a picnic in the park and made flower crowns like the ones I used to make on the field in elementary school...talk about memories rushing back when I saw those little flowers I hadn't seen since then.
30 years may have gone by, but I still remembered as if it were yesterday how to make them. Time flies...
All in all, it was a wonderful day of educational fun at the OC Zoo learning about God's creatures.
I'm sure we'll go back again next school year and perhaps we'll even have some new pets of our own by then.
Time will tell...
"So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good."
It was fun and educational...especially since it included local surf history in our own stomping grounds.
The kids learned about the origins of surfing and saw the progression of the surfboard.
A highlight for the girls was the Bethany Hamilton exhibit which had her actual surfboard with the shark bite that caused her to lose her arm. The kids know her story well and are encouraged by how she shares her faith in Jesus every chance she gets, focusing on how God can use things that seem very "bad" to work for good. She's an inspiration to them.
Boden found a board just the right size for him:
It was particularly cool that Tuesdays at the museum are FREE! What a great deal!
After the museum, we walked/ran across the street to the Oceanside pier.
Brodie loved watching the surfers below, though he was aching to get out there with them!
The pelicans were also a big hit! (...as were the lollipops!)
Thanks, Brodie, (in retrospect) for the mom photo...yes, I was there!
It was a memorable family day out as tourists in our own corner of the world.
We realize that people come from far and wide to experience Southern California.
Our California Surf Museum day was entertaining and educational for us Californians too!
"Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar - the Lord of hosts is his name."
This is a walk through our journey over seas and into lives. I don't want to forget. And I pray they don't forget...
Upon entering the event mobile structure, we were warmly greeted by volunteers who of course asked how many of our group were "actually our children". :) We were ALL given iPods with headsets to experience the sounds, voice, story of 3 unique REAL stories of Compassion International sponsored children as their lives have unfolded and been changed by this incredible, God-honoring ministry we love! Compassion International cares for each ONE.
Compassion is close to our hearts. We sponsor a boy and girl. Our children do the ministry. They are the ones who write the letters and send the photos. They are the ones who correspond because we are firm believers that children can do ministry.With right perspective, we see that handwriting letters to an impoverished friend across the ocean is not only handwriting or computer skills acquired, but something SO much more! It's an education of the heart. Our field trip yesterday falls into the same category...and nothing matters more to us through our homeschooling. THIS is why we do what we do...to see our kids gleam and watch their hearts and minds develop out of the box...what an opportunity!
It was quite the thrill for each child to have their own devise to listen and learn and even the little ones clearly understood.
As a parent, it was both exhilarating and heart-wrenching to see the expressions on their faces as they took in the bitter realities of SO many/too many innocent little children (just like them) around our world.
And God cares.
And they care.
As we would enter the opening room at the outset of each story, there were doors leading into the 3 life stories shared.
Each child was from a different country with a unique testimony of God's grace as He brought Compassion International into their dreadful circumstances and gave them hope and a future.
The stories began in the children's earlier childhood years with desperate situations, all real.
It walked us through recreated rooms with actual photos of the children in their younger years.
The child's voice in our ears told of things no child should ever see or live. The child told of their fears, how they had to support their families (one at the age of 6), how it felt to live in their lives back then, the dangers all around, the adult decisions they had to make at an age when our children are playing with toys.
BUT...by God's grace, each of these stories had a turn around when Compassion came in.
We saw real letters and photos of the sponsors of each of the children. We heard of the hope these sponsors spoke into the children's lives over the course of years. One even had saved a birthday card her whole life which her sponsor had sent.
She was so proud of her card. She spoke of how she had shown everyone and kept it all this time.
Our children were INSPIRED to see how their words to their sponsored pen pal friends
across the globe can speak God's truth into their lives and create CHANGE.
In a main and central room where all 3 stories land, we saw video of the areas where the children lived and photos of their sponsors in a recreated classroom like the ones our Compassion children experience.
We were enamored.
Boden was hilarious...his headphones on his cheeks half the time, but he listened and observed and soaked it all in.
Our active little guy was such a good listener. He will change lives in Jesus' name someday.
In the last room of each story, a video of the real now-adult child came on our iPod. They shared how they are now giving back in their communities and living successful and healthy lives for God's glory! Praise the Lord!!
It was extremely touching to see! Brodie's heart is so tender for the least of these. It was a privilege to watch him swell yet further to serve the Lord in desperate places, a passion that drives his heart! I LOVE this about my dear husband.
Once each story was complete, we walked into a room full of children's photos waiting to be sponsored, lives worthy and precious, each one...waiting to be CHANGED. I couldn't help but marvel as my son took it all in with care and concern,
he himself less than 2 years removed from the same type of circumstances we had been listening to. It's heartbreaking.
And yet, so joyous and full of redemption that God chose Noble, set LOVE upon him, and brought him into family.
Noble is LOVED. Noble is cared for. He knows this grace in the depths of him, though maybe not in full reality yet.
But, his thoughtful heart sheds light on what God has done for good in his life story already, even at such a young age.
Our big 4 year old now...his eyes once vacant, now shine with JOY!
Again, we praise the Lord!!
As we left the tents and headed back out to our privileged life here in America...so far, so distant from those we'd just experienced...we knew we had all been changed. Our perspective had widened once more. Our hearts had expanded.
It was fitting that the sign next to us as we took a family photo said:
It was indeed life-changing, especially for our older children. They saw and heard and felt the change that a Compassion sponsor (just like them!) can make in the life of a child, a person, an eternal soul loved by God.
Each of us were handed a bracelet after our encounter to remember...
...and we will...
Thank you, Compassion International for the work you do and the lives you change in Jesus' name.
Both recipients and sponsors alike are influenced for God's glory because you and He care for the ONE.
"As you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me."
It's been a bustling morning already with pancakes on the griddle and laundry underway. As with most of our BEST homeschooling moments...today's came unexpectedly as the kids got into puzzles right away. They ended up traveling around the globe via Geotoys and even encouraged Noble as they all eagerly pointed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They told him how special he and India are that God brought them to our family through the blessing of their adoption.
He beamed.
When we're looking for these teachable moments, we see that they abound.
Both for matters of the heart and mind...this is geography at its finest!
"By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;he puts the deeps in storehouses.
Let all the earth fear the Lord;let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! For he spoke, and it came to be;he commanded, and it stood firm."
