Spelling won’t work

So yesterday, my husband and I talked about possibly going for a walk when the younger ones are in bed and our oldest would stay up later.

During supper time, my oldest Alexandre, who is ten, asked my husband in the kitchen “So are you and mom will go for a W A L K?”  (He did spell the word by the way to make sure his younger brother Jérémy, age 5, who was in the dining room wouldn’t understand.

To which you hear Jérémy say You mean walk?”

My husband just started laughing and Alexandre said “Ok….”

I guess spelling words is out of question for this bright child of mine.

I might have a gifted one here… what do you think?

What’s in a name?

In the Bible, a name has a special meaning.

Abram means “exalted father” – problem was he didn’t have any kids.   Then God changed his name to Abraham “father of a multitude”.   God had a plan for him.   A grand plan…

Sarai got her name changed to Sarah but both names means princess.

Isaac’s name means “laughter”.

Theophilus means lover of God.

And I could go on like this throughout the Bible.  Even places had their special names.

Beersheba means well of the oath.

Jerusalem means city of peace.

Gethsemane means oil press.

God himself has many names (as well of Jesus) and each of them represent a special aspect of Him.

El-Olam is the Eternal God.

El-Elyon is God Most High.

El-Shaddai is Gold Almighty, the All-Sufficient One.

You might wonder where I am going today.  For my post on NaBloPoMo, I thought of sharing the meaning of my kids’ names.

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From the name book written by Dorothy Astoria

Alexandre Emanuel – age: 9 years old

ALEXANDRE
Language/Cultural Origin: Greek
Inherent Meaning: Defender of Mankind
Spiritual Connotation: Brave Protector
Scripture: Jeremiah 22:3  TLB

“The Lord says: Be fair-minded.  Do what is right! Help those in need of justice!”

EMANUEL
Language/Cultural Origin: Hebrew
Inherent Meaning: God With Us
Spiritual Connotation: Gift of God
Scripture: John 3:16 NKJV

“ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Dominic Matthias – age: 6 years old.

DOMINIC
Language/Cultural Origin: Latin
Inherent Meaning: Belonging to the Lord
Spiritual Connotation: Faithful Disciple
Scripture: John 6:39  NLT

“And this is the will of God, that I should not lose every one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them to eternal life at the last day.”

MATTHIAS
Language/Cultural Origin: Hebrew
Inherent Meaning: Gift of God
Spiritual Connotation: Honor to God
Scripture: Psalm 104:1 KJV

“Bless the Lord, O my soul.  O Lord my God, thou art very neat; thou are clothed with honour and majesty.”

Jérémy Jonathan – age: almost 5 years old.

JÉRÉMY
Language/Cultural Origin: English
Inherent Meaning: God is Exalted
Spiritual Connotation: Humble
Scripture: James 4:10 NKJV

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

JONATHAN
Language/Cultural Origin: Hebrew
Inherent Meaning: Gift of the Lord
Spiritual Connotation: God’s Precious Gift
Scripture: Psalm 92:4 NKJV

“For You, Lord, have made me glad through Your works; I will triumph in the works of Your hands.”

Jasmine May – age: almost 3 years old.

JASMINE
Language/Cultural Origin: Persian
Inherent Meaning: Jasmine Flower
Spiritual Connotation: Messenger of Love
Scripture: Isaiah 55:11 NKJV

“ So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void.”

MAY
Language/Cultural Origin: Hebrew
Inherent Meaning: Gift of God
Spiritual Connotation: Blessed
Scripture: Psalm 92:4 KJV

“For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.”

As you can see, the middle names of each of our kids have the Gift of God in either the inherent meaning or the spiritual connotation.   It was important for us that this was reflected in their names because they are indeed gifts from God to us.  

And this week-end, we saw that Alexandre was carrying his name very well.   We were invited to a birthday party and he was the oldest child there.   Nevertheless, he helped a lot with the younger kids during games with his brother Dominic and was overshadowing his little sister at times.    Result:  People around us were impressed by the two older kids and kept telling us about it.   This was so nice to hear and to “digest” as well.    As a mom, hearing these kind of comments is important as it confirms that what I am doing as a parent is good. 

Thank you Lord for our four kids.  They are indeed precious.   May your hand be upon them throughout their lives.

Volunteering

At what age can a child volunteer for something?
In my house , it is 2 years old.   From an early age, Jasmine was willing to help in and around the house.    What her big brothers do, she wants to do.   
Alexandre has recently showed her how to dry the utensils and place them at the proper place.    Nothing stops her.   As soon as she hears him or me unloading the dishwasher, she comes to help.   She grabs a towels and want to do the utensils.

Here’s her taking one of the utensils to dry.

Now she is drying the said utensil…
 
And she place it at the proper place.   This was a mommy fork and she knows the difference between the mommy fork and the baby fork.  
She is simply ADORABLE! 

Garage sale and lemonade stand.

What does a garage sale and a lemonade stand has in command?   Well, in our family they go hand in hand.

We were planning a garage sale for today.  The kids wanted to do something special for people in need.   So it was decided to do a lemonade stand and have some muffins and ask for donations.  This week, they decided that the money made during the day would go to Haiti.  So we made a little sign and made the lemonade and muffins yesterday.

Their little "entreprise" was fruitful and they collected up to 75$ for Haiti.  

It wass a great learning experience as well as my oldest learned to speak directly to people and advertize the lemonade stand/muffins to people who were coming to the garage sale.

I'm proud of my kids for thinking about others in need.   May God continue to stir their little hearts more and more everyday!

Majestic trees

 The reason behind the title of this blog is because oaks can become majestic trees, strong, sturdy, and have life in it.  Oaks produce fruits that squirrels and chipmunks will feed off.   Oaks can also welcome birds and their little ones in their branches.

 I like the idea of oaks so much that I decided to name my home school Oak Grove Academy.  I want my kids to stand strong on the Word of God, to follow the Lord wherever He will take them and to trust Him with every aspects of their lives.   I want my kids to plant seeds of hope around them, show the love of God through their actions and become a beacon of light for others in this dark world.    I want my kids to be open to anything God will bring on their plates.   I want my kids to have compassion for others and be willing to sacrifice what they have for the ones who need it.

My kids had some money put aside.  But when disaster stroke Haiti, they wanted to do something for the people there or anyone in need.   This week-end, we went on the Samaritan's Purse website and clicked on their Canadian catalogue.   They bought small animals as well as Bibles and Gospel Storybooks for Children.   We also added gift of good health for a family as well as support a church and pastor.

The kids first question was "Are we going to receive the animals, feed them and then send it to the poor?"   So cute.  We told them the animals will go directly to the people in need.

Now, they are working hard around the house without us asking so they can get more money to spend to help the poor.  Over the week-end, while we were busy with something else, we heard the vacuum.   They were cleaning the first floor so they can get more money for the poor.  Priceless.

I'm proud of my kids.   I pray God will continue to guide them and speak to them.

Proud and Emotional Moment

Yesterday as the kids were looking for chocolate at the grand-parents, Alexandre wanted to give his to my nephew, Deven, because he was the only one with no boxes yet... I'm so proud of him. He is the oldest of all the grand-kids (all boys by the way) and he wanted to make sure that his cousin had something.

Love you Alexandre xo