Snow Fort, Ladies Retreat and Rhyming

What was probably the last cold snap of the winter just ended. It warmed up to 32 during the day and has been snowing all day for several days. The children have been working on a giant snow fort. The snow balls that they are using are huge. They must be as tall as Zuriel. They made a couple large snow chairs that they claim are quite comfortable. Leon had to go out with his flashlight and look over the structure after he came home last night. The stars will be the roof. It is as large inside as our living room.

Havilah, Zuriel, Elsie and I are getting ready to go to an Above Rubies retreat. It is the first time that all the girls have gone somewhere alone together. We hope to be picking Christy up on the way to the retreat. Marla Dimmick and Charissa Swanson will also be joining us there where we are staying in someone's house nearby.

Last week we realized that our two new children had never learned how to rhyme. We've been going around and around the table practicing ever since. Nehemiah is 3 and he didn't know yet either. He learned the first day, Zion who is 11 learned by the end of the second day but, it's still hard for him and Simeon who is 9 hasn't quite figured it out yet.

It's interesting how hard it is to learn a new concept if you did not grow up around common knowledge of it. Nehemiah can learn a new concept quicker than our children from Liberia even though they are 9 and 11. They grew up trying to survive and being happy if they could get one meal a day. Many days they did not eat at all.