Pictures from the Little Rock Zoo

While we were visiting my family in Little Rock, we were able to take a trip to the zoo.  My wonderful sister took the kids out of school so they could go with us and my brother made it as well!  It was an awesome time, and I took a TON of pictures.

This post will just be the pictures of the zoo, mostly some awesome shots of the animals and the plants there...next up...some amazing photos of our family members!

The girls looking at bamboo

My boys, making a plan with the map

Mommy says, "Come here, little one."

I love fall foliage

The details of the water droplets and the spider web...I love my camera!

Not all of the leaves have changed yet, it was a beautiful weekend.

Lights still up from "Boo at the Zoo"

The kids with my brother, Ben.

Sissi fed the giraffe leaves, and he licked them up.

Love the boot and the animal paw prints.

Some sleeping kitties.

Cute kids

Learning about the cheetah

I can just imagine these trees tipped in frost.

Waterfalls are some of my favorite things to photograph.

The American Bald Eagle.  The two they have at the zoo were both injured in the wild and cannot fly.

He was just so cute, trying to hide from us in the tree.

Maned Wolf

What a camera ham, he just kept coming down and looking at me, as if he wanted me to take his picture.

The Prayer of Sir Francis Drake - 1577

Disturb us, Lord, when

We are too pleased with ourselves,

When our dreams have come true

Because we dreamed too little,

When we arrived safely

Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when

With the abundance of things we possess

We have lost our thirst

For the waters of life;

We have ceased to dream of eternity

And in our efforts to build a new earth,

We have allowed our vision

 Of the new heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,

To venture on wilder seas

Where storms will show your mastery;

Where losing sight of land

We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back

The horizons of our hopes;

And to push back the future

In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,

Who is Jesus Christ.

In my previous post, you might have read that my family was blessed to be able to review the new Henty Alive (http://www.hentyalive.com/) audio drama, "Under Drake's Flag."  The study guide that was provided included a written copy of the Prayer of Sir Francis Drake and it caused a whole other level of thought processing for me.  

The word “disturb”…how often do we look at it in a positive light?  

It really made me think that in this life, so often we are always striving for quiet, for peace, for that “perfect” set of life circumstances that allows us to feel good.  Does that really bring us closer to the Father?  Does that really allow us to grow?  

Or, does it allow us to grow complacent, to be unapproachable by those outside of our “normal?”  If we truly want to grow and be used in this life, we need to be disturbed, those are the trying fires of life.  That is where our character is formed, where we learn about our complete and utter dependence on the One who made us and fires us at the potter’s wheel.  We have to reach out and go beyond the home shore, we have to be willing to dispense with the possessions, and we have to be willing to be teachable in the storms.

How many times have I heard people say, “Don’t pray for patience, God will give you circumstances to grow it in you....”  

Oh yes, well, maybe I need to pray to be more disturbed then, to be uncomfortable, so that I can grow, so that I can rely on His perfect will and comfort for my life.  Not what I can provide by keeping things “normal,” but what He can provide when I am at my worst, when all seems lost, and all I have is Him to depend on.  

Are you willing to pray that prayer, “Lord….disturb me?”

I may not have been praying those specific words these past few years, but I hope, that in my own physical “leaving of my home shores” and willingness to give up "the abundance of things we possess," that I am growing toward being more open to being disturbed so that I can see His mastery, see the hope that we can have in Him, and gain the eternal focus that can only come from our Captain.

Review - "Under Drake's Flag" Henty Alive Audio Drama

My children have always loved great stories, history, and audio dramas and when I saw a post on my local homeschool Yahoo! group that they were looking for people to review a new series of G.A. Henty audio dramas, I just knew that I had to be one of “the few.”

G.A. Henty was a prolific, historical fiction author in the late 19th Century.  He wrote over 100 books that cover everything from Egypt, the Fall of Rome, stories of exploration around the globe, to Napoleon in Russia.  This particular drama was called, “Under Drake’s Flag” and it is the story of Sir Francis Drake and his circumnavigation of the globe.  Along the way, central to the story, we meet two teenage boys, coming of age, that are thrown into adventure after adventure – shipwrecks, fighting with sharks, saving the damsel in distress, meeting the local African slaves and gaining their trust, fighting the Spanish Inquisition – and they have to find their way through the situation and determine where their faith and courage will lie.  Will they fall prey to the fear that could so easily consume even a grown man, or will they draw upon what they have been taught about our Father God and how He will always provide a way?

We were provided a free download of the 2 hour audio drama, “Under Drake’s Flag,” to listen to as a family.  There was also a very detailed study guide, full of thinking and listening questions, along with new vocabulary.  My children are 10, 8, and 6 and the entire drama was clearly presented and they had a very full level of comprehension.  We flew through the questions as a review at the end of the drama.  There was a natural breaking point at 1 hour and so we listened to half one night and then the other half the next night.

The first thing we noticed while listening was the high level of detail and professionalism in the audio.  They are easily on par with the Focus on the Family “Chronicles of Narnia” audio dramas or the Lamplighter audio dramas that we have listened to in the past.  The voices are strong and clear, the sound effects and music fully draw you in to the story.  My husband and I instantly recognized the voice of “Mr. George,” the narrator, as being Brian Blessed.  He lends a great authority and story-telling presence throughout the entire 2 hours.

The only time I was a bit concerned, and it could just be a matter of the age of my children, was that the “bad guy” with the Spanish Inquisition was definitely a “bad guy” and my children were all a bit on the edge of their seat until he was thwarted.  I was sitting there crocheting and thinking, “let’s just beat this guy, get it over with,” but I’m sure it wasn’t actually as long as it felt….just a mom that was a bit nervous that her kids might be getting scared right before bed time.

As a whole family we completely recommend that if you like history, if you are enthralled with great story telling, if you enjoy audio dramas at all and making that mental image in your own imagination, as opposed to watching it on the television screen, that you look into the new Henty Alive audio drama series.  We are certainly looking forward to their next installment. 

You can find them here - http://www.hentyalive.com/

Trip to the Apple Orchard

We had a lovely day driving out west here in North Carolina.

The orchard was just under an hour away from where we are living and we were able to attach to a school tour at the student rate.

There was the tour that showed us how they take care of and process the apples, then we got a tractor ride, and were able to pick some apples and run in the hay maze.  The farm is owned and operated by the sixth generation of the same family, pretty amazing!

While we were out, we discovered that another friend was just down the road at the school days at the NC RenFest.  We called and looked into going, but they were closing at 2:30, SO, we made plans to meet our friend there in a couple of weeks.  So excited!

I love fall pictures, so enjoy!  I have to say, we've got some pretty photogenic kids!

Mom said, "Hug each other, have fun!"  Yes, they're in their natural element.

We love these cute new boots we got at Target!

Another super cute "boot shot" that I took.

Just a single purple flower at the base of a Golden Delicious tree...beautiful!

A bird's nest that we found in the trees.

Running through the hay maze.

He is SOOO not scary!

He asked me to take a picture of him, "being serious"....right!

Love my girl!

I'm not sure that she believes whatever he just told her...