Fall Weekend Parties begin

Today, the kids elementary school had a costume parade down main street. For 30 minutes main street shut down while the k-6th grade showed off their costumes for family and friends. I think they take the 6 block walk to wear off energy before they fill them with candy at their party! :) It was definitely a sea of characters...hard to find my own kids at first!

If you look close above, you'll see JM in a khaki hat (a cowboy) right above the tiger.
Here's Isabelle in her princess outfit, complete with tiara!

JM is right in the center waving, next to batman!

Checking out all the loot at his party!

Isabelle enjoyed her party...it was all very exciting. Now for a LONG weekend, no school tomorrow...here there is a HUGE fall festival in a neigboring town. The whole town shut down yesterday. A town of 10,000 blows up to 80,000+. There are food vendors, craft booths, carnival, 3 parades, and so much more. We will go for the parade Saturday and then Sunday our church is having Trunk or Treat on Sunday evening. We are really excited for this outreach event to our community!

The kids needless to say are all grins, dressing up (one of their favorite things to do every day) and eating candy (which is a real treat!). We love fall!!!

A New Chapter Has Begun!

I love that life is never the same....well, I love it when things are going along smoothly, and I am learning to love it when things aren't so smooth. The Redford family found itself once again wondering what God was up to this summer when He began to challenge us to think and seek His heart about where our kids should be for this school year.

When we began homeschooling, I told myself "you don't have to do this forever" just so I knew I had a way out if things didn't work out. BUT, I also knew that it was a HUGE commitment and that if I start I should probably be in it for the long haul.

Guess what? God doesn't work like this. He is a God of surprises, flexibility, and spontaneity at least in the sense of our lives. For those of you who know me well, you know that I am a type A, extremely structered, neat freak personality. These qualities do come in handy from time to time, but they do limit me in the surprise, flexible, spontaneous categories - UGH!!!

God is not about a perfected outline for each of our lives. He has no desire for us to try and figure out what He might have for us. He desires us to be openhanded, prepared, and available for whatever He calls us to do. What one day looks like will not be what tomorrow holds. What "created, controlled structures" we have close off the work of His spirit to move us as He leads.

As we prayed about the different things God continued to lay on our hearts regarding our children, He made it VERY clear that they were to begin school at our local Elementary school.

One thing Kevin and I could not get out of our minds was this phrase from Ecclesiastes "for everything there is a season." We kept asking God, "Is our season of homeschooling over for now?"

A second thing we kept coming back to was the way God has wired our kids to be kingdom advancers. Our kids both pray for their friends & share openly & boldly about Jesus. They want everyone around them to know Him. Unfortunately, they weren't connecting with many students around here while we were homeschooling, and God kept showing us that He wanted them to have an impact.

A third piece (there are many more) to this puzzle, was the principal at the school. He is an amazing Christian, pastoring a church for 19 years before taking his current job. He was SO excited to hear about Isabelle's work in Haiti & around the world and shared with us his connections to Haiti. He was so encouraging to us as a family, not even knowing that we were prayerfully considering enrolling the students. He was very helpful to me as a homeschool parent looking for ways to get my kids involved in community activities. (He also let me borrow a book called The Castaway Kid - I highly recommend you reading this!)

Isabelle on her first day in front of Mrs. Edwards class.


John Michael in front of his classroom, Mrs. Lickteig

So, I had to let go of many emotions, feelings, etc. that I had about homeschooling to answer the call that God had over my children's lives. Kevin and I see that God is beginning to weave a big picture that directly involves their lives at school. We are only beginning to see glimpses, and we cannot wait to see how He develops His story, for His glory!

The kids were so pumped it actually shocked us when we shared with them about starting school. We had asked for prayers for the kids to receive the news well - God was already WAY ahead of our requests for prayers. The kids were pumped. Isabelle shared with us that she had been recently thinking lots about her old elementary school - how she missed it, her friends, and how she felt God had wanted her to have more conversations about Him with people there. She went on to share with us that she didn't feel she had any of those opportunities now - so when we told her she would be starting school, she knew it was the right thing because God was giving her opportunities to be a light for Him!!! (And to think I was worried about telling them)

Each day we must be ready for Him to use us, to change our circumstances, to put us with people and in places that He has ordained for us to be. Sometimes, it isn't what we hoped, dreamed, or even partially considered an option - but it is what He wants for us. We must embrace it with JOY! When we obediently follow, blessing pour forth!
Where is God asking you to let go of control and obey Him today?

The Surprise

SURPRISE PARTY!!!

We actually pulled off a BIG surprise for Isabelle. While in KC, I had planned a surprise b-day party for Isabelle & some of her best friends. Isabelle returned home from a trip to the American Girl Doll Store to shouts of "surprise". She didn't know what to say. She kept looking around at all her friends...it took a few minutes to register with her what was happening. She dropped her things and hugged everyone immediately. She was SO excited and surprised!! We had a craft project for all the girls...they painted their own frames to hold a picture of themselves with Isabelle that we took upon their arrival. The frames turned out great! The girls had so much fun playing together and being creative!
Cara, Neva, Natalie, Isabelle, Myah, and Olivia
Thanks girls for making Isabelle's birthday extra special!!

Happy 9th Birthday Isabelle!

Isabelle had many surprises in store for her today! We asked our friends & family to "stuff the box" for her birthday by sending her a card via snail mail. She LOVES getting mail. She has been so surprised everyday for the last week to find at least one card in the mail for her. Today she hit the jackpot! 12 cards just for her birthday....she was so excited and blessed. The fireplace was already full, but she hadn't even opened the 12 from today!
Here she is reading and arranging all her special notes! Her b-day dinner request is Tomato Basil Shrimp Pasta...for those of you who know I picky she is, this is a highly unusal choice, but she LOVES this dish. We also made cupcakes & she decided she wanted them in a shape of a flower! TOO cute! She arranged and iced them herself.

We are so blessed by our sweet girl...I can't believe that she is 9 years old. I am starting to feel old as I say "I remember when you were just a few days old." We truly marvel at what God has done in her life in these short 9 years and we look forward to all He has in store for her future! We love to see her compassion and generosity pour out of her to others. We love watching her set goals for herself - like the most recent "I am going to read the whole Bible in a year." She has stuck to her guns on this one. She is almost done with Exodus and LOVES it! She makes us laugh and cry and think really deeply. We love to have her "deep" thoughts conversations, where many times we have to say, "we aren't sure, we'll have to get back to you on that one." She does keep us on our toes!

We have some fun surprises in store for her over the next week...her brother dumped out his piggy bank to make sure he could buy her something very special she had picked out of a catalog. (He cannot wait for her to open it tonight, he has been counting down the days for 2 weeks straight!) She gets to celebrate with both her grandparents, which is always a treat!!! We have a very "surprise" b-day party planned for her Sat. She has NO idea and I think will be completely shocked! I cannot wait for this one!!! It will be a GREAT week!

We LOVE you Isabelle! Have a SUPER birthday!!!!