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posted by David on 04/9/09

As a surprise for Robert and James, We made delicious, homemade, healthy, perfect waffles! While eating them, we remembered a funny story  we had read in one of Mom’s old cookbooks of how waffles may have originated. Here’s how it goes.

“The first waffle is said to have been made in the 13th century England. A crusader wearing his armor accidentally sat in some freshly baked oat cakes. The cakes were flattened and bore deep imprints of the steel links. However, he spread butter on the cakes and ate them. His wife, delighted with the way the butter stayed in the imprints from the armor, made him put it on once a week and sit on fresh oat cakes. They were called “warfres,” meaning flat honeycomb-like cakes. Dutch colonists brought their cherished “waffre” irons to America. They were long handled and very heavy to hold over an open fire.”

7 Comments » | posted in The Bright Side

posted by David on 03/22/09

The mountain lion has more names than any other mammal. cougar, panther, puma, mountain lion, Mexican cat, Wildcat, and Catamount. How did it get all these names? The cougar has a wide habitat range, from the prairies of Texas to the snow of Canada, so, as the many different people came to America they each gave it their own name, The Indians, the Mexicans, the English, the French and many other people. The scientific name for the cougar is Felis concolor which means cat of one color.

Where does the cougar live?

The cougar lives in North America: all the way from Canada to Mexico. Their range also extends to the east. Cougars are very adaptable to many types of habitat, forests, jungles, prairies, deserts, and swamps. Because they are solitary cats, which means they live alone or just with a mate and cubs, mountain lions require a lot of room. Only a few cats can survive in a 30-square-mile range.

What does the cougar eat?

Cougars are carnivorous. More than half of a their diet is deer, though they also eat smaller animals such as coyotes, porcupines, raccoons, rabbits, and mice. Mountain lions hunt by stalking their prey until an opportunity arrives to pounce on it. Then, with a fatal bite in the back of the neck the prey dies instantly.

Facts about the cougar

Mountain lions are very powerful and graceful, especially while running. There are two different subspecies of Mountain lion. The Mountain lion and the Florida panther. The Florida Panther is smaller and lives in Florida. Cubs are born with spots until they are 12 months old. These spots act like camouflage to hide them from hungry predators. When they grow older, their color varies from gray, dark brown, tawny, or cinnamon red, depending on where they live. These cats are rarely seen by humans, although they do occasionally attack people, usually children or adults that are alone. On average, there are only four attacks and one fatality each year in all of the U.S. and Canada. If you do meet one, do NOT try to run away. Back away, look big, and make a lot a noise.

7 Comments » | posted in Tidbits

posted by David on 09/1/08

Mr. Van Essen works for MSC Canada. A school was closing down and donating its remaining desks, black boards and other equipment to this ministry. By 6:00 a.m. we were up and on the road and got a good days work in carrying the furniture and equipment from the 3 floors to the gym in the basement. This was a great opportunity for us to work together and encourage each other to keep going cheerfully even after many tiring trips up and down the 6 flights of steps. We were sure to be back in time for Mrs. Van Essen’s delicious cooking. They quizzed our Canadian knowledge over dinner. We learned that the national animal is the beaver, the tallest building in the world is the CN tower in Toronto, and the Prime Minister is currently Stephen Harper. It had been a good final day. Robert, James, Daniel, Jonathan, Timothy, and I had one final pillow fight in the tent before drifting off to sleep.

6 Comments » | posted in Family News

posted by David on 06/9/08

One morning we decorated the house for my birthday. Michael designed a great cake for me with the picture of a lion  head on it. One of the best things about my birthday was that I got my new 4/4 violin. We ordered four violins to try out. Esther and I learned a lot about listening and discerning which one was the best. I love the one we picked from Potter’s Violin Shop! Another fun event was a big treasure hunt Jonathan made. Since we did it at night we had to find some of the clues with flashlights. It had rained earlier so some of the clues were soaked and others took 15 minutes to figure out! Instead of the darkness and the rain preventing the treasure hunt, it ended up making it even more of a challenge. In the same way God uses the spiritual darkness and rainy circumstances of our lives for good when we accept and deal with them according to His design. I certainly had a great birthday.

5 Comments » | posted in Family News

posted by David on 03/28/08

Jonathan and I got a great idea to make two boats that we could sail on our pond. First we got two boards from Dad that he couldn’t use any more and cut the front of them to a point. We hunted in the woods for some perfectly straight sticks for the mast. Then we drilled a hole in the middle of the board for the mast. With tiny little rubber-bands we tied two or three smaller twigs to the mast and taped the cloth sails on. For looks I put six little canons that we made on it. And last of all we pounded a nail on the back of the boat and tied a rope to it so that if it sunk while we were sailing it we could pull it in.

We had a wonderful time sailing the boats on the pond. During a pretend attack from the enemy, Jonathan threw rocks near the boat. Accidently he threw a big rock too far and hit directly on top of his boat and smashed it. So he decided to make another one that was a lot bigger and better with 3 masts, 7 sails, and 2 flags. He used a picture from a book of actual ships for his design.

This is an example of Resourcefulness because we used what other’s would probably overlook or discard like sticks and left over scraps of cloth.

Resourcefulness: Wise use of that which others would normally overlook or discard.

6 Comments » | posted in Family News