What's in a Name?

Recently a relative of my died suddenly.  We weren’t close. I only had just met him for the first time when we began attending Church of the Good Shepherd.  We are related through my father.  When I was asked if I was attending his funeral I said something to the effect of well of course, “I’m a Bronson”.  That of course was not the only reason we were planning to attend.  As soon as the words left my mouth my husband piped in and said “No you’re not.  You’re a Radman.”  In the moment I gave a quick laugh and moved on with our conversation.  My husband’s statement has been sitting on my mind since then and I had felt the urge to put my thoughts down.

Yes, I am a Bronson by birth and that carries with it some physical and learned characteristics that I’ve been given through my genetic make-up and learned through growing up around my Bronson family.  But my husband isn’t wrong in his response.  I had taken his name the day we were married but I have gained so much more from him through the years that we have been married.  I really can say that being married to Eric has changed me and in many ways has made me into a better person.  I am more analytic than I ever was, and I don’t just accept what i’m being told as truth just because someone holds a title like professor, teacher, pastor... God has given me such a gift in my husband.
 
It is at this point that I am reminded that Jesus has done something even more wonderful for me by making me His.  He too has changed my name.  I am a daughter of the King of Kings!  Yes, I am biologically a daughter of Adam (sinful human) but I have been saved through the blood of my Savior Jesus and can now say with boldness that I am a child of God.  Through Jesus I am slowly being refined and not of my own doing.  Though I am such an awful and disobedient child that doesn't deserve the awesome gift of salvation or any of the other of the wonderful things that He has done and is doing in my life. 

Besides the gift of my husband, He has provided us with a church that seeks to share the Gospel and disciple those that Jesus has called.  Their love was made apparent in the life of my relative that is now with his savior.  I am grateful for that love that Good Shepherd gives and gave.  I pray that others that are in a position to share the Gospel and disciple would be so willing and wise. 
The Church universal often refers to fellow Christians as brother and sisters in Christ.  This has definitely been the case for both Eric and I and now for our girls as well.  Lacking for immediate family in quantity God has supplied us with friends (brothers & sisters in Christ) through our local churches.  These brothers and sisters that God has provided have been a great blessing in a world that feels lonelier to those who love God and desire to live a life that is pleasing to our Heavenly Father.

~Laura

An Anniversary

Today I celebrated my 12th wedding anniversary to a wonderful man.  God so blessed this undeserving gal with a man who loves his heavenly father which is what makes him the most wonderful husband and father to our children.
Thanks to some friends of ours we were able to go out to eat just the two of us at a lovely Indian restaurant, and have an adult drink.  Before that though we took a stroll around a part of Binghamton, NY.  It was a beautiful autumn day the air was comfortable, the leaves on the trees are just beginning to light up with bright reds and oranges.  This is my time of year.  I love the colors, the smells, and crisp air.

When Eric and I started dating, one of our first dates was roaming around Binghamton hand in hand on a cool fall day.  So much has changed since that day.  We have both sadly have changed physically and now have three lovely children that accompany us just about everywhere we go.  Which we wouldn't change at all.  We love being with our kiddos most of the time and love to have them with us.  But there is the rare occasion when it is nice to go on a date, just the two of us.  So when friends offered to watch our crazy kiddos, we took them up on their offer.
On the way to the place where we would park the car there was a lot less off the normal clamor that rides along with us will car full of kids.  As we began our walk I think the lack of needy, noisy children felt very unnatural at first.  We had done this before in our not so distant past which had an awkwardness about it for different reasons (dating, newly weds). I don't know if we new immediately how to relate to one another without the clamor, and the stunted conversations.  While noticing this a small fear tried to creep in.  Would we be able to relate to one another when that day comes, when each of our children takes flight and we are left with an empty nest?  Thankfully by the end of our delightful date I think we were getting the hang of this relating to one another again as friends, and as a husband and wife.  Not just two who share the same home and take care of the same children, but as a couple of friends.  Maybe we should try to do this a little more often?
~Laura

Hills

The other night I found myself becoming teary while watching our first baby (German Shepherd/Husky mix) find it difficult to get moving after being in one position for too long.  I had also been playing in my mind with the idea that I should start getting my self some exercise, again.  So upon my late night climbing into bed I mentioned both of these to my husband and he decided to take me seriously about the second.  So at 6:30a.m. my wonderful husband nudged at me to get up so that Zander (my fury baby) and I could go for a walk. 
Ugh!  I am sooo not a morning person and I am so not a physical exercise lovin’ gal, but I do wish I was.  So out the door the two of us went.  One of much more excited about this activity than the other, and of course the first portion of my circuit is up a slight hill.  Hills are not friends to those who are out of shape, overweight and asthmatic.  Now my traveling companion actually was helpful for a portion of the walk up the hill until he stopped so that he could sniff something and then leave a message to any other animal that might be sniffing around informing them that he was there. 
Oh sweet momentum  was now gone.  On I trudged with our occasional stops for the marking out of our presence.  Now we approached a road that I could take before reaching the one at the top of the hill that tempted me, but no I forged ahead and made it to the top of my little hill and was now going to be able to enjoy the down hill portion of my walk.  It’s my favorite part.  Its the time that I get to look around and enjoy the newly rising sunlight on this lightly foggy and slightly chilly day and ponder my existence just a little.  Then of course to return to where we began I must climb the brief bottom portion of the hill I live on and up the stairs back safe and sound in my cozy little home.  I guess my husband will try to get me to go out again tomorrow, so I should probably get to bed so that I can rise and shine.    
Goodnight
~Laura

My fury baby when he was still puppy

It's Been Awhile

It has been more than a year since I have posted anything here.  A lot has happened in this break of time.  We added a 3rd girl to our brood.  She has brought us much joy during the stresses that we've endured such as the separation of my parents, the decision to change the church that we would be regularly attending, and more recently the disruption in friendships.  But yesterday was Sunday (I actually wrote this last night)!  Easter Sunday that is.  The day that my Savior, Jesus Christ who died for my sins/our sins conquered death so that I may live.  He is Risen! My Savior lives!  To quote a hymn "and because he lives I can face tomorrow".  He has gotten me through a lot of tomorrows in my 3 plus decades. 
This Easter season was a new one for me.  Most of my Easters have come in a flash and left just as quickly, not this one.  The girls and I took the week off from school work and as a family attended 2 Holy Week services and participated in a prayer vigil on Holy Saturday.  I think my favorite time this week was during our designated prayer time.  We got to the church and were unable to enter.  The doors were locked so instead we as family sat down on the concrete step outside the door.  If you had witnessed our prayer time you might give me a look of confusion as to how this was my favorite.  It was cold outside and my children were whining and uncooperative but the sun was shinning.  The light and warmth felt so wonderful to this NY native who is anxiously awaiting more warm and well lit days.  Its warmth and light brought great comfort to us as we sat outside the church just as my Savior and his word does.  My Middle who uses a lot less words than my Oldest and leaves her momma wondering what is going on in her head regularly, fervently turns to her momma during the Tenebrae service and states "Jesus is the light of the world." To hear such declaration from her children's' lips warms this momma's heart. 
My prayer for those known and unknown to me is that the warmth of God's love so marvelously displayed on Good Friday for all who believe will be felt in all of our lives today and tomorrow.
Happy Easter!
~Laura 

5 Little Pumpkins Shadow Puppets

Hi Ya'll!  It's been quite a while since I've added anything new to my blog here at Munkin Punkin.  Life has been a whirlwind this summer and here we are already into the fall season, Ugh!  I do love the fall season though.  I think it's my favorite.  
One of the reasons life has been so crazy is our newest addition joined our family in late spring. And this September I started homeschooling my oldest and doing some school stuff with my middle child.  I've been using Alpha and Omega for phonics and math with my oldest and Explode the Code with my middle.  We have also been reading Little House in the Big Woods, and since LHitBW talks a lot about bears we've done some further investigation into bears.  Did you know that the polar bear is the largest bear species?
I follow another homeschoolin' mama on Facebook and after viewing a video clip that she  The Crafty Homeschool Mama shared where she and her daughter recited the poem When the Frost is on the Punkin by James Whitcomb Riley I wanted to try to have my girls recite a seasonal poem.  I wasn't sure that they could recite James' poem and figured that 5 Littles Pumpkins was more doable.  I also thought it might be fun to turn it into a shadow puppet show for when their daddy got home.  It still could use some work but they just learned it today!  Here is the video of their presentation of 5 Little Pumpkins, hope you enjoy!

~Laura

Giraffe Themed Birthday Party

This cake was by far the easiest cake to make of all the birthday cakes that I have made.  The trees on the cake were made out of gum paste.  This was the first time that I have played with gum paste.  I think that I need to do some more playing before I get a better grasp of how to form objects out of it.  The top of the cake is covered with homemade marshmallow fondant.  I had come across some pre-colored fondant in brown tones that I used to cut out the giraffe spots and then added some plastic toy jungle animals around the outside edge of the cake. 

I had plans for a couple of activities but the box fortress was a last minute suggestion by my husband.  We had just remodeled our kitchen and had all these boxes leftover. 

The boxes were a HUGE hit!  

As soon as guests drove in and the kids saw the boxes being put together that is where they first ran to! 

Being a nice warm summer day in the Northeast I had also purchased a bunch of water guns for the kids to play with, which was also a lot of fun.  Of course several thought it fun to spray the host! 

One the activities I had planned was "pin the tail on the giraffe"  The giraffe was one that I painted on a large piece of cardboard.  I used an appropriate picture of Melman the giraffe character on Madagascar.

Here the kids are attempted to pin the tail onto "Melman the giraffe"

I had also come up with a quiz for the adults and some of the older kids who might be interested.  The quiz of course was on giraffe facts.  A couple of my girlfriends had too much fun while completing the quiz and were coming up with some crazy answers to the questions.

Some games/activities that we didn't play:

I also made some zebra and wild cat tails that would velcro around the kids waist so that they could play a game called "Catch the Lion by the Tail" or Tag.  The first game is like "duck duck goose". The lion walks around the circle of kids and says lion, lion...then randomly touches another and says hyena.  The lion must make it back to the hyenas spot before the hyena grabs the lions tail.  Of course the names of the animals can be changed. 

Another game is called "Hungry Lions"  This is a game of predator and prey.  Some kids are lions some are zebras.  The game starts when an adult yells feeding time.  The lions must tag a zebra.  Once a zebra is caught it must stand still until another zebra has crawled in between their legs.  The game is played until all the zebras are caught or until the kids are tired out. 

"We're Going on a Bear Hunt" song was another option that I was thinking about doing with the kids because it has a lot of fun sounds and movements for the kids to do along with you.  I came across a youtube video of Michael Rosen performing the song that we thoroughly enjoyed watching.

Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen 

We ended the day with cake and gifts.  It was a beautiful day that we got to share with our many friends/family!

~Laura

Where did the Air Go?

I decided to try a little science experiment with my girls today.  This idea from something that I came across on Pinterest and if you are interested check out this website: Learn with Play at Home.  It looks like a blog that I need to do some more exploring of!  

My daughter took this picture which is neat because you can see the round water droplets as they are being pushed out through the straw.

 The experiment that we did was with a water bottle fountain.

We did it this part a couple of times and recorded one of them.  I really should have angled the straw better, but I'm not sure if it would have made that much of a difference.  

 The fountain part of the  was the end of our water bottle fountain experiment.  You will want to let them hold an untied and blown up balloon.  Ask them what is inside the balloon.  My daughter's first answer was nothing.  With further prodding she was able to come up with the answer of "air." What happened when they let go of the blown up balloon?  The next step is to attach the blown up balloon to the empty bottle.  Find out what they observe.   The ballon didn't deflate ~ Why?

And then lastly discuss what is causing the water to come out through the straw.

This was fun!  We hope that you will give it a try too!

~Laura  

This land will be yours, for the LORD your God will himself drive out all the people living there now. You will take possession of their land, just as the LORD your God promised you. Joshua 23:5