Several of my children have gone through a learning-to-talk stage where their speaking skills and their forming of proper consonant blends can’t quite keep up with their desire to communicate complicated material. 3 year old Gabrielle—appropriately nicknamed Gabby—is my current struggler in this department. Her immediate family understands about 98% of what she says, but other people are sometimes hard pressed to understand her.

But Gabby doesn’t let that get her down. Just the other day, Grandpa stopped by for a visit and I noticed the two of them chatted alone in the driveway for several minutes before he came inside. Curious, I made a point later on of asking Gabby if the two of them had had a nice conversation. She shook her head sadly.

“Poor Gwandpa,” she sighed. “He just doesn’t know my words.”

The Carnival of Homeschooling is here this week. Enjoy!

The update on Baby James is here and it sounds good!

are so very wise and smart. If you haven’t yet read all the comments about family size, NFP, and being open to life in the thread below, go do that now. I particularly like the underlying theme of God not sending just babies, but the grace we need to go with them as well. Here’s what Mark wrote:

The kids have taught me so much about God. My 5 year old insisted on giving me a toonie ($2 Cdn. coin) for my birthday. I knew this was half of her entire savings. At first I didn’t want to take it from her but she insisted. I took it and said to myself, I’ll just find a way to give it back to her. And since she was so generous I would give her back $5. It took a while to sink in but I realized this is how God takes care of us. What father would not repay his generous child? Since that day I no longer worry. If we generously turn everything over to God, He will provide for us in abundance.