President's Day Celebration

It's been awhile after my last post, which ought to tell you all who are reading this that most days are overflowing with activity, tasks, events, appointments, people, and a fair amount of fatigue! But it's all good stuff and worth our energy. This month of February is an exciting and FUN month for us! We enjoyed celebrating: 

• Abbie's 9th birthday
• Auntie Gina's 29th birthday :)
• Valentine's Day banquet at church, 50's style! 
• Valentine's Day
• Grandpa Sam's birthday
• Sam & Lori's anniversary
• President's Day
• Grandma Donna's birthday
• ... and focusing on Black History Month!

WOWZAH, that's a lot of people and reasons to celebrate! 

PRESIDENT'S DAY

Our presidents are very important and influential leaders in our country, and certainly worthy of our respect (even if we don't agree with their choices or politics!). Many of our presidents in history were interesting characters, too! We chose to focus our attention on the four represented at Mt. Rushmore since I still hope to go there this summer as a family. In the past few weeks, we read and learned mostly about presidents Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson. 

We decorated the classroom with some streamers and banners to get us in the patriotic spirit! 

The girls each chose a president to read about, and then created a poster report. Ellie chose President Thomas Jefferson (3rd US president) and Abbie chose President Abraham Lincoln (16th).  

We found some sentences that needed correction in punctuation and capitalization. They stated interesting facts about both Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.

Then we learned about the multiple jobs of a president. They are busy and very important people!  Among their many responsibilities, they must balance our country's budget.  So I gave the girls $100 of play money and asked them to consider all the things that our government pays for (quite an interesting and comical list if I do say so myself!).  They narrowed it down to 5 categories and then had to "debate" on how much each category should be allotted with their $100. 

We also compared and contrasted Abraham Lincoln to George Washington using this graphic organizer. It's amazing how much they had in common! Two great leaders, for sure.  

A final thought as we celebrate President's Day... 

Here at GPE and the Utecht household, we've talked a lot about the importance of lifting our leaders up in prayer. There is so much tension and conflict in our country right now in the political arena and beyond. Each one of us has strong opinions or beliefs on how we think the country ought to be lead (myself included). And yet I'm constantly trying to remind myself that rather than fight with others, cause division in my relationships, or live a bitter life, I choose to believe in a sovereign and good God who has our leaders in positions of authority for a purpose. Our only instruction by God in regards to our leaders is to pray for them and obey them.  I Timothy 2:1-3 says, "First, I want all of you to pray for everyone. Ask God to bless them. Give thanks for them. ² Pray for kings. Pray for all who are in authority. Pray that we will live peaceful and quiet lives. And pray that we will be godly and holy. This is good, and pleases God our Savior."

So rather than despise and slander our presidents, I encourage you to pray for him! Prayer is a powerful tool to change us, and commune with a holy God who has the power to bring about change in our country. So PRAY for our presidents!  They surely need that. 

Blessings to you all from GPE!