REVIEW ~ See The Light: God's Runaway Story & Art Lesson

I had the pleasure recently of reviewing this wonderful art DVD and I must say I was pleasantly surprised! My child is 11 yrs. old and often times wants to skip straight to the drawing but this product was so captivating that it held his attention all of the way through the story telling!

The disc begins with the telling of the story of Jonah and his attempt to flee from God's call to Ninevah. As the narrator engages your ears, the artist on the screen engages your eyes. Each scene is illustrated before hand, but as the story is told, a shot of a live drawing comes in and out between the scenes. Your child gets to watch as the artist draws out one illustration of the story while viewing others so not to get bored with only watching the live shots.

After the story is completed, you move on to the lesson portion of the disc. This particular disc was broken out into three different lessons, each given by different instructors with their own style and technique.

These lessons not only teach step-by-step instructions for how to produce each piece of art, but they also teach the students about the different tools and techniques they are using, all the while reiterating the bible lesson the pieces are illustrating. I loved that each lesson used different styles and supplies so the student gets the opportunity to test out several different skills.

The bonus material is interesting as well. There is a terrific section on Salvation that is told in a manner that the children can understand and relate to.

The only thing I would have like to see would be some better camera angles in a few areas. Some of the shots seemed to be just off from where the child would be able to get a good view of the example.

Overall this was a wonderful product and we will definitely be doing more of them!

The series can be purchased from See The Light as a 5 disc boxed set for only $74.95, or you can purchase each story disc individually for just $14.99 each.

**Disclaimer: I received this product in exchange for a fair review through the Gabby Moms Program. 

New life brings new construction... and NOT of the new baby in the house variety!

So what do the Donner boys do on the first cold day of Fall? Dig a holes, that's what!

Earlier this summer we decided to downsize our pond in something a little more manageable with a hard side liner rather than a tarp liner. This served two purposes, one it made it a little easier for me to cleaner; because let's face it, the boys aren't sticking their hands in there and cleaning out the gunky filter, and two, the new location was closer to where I sit on the patio in the morning to have coffee.

Well not long after this picture was taken, the fish proved to have other plans. You see all those awesome new plants we put in there this year? Well those provided great hiding spots for eggs to be hatched and tiny little fish to hide out. In recent years most of our new fish didn't make it past the egg stage, they were just too easy to get to and the other fish would turn them into a nice snack. But with all the new hiding places this year, they were able to grow to make it out alive. Now our pond is teaming with new goldfish and possibly a couple of new sucker fish too! Well this calls for a bigger and better pond! So my sweet boys are digging it out this weekend. We are hoping to have it completed before the end of the month, but that will depend on what my arm will allow. Obviously I can't give them COMPLETE control!! I have to put my touch on it and that is going to be much more difficult than in years past. But for now I'm just thankful for these two amazing men in my life! They both know how much this pond means to me and what a labor of love it has been. So the two of them spending the weekend digging, digging and digging some more is such a sweet thing! I am so blessed! Pics to come very soon of the progress they have made and hopefully pics of a completely new pond won't be too long after!

So Many Changes

Well as you can tell I wasn't able to keep up with my once a week blogging schedule, BUT I have been cataloging TONS of pictures of all the changes happening around our home. So, sit back and scroll through some of the top moments of the last few months outside of the Donner Home...

The hummingbirds are out,

 

and not only are they enjoying the feeders and flowers around our yard but they've also been caught taking a quick bath in the spray of our soaker hose.

The larger birds have tried to take over the hanging feeder in our tree... much to their dismay they had to give that up and move to stable ground. 

The squirrels are rummaging through the ground and various planters in the yard trying to find all of the nuts they've buried. Sadly I put all new soil in most of the pots this year so they've had to make due with what's in the ground AND what the birds leave behind.

The plants are blessing us with beautiful blooms,

and amazing smells.

 Some have even taken their time opening up so we were able to watch the process in awe of God's amazing timing.

And the fish are thriving with all of the greenery they have to eat! 

And I guess that's a good thing because the birds aren't just sipping from the pond,

they're also stealing the fish food floating on the water. 

A mockingbird stops by just often enough for us to anticipate his arrival.

And the young man of the house chooses a late afternoon on the patio to work on a loose tooth. 

But the most exciting story of the spring is one this family has NEVER experienced before!

Check back next week to see what it is!! Trust me you won't wanna miss this! 

See ya soon!