Just Freedom

This post is just all about Freedom.

This is Freedom at 7:00 AM getting ready for school.   He had just decided to recite for me all his memory verses:

Mathew 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

John 15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world he gave his one and only son that whosoever believes in him will not persish but have eternal life

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He has been thoroughly enjoying the fall weather and roller blading around outside.

Freedom was Leader of the Week.  He had to draw a picture of himself.  I LOVE that he put a super hero outfit on himself - with a cape!

He also had to create a poster full of pictures to take to class.

We also had to write a letter to his class.  This is the letter I wrote:

Dear Class,                                                                              

Greetings!  I hope your school day is going GREAT!  I am writing to tell you how very awesome my son Freedom is since he is the Leader of the Week.  He is a true super hero around our house.  He takes care of people and creatures, takes care of the tough jobs his sisters and I don’t want to tackle and he helps our favorite soccer team score points!

Freedom truly cares about people and living things.  A couple of weeks ago, we were walking home from school and a light green beetle was stuck on its back on the sidewalk in the park.   One kid wanted to step on it.  Others didn’t want to touch it.  Freedom wanted to save it.  When he turned it over, it latched onto his hand.  I was able to snag a picture and as soon as I did, the beetle surprised us all and flew off into the trees.  If you ever get stuck in life, my son will be happy to help YOU get up and flying again, just like he did this beetle!

My 2 girls and I are blessed to have a fearless boy around our house.  A few months back, we discovered a HUGE tree cockroach had infiltrated our kitchen!  EEK!  The girls and I were screaming our heads off as we chased it around and finally killed it by spraying it with poison.  Unfortunately, the task of removing its corpse still lay before us.  None of us dared touch it.  After contemplating whether to do rock-paper-scissors or to draw straws, we then realized that none of us had to risk our lives and sanitation in this way.  For it was time for Freedom to get out of school! He’d save us!  We raced to the bus loop to retrieve our hero!  We shared the nasty situation with him and asked him if he could do the dirty deed.  His response was a calm, simple, fearless “sure.” 

Lastly, Freedom is an AWESOME soccer player on a winning team.  He plays forward.  He can dribble the ball down the entire field dodging the other team.  He owns that ball and when it comes near his area, he takes that ball from the other team like a ninja.  He’s EXCELLENT at passing the ball to his team mates and has helped his team make several goals this way. Last Saturday he made a goal himself and his team won 3-2.  They are near undefeatable as every player, including Freedom, contributes his very best.  Truly, Freedom is a hero around our house.  We’re thankful for his willingness to help in all areas of life.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Burgin

Horseback Riding

Glory's first Horseback riding lesson!

This is Glory at her first horseback riding lesson.  Her horse's name is Lucky and he kept falling asleep every chance he got.  He's like me!  Glory has been WAITING for this day!

This is what she looked like after her lesson.  She was sooo happy despite the cold.  It was about 35 degrees and windy when she got her lesson.

Homeschool!

A young man in Rwanda FB messaged me during Science class and asked how things were in Texas today.  I told him it was cold here, 37 degrees.  He said, "I'm so sorry!"  I told him it was no big deal because I had a coat.  He asked me to send him a picture of what we look like in Winter here, so my entire class came out and snapped a picture for him.  These kids are SO bright and amazing.  If I were a multi-millionaire I would take all of them on field trips around the world.  My Rwandan friend told me he dreams of teaching children in the country some day and giving them God's Word.  He told me to tell my class that Jesus loves them.  :)

Soccer Season Finale

Our soccer season finished up the weekend of November 13th with 5 games total!  Joy had two games Friday night at 6:30 and 8:00 and the temperature was in the high 30s.  Glory played over at Bella's house to escape the cold, Freedom played around on the field with Samuel to stay warm and Jon and I had on our long-johns!  

Joy and Coach getting ready to brave the cold.

Joy's main position is defender.  She's really good!

After Friday's games, we had 3 on Saturday.  1:00, 3:00 and 4:30.  Temps were in the 40s so it wasn't that bad.  Joy found this frog out on the field and she enjoyed snuggling up with him during Freedom's games.

We had a little hot cocoa part out by the field between games for the U10 team, The TIGERS!  It was such a fun season.  I found myself cheering like a crazy person.  I probably look and sound absolutely ridiculous (well, no probably about it)...but the temptation is SO strong!  I found myself cheering today, "Come on Robert!  You can take him!  You're better than him!"  In my mind I was just trying to speak some confidence into Robert, but when it came out, I realized it probably sounded pretty bad!  I felt better when I heard Rebekah cheering for Joy at the next game, "Come on Joy!  You're faster than her!!!"  :) :) :)  

The U17 Team, the DRAGONS, had their team party at CiCi's that night.  Jon was playing Mr. T with all their medals.  He deserves to wear them - he is an AWESOME, fun, strict, encouraging coach!  

We were missing 3 awesome players here, but we've got Ari, the girl who was BRAVE to join the team even though she's never played soccer before!  She was AWESOME and did WAY better than I ever could!  And Joseph G. - the 12 year old boy who can take the 17 year olds ON, Rebekah, our cheerleader at the last game who was too busy playing Bronco Band Drums this season to join the team, Joy - my FAVE player!  She is TOUGH and FAST and SMART when she plays!  And Bobbie the GOALIE - oh. my. word.  He will dive and jump and do WHATEVER it takes to stop the ball.  And Alex - who was totally ROCKING that last game in a big way!!!!

And we had 3 cuties from the U10 team who were able to hang out with us at CiCi's as well.  Robert, Samuel and Freedom.  The U10 is a GREAT group of boys!  WE LOVE THEM!

Picking up Joy from school

Blondie is looking for her master.

Corn Maize & Meteor

My favorites!   This is the night we saw the amazing meteor!  It was a bright green ball with a blazing orange tail.  I thought for SURE it was a firework because I've never seen anything like it!  Jon spouted with certainty that it was a meteor and that I was crazy not to believe it, but he confessed today that he wasn't 100% sure.  It was just SO amazing it was unbelievable!

This picture was taken right before we went into the maize.  Freedom led us through.

I think there favorite part was feeding these goats.  We love goats.

And here's a picture of the meteor I found on News4 WOAI.  This is EXACTLY how we saw it.  

Halloween

Here are some pictures from Halloween.  I'm not going to order them, but allow them to be a hodge podge.

Freedom cleaning out his pumpkin :)  I love the smiles on his face!

Daddy cut the top off his pumpkin.  Did I mention I love the smile on his face?

And I was cooking chicken and dumplins inside.  Freedom is adjusting the heat for me here.  This was truly one of THE best family days we had in a looong time.   

Joy took a picture of the pumpkin stem.  It's so pretty.  In the background is a little plant we got from Nanny.

Freedom is lighing his Jack O Lantern.  It turned out so good!

Glory was working in the garage with her daddy when Freedom and Joy finished their Jack-O-Lanterns up.  They look AWESOME guys!

We boiled the Jack-O-Lantern cut outs and made a yummy pumpkin pie.  :)

And here is all 3.  I love each one.  Each one is so distinct and fun!

We spiced up and drank the pumpkin juice.  We didn't care for it too much.  

And my favorite part is the roasted pumpkin seeds.

And here's Memaw with her amazing masterpiece costume creations again!

Glory was an Elf Princess from the Hobbit.

Joy was a pirate.

Freedom was a ninja.

Here they are at the Pumpkin Patch.  I am SO blessed to call these guys mine!

And here's a spider Joy made for Halloween.  :)

And the lady who makes Halloween FUN!

Red Ribbon Week

My boy makes me so proud!  It was Red Ribbon DRUG FREE Week at school and McGruff and the Police Force came to make a presentation.  Freedom was a selected as a volunteer to wear their gear.  Check him out!!!  So thankful his precious 3rd grade teacher sent me some pics!  :)

Happy 15th Birthday Joy!

Joy's birthday party was SO sweet this year - a sweet party for a sweet girl.  She blesses me beyond measure.  I thank God for her and I'm blown away by the young woman she is becoming.  At the age of 15, she is respectful, thankful, thoughtful, wise, hard-working and joyful.  She always thanks me when I give her a ride to and from school.  She never rolls her eyes at me or disobeys - much less disobeys defiantly.  She gives her best to all she does - from making the highest grade in her Geometry A/P class to running several miles each week in her soccer class.  She sings beautifully and carries herself just as beautifully.  Thank you Jesus.  I'm in awe of this daughter and friend you have so generously gifted me with!

The typical Burgin party has plenty of streamers.

 Freedom took the initiative to be a greeter.  He taped a note to his remote control car that said, "Welcom.  Dont take off note."

A typical Burgin Birthday Party also has a plethora of balloons.  Glory made Joy a turtle animal balloon and a fun balloon game spontaneously commenced in the kitchen.  Somehow, Joy always ends up with a crazy balloon hat as well.  Here's the crazy crew minus Glory.

Joy's not super crazy about sweet cakes, so she had a mini blueberry muffin tree for her birthday cake and candles.

And her friends brought thoughtful gifts.

They played a fun game of musical nail polish.  Freedom was the one who started and stopped the music for the game.  He took it VERY seriously.  He noticed one of the girls really wanted ORANGE polish to land on her, so he took it upon himself to try to make that happen.  After 3 tries, he got it and this is the smile he gave me upon success.

Sunday morning, we went to church.  Love MY 15 year old girlie and love her precious friends!