We have officially entered the stage of Legos. I guess it’s considered late in the world of boys, but let me tell you, Jacob stuck with the train stage for a solid six years. So now as a 7-year old he is entering this world and is completely consumed by it! He looooooves it!

It began with a trip to Legoland. We went down there with our DVIA homeschool friends the Ballards, Bakers and Chans in the middle of December. We invited Jacob’s best friend Jack to come along for the day.

The fabulous day began with a one-hour robotics class. I loved getting to see Jacob and Jack seriously, intensely and busily building their robot alligator together as a team. Seeing them under the sign “Creative Engineering” gave me goosebumps at the thought of one day, indeed, them being engineers. I can totally see it happening one day! Jacob loves, loves, loves to engineer things and see things to completion from beginning to end!

Natalie was keeping up with the big kids! The 1st and 2nd graders were busy at work making their alligator robots and she sure kept up with them. She thrives on being ‘one of the big kids.’ Though she’s only 5 she acts as though she’s Jacob’s twin.

It was definitely very cool to see the programming we had done with the computer get realized in the motions of the alligator. It was most certainly the highlight of the day for me! I truly LOOOOOVE homeschooling days like these! For $8 a ticket we got entrance into the park, the robotics class and return complimentary tickets to the park. How cool is that?!

Lego is smart though! Because that fabulous $8 per ticket that got us so much, also got the kids REALLY hooked into all things Legos. Hence the full commitment and newfound passion on behalf of both of my kiddos to the acquisition and building of as many Lego sets as possible!

So Santa most certainly brought along a Lego set for Christmas! A 933-piece                  “City Garage” that Jacob very excitedly opened!!!!!

Grandma and Dide added to the collection with some Lego vehicles. And Omie began the collection for Natalie with the ever so cute Friends Lego line.

Which then led to our outing today to the Lego store at Downtown Disney. The kids were ecstatic beyond ecstatic to spend their own money! Jacob has been saving for over a year. That boy really can save and has an amazing grip on long-term gratification. I’m very thankful that at an early age he can delay gratification and ‘win big’ like he did at the store today. When he came home and opened his Fire Station set, he was thrilled beyond belief that the 732 pieces came in 9 bags!!! That is more bags than his City Garage set!!! 

I am sooooooooo thankful for my children’s diligence. The fact that Jacob came home today and intently built legos for 3 hours straight absolutely amazes me. The fact that yesterday Natalie reassembled her Friends Lego Cafe set that had broken apart in transfer from Omie’s house to ours and sat at the dining room table doing so for 2 1/2 hours straight also completely awes me. These kiddos have an ability to stick with something and stick with it for a really long time. 73. I am thankful for that! 74. Watching their fingers manipulate the super small pieces made me thankful for their fine motor skills. 75. Watching their eyes carefully scan the instruction manuals and go in search of the necessary pieces, made me thankful for their ability to follow directions so well. 76. Watching them sit there assembling all of this on their own made me so thankful for their independence. 77. But above all their ability to stick-with-it made me thankful for their vast supply of perseverance and the abundance of time I can afford them to sit and do something for so long. 78. It made me thankful for our lifestyle. 79. It made me thankful that this type of learning and building has been activating their brain cells and fingertips.

Today after completing 3 bags of his new set, Jacob was begging me to let him begin the 4th bag. He had finished the 3rd bag by candlelight, due to our neighborhood’s planned power outage for repairs. By the time it was 5pm it was almost completely dark in our home. I didn’t want him to strain his eyes, so my creative solution was to pack up and head to our local library. And boy the look of sweet satisfaction on his face when he successfully held up the finished fire engine! By day’s end he had completed the 4 bags- of all 4 transportation vehicles that came with the fire station set. A huge feeling of accomplishment!!! Nearly 4 complete hours of building time.

And you know what was SO super cool and unexpected?! Jacob showed the librarian Ms. DeeDee his finished fire truck. She was in awe of his creation and loved hearing all about how the two of them have begun a Lego collection and are now eagerly saving up for their next purchase. Ms. DeeDee politely excused herself for a moment. We were all taken by major surprise when Ms. DeeDee returned with a dollar bill for each of them! What?!?! Yes! The librarian herself offered each of them her very own dollars to help start them off on saving for their next Lego set. The kids were floored!!! As I was!!!! How absolutely sweet and incredible for the librarian to be so encouraging of their new hobby. She praised them for what avid readers they both are and for what sweet children they were to make her Christmas cards and cookies and said she wanted to support them in their endeavor of being engineers with Legos. After having completely emptied their wallets today in the Lego store, that dollar bill was a very welcome sight to both kiddos tonight!! They are already dreaming of the next set they hope to save up for and are now $1 closer.

80. I am thankful tonight for Ms. DeeDee and her surprise gift to them- but most of all for the profound encouragement she provided each of them. After watching my kiddos spend hours upon hours of sticking with something- and then to watch God use Ms. DeeDee to offer them beautiful encouragement for the very thing they spent so many hours doing- awwwwwwww my mama bear heart is thankful. Sometimes the most profound encouragement comes from the words and actions of people outside of family. I think sometimes kids grow up feeling that “of course” family members are loving and encouraging. But when an outsider speaks encouragingly- with no obligation- now that speaks volumes beyond volumes because the child knows that person is not tied to them and is under no obligation to be nice. I pray that Ms. DeeDee’s generosity today, both with her dollars and her words, stick in Jacob’s and Natalie’s memory for a lifetime. May that one moment and message be emblazoned in their hearts and memories forever! That they remember always how esteemed they are and how they are doing a great work of being diligent engineers and creators through all these Lego creations.