Last month my son turned the big 13! It's hard to believe that he is a teenager now. 

My son had an exciting year last year. He took his first trip on an airplane in November and it ended up being a long airplane ride to Israel!  In December he turned 13 and had his Bar Mitzvah.

Calling him Little Man doesn't seem so appropriate anymore- does it? I'll have to rethink what to call him on my blog now! 

In November my husband and son went to Israel for 12 days. Bug and me stayed home and had a lot of girl time while the guys were away.

It was a miracle that the guys got to go. We felt it was a God's timing as he approached his Bar Mitzvah. Most importantly it made the Bible really come alive to him and to experience the land that our Rabbi Yeshua our Lord and Savior walked. What a privilege and blessing for my son to make aliyah(going up to-Jerusalem).  I love hearing my son say things like, "Mom we were there in Israel while reading the Bible" or seeing pictures of Israel and relating to it by being in the land.

He was able to read his Bar Mitzvah portion at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. That was very special to him and his father. It is something he will never forget.

 

He is no longer under the chuppah for the children's blessing and can hold one of the chuppah poles now.

He can now wear a tallit. He found his tallit and matching kippah in Jerusalem. Finding his tallit in Jerusalem makes it even more special to him. He recited the tallit blessing in Hebrew before putting it on.

 I love this picture of him putting on his tallit for the first time. His dad looks pretty proud of his son.

Look at those big smiles from my guys. 

 

Little Man lead the liturgy and gave a sermon. He had worked hard on his sermon and the Hebrew for 8 months. It was a lot of hard work for him. Of course as a mom I'm real proud of him.

He taught on Genesis 45: 1-15, Ezekial 37: 15-28, and Luke 24:13-31. The portion was perfect for his trip to Israel.  

One thing he added to his sermon after coming back from Israel was a quote from Mark Twain:  

"[It is a] desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds-a silent mournful expanse… A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action… We never saw a human being on the whole route… There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of the worthless soil, had almost deserted the country."

My son seen how the nation of Israel is now flourishing in many ways.  His Bar Mitzvah portion impacted him being in the Land of Israel and comparing the quote. He seen God's hand on the land and His people. I loved how he shared his relationship with Yeshua to the congregation too.

He loves Yeshua with all of his heart and loves the nation of Israel and her people. He hopes to one day join the IDF an be part of Israel.

Afterwards we celebrated with cake, chocolate fountain, all kinds of wonderful food, family, and friends. 

I love watching my son growing up and embracing Yeshua as his Lord and Savior!

Little Man has been learning how to play the guitar for a few weeks. He does his homework faithful everyday that he is given from his guitar instructor.

Little Man is 11 and Bug is 14. Honestly, they know how to get on each others nerves lately. I assume it's the age that they are.

Despite the sister and brother rivalry they take care of each other. Little Man is always helping his older sister out. With all of her physical and cognitive disabilities she is basically the younger sister.

He has taken it upon himself to teach her how to play the guitar. He is also trying to teach her how to read the music. He is teaching her a basic song which is the Jaws theme music. As a mom it just pulls on my heart strings to see my kids teaching one another.

The pictures aren't that great from my phone as I didn't want to distract or draw much attention to it.

Last week was super busy. The kids had their annual 4-H Awards Banquet. Not to mention Thanksgiving week and Bug was in a wedding this weekend.

 Odd he is being serious and not the clown.

 My kids must of switched places.

The kids both received KAP Awards and achievement awards for their pins. Little Man for photography and Bug for her entomology she received the "Nancy Stein Entomology Award" which is the top award application in entomology.

 Little Man's photo went to the 4-H Foundation to be shown around the state.  It was a big night for both kids.

My sweet little girl is now 14! Last month she celebrated the big day. Yikes, it can't be so. I'm just not ready for her to grow up.

 Bug likes to make her own birthday cake now. The fun part is decorating it.

 We had family over and just enjoyed watching her celebrate her big day.

 One of the many blessing of my child with special needs is that she loves toys. Not the things that most 14 year olds are interested in. Lego's are a big thing in my house. She still loves doll's and Barbies.

Oh wait, I take that back. She received a Kindle Fire. She was super excited and totally surprised that she has her own now. I was missing my tablet as she loves watching cartoons on it. Of course, she likes playing games. Now I have my tablet back and one very happy girl.

It kind of makes me sad seeing my kids grow up so fast.

Last week was a busy week for the kids and me. With the county fair and all the 4-H projects going on at the fair. I'm glad to say it's over until next year. Well, just until the state fair. That is actually an easy one this year because all we have to do is make bread.

 The kids and I volunteered checking in photos for photography project for a couple of hours. The time went by quickly.

Little Man is meeting with the judge for his rocket.

 He received a blue ribbon. He had issues putting on the decals. Which was a first time he had to use decals as all the previous rockets had stickers. This took him down a ribbon. He can't go to state with a blue. There is always next year. Hopefully, next year we can locate a rocket kit without decals.

 Little Man's best project is always photography. You can submit 6 photos and take only one to state with a purple ribbon. He received 5 purples and 1 blue. The judge was impressed with his eye and skill with a camera. He is going to take his photo of the squirrel.

 Little Man received a purple for his tree. Arts and crafts the judges can only choose 7 projects from the county for the state as their is a whole plethora of arts and crafts.

 Bug was over joyed to help the judge out this year while he judged the boxes. She loved seeing all the insects up close and personal.

 Then it was her time for judging. She has 300 insects, 19 orders, and 57 families labeled out of 6 orders. 

 She is maxed out in her level. We are going to stay at this level another year as she has moved up fast. (by choice as she could go up to the next level) All she will need to do next year is switch out 13 new insects to make it different and she already has those pinned and ready to go. 

 After that it gets tougher at the state level as it all in the numbers. She has always been at the top in the last three class levels. That won't be the case when she can have 3 boxes and 450 insects and needs to have 7 orders with families labeled. The good thing is that she will have another 5 years in the last level! It will be much tougher finding insects she doesn't have already. Not to mention trying to find the families for the tree and plant hoppers which is the only reason she didn't have all 7 orders with families. It will take a full year just figuring out what family they go in. It makes my eyes cross as they are tough little buggers to identify them!

 Yep, she got a purple and Dale told her to grab herself her ribbon. The only thing she has to do before state is to investigate one insects identification.

 Good job Bug!

 Then back to judging. The only bad thing about her helping out with the judging is that she was making a mental list of insects she wants for her box. She had her entomology leaders chuckling as she would get big eyed and whisper to use what she is going to find. I bet she will locate them fast as she is now officially stuck on finding a dozen or more insects. The joy of having a daughter with Autism.

 Who would of ever thought I would be chasing insects and helping my child pin insects. I'm glad we have a full 2 years to prepare for the next and final level.

 She was glad to finally add more moths and butterflies. Her big excitement this year was having the male and female Luna Moth.

 Next year she  wants to do an education box on bag worms. Which she already has the male and female bag worm. She just needs to do some research. Dale gave her some ideals to do with the female bag worms. She will grab more females off a tree in the coming months to show some interesting things with the females. She has a year to get that ready.

Bug also did photography and received 1 purple, 4 blues, and 1 red. She is taking a photo of peacock feathers to the state.

Later in the evening the kids got to go on the rides with their cousin. I had to take Bug into the 4-H building to cool off as I thought she was going to have a heat stroke. She doesn't handle the heat well. We went home after I got her cooled down. We stayed home until it was dark out and much cooler.