Our Summer Project

This summer our family along with some of our buds embarked on an adventure to document Civil War vets across our county.  It is part of a larger project being led by the State Historical Society called the Sleeping Heroes Project.  Bubby and I started in April with some prep work by doing our own town cemetery.  In May we had our first group project where we tackled a local country cemetery.  We had a huge turn out from our homeschool group, a majority of them showed up which was awesome! We documented 25 soldiers, most having served with Kansas regiments.

Bubby and his friends taking notes at Ridgeway (notice the GAR star on the left)

  Our next project was a huge one, Burlingame Cemetery.  Burlingame was pre-statehood settlement started by abolitionists, so I was expecting to find a bunch of vets there.  It did not disappoint!  Even though we had a much smaller crew once summer kicked into full swing, they were a super dedicated group who faithfully showed up each month, even in the hottest part of summer to honor these guys!  
  We did our last day of documenting this week, and ended up with a total of 150 vets.  There were two Confederate veterans, one of which was given a military burial by his Union vet buddies:)  There were 6 (2 black, 4 white) who served with different regiments of the Colored Troops (just a side note, the white soldiers, serving as officers in the Colored Troops, all came from the 11th Kansas, Co. I, which is going to require further research as to why that was).  One of the things that stands out with what we have found out so far is that a large amount of the soldiers at Burlingame who served with Kansas units served with 11th Kansas, a fair number of which were either wounded or killed at Prairie Grove, Arkansas. One of the soldiers from Burlingame that was killed at Prairie Grove had Rooks County, Kansas named after him in memorial. 

an oddity for Kansas, an 1812 vet!

  Our family also stopped on the way home from a family gathering this summer to walk a very small cemetery.  We found 6 vets there, one of which may have participated in the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado.
   I must say, prior to this project, the Civil War was just a bunch of battles and dates to me, I never got too excited about it.  Now, however, give me half a chance, and I may talk your leg off! :)

The Civil War Monument at Burlingame

What is a Princess?

Mookie, my little princess

  Living with a girly girl, we're all about princesses in our household.  When Mookie was smaller we had a Disney easy reader called What is a Princess? It asked the question over and over and answered with "a princess is kind...gentle...smart", etc...   Well, the book I received from Christian Focus 4 Kids to review, How to Be a Bible Princess by Catherine Mackenzie, takes the basic qualities of a good princess to a different level.  Ms. Mackenzie takes major or minor women (some I had to look up and read the story again) from the Bible & highlights the characteristics that God used for his purposes, using both good and bad princesses as examples.  For each chapter she lays out the story of that particular character, uses some humorous quizzing to see how the reader may react to the situation, and discusses the character trait displayed in the story and how girls can find that within themselves.  The really cool thing that the author does though, is at the end of each chapter she turns it back to Jesus and how he showed those valuable traits.  Throughout the chapter she is constantly citing scripture to back up what she is laying out there for the reader.

   The book's cover automatically draws your little princess in, when we opened the package containing my copy, my little princess took one look at it's glittery cover and ran away with it to her room:) At 125 pages it is the perfect length for my soon to be 8 year old who is starting to read chapter books (there were a couple of longer chapters, but hey, one was Esther & Mookie loves Esther, so we let that pass).  However, I think it would be best read as a read-aloud devotional to do with your daughter.  Ms. Mackenzie puts forth some really thought provoking ideas and I think that it would be best served as a discussion tool. 
  With all the secular princess media out there, some with questionable subplots, it is so refreshing to find a book that draws a girl's interest to the Biblical princesses and does it in a fun and engaging way.  I loved the quote at the end that says, "a woman who loves God and his Word is to be praised.  She is worth more than rubies and she is worth more than princesses that wear rubies.  She is worth this because of her great God - and He is worthy!"

Thank you to Christian Focus 4 Kids for providing me with a free copy to review, it was a pleasure.  The opinions were my own:)