LightHome - Park Time Photos

To begin with, getting to the park was not easy for me. I had only my hand-propelled wheelchair, but had as much pain in my shoulders as the rest of my body. What met our need was when James was able to go in business for himself. Home business is flexible and empowering, but it can also be unpredictable. It meant some tight times, but we wouldn't trade them for the world.

We went to parks for P.E.: walking, running, throwing frisbees, climbing, balancing, stair climbing (rapidly up and down), and also for nature observation (science) and to learn about native peoples (social studies) who once lived off the land where our favorite parks are now, and how they once lived.

Kids learn to play comfortably with all kinds of other kids through park play. We never hesitated to make friends out in public, so our kids learned to be friendly toward all different ages, beliefs, ethnicities, abilities and disabilties, and so on. They've never been shy about stepping up and introducing themselves to other people.

Walking is an important lifetime habit to build during childhood. We took walks at many different parks, varying the scenery. This made our walks very enjoyable. We worked up from half-hour walks in a small park, to one to two hours walking at bigger parks.

People often don't realize that a walk can be many different things. Our kids pulled each other in our red wagon, and also used scooters and bicycles.

After frequenting local nature centers, our kids began taking field guides along in their school backpacks, along with drinks and snacks to have along the way. Over time this brought them to the point where they were able to identify over 250 different species of birds in one year during high school. They developed a tremendous love for plants as well. Our oldest son, Joshua's love of nature has led to his magazine for boys, Hidden Treasure, which is divided equally between nature and devotional type stories and articles.

Above: Our oldest, Joshua, with our youngest child, Jonathan

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of our family park times

Justin, left, and Joshua, right, in high school at home on a field trip to Irvine Park, which is a wilderness park.

Joshua has long had a burden to have a ministry to younger boys (younger than 20, that is), and Hidden Treasure was his own idea. We just helped him focus and develop a polished look and a wide range of different features for his magazine.

Our boys can easily say with Thomas Jefferson, "no plant sprouts uninteresting to me." They are still fascinated with God's creation and the many evidences that God is, indeed, the Creator. You never get too old to learn more, nor too old to share that knowledge with others.