Fall Update

 Brief update for friends and family who are far away...and those who are nearby and just want to see what we have been up to for the past few months...we are all well. We are all very involved in the daily routines of family life (school, work, church service, and home).  Nathan is enjoying first grade, loves his teacher, and is growing up.  He has lost two bottom teeth since the beginning of the school year. 

Erin the Dog is still here.  Both of the children adore her.  She has settled in and made herself quite at home here.  She hasn't picked up on all of the commands I would like her to obey, but then again, I have children to raise and train. 

Mark is still learning at home with me during this last year before Kindergarten.  One warm morning we wrote the alphabet on the driveway and jumped from letter to letter, saying their sounds.  It was fun. Then we told a story with some plastic animals as characters.

The boys have still managed to find time to play after school.  They like spending time in the driveway and backyard. 

Mark is full-speed-ahead on the bike.  He is very proud of himself.  We have been perfecting the art of me walking the dog while he pedals in front of us. 

We visited one of our favorite parks one afternoon after school, and the boys told me this was either Winnie the Pooh's or Piglet's house.  They always refer to the trees in this park as the Hundred Acre Woods.

If you can read the writing in this photo, it explains Nathan's current career ambition to be an electricity manager.  He is quite intent on figuring out all electronic devices in our household, and sometimes this is to my benefit.

We all participated in a cardboard challenge a few weekends ago.  Basically, a local store let kids use their discarded cardboard boxes and a whole bunch of art supplies to create a game of sorts.  The boys and their friends, along with Aunt Melanie, came up with a rocket game.

Nathan was intent on the design as well as the tickets. We must have stayed and worked on this project for about 2 hours.  It was great fun.

And finally, a few weeks ago, we headed to the pumpkin patch located at a produce stand down the road from us.  It was a quick but memorable visit and selection process.  In fact, Nathan was writing a little story about it today.  Funny, I can remember going to pick out a pumpkin when I was about his age.  There is something special about it, kind of a tender moment.

Here's a good toothy grin so you can see what I'm talking about with the bottom row of lost teeth.

Last week, I went along on the first field trip of the year. We saw a lot of animals.  A LOT.  And it was a lot of fun.  Nathan got a big kick out of hand-feeding some water buffalo and llamas.

I sure hope I can be a little more consistent with documenting our family life in the coming weeks.  It is flying by. We are enjoying it and trying to to hold on tight!

Since the Beach

The last week of summer vacation, the boys wanted to do a lemonade stand.  It was a fun way to end the break.
 

I also picked up a new recipe for granola bars in honor of the beginning of a new school year.  I think I've made three batches so far.  They make good after-school snacks.
 

These are the pictures from the first day of school. 
 

Morning and Evening By the Sea

One of the best things about the beach is being able to wake up to the sun rising on the horizon of the ocean, and to say goodnight under the stars with the waves pounding in the background.    

Seems like after every trip to the beach, I try to keep a smooth shell in my pocket to connect me to that place where I feel so near to God.  This time I have a small one and a large one. The small one has some imprints that look like little flowers.  It is intricate and lovely.  The large one makes me think of the effects of water over time on hard, rough things, much like how God slowly smooths our souls to make us something beautiful.

All week long, I kept thinking about these verses from Psalms and Lamentations.  And now that we are home, they are still on my mind.

Psalm 139

¹⁷ How precious are your thoughts about me,^[b] O God.
    They cannot be numbered!
¹⁸ I can’t even count them;
    they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
    you are still with me!

Psalm 19

¹ The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
    The skies display his craftsmanship.
² Day after day they continue to speak;
    night after night they make him known.

Lamentations 3

²² The faithful love of the Lord never ends!^[b]
    His mercies never cease.
²³ Great is his faithfulness;
    his mercies begin afresh each morning.
²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
    therefore, I will hope in him!”

Back from the beach

Around Town

There is an old caboose near the library, and the boys love to stop by and play in it after we check out our books.  They climb up in the seats and pretend they are traveling to far-away places. They pretend to cook meals for me.  Their imaginations are "in sync" when we play in the train, and although it's sometimes quite hot in there, it's always worth it to visit.

 We've also been to the park a time or two this summer. I think these pictures were taken right before we watched Daddy play an evening softball game.

Childhood Friends

Later in June, I took the children to Ch*raw to visit my childhood best friend, who is now what I call my "life friend."  She and her two children were in town for a week with her parents.  We had a special couple of days watching our kids explore some of our favorite places.

 

It was like taking a step back in time to see them playing on our elementary school's playground and walking on the sidewalks we used to ride between our houses.  As always, we picked up right where we left off, and the children did, too. 

They even found a sweet kitten to love while we there, much like Monica and I did years ago.  It was "purr-fect."

The June Camping Trip

We took the boys on a mountain camping trip in June.  The weather was as beautiful as could be.  It was cool in the mornings and evenings, bug-free, and the skies were sunny and clear.  It was such a refreshing time for all of us.  The boys' favorite things were 1) practicing casting their fishing lines,



 

 

2) the campfire,

 

 

and 3) the kayaks,



probably in that order. 

After the camp-out, we went to Montreat and let the children explore one of our favorite creeks. 

 

 

 

It was special for us to re-visit the mountains where Greg and I met 17 years ago. We would love to do a trip like this again next summer, if not before!