I am becoming more and more alarmed about mankind's disregard for wildlife and the environment. Please take a moment to look into this! I believe there are other solutions without such a risk to other wildlife and the environment. You would think that we would start to realize the horrible things we are doing to the planet. I would hope we would start to learn from these mistakes.
My mother made this boys quilt. I thought it really came out adorable! This says boy all over it! I just love the colors and the pattern layout!
It has been quite a while since my last update. We have been busy settling into the new school year routine. I have to say that I do miss the laid back days of summer! But, I am looking forward to fall. Austin is having a great second week of school! He had a great day at Spanish yesterday and actually remembered some of the things he's learning. Now that is progress! What a huge answer to prayer! Austin seems to be feeling much more comfortable. We had to have a conversation about why we don't put pencil erasers up our noses. I guess when you start goofing off and put pencil erasers up your news, that's a sign of feeling carefree! Ah, the things we do when we are little! Wes misses Austin while he is at school. But, I think he also enjoys the one on one time with Mom while they are apart. We have been filling our days with doing puzzles, coloring, play dough, and playing ball in the yard. He is really becoming quite the conversationalist. I can just see it already. He's going to have his father's great debating skills. He's always ready when it's time to pick up Austin from school. I'm so thankful that I get to be there to pick him up. I get to hear Austin chatter away, telling me all about the things that happened at school that day! I wouldn't trade these moments for the world!
I have joined the facebook bandwagon. I'm so glad that I did. It has been so great getting back in contact with long lost friends and family! It's also very distracting. I find myself needing to use will power to not be wasteful of my time. One really great thing is that we have been able to talk to one of our guys that was in our cottage when we worked at Thornwell. He is officially a college student. I can't help, but to feel so proud of him! We have really missed getting to see him after leaving Thornwell. He was so busy his senior year that we hardly ever heard from him. To see how well he is doing and to see how hard he has worked, is such a blessing and answer to prayer! It seems like only yesterday he was just a middle school aged kid! Keep him in your prayers! He's got a bit of a foot injury that has prevented him from being in his first couple of college track meets. I can't imagine the challenges of facing your first few weeks of college having to deal with a foot injury!
Eric and I are going to enjoy this day! He's actually off today! I just love days when he's home! I still miss when we used to get to work together. Not that I mind where we are at this point in our lives. I am so thankful and content. I just treasure that we got to have the experience of spending our work days together! We are better for it! I just hope that we were a blessing in some way to the children that came in and out of our care from the Thornwell days. I have been doing a lot of pondering on those days! God has been so good to us. I have much to be thankful for. I'm so undeserving for all the blessings God has given me. Makes me want to work harder to try and live life to glorify Him! I know I will still fall short, but I still want to try.
I came across this picture. I'm thinking that Eric must have taken this one. I don't remember seeing it before. Once I came across it I just knew it needed to be up here on the blog. Yes, this photo is definitely blog worthy. Lately I have had so many pictures that I want to share. I think I'm just going to have to create yet another slide show! I'm so addicted to slide shows. When I see all the things you can do with the Mac software (like make slide show dvds) it makes me want to run and buy one. But, wanting and doing are two separate things for a large ticket item like that!
This week proved to be challenging for Austin. Something about his Spanish teacher just overwhelms him. Unfortunately, this seems to be the class time when he most needs to use the restroom. Today she wouldn't let him go. So...needless to say...more tears at school. It frustrates me, but what am I to do. Hopefully Austin will get used to the school schedule and manage to use the restroom before her class. He may in for a rough year if he doesn't. Funny thing is yesterday he didn't have Spanish class and his day seemed to go much better! He came home today and had a rice crispy treat and the world seemed a whole lot better!
Weekly Spanish Lesson by Tyler Jones
This is a link that I found. I am hoping to help Austin gain more confidence about Spanish. His Spanish teacher had him a bit overwhelmed today. (it's only the first day of school!!!) He claims she only spoke in Spanish just about the whole time she taught the class. He broke down and cried tonight with fear of having to go back to her class. I promised him I would help him learn lots of Spanish so he will feel more confident. From Austin's perspective his teacher seems to be like a bit of a meanie. She told him he was going to get in trouble for crying. He needed to go to the bathroom, but she gave him a hard time about it. Austin claims she told him she would let him go because it was the first day. I'm thinking, Hello....duh??? He's seven. Kids have to go when they have to go!! I also remember hearing my neighbor complain about this teacher the last school year. She said the teacher sent home work for her son who was out sick that week. Well the teacher only gave instructions in Spanish on how to do the work. So, needless to say, the parent was frustrated because she was at a loss on how to help her son try and do the work if she didn't understand the instructions! Overall I think Austin had a good day, but this overshadowed if for him a bit! We told him he is going to have to be patient and persevere through it like a Starwars Jedi! Austin loves anything referenced to Starwars!! On the flip side....Austin's teacher seems to be really nice. I even found out that someone we used to go to church with (she used to be a teacher here in our area) is actually good friends with his teacher! That really made me feel good about her being Austin's teacher! I think maybe it was some divine intervention that God has allowed Austin be in this teacher's class! :) It was really hard letting go and putting Austin in school. I was torn on it. I really thought I wouldn't be. I was thinking how nice it would be to not have to worry about planning lessons and finding curriculum. In the end...I'm actually a little sad. The house is a bit quieter without him here all day. But I think Austin and I will both grow from the whole experience. I think he will also get to know some new kids his age! We just have to get back in the routine of being in school again!
If you look really closely at the picture you will see Petey jumping overboard. Check out the expressions on our faces. Priceless! Grandpa Rich told him to jump in after a stick. Well...Petey listened. He really thought he wanted that stick. Until he jumped in....then he decided he wanted back in the boat since we were just a bit far from the shore. We had to pull him back in the boat!
We are having a family vacation on Lake Murray. We are having a blast!! Just had to share a few quick picks. We can't seem to keep the kids or the dog for that matter....out of the lake!
This is a very cool quilt my mother made for Austin's bed. Now he has a bed spread to match the Star Wars theme in his room. He likes it! He was begging to open the box when it arrived in the mail today. It has really amazing details stitched into it. It gives it a really nice texture.
We took the boys on the Thomas the Tank train ride in Dillsboro, NC. Supposedly it's going to be the last time they have the event there. Guess it's a good thing we did it while we still could. I had to endure a bout of the stomach flu while there, but it was worth it when I got to see the look on Wesley's face! I think he probably enjoyed it more than his brother did. Austin had fun, but I think he's getting to the age where he thinks certain things are too childish for him. Hard to believe how fast he is growing up. I remember when he used to promise me he would never grow up. It's happening all to quick before my very eyes!
These are some of the shots we got from our day out.
