Ahoy Matey!

 

 

Our little first mate is growing way too fast, just exactly like he is supposed to do. I have always taken each of the children's pictures around their birthday, but with Kaderick's being so close to Christmas and in the cold of winter, I early on got in the habit of taking his each fall. He always gets another one around his birthday, but it's more casual...less work.

Kalli recently bought a big tub for bathing Mini, and of course, momma kinda took right up on that great opportunity. It made the cutest little sailboat. Daddy nailed a couple of sticks together on a little stand and the sail fabric is a scarf fastened with hair bands. Kaderick had a great time playing, and momma just snapped away.

 

 

Kaderick is still a busy school boy. Today, he drew a T-Rex and I thought did quite well for 4 1/2

 

 

The girls and I did a 1,000 piece puzzle this summer and we came up one piece short. We waited for a while, thinking it would show up and it never did, so I finally made one from cardboard and painted it to match. You'll never guess which one it is, but if you feel challenged by that, go ahead and try. We thought it was so pretty, that we mod podged it and then I had the idea to frame it in a bike tire. I think it turned out pretty cute and it's a fun memory of some long hot afternoons we spent together keeping our cool and losing a piece of the puzzle. Or whatever. I'm feeling less inspired the longer I type. Smile.

 

 



Back to School

 

While we didn't have a total eclipse right here at our house, we were at 99.5% and we felt like it "totally" qualified as a good first day of the new school season. We were only about 40 minutes from total eclipse area, and we were told that that last half percentage point makes a huge difference. Even so, we stayed put and viewed from the house. It was pretty neat and quite educational.  

 

 

Here are all my little homeschool students and my one college gal watching the eclipse safely with their home-made viewers.

 

 

The shadows coming through the trees and the owls hooting at noon were about the coolest part.



 

 

Even Mini wanted to view the eclipse safely. Or maybe she just liked the smell of the cereal box. Wink Wink.

 

It is quite a process to make enough eclipse viewers for a family our size. I still have bags of food items in my pantry minus their box. Ha.

 

Sunday, before the eclipse, Rick's message was about Hezekiah's healing. We were all interested to find that, although they didn't have a name for it at the time, there was a solar eclipse in the land of Israel that very year which may explain the backwards movement of the sundial. Either way, it is just like Jesus to show us his might through his handiwork. I know he has used the beauty  and wonder of his creation to speak to me on more than one occasion.

 

 

 

Now, I know that Kaderick doesn't look excited to be doing school here, but he's really only frustrated with having to wait for a picture before mommy tells him his "goals." He had only been out of bed about 7.4 seconds before bounding to the table complete with pj's and bedhead.

 

 

He really loves his workbook, but the way he is sailing through it, I fear daddy may go broke buying materials for little man. He (Kaderick not daddy) told me all the shapes below correctly, but when he got to the triangle, he hesitated and then said, "Roof!" I told him that it surely does look like a roof, but it is actually a triangle. "No." he said, "A triangle is more angled up, so that is definitely a roof!"

 

My other students are doing well and enjoying school for the most part. Kalli is a sophomore this year, Kammy in 7th grade, and Kaite in 3rd. Kalli also works one day each week.

Kayla is back to CWI full time. Five days a week, and working at Cascadia Care where she has been almost a year now. She got a 4.0 last semester and a scholarship, so this semester is all paid which is a wonderful blessing!

 

I was fretting just a bit the other day; looking around it can be so discouraging to see so many individuals either outwardly going the way of the world or professing over hidden sin. What are the chances of a person's whole family making it to Heaven? Can the circle really be unbroken? I felt like God impressed upon me so strongly that verse from I Peter 3:9. "He is not willing that any should perish." Sometimes we make serving God so hard, when all it requires is simple and complete obedience and surrender to God's plan.

 

He is no fool

who gives what he cannot keep

 to gain what he cannot lose.

Jim Elliot

 

By way of update on the teacher, my latest labs still show low white blood count particularly lymphocytes. My doctor said, "I see low blood counts often with autoimmune disease, but yours are not even half as high as the lowest I see." Probably not a good sign, more tests on the horizon for me. My ANA was also positive which reflects some sort of autoimmune activity, but there was nothing else that looked goofy to indicate which disease in particular. Right now, we are just praying that hematology/oncology will be able to quickly and definitively rule it OUT of their department.

Thanks for your prayers! Love to all!