We made the move to our new home 11 months ago. In many ways it seems like just yesterday, but to be honest it’s been such a hard year. As I reflect on all we have navigated, I can’t help but praise God for his continued provision and grace. ❤️❤️

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We had a busy day playing at the playground, having soccer practice, and joining the cousins for post soccer pizza.

Is there anything better than spending the day with friends conquering a stream? We saw our fair share of crawfish and butterflies and we returned home wet, tired, and muddy. It seemed pretty perfect to us!!

Baby E has this crazy ability to bend only the top knuckle of his pointer finger. The rest of his finger stays straight while the tip of his finger bends at a 90 degree angle. This evening as he was demonstrating his unusual talent, Big E discovered he could do that as well.

I have yet to figure out what C’s stupid human trick is, but I’ll keep you posted when we figure it out!

Do any of you have any weird or interesting abilities?

Spontaneous is not a word your could use to describe me. While I am not an organized person, I like to have a pretty good idea of where I’m going and what I’m doing. I get nervous when I’m put into unfamiliar situations.

It’s one of the things I don’t like about myself and I’m actively working to remedy it by purposely putting myself into those kinds of situations and working my way through them.

Today was one of those activities. Tim and I got in the car and we just started driving. He had a general idea of where we were going, but I was just along for the ride. We drove for a few hours and came up a town neither of us had been to before.

While we had never been to that town, I knew there was a large book sale nearby so we dropped in there and bought the kids some books. Other than that we just drove around, taking roads that piqued our interest, and pretty much rambling through the countryside until we decided to head home. It turned out to be a lovely adventure!

2015

Feeling nostalgic this evening…❤️❤️

Once again our adventures led us to water. We had recently been told about a nearby park that used to be a golf course. The golf course has long been closed and the property is now owned by a university. They maintain the paved trails that remain from the golf days, and the trails meander through the countryside and down by the river.This morning we met with the cousins and explored. We found an offshoot path that took us right to the river and up a small creek. The kids spent time wading through the water and playing around the tiny waterfalls that made up the stream. The water was cold and refreshing against the heat of the day. We saw a lot of butterflies, a snake, and pretty flowers.When they were done playing we went back to the cars and headed to the park for soccer practice. We had a picnic lunch before practice. C got to be the goalie again this week and even blocked the other team from scoring a goal. Both the big kids loved practice.From there we came home and kids played with the neighbors and then spent the evening with church friends, so they had close to twelve hours of activity today.With any luck that means we should get to sleep in tomorrow!

Adventure season is upon us!!

Last week we finished our first year of homeschooling! We didn’t shout it from the rooftops because even though we see finished with our curriculum, there are still a few subjects the kids will be working on through the summer to catch up.

But now that our school time is much shorter, we have more freedom to adventure! This morning we took my mom to a doctor’s appointment and while she was in there, we found a park just across the parking lot.

The kids got very excited to discover a stream there and they immediately took off their shoes to wade in it. When they tired of that we followed the paths and picked our fill of honeysuckles until my mom called saying she was finished.

This evening we were invited to a church in our district for a night of opera and congregational singing. The singer, Phil Webb, is an international Opera singer, but also works at the Masters University in Los Angeles. The evening was filled with traditional hymns and songs we got to join in on. It really was a lovely experience and I’m glad we were able to attend!

Were It Not For Grace