2 happy boys

Guess who got signed up for machine-pitch baseball?
Guess who signed up to be the coach?
Guess who is more excited?
Yep. You got it! You know how you have some favorite pictures? This is one of mine. Guessing from the house we lived in at this time, Streed is probably 2 1/2 or 3.

who needs an office?

progressing quickly

So, here are our cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling and our new microwave and GAS stove. I am really loving our new house. With every new thing that goes in, I love it even more. The only things left to do are: put knobs on all the cabinets, install a few more light fixtures, finish tiling the shower, lay carpet & wood and clean up. Oh yea, and MOVE! That's the worst part for sure. I started going through the playroom today and cleaning out again. How can i need to do that again after we just moved 4 1/2 months ago? Truth be known it probably needs to be done every few months.

new favorite

I hope you can enlarge this and get the recipe because it is fabulous. I invited our single neighbor over for dinner tonight because Chip was out of town. Her daughter lives on the east coast and I usually see her coming home from work late with take-out. I have been meaning to have her over for a while but usually make some excuse about the apt being messy, not having a meal planned etc. But, I invited and she accepted. Then I broke the cardinal rule about not trying out a new recipe on company. But it was a "Southern Living" recipe so I figured it would be good. I have had it in my recipe binder for YEARS and finally decided to try it. I think because it was meatloaf and had spinach and carrots are ingredients I should try it while Chip was away. However, how can you go wrong with sauteed onion and garlic. Try it, you'll like it!
**Oh yeah, I omitted the sausage (only because I forgot to thaw it) so instead I used 2lbs of ground beef. And, before I put the sauce on top, I mixed Parmesan cheese with it in my food processor.**

one perspective

we were working on coloring pictures to coordinate with the greek and latin root words streed is learning. one he colored today was pyro=fire. i suspected he would draw something resembling a bonfire. i mean, that's what i would have done.

not so much--more like a fire truck shooting water on a fire. but of course. what child of a firetruck salesman would not think of this!

no way!

the next 10 day forecast looks amazing. thurs especially.

Thu
Aug 26

87° high
61° low

great find

I found all of these books at a garage sale on Friday. I love buying cheap books that are ones I want anyway. Our Baton Rouge pastor used Eric Liddell as an example in a sermon once so I am happy to have that one. I love the Chronicles of Narnia and therefore my kids do too. I have the whole set in one book. But, I am so excited for Streed to have these once he is really reading. Now I just have to look for the 2 missing Chronicles of Narnia books in this series so they will all match. The other 4 are on a list of "Classics" that I have not read. All these for $2.25!

just life

It seems that lately I keep hearing about kids getting tumors. And they are not benign. A former supporter and friend of Chip's from Alabama just had their 7 year old daughter diagnosed last week. Almost the same day a lady from my bible study here emailed about a 5 year old boy with a brain tumor. Of course we are and have been praying for little Noah, Donna's nephew. He is almost 7. It is scary and beyond sad. I am grateful for healthy children but know that that could change in a matter of minutes.

This is our temporary home. But what's hard is that we love hard while we are here. We are called to, but we also just do. We are relational beings, created by a relational being. So, life is hard. It gets harder the older we get. Problems get bigger and often are unavoidable or fixable. It's not supposed to be easy here though. I think I posted about this once before. We are to long for heaven, and that's hard to do when this life is so grand. And although we KNOW it is not, we often forget. Until real life kicks in for us or someone we know.

Please read Noah's blog if you do not already. It can be heart-wrenching. But, The Larkin family (all of them) need lifting up. They are tired. Pray that in their weakness HE will be their strength.

Homeschool example

I have been meaning to post this. This is week one page one of Streed's school book. The page is the "weekly wisdom" for all elementary school kids at his co-op. The K4 and K5 do not learn grammar, math, art or composer there. They are exposed to it at the assembly on Mondays but we do not have to review it during the week. I am amazed at what all they are learning and will learn this year. Their bible verse is not always the same as the older kids. Last week it was Jeremiah 33:3. The timeline is set to a song, which is helpful. Everything else is straight memory. They will learn part 3 of The Lady of Shallot this semester and Hamlet's Soliloquy "to be or not to be" next semester. And after all this I am teaching him phonics (Phonics Pathways) and math (Saxon Math).

There is a book called Story of the World by Susan Bauer (The Well-Trained Mind) that correlates to the history fact. I bought it even though he does not really need it this year. It is nice to be able to learn more about the person than just a few line synopsis. We have also checked out a few books from the library that go along with the science and/or history fact.

So, this is basically what we do. Gotta clean up from lunch, get Nate down and hit the books.

could it be?

The native Arkansans swear the weather cools down in September. I have never lived anywhere where this was the case. Although it feels like the lazy days of summer,

the leaves are beginning to change and fall.