Goodbye Fall

You were lovely this year!  So many warm days, with such gorgeous coloring.  We thoroughly enjoyed you!

You did give us rain on Halloween, but hey.... we could deal.  Our dogs didn't want to stay in their costumes very long anyway.  (Darth Vader and Spiderman)

(our two youngest as Dr. Who and a Jedi knight, with two other little friends!  The teen boys opted not to go trick or treating this year.....end of an era)

Thank you for giving us such a great time, fall.  See you again next year!

Happy

Two years ago Little Man came home from the last day of co-op with a tiny little gold fish in a rinsed out Starbucks cold drink container.  His elementary science class had learned about goldfish and he had excitedly asked his teacher if he could take one home at the end of the day.  Without asking his mama.

I was not anticipating owning a goldfish.

But such is the pull of one's youngest baby on a mama's heart, that the mama will go to the store and buy the smallest possible aquarium with filter and rocks and fake plants in order to create a habitat for the little goldfish, which mama expects will live about a week.

The baby goldfish was named "Happy" and he is still living a happy life, two years later!

He has grown tremendously - at least quadrupled in size, probably sextupled (is that a word?).  He graduated to a larger aquarium, and makes my Little Man exceedingly happy.  He is aptly named!

(photo credits go to Little Man)

Wordless Wednesday

Good-bye Domino.

Pets and Wildlife

We have had lots of animal activity this week.

First, and saddest, is the death of our 16 year old beloved cat, Domino.  She died last night at home, in my husband's arms, after a very rapid two day decline.  We discovered yesterday morning that she had gone blind almost overnight, and throughout the day she seemed increasingly disoriented.  I became very worried that she may not make it through the weekend, so we took her to the vet yesterday afternoon and he confirmed that she was very sick with liver failure and recommended euthanasia.  We made that appointment for this morning, and brought Domino home so that my hubby and daughter G could see her one more time.  We had a very "cat" evening, holding her and stroking her the entire time until she passed away. 

I'm very thankful that Domino did not have to suffer through the night, and that her death at home saved us the euthanasia fee.  But I'm sad that she is gone.  She was finally warming up to me in her old age!  (she had a special affinity for my husband and barely tolerated me until a couple years ago)  A few of the children have taken it very hard, and there have been many tears.  We had her little cat funeral just a short time ago.  Definitely a sad, heartbreaking weekend for us.

Meanwhile, "our" dog (long term dog sitting) has developed a couple of painful, pussy open wounds on her neck and needs to go see her vet, which is in a town very far away.  That will consume a bulk of our day Monday.  I'm thankful she is able to be seen right away, unhappy about the long drive and time away from school.

As for the wildlife.... a duck family decided to make their nest in our backyard, nearly hidden in some weeds in one of our flowerbeds, and the mama duck is sitting on several eggs.  But we think something happened to the daddy duck, because normally the daddy brings food to the mama while she is doing the hard work of incubating, and there has been no daddy duck in our yard EVER.  So we are dropping food near the head of the mama, and she is eating it!  We are hoping she will survive and be able to nurture her little babies when they hatch.   Very exciting.  Possibly heart breaking.

Lord, thank you for the joy and companionship that animals give us.  They are one of your many blessings, and that is one reason they are so hard to say good bye to.  Thank you that "..you have compassion on all you have made."   (Psalm 145:9) Including little animals.

A Boy and his Dog

Randomness

Just a hodge podge of daily stuff lately....

Our daughter's pet mouse died this morning. I think this is mouse number 7 or 8 in the last four years since she started keeping mice. Our memorial flower bed is getting pretty full of shoe boxes, so I cut a shoe box down to make a small mouse sized casket. When G was laying her mouse on soft bedding inside the casket, she asked that we not seal it shut with tape yet because, "I want to have a viewing first, before the funeral." She seemed okay, but Little Man cried and cried. It's hard to learn about death, and yet it's so much a part of life.

I have an appointment to talk with two Jehovah's Witnesses next week about whether or not Jesus is God. They have come to the door three times already and we have had brief conversations. If it were up to me I wouldn't do this, but both my husband and the Holy Spirit have urged me to do it. I can argue with my husband, but it's pretty hard to argue with the Holy Spirit!

The main lady asked if I would give her a few minutes to show me scriptures that prove Jesus was not God, and I told her I'd be willing to listen to her proof attempt as long as I got equal time. She loves to talk and is a bit of a railroader, so I will have to be assertive with getting my equal time in. Really not looking forward to it. The practical side of me thinks that since I will not be persuaded, and she will likely not be persuaded, we are just wasting our time. But the Holy Spirit chided me ~ how do I know she will not be persuaded? And it's not a waste of time for the five young children who will be watching and listening and learning how to defend their faith without fear. Please pray for me! My husband is much better at this type of thing than I am, yet the Holy Spirit has given it to me to do.

One of my husband's two contract jobs ends this week. We have not yet heard back from the company that my husband interviewed with twice. "I trust you, Lord. Help me to trust You more."

I paid my daughter to scrub the kitchen floor last Saturday. On her hands and knees. Every corner and crevice. The water was black when she was done, and I am so happy that the floor is so clean! Just looking at it makes me smile. She also washed the doorwall. Need her to do the windows next. :-)

Thanksgiving is next week, and I love Thanksgiving!!!!

Three days after Thanksgiving I get to visit with a dear online friend who has become a real life friend. She and her four children will be passing through and are going to stay with us for a couple nights. Can't wait to see you Guinever! I even figured out where you are all going to sleep!

REAL moms is tomorrow night and it's our fall craft night. We will be making beautiful Christmas ornaments and I'm really looking forward to it! Craft night is a good opportunity to visit with the ladies as we work on our craft, and I love building friendships with so many interesting women.

The children and I went to a Veteran's Day ceremony at a local Memorial Park last Thursday. It's the same one we went to last year. My plan is to make it an annual event for our family, as I really want to be intentional about building in to the children an attitude of gratitude for our veterans and all they have been willing to sacrifice in order to obtain and secure our freedom. The more we feel the weight of all that has gone before, the more we appreciate what we have and are willing to do our part in preserving it. I almost didn't go, but I'm really glad we did.


Afterward I struck up a conversation with an elderly WWII veteran, and after I thanked him for his service to our country he began sharing memories with me. He talked and talked and talked. The children climbed on all the statutes until they got tired of climbing and wanted to go. Still he talked. I began to inch toward the parking lot, he followed me. He is a widow and misses his dear wife terribly. His children don't live nearby. His house is very quiet. I felt sad for him. He obviously needed a listening ear that day, and I was happy to provide it. Listening to the stories of the old is a way to honor them. And man, do they have some stories!

I love my church. Love our new teaching pastor. Love the people. Oh, the people! So many of them special to me in different ways. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord, for my church.

I have a new tutor student (now I have two) who met with me for the first time this afternoon. We had a GREAT start to our working relationship! I'm so thankful.

The kitchen is clean and I am going to bed.

See how random this is?

Good night!

Z is for Zoo, part 2

As the culmination of the young 5's alphabet class this year, our entire co-op went to the zoo! It was such a fun field trip. It was hot, but not crowded, and we had a great time!


BFF's

Inside the butterfly house, we had butterflies clinging to our hair,


shirts,


and shorts.





A bird's eye view (or maybe a prairie dog's view?) of the prairie dog display.







Polar Bear paw prints. These were imbedded in real, actual ICE, and boy did it feel good!!



What secret do you think he's whispering?

14 students


and 4 moms


As we say goodbye to this school year, each of our families are so grateful for the fantastic co-op experience we had together. Thank you Lord!

Z is for Zoo, part 1

The last letter of the alphabet. It's just amazing to me how quickly this year sped by! At least it felt like that with our co-op! One minute we were talking about applesauce, and the next we were talking about the zoo. Wow.

First we read some books about zoo animals, and then we talked about which animals we might see at the zoo, and which animals we wouldn't. Here Little Man is explaining to us what "extinct" means, and that is why we wouldn't see a dinosaur at the zoo. He needed absolutely no prompting from me!


Then we began building our zoo. We had birds.



And some forest creatures (we debated for awhile whether or not forest animals would be at the zoo, but we decided to put them in ours).


We had a house for insects.


We had to really work hard at sharing and working together as a team.....


But we did it! Ta-da! Here is our zoo.


After this we made edible zebras for snack by painting melted white chocolate chips onto cookies.








What a great year it has been, learning from A to Z!