{this moment} video

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  ~soulemama

 

 

 

in their matching dresses

 

"Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart."  a.a. milne

 

My friend Joanna and her husband adopted their youngest daughter and Dawn made the dress she came home in.  Dawn also made my little Sarah a dress using the same pattern.  When Joanna came to visit me recently, one of the things we wanted to do was a little photoshoot of our girls wearing their matching dresses.  After I got the photos developed, we mailed a card to Dawn, thanking her once again for the gift of handmade loveliness that she gave to our daughters.  Handmade dresses with smocking!  And little puffed sleeves!

I've never met Dawn, but she has been internet friends for years.  She's a wonderful Christian lady and has done so much to encourage me and Joanna.  If you visit her site, you will be encouraged, too.

"May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word."   2 Thess. 2:16-17

******

This morning I took Seth and Sarah with me to Bible study at church and then those of us who could went out to lunch together. 

The best part about it was how utterly sleepy I was this morning,  I came so very close to not going.  But, I did get there and it was such a blessing to study God's word together and then sit around a table like a big family and eat.  I love these people!  The moral of the story:  If you're too tired to go to church, or a bible study, go anyway.  :)

Happy Thursday!  (already?)

a new scedeale

Rich left for work at the same time the older kids left for school.  Grace started High School today, so we have one Freshman, one Sophomore, and one Junior this year.  They have grown up fast and beautifully. 

***

 

 

"Send them out with something to go for and something to come back for.  So you tie home to the school and school to the home.  Both gain new values in the eyes and minds of the children."

 

"A child who cannot have freedom for growth cannot grow."

(angelo patri)

 

 

I said "see you later!" to our three High School children and then went down to the boys' room to wake up David and Caleb.  I found that David had put his clothes at the end of his bed with a written "scedeale" for himself.  One hopes that he learns how to spell "schedule" in fifth grade.  Caleb woke up ready for action, but I had to wake up Davy several times before he got up out of his nice comfortable bed.  They proceeded throughout the morning according to Davy's list.

Origami is still all the rage in David's life.  He folds paper every day and tries to teach Caleb, too.  But when he tried to teach him the Ninga star, he got frustrated that Caleb had problems focusing.  "Yeah, I can't focus!" Caleb agreed.   One hopes that Caleb learns to focus in third grade.

They are really handsome.

advice from 1922

"The First Day of School"

You are sending your child to school for the first time.  You are dreading it all exceedingly.  You want the child to start his school education, but you hate to have him leave you.

You think it will be fine to be free from his demands for the hours he spends in school.  But fast on the heels of that thought come the others.

Perhaps the teacher will not be kind to him.  Perhaps he will be thirsty and she will not let him have a drink.  Perhaps the children will not be nice to him.  Maybe he will miss you and cry.

If you worry about these things you will show your fear to the child and to the teacher.  The teacher will not be pleased to know that you think she will not take good care of the child.  She will.  She has been trained to do that very thing.

She will see that he gets a drink and she will see that he is comfortable in every way.  She will not "baby" him, though.  She will show him his seat and give him his lesson and expect him to fit into the scheme of the classroom.

There is nothing in that scheme that need alarm the most timid mother.  The teacher knows exactly what the first day's work should be and she knows how it should be done.  Leave it to her.  Show her that you have faith in her.

You can't blame the teacher who glares you out of the room if you insist upon seating yourself beside your child on an eighteen-inch bench nine inches from the floor in order that you may see that the teacher does her work properly that morning and does nothing that might upset your child.  The teacher of the baby class has enough trouble on her mind and in her hands without a dozen tearful mothers sitting and standing about the room suggesting worry and fear to the children.

Leave the child with the teacher and go away cheerfully.  Keep out of the classroom.  Try to behave as though sending a child to school for the first time was something that you had done every day of your life.  Just a matter of course.

That will make the child feel that going to school is an ordinary and natural thing to do.  It will save his nerves and free his mind for the work of the day.

Whatever you do, don't stand at the classroom door and throw kisses and sob brokenly:  "Goodbye, dear.  Mother will be so lonesome."



From the book:  Child Training, by Angelo Patri, published 1922
printed in the United States

school starts on wednesday

I have an extra large house full today.  There are about five construction workers here, busy with the new addition.  At any moment the door will open and one of the guys will walk through the house.  Also, our friends are taking their daughter to a specialist in Boston today and we invited their two teenagers over for the day.  Michael, Jake's friend from church, is here, too.

The morning air smelled so sweet and soft, and a veil of clouds covered the sunshine as I sat and read CS Lewis in the rocking chair at breakfast time.   Since then, we have had a few light rain showers.

I just made a six box batch of Annie's macaroni and cheese for lunch.

My 13 (soon to be 14) year old daughter, Grace, is going to the High School today at one o'clock for her Freshman orientation party.  She is ready to go, with black pants, a long sleeved purple shirt, hair brushed, earrings on.  I had to stop her from playing football with the boys so she didn't get all sweaty. 

I have mom-guilt.  The plans I had in the beginning of summer, to teach cursive, to read the Pirate book out loud, to make sure they got their summer math papers done......(cries).......didn't get done.

And here I am, sitting at the computer when I could be giving Caleb a cursive writing class!

It's the first time I've sat down all morning.

And I'M GONNA enjoy it!  Everyone else is in the upstairs of the garage playing Apples to Apples.  I have some time to post pictures from the weekend.

Kathy came over with her kids on Friday and we went downtown for pizza. 

This butterfly fluttered it's wings constantly as it sipped from the flowers.

Kaitlyn, Emily, Caleb, David, and Seth is under the dock.

Bethany Grace and Sarah Joy

Ethan and Kevin
all of these children have been friends since the diaper days.

I made cookies!  I only had enough butter for one batch.  And then, when I was out of the room Sarah fed about 6 to the DOG.
I also made a chocolate cake.

We moved the table into the new addition and put all the leaves in it and the chairs around it.  VERY exciting.

the other side of the room; pantry skeleton on the right.

The kittens curled up on the paper and slept all day (Saturday)...at one point they woke up, shredded up a page, and fell back to sleep surrounded by bits of paper.

I went to Old Navy. (new shirt, new pants)

new sneakers

Jacob ate a peach off our tree and found a small white grub in the middle with the pit.  So I picked every peach.  This is a half-bushel basket....I spent hours in the kitchen peeling each one and getting the grub out (if there was a grub).  I am sickened and will probably not eat any, but I got four bags of perfectly clean peaches in the freezer, ready for smoothies.

These are my children for the day--my seven plus Mike (red shirt and hat), Ethan (orange shirt--he likes Grace--) and Erinn (girl holding Sarah).  They are such great people, and what a joy to have different ages.  They are each so unique and fun.  And, good-looking, too!

Ethan found this baby snake on our dirt driveway.  Isn't it the cutest thing?

loving these days

 

 

 

 W E L C O M E S

(pictures from today):

This morning I had my coffee out on the porch with morning sun and the hummingbirds.
 

See it?

our dog Parker

 

my son Caleb, reading....every time I turn around he's on top of the armoire

 

"O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever."

We went for a walk today and noticed the wild grapes were ripening.  These are at the tippy top of a tall tree.

climbing for a bunch of grapes

jewelweed

the prize

at the edge of the woods we found wild berries rambling through the grass

 

this caterpillar looks like the top of a toothbrush

 

both of my daughters went home with things; Grace had an armful of milkweed seedpods and a handful of berries
sarah had two little red leaves

afternoon project; Ethan and Dave made grape juice from the wild grapes

and look who made it home.

What is it about these "end of summer" days that pull the heartstrings so?  I love this time of year, it appeals to my sentimental personality.  Besides savoring the lastness of this glorious season before school starts again, I am greatly enjoying my home and eagerly longing to nest, rearrange, decorate, clean, organize.  I love beautiful things and making a house into a home.  This afternoon I've been looking through a new Country Living magazine (British Edition).  I have some extra time to relax and enjoy it, as apparently I don't have to make dinner tonight.   Rich says all he wants.......is me.


"The best welcomes are waiting just inside the door.  Nothing beats a warm hug and a personal greeting from a friend, a child, or an excited barking dog, for getting a visit, a dinner, or a party off to a good start."  Mary Randolph Carter