Just a Quick Hello

I only have a moment... lots to do around here!

- I am heading out today with Angela and a friend of hers to a Bright Lights Radiant Purity conference. These are so wonderful!!! I got back late Wednesday night from taking Emma and Anna to theirs... it was titled Strong in the Lord. The group's mission is to encourage girls to live as Bright Lights for the Lord... strong in their youth. It was wonderful. Topics included Honoring Your Parents, Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends, etc. I highly encourage anyone who can attend one of these conferences to go. And I will be starting a Bright Lights Group (Bible Study) for girls ages 8+ in January.

- Came home to yesterday... had a manageable amount of work to do on my one day home between now and Tuesday, and we went out to the garden. Seems it's been busy while we have. We got a 5 gallon bucket of beans, 5 5 gallon buckets of tomatoes, some green peppers, jalapenos, and banana peppers, cilantro and basil, and 7 cantaloupes and 4 watermelons!!! What a dream come true! I crave cantaloupe and watermelon this pregnancy, so it is delightful... Although it definitely changed my plans for the day. We made a bunch of salsa, and a pot full of spaghetti before running out of time. Still have two buckets of tomatoes, but that will just have to be fine.

And- although it is producing prolifically, the garden is an overgrown weed patch. I have photos to prove it. Just not the time to post them this morning. It's a little hard to weed at 33 weeks pregnant.

- Our church has been working with the fair board to provide the carnival that canceled on them last week. So last night Eric and the three oldest children went to help out there. While at the fair, Eric got a call that the pilot on duty had a family emergency and needed to leave for the night, and would not be back until at least Sunday. So Eric came home at 11, dropped the kids off, then went to work. I sure hope he can find someone to cover the shifts for tonight and tomorrow since I will be gone!!!

- Bible Bee memorization trudges on. Only two of the kids are continuing to make a real effort to memorize all the verses, the others chose to start school and just work on Category 1 verses. We'll just keep plugging along. I am so thrilled by the amounts of Bible they all HAVE learned... we'll just keep on going this way. I figure to keep using these verses for our memory work during the school year.

- Sara has taken off on reading since her "Reading Party"- she has read over 2 months of her school reading in about 4 school days. It is so fun to see her excited! Nathan is even motivated since he wants his own party... he's starting to sound out letters (no words yet- he'll get there!) all on his own too.

- Mercy is wonderful. The hemangioma continues to regress. It is getting lighter and lighter, and smaller and smaller. More importantly- she has ENERGY! Enough to fight over toys with Nathan (a mixed blessing, to be sure...), and to run and play all day. It is a treasured time... one I don't take for granted. I think when you have to work so hard for a child's health, and worry and pray so much for her, that there is just some sort of special bond which develops. Either way- she looks and feels great.

That's about all I can remember right now... I know there have been other things since we have been running all day long every day- but for right now I will sign off and get ready for my fun couple days with some wonderful young women! Have a great day.