November!!

      Life has been busy and full as of late- but now that I think about it, that’s a way of life for us right now! Roger and I have lately said “no” to some activities for our teens simply because we need family time too. Last Sunday night we participated in a “Trunk-or-Treat” at church. Our friend, Laura, and her boys invited us to stay with them at their trunk and hand out candy. We’ve done a trunk for these kind of events in the past, but we kinda just wanted to see how it was done at this church. There were A LOT of trunks and a lot of people! We almost ran out of candy, but we had enough for all that came through the line. Roger and I both said that we were impressed with the organization of the event. Sometimes it’s easy to want a community out-reach event, but it’s harder to be organized with how to give the Gospel to the lost that are literally  in our backyard. This particular church sets up their Trunk-or-Treat event so that everyone that comes through is directed (funneled) through the auditorium for a clear Gospel presentation. I know that some Christians are adamantly against anything to do with Halloween, but we tend to take the approach that this is a fabulous opportunity to give Jesus to lost souls. Maybe next year we will have a trunk, we will wait and see. 

    Monday marked the day for our “Library Book Character” day! We had a great number of children participate and it was fun to see their creativity. I went as Mary Poppins, and Emma went as Laura from Little House on the Prairie. We had book characters from Charlotte’s Web The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Little Red Riding Hood, Clifford, Peter Pan  and a whole host of others! It was a fun event, and I think both Jennifer (the library assistant) and I are both glad it’s behind us!  A lot of parents came to watch the parade so that was exciting for the students also. We handed out participation prizes as well as a “Best Dressed” prize that included a gift card and a package of fun pencils. A few kids that didn’t participate said that next time they wanted to do the parade. So that’s a token of success in my book! (Pun intended!) 

    Garett went on a teen overnight activity last weekend. A bunch of guys and the youth leader took some young men to a fun event but also to invest and provide some discipleship in their lives. However, one of the teens that went on the trip wasn’t feeling well. Want to guess what happened over the next several days?! By Monday, about six of the ten boys were sick with body aches, fevers and chills. Garett came to find me around lunch time at school on Monday. I didn’t even need to take his temperature as I could tell he wasn’t feeling well. I ended up taking him and Emma home (Emma had a little bit of a cold) and then coming back to school to finish the day. Garett found out that both he and Chandler made the Varsity Basketball team, but Garett wasn’t able to go to practice on Monday. After school, I ran a few errands to pick up a few groceries. I was still wearing my “Mary Poppins” outfit. Wyatt and Travis asked me if I was going to change my clothes before going grocery shopping. I was like, “No, I just need to run in and grab a few things.” Wyatt promptly replied, “I am SO going to stay in the van! That is so embarrassing!” I just laughed and left them both in the van! Honestly, I did get a few unusual looks, but I still think I looked far more put together than a lot of people that go to the grocery store!

By Tuesday morning, Emma  sounded like a “barking seal” with her cough. Travis asked her, “what in the world is the matter with you? You sound like a Mack truck that can’t get started!” Leave it to her brother to put it in perspective like that! Garett still had a fever on Tuesday morning, and since Emma wasn’t feeling well either, Roger decided to stay home with those kids. The rest of us trotted off to school for another day. All around the school, it felt like kids were dropping like flies with either a cold/flu, stomach bug or something else! We made it through the day, and Chandler went to basketball practice (both for JV and Varsity). 

Wednesday is another full day of the week for me as I help out with elementary art. I really like working with the art teacher, Cara, and the day usually goes by pretty quickly. By the time the day is over, I can about do the art project in my sleep! Around 11:20am, Travis came to find me in the art room. He had tears in his eyes as he told me his headache was so bad he couldn’t focus. He ended up spending the day in the library sleeping on the library cushions. Emma had already planned a play date with a girl from her class, and the day felt all wacky! Thankfully, the school secretary checked in on Travis a couple of times during the day, and he slept the afternoon away. We were all ready to leave for home directly after school that was for sure! Emma had a great time playing with her friend, while Travis curled up in our bed and continued to sleep. He started running a fever and then  he was throwing up. I think he was throwing up because his head hurt so badly, but it was a pretty miserable afternoon for him. Roger was able to coordinate his schedule so that he could stay home with Travis on Thursday. Normally, I’d stay home with our sick kids, but since I need to work to pay the school bill, it worked out a little better for Roger to stay home. I felt like we just rotated through which kids were coming to school every day this week! Hopefully, we are all on the mend!

By Friday, it felt like the end of a very long week! Usually Friday is my favorite day of the week, but wow- it was a week! I did manage to set up the Thanksgiving bulletin boards in the library, which needed to happen. It’s such a short window of time between the Thanksgiving bulletin boards and then needing to do a Christmas board! I decided to put up a bulletin board featuring “Ways to Show Gratitude!”We need to be reminded of this as adults, and so do the children we are working with! I’m not an overly complicated person, so the ways I came up with are very simple! “Say Please”, “Smile”, “Be respectful”, “Say Thank-you”, “Be on time”, “Write a note,” “Ask ‘How can I help?’”, and a bunch of other ones. 

We also have a few more new books for the library, so my day was full with those projects. We are working hard at changing out bulletin boards, playing trivia games with them, reading aloud, puzzle and stem projects, but none of those things gets itself prepared without hard work!  

Roger sent me a text on Friday afternoon to see what I thought about his brother and two kids coming for a visit. Well, my house feels a little behind and it’s not as picked up as I’d like it to be, but they’re welcome to come over! So Roger’s brother, Nate, and two of his kids came for a visit on Friday night. They’re staying for a few days, and I know that Roger is glad to see his brother, and we are happy to have family come and visit. 

We have enjoyed some beautiful weather this week, and I’m still waiting for it to “feel” like fall! I wore my dress boots once, but my feet were too hot! Today was about 82 degrees so we spent a lot of time outside! The kids played baseball with their cousins, dad and uncle, while I took a nap. I’m trying to avoid coming down with something! This Friday we have the day off due to Veteran’s Day, so we are all looking forward to that. We did finish up the first quarter last week, and everyone passed all their classes- Thank YOU, JESUS! 

The days are flying by now that basketball season is practically here. Garett is not nearly as aggressive as Chandler when it comes to playing sports, but Garett is also a child that will remain calm. I do think he is a leader in his own quiet way, whereas Chandler is often a leader also, but he needs to work at remaining calm, level-headed, and using edifying words. We are all a work in progress! God continues to work through us as their parents, and even though we make a LOT of mistakes, God provides mercy and forgiveness. It’ll be interesting to watch their skills develop as the season progresses. Roger and I have both been impressed with the boys basketball coach, and I think that the coach is another person that can invest in their lives and point them to Jesus. 

Thank you all for your love and prayers! As we prepare for Thanksgiving, I pray that you’ll take some extra time to focus on the blessings that God has given you. I know that it’s easy to complain about rising prices on everything, but we still have food to eat, and God continues to provide. It’s easy to harp on our kids about things I want them to improve upon, but I am so very thankful for each one of our children. God has given me salvation, what a gift! We are so blessed! 

Photo credit: fontlot.com