July 4th - Oct. 13th, 2017

Hello All! 

It's hard to believe I have not done a blog update since July! Not sure where the summer went, but it's long gone and here we are smack-dab in fall already. :)

Here's a little of what we've been up to...

I found Liza had put her PJs in my drawer the other day. So cute!

Micah took an 8-day trip to the country of Moldova in July! It went really well and it was a big blessing for him to be there especially as part of a father/son team. Many of the young people of Moldova end up leaving the country in search of better jobs, so it meant a lot for the people there to see a father and son serving together and both following the Lord. 

Blake and Seth's baseball team ended the season with a bang in July. They got to run onto the field alongside the players of a minor league baseball game here in town! They stood there during the national anthem and then came back. They were walking on air after that! 

At the airport waiting for Daddy's return from Moldova!

So adorable!

Liza made sure he had lots of rest and food as soon as he returned. She's feeding Micah her plastic food and she brought him all her dolls. :)

Our lovely garden was yet again an (almost) complete loss due to the very healthy population of deer around here. :-P However, the tomato plants did survive. Apparently, the  deer don't like the actual plants, but will eat the tomatoes off the plants. Next year...  :) Liza is standing in our "tomato tunnel" here. 

Blake and Seth began taking theatre classes this fall with Alamance Fine Arts Academy here in town. Micah and I have been helping the studio get off the ground by assisting with marketing and social media campaigns over the summer. It's been so fun to have a part in helping it get going!

We are sad to say that we had to bid goodbye to our sweet Blue Belle this summer. She developed some sort of arthritis and was rather miserable, so we said goodbye and had a proper burial in the backyard. :(

We had a visit from Uncle Jonathan in September! The boys are always super excited when Bro comes because fire and strange science experiments are almost always involved. 

Micah sporting a shirt of chainmail made by hand by Jonathan! 

Owen lost his first tooth the other day. He's only 4 1/2, so a little early for losing teeth. I guess he just wants to catch up with the boys. 

Speaking of catching up with the boys, Owen begged me to start school this semester, so he has starting doing Kindergarten with me a few days a week. 

Really big stuff! 

Sweet-Ums! Liza is 2 and a half now, is Mrs. Independent, and is talking up a storm. She is a full-steam-ahead kind of kid and is definitely our loudest child! She screams when she's excited, screams when she's mad, and screams when she's happy. Our little skreecher!

Nightly routine. We have really enjoyed the Jesus Storybook Bible over the years and recently finished our fourth trip through the stories. The way it's written is inspiring and I love that each story points to the awesome miracle of Christ's redemptive work on the cross.

Micah finished his term as president of our local Rotary Club this July. He enjoyed the opportunity to serve, but is also relieved to have a little more breathing room in his weekly schedule.

The kids and I got to join Micah at a convention in Myrtle Beach this September. The kids always get psyched about getting to sleep in a hotel room. It's amazing how much fun they have playing hide-and-seek in such a small room. 

Visiting Broadway at the Beach!

See the red dot on the plant? It's Owen's hermit crab with a Spiderman shell. Each of the boys bought one while at the beach this summer and they've been living in our plant pot ever since. They are exceptional climbers and for the most part have stayed in the pot. There was one early morning when Micah walked into the kitchen to found Spiderman making his way across the vast expanse of our kitchen floor in an attempt to escape. :P

Me and Lizy at Iseley Farms

Owen has graduated to a Big Boy Bed and boy is he proud of himself. He's almost as proud about his bed as Liza is thrilled to have a roommate! 

We got to visit a local Revolutionary War reenactment site this week and got to see many different exhibits showing how people lived and worked in the 1770's. So fascinating. Those people spent 99% of their waking hours just doing what it took to survive. No social media distractions or extra curricular activities needed back then to help keep them busy!

Owen swabbing the canon! 

Funnies...

Well, I've been saving up a few Funnies the last few months for your enjoyment, so here they are:

Liza -"Will you diaper change me?" You know you should already be potty trained when your child is able to articulate a complete sentence like that. 

"What time is it, Owen?" He looks at the hour hand and the minute hand both pointing to 12 and says "It's nothing o'clock". 

Seth, during a movie "Liza, do you want to sit on my lap?" Liza - "No, I want to sit on my OWN lap!" She pronounces it "yap"   :)

Owen, "Hey Mom, I like the part when the really big octopus gets that boat on the movie called 20 Leaves Under the Sea."

We joke with Liza once in a while, "Liza, do you need a little spanking?" the other day she smiled really big and marches off saying, "No, I will spank myself!"

On the drive home....Owen- "Mom, look! There's a boy deer out the window! It's a buff!"   =)

Other News...

We are back into the swing of school now.  The boys love their acting/theatre classes and are having fun getting to practice their monologues on us during the week. It's getting Seth outside of his comfort zone and giving both of them increased confidence in public speaking. 

The church leaders in Moldova that Micah and Mark met with in July want them to come back again and speak to a larger group of church leaders about fathers being loving leaders of their homes. So it looks like Micah will get to return there this coming January for another week long trip!

We spoke with Scott the other day and he has returned safely to Okinawa, Japan after his four month deployment at sea. He says he loves the Asian culture and is enjoying his current job. I think he has another year left in his current enlistment, but is praying about whether to reenlist for a few more years. We are very proud of him!

Hope you all are doing well! 

Kari & All