Since we last "talked"

School started for my middle schoolers. Hopefully I'll home school more than three next year. Happy was perched ready to ride to school too as she has these last several years. I love that little aggravater.
Noah celebrated his 12th birthday. Adam celebrated his 13th!
Lauren went back home last week. We miss her and look forward to seeing her on fall break.
Our biggest news so far is that Adam, my step-son is living with us now! It is a dream come true for us. We realize that it is going to be difficult but we have coined a family slogan here: "Do hard stuff." We are ready! The night before school started after our family devotions we went around the table and did our highs and lows for the Summer. Everyone said their high was having Adam here. I could tell how that filled him up. We are so thankful.


We turned our guest room into a school room! I can't believe how excited I am about homeschooling! We start......TODAY! Right after Jazzercise;) First things first.



We sold our microfiber sectional, as I was tired of having it cleaned, and bought a used leather sectional. It fits all of us, until the kids grow! What it didn't fit was our family room! Ha. Next time I'll measure. We also had hard wood put in our downstairs. We don't have a large house for our family size. Our home is 2100 square feet and 9 of us live here full time. I think it's plenty big enough, but often folks come over and say "You need a bigger house." I hate this comment really, because my kids lived in one room before coming to America. One room. We have five bedrooms. We can make due.

My garden is doing pretty good. I am an amateur gardener. (Which is likely evident by the photos:). We have two 7 layer above ground organic beds. This is our second year. I LOVE it! I also started a Dahlia garden, my favorite flower. It's looking a little sickly right now but I have high hopes for the next few years as the plants roots mature. (Much like us really!) We have been watching many food documentaries with the kids. They seem to enjoy learning about what they should eat and where it should come from. Though these films are not Christian in nature it is beautiful and tragic to see what God intended for our land and where capitalism has taken it. The children seem to like hearing what they should eat from a film rather than hearing what they shouldn't eat from their Mom! Go figure!