Fall Soccer

He was the leader of the pack!

Here's a video of him in action:

Poetry Day

Our homeschool group gathered at Cauble Park today for each child to have the opportunity to recite a poem that they have learned during the year.  I was so proud of both Anna and John Caden!

That's a First!

 Poor little Hudson is on two weeks of rest and recovery after having his "little boy" procedure.  After telling John Caden for the 100th time today that he cannot be chasing and playing rough with Hudson, John Caden very frustrated with the whole situation, declared, "Well, I'm just going to go and take a bath then!!!" I decided to hang back and see if he would follow through with his "threat." Sure enough, 10 minutes later I had a clean, calm boy in pajamas at 4:30pm this afternoon!

I was impressed (well first of all that he didn't flood the bathroom but) that he even remembered to let the water out of the tub when he was done.  The only thing he confessed to forgetting to do was "wash his elbows" ??!!

Considering that this is the way John Caden is accustomed to playing with Hudson (wrestling on the floor), it's going to be a very long two weeks for both boys! 

Sitting in the Thanksgiving Chair and Counting it All Joy

As posted on girltalk:
"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." James 1:2-3

To "count it all joy" doesn't mean we will always feel happy in the midst of trials; but regardless of how we feel, it is a command we can and should obey. Martyn Lloyd Jones explains:

“There is all the difference in the world between rejoicing and feeling happy. The Scripture tells us that we should always rejoice [Phil. 4:4]....To rejoice is a command, yes, but there is all the difference in the world between rejoicing and being happy. You cannot make yourself happy, but you can make yourself rejoice, in the sense that you will always rejoice in the Lord. Happiness is something within ourselves, rejoicing is ‘in the Lord.’ Take the fourth chapter of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians. There you will find that the great Apostle puts it all very plainly and clearly in that series of extraordinary contrasts which he makes: ‘We are troubled on every side (I don’t think he felt very happy at the moment) yet not distressed’, ‘we are perplexed (he wasn’t feeling happy at all at that point) but not in despair’, ‘persecuted but not forsaken’, ‘cast down, but not destroyed’--and so on. In other words the Apostle does not suggest a kind of happy person in a carnal sense, but he was still rejoicing."

Mercier Apple Orchard & Lost Mountain Nursery