Zing Fling

This weekend, Erin was in the horse show she's been preparing for ALL summer! She clipped and groomed and got ready Friday night, got the horse there, was up at the crack of dawn Saturday morning, and all did not go as well as planned. She was looking great in the warm-ups, but had a serious case of stage fright overtake her, and a tense rider, means a confused and stressed out horse, who was also not the most cooperative. The day was cut short and her hopes of entering the jumping classes dashed by the way her first 2 classes turned out. We were all so disappointed, and a little stressed. A few tears were shed by both of us.

They were still the prettiest team out there!


Nice bum!

Feeling a little defeated....
all that hard, hard work, but the effort is NEVER, ever lost my dear girl!

Makes me think of life and how often we have disappointments. It seems sometimes there are too many. More than one person can handle, and at other times, so much joy. I guess we learn how to deal with it, grieve different sorrows and become stronger. I really want to see more of Jesus in the whole situation though. I don't want for her to just feel defeated, disappointed, and sad. I want for her to feel confident and alive and loved, strong, able, good and like the hard work pays off. To feel good about the trying, the learning, and not that a failure in her own eyes. There were so many successes in the day! The relationship building with her coach, learning a new amazing braid, learning ways to be calm and confident, or knowing we need to learn some, fixing her jacket for the NEXT time (yes there will be next time), knowing that tomorrow will probably be a better day I want to think of more.... It could be definitely a humbling experience, but Erin is not a proud girl, she is so so humble. There just seem too many disappointments lately for her.

So what does Jesus think? I think He just loves beyond what we can ever know, love beyond a human parent's love, and knowledge to the depths of our souls. That He knows each part of us more than we do, and why we are that way, and that HE loves it all!! After all He made it that way.

" the LORD is my light and my salvation. The LORD is the strength of my life, of whom(or what) shall I be afraid (or worried)?"
"I can do all things through HIM who gives me strength"

Laryngitis

I suppose I should be writing like crazy on here because it's my only outlet of communication the last couple days, but I'm not :) I am constantly excited to watch the things my children are doing these days. They are becoming such great "people". I like it. I really also want a nap.

Jacob's Room Untouched

Now and then I like to show off my house cleaning abilities as well as how good my parenting has been... this one is for Randi.....


This is actually moderately clean for my boy.

Sweet Cheeks

I ask for your prayers for this little cutie ptootie. I can't really divulge any info. as to why or how, but just that God's will would be done in her life.

Whoa Big Jack

Today Erin got to ride Big Jack, Action Jackson, Muscle Man, Big Boy, Jacko. He's 17. 2 hands high! That's one BIG boy. See.. you can't even see Erin's little head over the top of him, and let me tell you she's getting tall!! He's a Shire/thoroughbred.

For anyone who thinks riding isn't a sport, try fitting your legs around this big boy, and squeezing for an hour, and pulling back to stop him. They were both sweating by the end! He was a little more "foamy" than Erin, who pleasantly described his feet as dinner plates. He takes a bit more pull that dainty little Brooklyn who stops on a dime if you just so much as whisper, " whoa girl".

Most Things from the Garden are Zero Calories!

I love making salsa and even better with a friend. We spent the morning chopping and chatting. The great thing is you can pretty much eat as much as you want of this stuff! It's the carriers that are the problem (chips, nachos, pretzels not as bad).

These bad boys are keeping me bus making stuff, I just picked all the red ones yesterday and NOW look!

I'm trying to learn something about cameras so when KD talks about aperature and f-stops, I might have a clue. It would be nice if I knew how to use them too. not just what they are . Here I was messing with my "macro", but I still couldn't get that little bee in focus properly. I think the problem was my "shutter speed".

Here he was sitting a little more still, but still buzzing and I really can't tell which way up the photo was supposed to be, but I like it this way.

My burning bush will be 'burning' in a week or so, I love watching the leaves turn, but I'm loving these pretty wild roses this week. Like my "depth of field"?


I saw Kevin taking some shot of these Rose of Sharon with his new birthday lens this afternoon in PERFECT lighting, so these won't even compare. But aren't they amazing? I'll post his later if he lets me.

Last year's new tree has 4 apples on it, 1 of them got eaten by the black furry beast. These 2 are also within reach but he was told NO when I took the photos, we'll wait and see if they're still there by harvest time.

Just how great he is....

so this principal that I was saying is so great... here's a funny story... Last week there was a black bear sighting in the neighborhood, we're kind of on the edge of town.. and they didn't know where it was. So they phoned ALL the parents of kids who didn't ride the bus home to come and get their children. The parents that couldn't be reached or who didn't come to get their kids because they walk home were all personally WALKED home by the principal! Pied Piper image comes to mind.

YAY!

FYI.... Jacob got the teacher we really wanted. They have had so many changes this year, that today was the day they finally posted the classroom teachers. Seeing as I had talked to the principal in the spring and said we REALLY... REALLY preferred one teacher over the other, he obliged me and personally came and told me this morning who Jacob was getting. He is such a great principal!! Of course the other grade 6 teacher came up to me and said she had really wanted Jacob in her class because she had Erin and knew he was also such a great student. Erin was a bit of her favorite student back then. Hopefully I navigated that interaction being positive still about her. She's just a total spaz! Jacob has a good bunch of boys in there too.

I love Mr. B because he cares about the kids, who they are and who they become, about social responsibility and being active physically and in your community. He cares about who their friends are, and engaging their minds intellectually! He loves family and helping hurting kids, and pushes them hard academically. All the things I want for my son this year! This is why I continue to meddle in my children's education. It's reinforcing what they learn at home from another respectable adult with integrity... in the real world.

So, Monday mornings can be a good time.

The Big 40

Kevin has had his last of the 4-0 celebrations, only 2 for him :) His real day was yesterday, and I wished all of his friends from other places could have been here to help him celebrate, since most of Kevin's closest friends don't live here. But we had a good time!! I won't bore you with 40 things I love about Kevin (meaning: I'm too lazy to think of them)

We had a little family fun at the park after watching both the kids' first fall soccer games. Played a bit of volleyball.

Some friends came over for appetizers and dessert, and a little rousing Kevin trivia, Family Fued style.That's a lot of candles!!

But he managed to blow them ALL out!

Happy Birthday Kev! You make the world a better place!

Hi Ho Hi Ho

...it's off to work I go.... 2 of my friends have had babies this week and it makes me think I might rather be at home doing that instead of going TO work. But then the thought passed and went away.
.....seems to me lately that a lot of people are going through some major changes. What is up with that? Is it just the economy? You could say that, or maybe, I wonder, if God is calling His people to reorder our lives and priorities. To stop for a minute and look around. Maybe smell the roses, look at the hurt around us, decide again today to follow Him, that we NEED to cling to Him. My knitting club ladies have all decided to take a hiatus before we start back because everyone has had major stuff going on all summer and we can't even seem to get it together once a month... when we need each other more. For one, her Dad died suddenly only a year after her Mom, for another her Dad had an aortic aneurysm one week after that first incident and we were both there comforting her, for another she was evacuated from her house this summer for fire and her husband is off work, and for the other, well she's the womens' pastor in our church that the senior pastor just resigned, enough said.
....the weekend looks like sun, sun, sun and my honey turns 40 tomorrow!

First Day Jitters

So we have finally hit the first day of school... very late this year.... and always dreaded by us all. I LOVE having my kids at home (especially as the years seem to be flying by faster and faster and I don't want them to leave me- boohoo), although the past 2 weeks have had a definite share of boredom. So we're ready for some more interaction with other humans and some routine. A little bit of holing up has happened with us over summer.

Jacob's school is doing a new thing this year, where they don't actually find out who their teacher is til Friday. I don't know what's wrong with the school district or parents that they can't figure out how many kids they'll have before school starts, but the past 2 years have been riddled with major upheaval and classroom changes- last year Jacob was moved twice- which doesn't bode well with this boy. So I'm glad for them trying it this way and we'll see what happens.

Erin has hit the BIG grade 9, so her last year at the middle school, so it should be a fun one! She came home with what looks like a great slate of teachers, but not really any friends in almost all her classes. So after all the summer prayers, that this would be a better year socially, we're trying to look at this as an opportunity for NEW friendships maybe with some girls she's never met before.

Now all we need is for Kevin to get some first day jitters somewhere :)

Jump Start Clinic

Erin's riding coach is running a junping clinic this weekend, so the girls get to ride every day for 3 days! How much more fun could that be?? Great way to spend the long weekend! After a few frustrations and set-backs lately in her riding and relationship with this horse, this was a GREAT day! The frustrations all turn into good learning opportunities, and have really improved her skill. I think she's looking great!

....and I didn't take any of these, the coach's photographer boyfriend is amazing, (no not Gary Fong), but here's Gary's wife.
She is dry, funny and the closest we'll ever get to fame :)

They own the ranch, live there sometimes and rent it out as a wedding venue! It's stunning, look at the view!

Let the Canning Begin!

This was my earlier in my week, as well as 30 quarts of salsa and a bunch more of basil spiced tomatoes!