October is over!

It's November already! A lot has been happening in the last two weeks. I'll have to think hard to fill in any important blanks between the last post and this one.

Life Chain was scheduled for Oct 4th but it was raining (and had been raining) really hard. Some people in our area had no power. So, as a county, 5 towns, we rescheduled to the 25th. It was a big hit!

As we came to a stop in the driveway at the end of our big, monthly shopping trip I had an epic flat tire.
Thank you smallish persons who like to play with EVERYTHING, including but not limited to bricks and cement blocks, and who were told REPEATEDLY to not have such things in the driveway because your mother thinks she can straddle such. She can't.

At least we were home.
We only had one spare.
Its time for new tires anyway.

Papa was scheduled to have knee replacement at the beginning of the month but it got rescheduled several times and was on the 19th. Everything went GREAT! But the last two weeks I've had to be devoted to Papa nearly full time (and when I do get to be at home napping is the thing that happens).
He went to stay at a local Rehab place until his get'along gets along better.

Breakfast with Papa 10/22/2015

The week of surgery I was also teaching at Community Bible Study. I'm still in wonder at how God worked all that out. He really was in my comings and goings and interactions with others and my time. He brought the whole thing together - and once again - it was not me. Ain't it grand to be a vessel used for God's glory.
And I'm sure, I learned the most that week. (and I quoted Shakespeare to make a point).

from Community Bible Study, Romans Lesson 10

Papa gave us a scare the next Sunday evening. His leg was HUGE and swollen and tender. So, just in case it was a blood clot we had him carried to the ER.
By the way, when I grow up, I now want to drive ambulances, cause they GET to go fast - I had a great time following Papa to the hospital in the middle of the night - FAST! Woohoo!

I did NOT have a great time at the hospital. I was pretty sure by the next morning that they would soon have to treat at least two people for dehydration and starvation. It was a LONG sleepless night.
Thankfully, it was a bad case of cellulitis. That's a new word for me. It's an infection of the skin and tissue just under the skin. Which was really painful, but with some antibiotics not life threatening.

Last week, the children and I were going to learn (again) lots about the Protestant Reformation leading up to Reformation Day!
What's Reformation Day? Well, on October 31, 1517 . . . you can just read more about there here & here.
But between all of the doings with Papa - and subsequent naps, and praising God for a helpful, loving husband and BIG kids, we didn't.
BUT . . . a sweet friend told us about some other like minded theologians.
So we went and partied with the folks at Heritage Presbyterian in Royston.
It was GREAT, easy on Mama's, well done games and some humorous drama with "Tetzel and Martin."

Stained Glass - because "the church" was the Roman Catholic Church (Catholic = universal)
There were a few "heretics" (like Wycliff & Huss) but they didn't live long.

Luther was studying to be a lawyer but got stuck by lightening,
prayed to St. Anne (alleged mother of the virgin Mary)
and became an Augustinian Monk.

Luther, through study and teaching the scriptures, found fault with the teachings of "the church"
- especially when a dude named Tetzel came around selling indulgences.

Illuminating Scripture with a Monk
& the humorous exchange between the indulgences hawking Tetzel and smarty-pants Luther.

Knock down the False Teachings & the 5 Solas Toss

 There was also a throw the Papel Bull in the fire - but I didn't get a picture of that.

Hunting in the shooting gallery (Black Forest?) & Translating Scripture with Martin Luther

The Cat Game (see below) & our two biggest sticks in the mud.

The little kids were in the Wartburg Castle bouncing up and down while the big kids and I were playing Bingo in hopes of winning fresh baked goods (I'm still a little miffed we didn't win the Black Forest cake).
Suddenly, there was a pretty gray and white kitty cat under our table. (Looked a lot like Henrietta Mama Cat I had when I was little). Of course this pretty kitty caught the attention of several smallish persons.
Then, it caught the attention of Josiah who ran over to me, "I want to pay da tat dame!"
"What?"
"I want to pay da tat dame!"
A wave of understanding washed over me, "Son, the cat is not a game."
But he played it anyway, until the cat got away.
That's Jorja in the purple with her back to us in the picture above (Josiah is on her left in red).
You can see the cat's head and front paw reaching over Jorja's right arm.

And then there's today.
Jacob played a rousing game of hide-and-seek with his "stuffies" this morning.
Of course, stuffies can't hide themselves. He even counted and pretended to forget where they hid (even the ones in plain sight).
Then he had Josiah "take pictures" of himself with his lined up stuffies.
So, Josiah is standing there with hands boxed in front of his face, "click, click. Click, click."
And Jacob begins to jump and wiggle and move in front of the "camera."
"You know what these are called? Motion pictures."

And the crowd went wild. (The crowd being two biggest sisters and the Mama).

We finally hit the reset button on our school lessons and began again this morning.
So, we are back at it. A new normal.

Critters Kids Capture

As a follow-up to my post yesterday, So Far This Summer . . . here is a short video of some kids and critters.
The tiny box turtle - who is very fast.
The lizard eggs found hatching yesterday (some where found several weeks ago and picked up - don't do that!!! It kills the baby lizards. Just leave them alone and observe. (of course as soon as the things start to dart away they were grabbed up by dirty little hands - this morning they are still "observing" the babies). (This part of the video is over 7 minutes long - feel free to fast forward).
And a picture of Alex with a snake that he and The Daddy removed from the chicken house (not the first one this year).