Discovering Wildlife

Part of the advantage and joy of home schooling is it allows the kids more time and opportunity to pursue their real interests. One of the things Haley enjoys doing is investigating and observing wild life.

Today she found this turtle wandering the woods in the back yard.

We did some research on the Internet and we believe it to be an Eastern Box Turtle. She wanted to keep as a pet. (Of course!) However, I believe I've convinced her it would be better off left in the wild. (At least she didn't want to have it stuffed!)

Never a dull moment!

Doesn't everyone have one in their yard?

As I've mentioned, we are working on buying a house here in Virginia. There have been a couple of times now that we have been up to the house/property for one reason or another. On a few of these occasions we have found this one animal wandering around, aimlessly.

Today was another time we found this animal. When the kids and I decided to take a walk down the road, this is what we saw:

Believe me when you see this thing a few feet off it can easily be mistaken for a very large bear! The kids and I had such fun laughing about scenarios of how cows being in our yard may be a normal routine. Some of them went something like this:

"Kids before you go out to play be sure you have your cow beating sticks with you."

Dad when he comes home from work would say, "What is for dinner tonight?" Mom's reply, "Steak. One of the cows walked in front of car when we were pulling into the driveway today."

Such adventures we are in for!

What would we do without technology?

Ahh......technology! Gotta love it! My sister Laura and I were able to chat last night over a glass of wine. How you ask, with Laura in Utah and you in Virginia? Well... by web cam.

It took Laura a lot of effort trying to get her computer up and running. After a lot of laughing by both of us and her old clunker of a computer never catching up to the live feed, her daughter Leah came to the rescue and set her mother up on her computer. Then we sipped wine, chuckled some more and chatted.

My kids were thrilled to see Aunt Laura. Jacob played his guitar for her. Faith got to sing one of her favorite songs by Laura's son TJ. And Haley enjoyed listening to her mother and aunt giggle with each other. Haley was also thrilled to catch a glimpse of her cousin Leah. The two of them converse through emails.

Actually, mom, dad and I have been doing web calls with eachother for the past several weeks. It has become nearly a daily event for us to visit over the Internet. The kids love being able to to see "Mem" and "Pep" so often.

Looking forward to many more web conversations over a glass of wine!

Package to a Soldier

My nephew Jimmy, Mike's older sister's son, is stationed in Baghdad. This is his second tour of duty there. He was among those who went in the very beginning of the war, his wife also went at that time. They had to leave their new baby girl behind. It was a difficult time for them both, I'm sure. Now he is there again. Thankfully his wife is at home this time with their 2 little girls.

On this tour, for Jimmy, I've been putting together care packages. However, with the move and all I haven't sent one in some time. Today the kids and I went shopping and put this package together. (there is a layer you can't see in the photo) I'll get it to the post office tomorrow.

He is always so good to email when he receives it and tells me how his soldiers divide up the goods, after he's hidden a few of the best items for himself. Then with some prodding by me he thinks of things that I can include in the next package. He's always humble enough not to ask for too much.

Imagine the sacrifices our men and women in uniform make every day, just so we can continue to go about our regular daily routine. It makes one stop and think, doesn't it?

The Church for Us

There are 2 Catholic Churches in the city of Lynchburg. So, when we first got here we tried them both out. We really like the priest at St. Thomas More so that became the church we affiliated ourselves with. However, after a couple of weeks of going there, something was bothering me.

I couldn't quite figure out what it was, but something didn't feel right. Then it hit me, or the Holy Spirit whispered in my ear. It wasn't traditional enough. The church is pretty, but it feels secular. Can you imagine a Catholic Church that feels secular? It also dawned on me that the other church in town was the same way. No tabernacle in the church, it is in the back behind the scene. No holy water when you walk in to bless yourself with, and there are no kneelers. You find yourself wondering, "Did I go to the right church?" (And believe me around here there are churches on every corner so you very well could.)

St. Thomas More Church is pretty enough. Then the final test came yesterday, we went to church in Amherst. Only 10 minutes from the house we are buying. As soon as we walked in Jacob's comment was, "There is a tabernacle." Check one! Holy water was at the entrance. Check two! Four different people introduced themselves to us. They were actually able to tell we were new.
Finally, we've found our church.

A New Home

One of the things our family discussed on our ride to and from the zoo yesterday, was what house did we like the best. So, after we weighed all our options and the pros and cons of everything we signed papers and put an offer in this morning on this house.

Offer was accepted, and if all goes according to plan we should be in before Thanksgiving.

It Was a Good Day

If there is anything that is positive about moving to a new state, it would be the opportunities of discovering and visiting new places. Between looking at houses, Mike working, and school work we have been making time to do some sight seeing. Today we took a ride to the zoo.

It proved to be a good day, and the ride gave us time for good family conversation. (And of course knitting!)

Here are some photos from our day:

We stopped on the ride to enjoy the views.

Mike had to wrestle with a "gator".

Faith loves the giraffes, but was too afraid to feed them when they came close enough.