While we were on a recent Homeschool Field Trip, a friend of ours took these pictures. She’s obviously very talented.

We didn’t even know she was taking our picture at the time.

Benjamin got up this morning and cooked a birthday breakfast of French Toast for us. Here’s a picture of Chef Benjamin. 

Just smell the corndogs, funnel cakes, and fried pies!  Listen to the cacophany of animals, blaring music, shrieking midway riders, and children begging for money to buy trinkets and play games.  Look at the blinking, racing lights in a rainbow of colors.  We must be at the fair!

This year, we decided to do more than just improve the local economy-  we decided to participate.  We have been 4-H members for the past 2 years, but this is the first time we have entered anything.  Benjamin took part in the Chick Chain and so we knew we would be entering his birds for competition and auction.  While we were at it, we decided to try our skills in the art, baked goods, canning, and produce divisions also.  It turned out to be lots of fun and a good experience for everyone.  And we were fortunate to win quite a few ribbons too.

These Black Star chicks won Benjamin a blue ribbon.  They sold as a group for $36 at auction on Friday night.

Rachel brought a Buff Orpington pullet that we raised from a day-old chick.  By the end of the fair, she had sold it for $10.

Benjamin entered corn muffins using Grams’ recipe.  He won first place.

Rachel made a complicated 3-step pecan pie for which she also was awarded a blue ribbon.

Lydia has been practicing making her own sandwiches at lunch time.  Here she is making a PB & J to enter (in her new favorite PJ’s from Beck).

Here she is with her finished product- she fancied them up by using a star cookie cutter.  The competition was fierce in this category.  Who would have guessed that she’d face more rivals than any of the rest of us?  She is delighted with her green ribbon.

Here they are with all of our ribbons.

We ended up placing in the following:

Lydia-  green (participation) for her PB & J and red (2nd) for Purple Smudge tomatoes she helped me grow

Rachel- blue (1st) for her pecan pie and a blue for a watercolor painting of a frog

Benjamin-  blue for 4-H Chick Chain pullets, blue for corn muffins, yellow (4th) for Pinewood Derby car, white (3rd) for a charcoal drawing of a knight, blue for a pastel picture of a chicken with her chicks, and white for his iris folding art project.

Laura (me)-  blue for banana walnut bread, white for strawberry jam, blue for Sweet Tangerine tomatoes, red for Brown Berry tomatoes, and blue for a blue potato (in the Unusual Vegetable category).

And since we are 4-H members, we’ll get checks for double the usual prize money.  How exciting!  The kids can’t wait until next year!

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Lake Guntersville, Alabama, for our annual summer vacation. The whole extended family went, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews, Grams and BePops. We had a great time!

Uncle Chris brought his boat and we got to cruise up and down the lake site seeing.

If we got hot, we simply stopped and took a swim.

Benjamin, Rachel, and I tried knee boarding for the first time. Benjamin and Rachel popped up like it was old hat. I, well, I eventually got up after 1/2 tank of gas trying.

Lydia took it well that she wasn’t quite big enough to try the knee board. But she wasn’t really dissuaded from pretending.

The rocking of the boat eventually was too much for her, though and most every ride ended in nap.

Timothy wasn’t quite big enough to go boat riding, but he certainly enjoyed the resort’s swimming pool.

We had a great time!

Last Sunday, we dedicated our ten month old, Timothy, in our Church.

If you’re not familiar with the tradition of baby dedications, it’s a ceremony where we, the parents, acknowledge God’s sovereignty not only in our lives but in the life of our child as well. Before our church family we pray to God, asking for His grace and wisdom in raising our child. We also pray that our child might one day trust Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.  Our Church family also promises to help us to raise our child in a loving and Christ-centered environment. It’s a joyous day for everyone.

To many people, professional athletes have been elevated to a status beyond stardom, beyond even royalty. They’ve achieved the level of near demigods.  And many athletes in the limelight let that revelry go to their heads, walking around as if the normal rules of society don’t apply to them.

Steve McNair seemed like a great exception to the stereotypical it’s-all-about-me professional athlete. His selflessness on the field is near legendary. He sacrificed his body play after play for a few extra yards. He played when it was obvious to everyone in the stadium and on TV that he was in pain. Yet when the ball was snapped he went 110% and the pain wasn’t evident. As a result he inspired others to give their all and perhaps play even above their natural abilities.

But his contributions were not limited to on-the-field activities. More than once he renegotiated his contract to free up salary-cap money and allow other players to be signed to the team. Team mates and coaches speak of his leadership in the locker room. He was a team player, an all-star, and a natural leader all rolled into one.

His unassuming style of leadership, work ethic, natural abilities, and great smile made him a very likeable person. I liked Steve McNair.

That’s what made his untimely passing a few weeks ago very disturbing to many, including me.  Michael Hyatt summed it up well in his recent blog posting “One Stupid Decision Away“. I couldn’t say it better. I’m not going to repeat it here; just go to read it on his blog. You won’t regret it even if you’re not interested in sports.

I hope we can all learn lessons from what Steve McNair did right. But I also hope we can learn even more from the series of mistakes he made that led to a tragedy that affected so many others. And will for years to come.

Please don’t misunderstand. I don’t stand in judgment of Steve McNair. We all fall short. We all make mistakes. We are, after all, human. And people make mistakes.

My point is that it’s important to have a hero that doesn’t let you down, that doesn’t make bad decisions, that doesn’t potentially influence you to go down paths you’d be better off not traveling. And there’s only one that I know of that fits that description. He was a Jewish carpenter named Jesus.

As another professional athlete, Charles Barkley, once quipped, “I’m not a role model. Just because I dunk a basketball doesn’t mean I should raise your kids.” As controversial as “Sir Charles” can be, I think he’s right on this point.

Who’s your hero?

Lydia decided to “read” Timothy a book this evening after church. Timothy found it hilarious.

When we moved to our little glimpse of heaven 4 1/2 years ago, we were delighted to see it came stocked with a horse, a few ducks, and a small flock of chickens.  Among those chickens was the undisputed king of the henhouse, a Jersey Giant cross we named Percy.  Here is a picture of him taken a few years ago.

Percy has weathered a lot- he’s protected the womenfolk, he’s intimidated the young upstarts into submission, and he’s been a good-natured fella.  The ladies swooned when he strutted by.  He would often find a particularly good treat while foraging and call “his girls” over and offer it to them.  While they enjoyed the tidbit, he would stand watch over them and keep the peace.

A week and a half ago, an odd thing began to happen.  Percy was being pecked and chased by Guido, the smaller but annoying guinea who adopted us a few years ago.  I saw the pursuit across the yard several times and would find Percy hiding in the bushes, cowering while Guido “sucker-pecked” him.  I broke it up, but that didn’t last.  Percy began limping.

A few days later, not only was Guido the Unwanted Guinea attacking him,

but also little Nappie (short for Napolean).  He is a Mille Fleur bantam, just a bit larger than a dove.

I would say they were “double-teaming” poor Percy, but the two weren’t actually on the same team.  They were just both exploiting this new weakness simultaneously.  For several days, the king spent most of his time lying down in the same spot in the yard, keeping an eye out for assassination attempts but getting up to eat very little.  At the end of the week, I put him into a chicken tractor with a few benign Buff Orpingtons to recuperate and keep him safe.

The first 2 days, it seemed like he was improving.  The third day, not so much.  The fourth day, Joe and Benjamin went down to move the tractors and feed the chickens.  Percy was mobile for the move, but breathed his last while eating some scratch grains and died peacefully.  All in all, the most a rooster could hope for!

We don’t get overly attached to most of our chickens, but Percy was the oldest resident of the farm, a regal presence in the yard, and kind of an icon.  Things don’t seem quite right without him.  He will be missed.

Benjamin and Rachel are really good at entertaining and watching over Lydia and Timothy when I have to leave the room or finish a chore.  Yesterday, I left Rachel in charge for about 5 minutes.  When I returned, this is what I found.

One of Rachel’s favorite games is Pretty, Pretty Princess.  The object of the game is to collect all of your matching pieces of jewelry so you can go to the ball.  Joe ROCKS at this game !  Apparently, Timothy is a chip off the old block.

(We’ll be saving this picture to show at his rehearsal dinner).

I have a hard time believing it could be, but Benjamin has hit the big 10.  I am sad for me, but so excited for him.  He’s a great kid, but I just don’t like to see him getting so big.  Part of me despperately wants to set the ceiling at about 5 years old, but alas, I can’t and would regret seeing all my children can become and do if I really had that power.

Aunt Sheryl came out and we celebrated Benjamin’s birthday with his favorite meal- Build Your Own Dinner.  Here are some of our favorite creations.

Rachel’s kayaker.

Sleeping  Sombrero Man

Frankenstein

A crab.

And we topped it all off with a pecan pie- one of Benjamin’s favorite desserts.