What's Up

 
Dude!  Things have gotten busy around here.  Bu-sy!  I'm tellin' ya!  I'm not really sure what changed, but the days are fuller than ever and I haven't been bored for several weeks, not even for ten minutes.  And I guess that's a good thing, since a friend of mine recently told me that boredom is actually a need for meaning and purpose, rather than just "activity."

 I'm not sure about the whole meaning and purpose to what I've been busy doing... but I sure have had a lot of "activity" lately.

 
So, here's a few things we've been busy with...


The garden:  picking and processing all the random stuff growing out there takes a lot more time than you'd think.  The girls have been a great help with blanching/freezing.  The little boys are quite the green bean snappers.  And I pretty much do the canning by myself... just so I can keep my head on straight, do it right and not kill anybody with botulism.  And speaking of canning...

The grapes:  we got to go to the Kentucky State Research Farm a couple weeks ago and pick as many grapes as we could possibly want... totally for free!  So, we brought home five five-gallon buckets full of perfect Concord grapes.  We were so excited.  At first.  And then we had to wash, separate, skin, mill, cook, and can them all!  But, now that it's all over, we're glad.  Since we have over two dozen jars of jam and a whole bunch of juice down in the pantry.  And all that took place only three days before...

The vacation:  Captain's dad did the nicest thing for us!  He paid for our condo at Myrtle Beach for a week!  And he came with us and we all had such a great time going back and forth between the beach and the pool and back to the beach and then out to eat (also Papa's treat) and then to all those nifty beach stores.  And then repeat the next day.  Until we were all tan and relaxed and ready to go back home and get back to...

The homeschool:  of course we did school all summer long, so we're just now starting up the "new" school year.  But it still feels like the beginning with all new school supplies and fresh new binders and books.  Well, at least some of them are new... that's one of the advantages of a big family... lots of hand-me-down school books.  But we always get new pencils and markers and notebooks (because I'm a school supply junkie)  and new labels on everything (because I can't remember whose stuff is what color and I need to be able to keep it all straight). And we need a new schedule.  And new charts.  And just in case that wasn't enough, I've also been busy making...

The jewelry:  because I'm going to have a booth at a big festival in South Carolina next month where I hope to sell lots of my jewelry and earn enough money to pay for Christmas presents this year.  Making jewelry is a great hobby for a homeschool mom since I actually stay at the table and available for questions (you know, rather than ripping paneling off the kitchen walls or building rock walls out in the back yard).  And I can leave my project at any time and come back to it when it's convenient, like when we're all listening to a story on CD in the evening.  I'm super-excited about some of this new jewelry.  I really feel like God gave me a cool idea. ( I'll show you as soon as I get my regular computer back.)  And speaking of God...

The worship:  our family worship team got the privilege once again of leading our congregation this Sunday.  We're actually enjoying practicing and playing together!  Yay!!  Noah is a rockin' drummer, Graci sings amazing harmonies and plays piano, Captain's remembering all his old electric guitar licks, and I'm learning how to give signals that everyone in the band actually understands.  And if you've ever been on my worship team in the past, you'd know that's a really big accomplishment for me!  : )
  I love, love, LOVE seeing God do His thing.  And being a part of it all is wonderful!

And that's pretty much what's been going on around here.

Oh.  Almost forgot...

The peeps:  Fifty new little babies chirping out in the garage, trampling their food, and running out of water every 4 hours.  But they sure are cute. Well, at least for now.  (these are the "frankenbirds" that I told you about)  And come October... they'll be in the freezer!  And speaking of peeps...

The college student came home to visit for the first time this past weekend.  That was sooooo nice having all my peeps back under one roof.  And he's doing well and adjusting just fine.  And getting A's, to boot!  He said that homeschooling has prepared him perfectly for what he's doing now and that college is easy... and I've just gotta tell you what a relief that is!  (But that's a whole other story...)  And we went to Sam's and got him a bunch of Ramen noodles and other college-y food and then took the whole fam to see Avengers 3D and then drove him back to school.

So, yeah.  I haven't been bored too much lately!

OK, well, I'm off to deal with two bushels of apples.  Five loads of laundry.  And teach some kiddos.

Life is good!

Love you all!
♡ The Big Busy Nest