The next pictures are slightly disturbing, so be warned.  I'm not going to ask you to scroll through them quickly, even though that would give you a good idea of the proud savagery captured by my unhappy little camera on Thanksgiving Day.  Here is our Jack Fox.

And just what does Josh think about all this?

There you go.

Las Lomas is my favorite Mexican place.
IN THE WORLD.
One of the highlights of our Thanksgiving weekend in the Valley was our breakfast with Tony and Andy and Leyla and Umpa and my mom and all of us Tates. I wonder, as I type this, how many times I've eaten there?

    
     Miles loves Uncle Tony.  And who wouldn't?  He's a wonderful Uncle, and I am so blessed to have him as my own, and so thankful that my children have him, too.  Whenever we spend time with our Rini family, I see my kids with Tony and think about how much my father has missed out on.  Tony is a great-uncle unlike any other, and I see how God has used him and my Aunt Marlene to fill the hole that my father left us with.
     
        My dad's birthday was yesterday.  It's been eight and a half years since he died, and it's still so fresh at times.  I can't think about his birthday without thinking about how he would have hated it.  I wish, though, I wish...that the hole didn't exist, and that I had been eating at Las Lomas with my dad and Uncle Tony and Andy and Leyla and and Umpa and my mom and Bowden and three of my favorite people that he never met, but I know he would have loved.  Happy sixty-fifth birthday, dad.

 Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Really, if you think about it, September wasn't that far away.  Truth be told, I'm posting here more than 70 percent* of the people I have linked on my blog.  Honestly, for someone who has very little to say, I have done more than you would expect.

 

But I'm sorry.  I think about all of the people I love who want to see my chickens, and I feel bad that I don't post more about what has been happening in our lives.  Because I really, truly believe that this medium is valuable in keeping us connected, and I know that for people like my family back in Vermont and Massachusetts, and my friends across the world, and even my mom two hours away, this  blog can be the best tool I have to make you a bigger part of my life.

 

We have been doing things- millions of things, and at times I think too much.  Bowden started martial arts in September, and Lucy and Jack played soccer, too.  We have been plugging away at home-school with Lucy and Bowden, and when I use the word "plugging"  I really mean "plodding" or even "oozing" because it feels like such a trial this year.

The "small group" of twenty-two people that Josh leads began again in September also...and since being involved in a full-time ministry, going to school, and serving on the church's elder board keeps Josh only mostly busy, he decided to coach Lucy's soccer team.

Miles is in preschool two days a week, and he loves it, and Jack is in kindergarten at the local school.  I'm planning on bringing him home for first grade, but for this year he's getting a healthy helping of socializing and exposure to reading, and I get two mornings without little people interrupting my teaching.  My favorite time of day is when they are all home.

We have the next week off for Thanksgiving Break, and I am so glad to have everyone home.  I'm looking forward to going down to my mom's house for Thanksgiving, but I miss my sister and her people.  And, really, that is all there is to it. 

I mean, I've read a lot of books, but who wants to hear about that?

 

And I will try to post more often.

 

 

 

*Totally fictitious number.  I just made it up, but it's probably true.