Life is giving me lemons!

Something unseemly has erupted within me lately. We have carefully maintained two lemon trees for the past two years. Somehow, although I am responsible for neither the sunshine, the photosynthesis, or the nutrients in the soil,I see these lemons as a product of my own genius. (I am afraid to think of the big-headedness that will come with a full vegetable garden.) Anyway these beauties are ready to be used so I have been busy making lemon squares, lemon cake, lemon-butter icing, and lemon tea. The problem is that when other people eat or drink said lemon products I cannot help but insert "These are from my own trees!" I'm not sure I ever thought gardening would be a source of repentance and confession but God has a way of using common things for uncommon purposes!

First comes the blooms.





Then comes the stage they look like limes.





Next comes the abundance and plenty.



Finally the lemon-butter icing complete with grated lemon peel!

Give me Liberty or give me graphic novels.

The other day in carpool our son's teacher said "Well, we learned about the mystery of the Roanoke Colony today." And I looked at her and said "I'm so sorry." This had not been a part of her original teaching plan. She was hijacked by a graphic novel reader. The night before our family had been engulfed in a book about the Roanoke colony from the local library. And then apparently he decided the entire class needed to know about the Croatan mystery. Coleman is truly obsessed with these historical graphic novels. We haven't read all of them but so far they are a very just and honest portrayal of past events. His favorite are the ones about Matthew Henson and Patrick Henry. The one about Nathan Hale was a little bit too much reality but led to some good conversations. On the bright side we have a 6 year old who loves history!

Reduce? No. Reuse? Yes

Everywhere I turned this October there were articles about "going green" for Halloween. I don't know about all that but Coleman knew exactly what he wanted to be this year. A Panther. As in the football mess of a team. We are glad his jersey didn't have a name on the back! He actually got two nights worth of candy. Friday night his school had a trunk-or-treat and Saturday night we went to Grammys!

Trash Audit at CofC

Interesting list of things found in the College of Charleston trash audit.

Un-prepared, lack of forewarning

Of course parenting has been full of bumps and surprises along the way. We have never claimed to have it "all together." Lots of people have given us great (and notso great) advice. BUT one thing was never ever explained adequately: The mechanics of hands and pockets and the wondrous things contained therein. What is with boys and collecting things? Terrible things- old pieces of dried up worms, parts of receipts left in dirty shopping carts, deflated balloons stuck to the asphalt. Wonderful things- split nuts that look like they could "hold baby Moses", all the bean-guts spilled from a fallen stuffed animal comrade, a solitary weedy flower that mommy might like. Lately it has been acorns and rocks. Everyday he can barely walk to the carpool line because his pockets are bulging from glorious discoveries during recess. He looks like the hunchback of Notre Dame sometimes! I got tired of finding things all over the house so we've started putting everything in a jar. This was working great until we saw about six maggots growing in there yesterday. I guess they hitchhike on the acorns? I don't know but here are some pictures....

Wedding at the Citadel

People seem to either love or hate the Citadel. I (Aspa) am still undecided but hoping to love it as I am applying to grad school there! Danny officiated a wedding in their century-old chapel recently. The family was sweet enough to invite Coleman and it was precious to explain the marriage service to him. I think he actually paid attention since his Daddy was leading it! Several RUF kids were invited so of course we had to take pictures as well.

RUF Fall Retreat

We had a great time at Camp Greystone this year. We joined about 420 other college students from RUF chapters all over. Our speaker was Richie Sessions (Independent Pres in Memphis) who we had never heard of. He was simply stellar and spoke well to our skeptical students(enough alliteration in that sentence?) They came back with excellent questions for reflection. Lots of bonding and crazy goodness.