October Highlights

Lots of mornings spent at the park enjoying the fall leaves and warm temperatures.

 Sara thinks she is "just like Thomas" when she wears his marching hat.

 This boy loves bananas and apples.  He will not eat them if you cut them up, however.  I have to hurry and take the apple away before he eats the entire core and seeds.  He also is often found standing at the doors watching all the big kids outside.

 Lots of time spent at the library.  Gideon has his speech class weekly and Sara and Jacob get to play while he is in speech.  Sara's favorite activity is the puzzles and Jacob likes the trains and climbing on the boat and bridge.

 First All-City Orchestra Concert of the school year.  Spring on the cello and Thomas on the violin.

 Sam loves math!  He really liked learning to multiply 2 digit numbers by 2 digit numbers using the FOIL method.  His teacher sent me this picture.  I often found him in his bed at night doing math problems when he should have been sleeping.

 Goofing off at the ENT waiting for his appointment.

 Jacob likes to "help" me make bread.

 One evening Sara went to Thomas, who was doing his homework, and said, "Thomas, will you come watch a cartoon with me?"  He put his homework down and let her cuddle up to him and watched cartoons together.  This girl loves her big brother.

 We finally took Josh and Spring out for their birthday meals.  Josh chose breakfast at McDonald's and Spring chose much at Chick-fil-A.

One Saturday afternoon Sam was outside playing football in the backyard.  He had towels in his shirt for pads.  A neighbor saw him in his Chargers jersey and brought this helmet over and gave it to him. Sam was in awe and SO happy.  He barely removed it for days and I think he even slept in some nights.

 The following Sunday afternoon he decided to sew himself some football pads!

 Spring surprised me by making bread one afternoon.

 I took this so one day when I don't have toothbrushes all over the counter I will remember what daily life was like!  The toothbrush holder is just too far away to put the toothbrushes away.

Spring was an M&M for Halloween.

Joel was promoted to the Quality Manager at the Kent Facility this month.  It was well deserved and a great blessing for our family.  His position has still not been filled yet, so he has been swamped trying to do double-duty.

 When Josh broke his elbow of the summer we promised him we would take him swimming once his cast was off.  We finally made good on that promise.  They all enjoyed time at the Natatorium.

Gideon is 5!

 Our silly and sweet Gideon is 5 years old now!  He chose to have macaroni & cheese, chicken nuggets, and apples for his dinner.  He also chose an ice cream cake for his dessert.  This sweet boy is full of smiles.  He likes to be silly and tell jokes.  Gideon loves to play rescue bots and paw patrol when he is inside.  Outside he loves to jump on the trampoline, run "really fast", ride his bike, and act like a crazy man with the neighborhood kids. Gideon loves to have Spring sleep in his room with him.  He "reads" his scriptures and says his prayers every night before bed because "that is what Spring taught me to do!"  Gideon gets to go to speech weekly.  Somedays he enjoys it and other days he gets really frustrated with trying to make the correct sounds.  We are hoping he will continue to find little pieces of success with it.  Gideon is always good for a joke...you may not "get it" but his giggle and smile make you laugh anyway.  Happy 5th Birthday, Gideon!  We are so blessed to have you in our family!

Sharks

Sam's football team, the Sharks.

Activity Days

Mary thoroughly enjoys Activity Days.  She is always so happy and excited about whatever it is they are doing.  The last few weeks they have had some fun activities.  They learned to zentangle and then they learned to sew and make a prayer pillowcase.  The sewing was so easy for Mary because, in her words, "My Grandma has already taught me to sew!"

Cycle of Car Repairs

 Right after we returned home from our trip out west this summer we discovered that the AC was no longer working in the minivan.  Joel did some troubleshooting to discover the problem.  The faulty part was only going to cost about $50 but labor would be about $2000.  I told him to not worry about it.  We could go without.  We did for a couple months.  Then he decided he wanted to take care of it.  So, on Labor Day, he and Thomas began the long and grueling process.  They had to remove the entire dash on the interior of the vehicle.  He also had to remove the engine and some other parts under the hood to access a couple bolts on the firewall.  They spent about 10 hours on Labor Day.  Then for the next couple weeks he would spend any spare moment in the evenings taking more apart. It is an extensive repair and he couldn't even find any schematics or information to help in his quest.  I'm so grateful for his willingness to get in and just fix it.  I know there were frustrating moments but he remained positive throughout it.

 The culprit of all our woes! It was finally removed.

 So, during this time we had use of the "bus" and the green car so we were doing fine.  Thursday evening Joel went in the bus with Sam to football practice with the younger kiddos and I headed to the High School to take Spring to join Thomas for marching band practice.  As I turned the corner the green car lost all power and stopped.  I pulled over to the side of the road and called Joel.  He came and rescued us.  Later that evening we towed it home and Joel discovered the water pump had gone out causing the timing belt to snap.  Now, we were down to just one working vehicle!  Fortunately, Friday I didn't need to leave home so we were OK.

 Joel came home from work Friday night and immediately began working on the van.  As he began to put pieces back together he felt really overwhelmed.  There where hundreds of nuts and bolts and he couldn't remember where they all went.  He said he just sat there and prayed, "Please, Heavenly Father, help me remember how this goes back together."  He then felt at peace and he said everything just came together.  He said he had thoughts coming to his mind that were not his own.  He felt like his hands were physically being guided to know which part went where.  Just before midnight he had it all put back together with only one extra piece and a few nuts & bolts.  I'm so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who hears and answers our pleas.  I'm so grateful for a husband that is so incredible as well.  I remember my dad fixing our cars growing up and how grateful I am for a husband that can do the same.

 After he finished the van he pushed the green car into the garage.  I told him he needed to take a few days off.  We had 2 cars operating again and the following week was already full with work, school, church, and other commitments.  He was traveling to MN for a few days as well.  He just needed a break.  Fortunately, he agreed so the green car stayed in the garage for a little over a week as we tried to catch up on other things in life.  Last Friday, he came home from work and started on the car.  By Saturday evening he had the timing belt and water pump replaced and the car all put back together.

It was a great feeling when we were able to clean up the garage, put tools away, and pull both cars back into the garage. All our cars are again operable...hopefully for a very long time now! :)  We are grateful for the many tender mercies we experienced during this ordeal and I am so grateful for Joel's willingness and ability to try and try and try again.  I am also grateful he is perceptive to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit that helped guide his work.