After almost 6 hours of worrying and searching for him, our Badger just walked up behind me.   We had a sudden and brief downpour of rain.  As soon as it let up I ran outside and again called for Badger.  Within seconds I felt him behind me just standing there looking at me with a “yes, can I help you?” look on his face.  We brought him in the house and treated him to bologna, bacon, cheese, and the rest of my fish fillet.

Thank you dear Lord for bringing our Badger home safe. 

Please pray for the return of our beloved Badger.  He was out of the pasture, in our house yard, tied up to eat his food.  We can not feed him in the pasture as the goats will literally fight him for his dog food.  Proof dog food must have very little meat in it.  Anyway he bit through his leash and was gone.  We called for him and have spent the last 5 hour scouring the neighborhood and putting up flyers :-(  I called the humane society, spoke to neighbors, posted flyers, and cried.  What else can I do?  Where do I look?  Please pray for his return.  We miss him and need him home with us.  Marcus is very droopy with out his best pal.

Dear Lord Jesus, please help our dog Badger find hi way home.  If someone has found our sweet dog please touch their hearts to help them do the right thing and bring him home to us.  If it is not your will for him to return to us please put him in the hands of people that will treat him well.  St. Francis, St. Anthony please pray for us.   Amen

Yesterday, while my sister and her children were here, Amelia came into the house calling for me to see a snake.  I assumed it was a little snake until she mentioned the broody hen near the hay and that Badger was growling at it.  Heeheehee, here is the broody hen and some of her eggs aka the intended victims.

Here is the snake.  Please note it reaches the ground bent, my arm is out stretched as high as I could reach, and I have several inches in my hand. 

This last picture shows our friendly visitor (he never even tried to strike at me) where I released him at the far end of our property.  May he eat many, many rodents in peace.

This first one shows how helpful the dad’s are during bath time :-)  The next ones show Papa in his favorite position, holding a new grandchild, in this case Margaret Mary.

These next two again show Papa in his favorite position, but instead of being at my house on the couch, now we find him at San Juan at the pot luck following Mass and Margaret’s baptism.  The next picture is Joshua on the trampoline ride at the Blueberry Festival in…. hmm, I don’t remember.  It was somewhere between Lake City and Live Oak.

These two pictures feature Buddy.  Buddy is Libby’s horse (our neighbor) and Ladybug’s pasture companion.  After a few days of getting to know each other, aka Buddy learning what a nip on the rear end feels like if he gets in Ladybug’s space, they now spend most of their time in close proximity.  The first shot is of Libby and her mom.  The second shot is the most beautiful Lady of the Horses, Aubrey.

These last two are just too fun not to share.  The first picture is of me leaning over the top of Buddy.  Compare that with the second picture of me leaning um, stretching to reach the top of Ladybug.  She may be HUGE, but she is truly a gentle giant.

 As I prepare to go to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Homeschool and Parent Conference, I am keenly aware of my responsibility to treasure and care for my family.  I pray that the Lord will bless me with the wisdom to teach my children in a way that is pleasing to Him, useful to their souls, and a value to them as they discern and carry out their vocations from God.  I ask for the Grace to be the wife my husband deserves, the wife I am called to be.  I also pray to be a good steward of the treasure entrusted to me and open to learning the things that will best help me to accomplish the tasks set before me by the Lord.

I am looking forward to this convention not only because of all the incredible speakers, and they are incredible, not just because I will be going with Kirsten, but also because I will be officially buying the curriculum for both Aubrey and Joshua.  I have decided that this coming school year will be slightly different from previous years.  In the past, I have relied on myself to organize and arrange my children’s curriculum.  Some years were very good, others were more of a struggle.  This past year was a rather good year, however, I need to unload some of the pressure.  I have over the years become familiar with several “boxed” curriculum.  As I prefer a “Catholic Charlotte Mason” approach to teaching, I was looking for a prepackaged curriculum that would still allow the flexibility my teaching style requires.  I am very excited with my decision to use Catholic Heritage Curriculum aka CHC.  I have used many of their products over the years and have always been moved by their gentle faithful beauty.  As our faith is first on my list of what to look for in any educational curriculum, CHC is a perfect match.  Second, I feel that CHC’s science program best fits my love of the hands on with the organized structure I need help with.  History was the reason I did not start this program sooner.  I am a huge RC History fan.  I love this program; it brings history back to life.  This year I have decided to go ahead and purchase both the CHC program and the next volume of RC History.  Although I will use the CHC book as my primary text for scheduling, we will use RCH as a supplement incorporating it into my lessons for both Aubrey and Joshua.  The only subject I am completely not using from the CHC “box” is math.  We use Math-U-See; I love it and my children are doing very well with it.  I am so excited I can’t wait for our new year to start.

Please pray for me; Kirsten and I are flying and I hate to fly.

The extra lady in the photos is my friend and neighbor Libby.  And please note the very dirty Marcus.  Augh!  I gave him and Badger a wading pool.  Badger at least stands in it.  Marcus will not go in it at all;  however he loved the big deep puddle we made washing Ladybug.  Dogs?!?!

Max’s favorite book is I Am a Bunny.  In it a bunny explains how he likes to blow the seeds of a dandelion.  Joshua and I thought it would be a great idea to show Max a real dandelion and let him blow the seeds like the bunny in the book.  Here are a couple of pictures of the brothers holding and blowing their dandelions.

How many girls, especially 11 year old girls, dream about horses?  Eating, sleeping, breathing horses?  I know I always did.  I would pretend my blue banana seat bicycle was a horse.  I imagined all the wonderful adventures we would go on together.  Here I am, days away from my 37th birthday still dreaming about “my horse”.  The one thing that has changed is that I no longer carry my dream alone.  Aubrey also has a love for horses.  She also imagines herself galloping off across a wide prairie.  Tomorrow, thanks to our friend Tom Cunilio, our dreams come true.  She is a Percheron named Ladybug.  Aubrey and I had the opportunity to hang out with her earlier this week.  She is an absolute dream.  Her eyes express her gentle heart so clearly.  I felt more comfortable with her than any other horse before.  Here are some pictures of Aubrey and my our horse.

The gentleman in some of the pictures is Mr. Cunilio.  We will be going to pick her up and bring her home tomorrow morning.  Please pray for poor Marcus.  He has never lived with a horse before.  Also, pray for Lilly.  I really hope the two of them hit it off so that they can both not be lonely.

On Friday we went on a field-trip to Camp Blanding in Starke, Florida.  It was one of the best homeschool field-trips ever.  Not only was the museum filled with wonderful things but the tour guide was interesting to listen to.  He never spoke down to the children and yet kept their attention the entire time.  We also had a huge surprise.  As we rounded a corner Mr. Parsone (I think that was his name) showed us a collection of pictures of a paratrooper and explain the pack on the statue belonged to that same paratrooper and that the gentleman holding up the back of our group is that same paratrooper, Mr. Tritt.  The kids were impressed to meet a real hero and soldier.  Here are a few pictures of our trip including a few of Mr. Tripp during World War II and one from now with my children.

     I had to include this picture because it is a great memory of Max dragging me to see the boat truck.

It was also a great treat to see Daddy at work on a job site.    

It was a great day.  We are all looking forward to going for a visit there again soon.

Here is a picture of Tom and I with the Bishop.  Tom was my co-teacher.   

On our way to Mass the following morning I was rehearsing with the children how to great the Bishop.

Mom:  “You may say good morning Bishop.  Or good morning Bishop Galeone.  Or good morning your Excellency.”

Joshua with nervous laugh:  “Your Excellency? He’s not a prince or a knight”

Mom: “Well, he is almost like one of Jesus princes.’”

Joshua with a DUH tone: “But he doesn’t fight.” aka he doe not have a sword.

I laughed: “Sure honey just like St. Michael the Archangel.  He fights the Devil everyday.”

Joshua: silence

The Bishop celebrated the morning mass.  His homily was one I will never forget.  It was the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus.  In his homily he spoke of his love for Jesus.  What a powerful moment listening as this beautiful man expressed his love for Jesus.  “I love you Jesus, I love you.  Wow!  I get goose bumps hearing his voice repeat it in my memory.  Afterwards he lead us over to a ground breaking ceremony for our new building.  Max of course was the ham of the event.         

That evening San Juan, my sister’s parish, had their Confirmation.  Lucas served for the Bishop, so I “had” to go to that as well.  Heeheehee!  I told the Bishop I had become a Bishop Groupie.  :-)  He laughed, probably thinking that I am really a Bishop stalker.

I would like to remind us all to pray for our Bishops.  I would also like to offer a prayer of thanksgiving for our Bishop Galeone here in the Diocese of St. Augustine.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your humble, faithful servant Bishop Victor Galeone.  Please continue to bless him and us through him as he continues to lead your flock.  We ask that you grant him the strength and courage to continue the work you have given him.  For the intentions of our Bishop - Our Father…….  Hail Mary……..  Glory be…….