Elijah on hot rods and tomatoes

Tonight at bed time.

Elijah:  Mommy, sometimes I feel like a hot rod and I just want to be a plain old Ford.
Me:  Explain more please.
Elijah:  You know how a hot rod revs up its engine and goes from 0-60 in like 2 seconds.  Then you drive it fast like 3 times and it breaks down and its just a mess.
Me:  Yup.  How is that like you again?
Elijah:  I get all mad too quickly instead of having peace.  (Yes, he said that.)  Instead, I just want to be a good old steady Ford.  Just running all of the time, not speeding too fast, overheating and breaking down.
Me:   That sounds like a great goal.  You know the fruits of the spirit we talked about tonight with your brothers?
Elijah:  Yeah. When you were praying about the fruits I was thinking I've got them all covered except for the self-control one.  It's like a tiny little green tomato and the rest are big fat red ones, especially the love one.  I've got lots of love.  Its like that big green tomato we saw in the garden tonight only mine is red and ripe.  I even started crying when you were praying tonight.  But the self control one... I'm still working on that one.  Its not ripe yet.

A beautiful conversation with this son who tries my patience on so many days.  We prayed a precious prayer together, asking for help with self-control for him and patience for Mommy.  So blessed and thankful tonight. 

Micah's Field Trip

Micah's class went to the Baltimore Zoo, and I was fortunate to travel in the 105 degree bus for a hour with him. Bonding time.

Rocking the rope bridge

The giant tree slide

Big tortoise... little tortoise

I seriously love this guy!

Bird habitat

We walked and walked and walked to find the leopard.  He was well hidden in a shady spot.  Look, even he is panting.  

This was our group- two very energetic girls, and my Micah on a heron nest

Now they're in the oriole nest.  

These kids were such troopers... having fun despite the absolutely crazy HOT day.

Even the African animals were trying to cool off.

This snake was NOT in a cage, just slithering along the boardwalk beside us. Wild.

Thanks for spending the day with your mom at the zoo Micah!  It won't be too long before you'll be begging me to stay home instead of begging me to come along, so I'll savor these sweet moments.  :)

Two Months!

I'm not sure I've ever gone 2 whole months without posting. Here is the newsy bullet point update:
- Elijah went to overnight church camp for the 1st time- a whole week in Denton and he loved it. Micah and Isaiah want to go too next year.
- All 3 kids did 1 week at YMCA camp while our amazing babysitter Danielle was gone. They didn't love it, but they liked it, and the exercise and social time is good for them right?
- We all went to Canada for a week at the beginning of July. This included a lovely vacation weekend in Gorham, NH at Santa's Village and Attitash. If you've never been and you find yourself in the New England area, consider a stop in Gorham- beautiful drive through Vermont to get there too.
- The 3 older cousins came to stay with us for a week when we returned. It was also VBS week and performance week for Elijah's play. Ahh yes... forgot to mention
- Elijah was in a performance of Narnia this summer which took up amazing amounts of driving time... back and forth to Thurmont every. single. day. for a few weeks. BUT, he loved it and so it was totally worth it to see him engaged in something with other kids, conquering his nerves and having fun.
- Then, off to Illinois for commune reunion for 4 days. Relaxing days were spent at Rachel's parents' farm in Lovington, IL. tractors, hay loft, goats, chickens, fields of corn as far as the eye could see, and best of all, good friends who are water to the soul.
- On to Indiana for Led-a-palooza 2011... we even have the t-shirt. All of us, the whole family together for the weekend. "Whole family" in this case being Grandma and Grandpa Ledbetter, their 6 children with spouses, grandchildren and great grandchildren. I think someone said there were over 50 of us this time around. Wow. Ledbetters know how to multiply. :)
- Back home to MD where my summer classes are done (Woo Hoo).
- I was hired as an adjunct instructor at Towson for the fall semester, teaching a research writing class, so I'm preparing for that. Also, I'll continue with my research assistantship as well.
- Isaiah starts soccer in 2 weeks.
- School starts in 3 weeks.
And.... we're done. OK. Now, the next post can be more meaningful.