Introducing..."Cowgirl"

Well, we did it. We finally broke down and got a puppy. She is a 7 wk old full bred Catahoula. Catahoula's are a herding breed, so that is where the idea to name her Cowgirl came from. John was actually thinking of a name that had to do with sports, like Dallas Cowboys, and then came Cowgirl. She is a really sweet girl. She is a puppy though, so John and I are taking turns getting up in the night to let her out and so forth. Hopefully, she will get the hang of sleeping all night in the next couple of weeks. As you can see in the pic above, Lacey is very curious. Those are her ears in the bottom of the picture. I think they will be good friends soon. Of course, the kids love her too. Emma more so than Eli, but that's the little mommy instinct in Emma. Eli just wants her to chase him around, but since she is still so small, she doesn't run as fast. It's just a matter of time though.

Catching up!

Just in case you haven't seen a cat sit on the couch lately,
here ya go. This is my old cat, Lexus, at the end of a long, hard day.

This is our much more elegant cat, Lacey, who lives

to attack birds in our backyard.

Emma sporting her new short hair do!

Eli's first day of preschool. He's a big 4 year old now!

Well, I've been slacking a little on the blog, but will try to catch up. So, Emma started school and all is going well. She was actually selected as "Rider of the Week" this week in her class, which means she displayed charater and excellence or something like that. I just translated that into "she's doing a good job"! We all went to her school this morning and watched her say her name and so forth on the morning announcements/document camera, as they recognized all the "riders of the week". She had been practicing this at home for the last couple of days, so she did great! Like always, we are very proud of her.

In mid-September, Eli started back at preschool and is doing great too! He has his best buds (Nicholas & Lucas) in his class, so that makes everything okay. They are working on writing letters and he is trying real hard each day. I know there are a bunch of other things he would rather be doing, but I am proud of him for his efforts. He plays and does lots of crafts at school too, so it is always a fun time for him.

John's business has really picked up these days, so he is staying busy with that. Although, I have a feeling he will create some windows of time as deer season is quickly approaching. :) We are going to our land this weekend to do a little work and enjoy time with the kids. Eli LOVES it up there and I can see him sitting in that deer stand with daddy very soon! Eli went dove hunting with daddy a month ago and John was very surprised at how well Eli did. He stayed quiet and close to John (playing in the dirt, of course) for like 3 hours straight! Quiet is the key here! Emma likes it okay there too, but probably isn't as big of a fan as Eli. She likes helping me clean the cabin, swinging in the hammock or tire swing, and playing games in the cabin.

As for me, I am doing all the usual mom duties, overseeing a bible study at church, helping with our small group ladies time, and playing soccer on Tuesday nights. I enjoy all of that, of course! The only negative at the moment is my health. I am back and forth quite often, but since I had such a great summer, it has been kinda tough being sick again. I am having to take a break from my indoor soccer for a week or two and hoping that is all. I am in a time of waiting to see if my current medicine has completely failed me or if it is going to kick back in and whip me into shape. If not, I will be moving to the next medicine. We shall see. In the meantime, I am resting in God's great, big hands. Sometimes I forget about that priviledge and carry my luggage around, but it doesn't take long to realize how silly that is. God is really the only way and I am beyond thankful for His provision in my life.