Pumpkins and Scissor Monkeys

We carved one of our garden pumpkins this year- first time we've grown them!

 The girls are more interested in helping get the goo out than the boys.

Jolly Jack

The twins on Wednesday night

The twins on Thursday night- the new scissors we got were just too tempting for Berea our scissor monkey!

 So now it's easier for everyone to tell them apart!

First Fall Garden

This is the first Fall we've had The Shire in operation, so it's really fun to see that plants that normally would have already been wiped out by the couple of hard freezes we've had are still loving life! And we're loving the bug-free season! Zero aphids!

 The lettuce is really thriving. We're selling it right now for $3/gallon zippy bag- let me know if you want any!

 The carrots are also quite happy and are just about the tastiest carrots I've ever had- the cold nights make them extra sweet!

All the jugs are to hold heat close to the plants in the cold nights. Yay for fresh veggies!

Fall Shenanigans, Pt. 2

Foregoing the camera to just have fun, we have no photo record of Tirzah and Berea's first time ice skating! We all got to skate and had a blast!

This morning we went on a hike up Fat Man's Loop- we had great hikers!

The kids love the alligator junipers!

Tonight we had an early Thanksgiving dinner with my mom, so here is the honorary picture of all the "Vaughan" grandkids- maybe the first ever? Too bad we can't see everybody's faces in either one, but they're all in there!

Mom came back to get a basal cell carcinoma taken care of, as it was too complicated to have done in Senegal. We're so glad she was able to come here!!!

Fall Shenanigans, Pt.1

This week is our family vacation! We weren't able to go anywhere this time, but that's not stopping the fun. :) We kicked off the week by heading up to Lockett Meadow for an afternoon, with the Lantings and Marmie. Most of the leaves had already fallen, but it was still quite lovely.

 The three amigas!

Kale'a, funny girl, was much happier to smile in our family pictures than she was in her own... or than Elijah was in our own, for that matter!

 Lovely aspen leaves

 Who needs a real teeter totter anyway?

Yesterday we went to the Pioneer Museum... here are some crazies on the train!

Winding in the Road

In this journey of seven, we’re making a bit of a turn in the road. Not as far as life plans/career/etc., but recently our middlest kiddo was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome. It’s just a crazy thing- no one knows what causes it, and there’s no cure. It generally gets worse through the early teen years and slowly starts to lessen in their later teens. The medications available don’t generally work very well, so basically it’s just something we live with day by day. It’s characterized by various “tics” that come and go and change. Elijah’s started as a sort of humming a little over a year ago. Right now it’s involuntary jerking of his head and sometimes whole body. It also includes a little OCD behavior regarding night time routine and not wanting to drop a subject until he has closure (Uncle Andy made the mistake of telling him about a Star Wars game that he couldn’t play right away- now every time Elijah sees him he won’t move on… :) ) So far, he's pretty oblivious to the fact that he's a little different from other kids, and that's fine! :) Anyway, here are a couple links that I found very helpful- one is a youtube video that shows some range of tics and kids talking about TS in their own words- honestly, it was hard for me to watch, but good. The other is an article from another home school mom with a kid with TS- very encouraging.

Kids with Tourette's Video

Home schooling with Tourette's Article 

As parents, I think so far... all this is still sinking in. I think we still kinda think deep down that this is just a phase that won't last. But so far it doesn't look that way. Can God heal him? Absolutely. But will he? What if his plan is for us to go through this for the next 12 or 20 years or more? We do know that He is good and will use this for something. If nothing else, to develop more patience and compassion in our family. And that would be worth it.