Early Fall 2008

The last Friday and Saturday in August Paul and Daniel went backpacking/camping with another little boy and his dad--Dave and Davey. Davey and his sisters are also homeschooled and they go to the same homeschool co-op that Jae and Daniel do. Neither Dave or Davey had ever been camping before. It was quite an experience. It rained really hard and the dads had to crowd into the 2 man tent with the boys (they had been planning to sleep under the stars!) The boys had a great time and can't wait to go again. The dads had fun, too but I think they are still recovering!

Both boys are playing soccer again this fall. Paul is coaching Daniel's team and really enjoying it (and experiencing what it's like to deal with 16 1st-3rd graders at the same time!)

Our annual family apple picking trip to Princeton, NJ!

Every year we've taken the paid staff and their families on a staff retreat. For the past several years we've gone to a cabin in the Poconos that one of the wive's families owns. This year, for the first time, we also took the volunteer staff and their families. This made for a pretty big group of us-21. There was another volunteer staff family that couldn't come because of sickness and family visiting.

We were able to stay in a big beautiful house by Lake George co-owned by one of the vol. staff families. Some courageous guys got to go water skying on the lake. We had 2 wonderful young women who came to watch all the children (all 7 of them) while the rest of us had meetings. It was a really great time, with wonderful committed servants of Christ in a place where we could enjoy God's beautiful creation. I think it was worth the loooooooooong drive. :-)

Back in the spring I wrote about the 2 moms expecting 3 babies. Well, here's one of them! Malachi is only 5 months old and already a whopping 19 lbs! The boys got to help feed him when he came over to dinner one night with Calista and Addy (Calista babysits him while his mom and dad work) while Paul and Josh were gone for a few days. We have another 4 moms coming to Crossroads who are expecting in the next 3 months or so. The nursery at church is going to be bursting soon!

The classes at the Storefront are all up and going again after the summer. In the beginning of October we had a Ballroom dancing event at the high school where we meet. The teacher of the class at the Storefront taught us all a dance and then the rest of the evening was free dance. It was a lot of fun and a good time for me to meet some new people, since I'm not able to take part in the Ballroom dance class. The portrait drawing class is having an art exhibit tonight. The people who've taken part will have a chance to display some of their work and meet some more people from Crossroads and the community. A local tv station will even be there doing a story on the Storefront! The only class that I've been able to take part in is the Crafter's Lounge. We met once a month on Sat. mornings for a while to make cards. Each month some of the cards went to different places, such as prisoners or a childrens' hospital. Now we will meet once a month on Friday nights and the crafts will be different each month. It's a fun class and we're hoping some more people from the community will come (at this point it's mostly ladies from the church coming).

Our family (and many people at Crossroads) has been dealing with the flu or something for the past several weeks. Jae got sick while we were on the staff retreat and it's passed around to Paul and Daniel. I finally took Daniel to the dr. yesterday because he had been sick since Sunday and now he's on medication for croup. Now I'm starting to feel sick. I'm praying I won't get it as bad as Paul, who was miserable and in bed for almost 3 days this week!

I hope that you and your families are able to stay healthy and enjoy the fall season!

Be sure to read my previous blog about Advent Conspiracy.