Goodbye Jack

Wednesday 4 of the kids and I took Jack to the bustling Fort Wayne Airport for his 17 hour trek home to Ukraine.

 Though he has flown trans-atlantic many many times, this was his first solo journey.

He was pretty excited.
[yes, Kate picked out her own clothes. Can you tell.]

We packed his bag the night before and it weighed 49 lbs on the first try!  (1 lb under the limit for checked baggage.)

Here are the kids watching him go through security.

____

They loved it when he'd "fly" a plane on google earth.  

____

Zane has periodically said over the last few days, "When is Jack flying back?"

Zane was definitely Jack's little buddy.  He loved playing puzzles with Jack.

______

Although Jack was clearly a favorite of Evie as well.  I told him back in August that by the time he left Evie (then 9 months) would probably learn to walk and talk by the time he left.  Maybe even say his name.  On Tuesday night she said it like 20 times on request.  Tried to get a video Wednesday and all she'd do was blow raspberries.  Silly girl.

_____

The house is so quiet (okay, maybe not exactly "quiet") without him.

I have to stop myself from making extra sandwiches and setting an extra plate at the table.

We'll miss you, Jack!

Pumpking Carving 2011

This was a new experience for Jack.

"This is gross" faces we were not in lack.

Big

 or small,

 a gooey time was had by all.

  

Using the carving knives was a fave.

I guess this mommy was feeling brave. 

 Jack made two pumpkins: one said "2012 and the other his initials "JBSB"

 They all glowed pretty well, as you can see.

First Steps

Evie has been getting more adventurous lately.

standing alone.

taking a step or two.

Just like we did with our other kids, walking attempts get rewarded with a thrilling toss in the air.

She loved it.  I wish I had video of her belly laughing.  

She laughed so hard she couldn't walk any more.

Here is a sampling of her first steps on November 1.

Walking Day 2!

She might be our earliest walker yet!

83

Grandma B

turned eighty-three

6 kids (if you count Jack), 2 grandmas and me

celebrating at Swiss Village we be.

Great-grandchild number 5 of 9 (to be)

liked sitting on grandma's knee.

Now see:

Cake-eating 

 picture-taking

sibling-swinging

grandma-wheeling

teen-conversing

tree-climbing

bug-finding

bell-ringing

Ville-exploring

83rd birthday-ing

Happy Birthday, Grandma B

Did you know...

The straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak, in the conversation about having a 5th:

“We’d miss out on our Jack.”

And here she is.  Evie is our “Jack”.

Jack (Eric's youngest cousin who is staying with us this semester) is the youngest of 5 kids, 

the oldest of whom was 6 years old when he was born. 

sound familiar?

We’ve really been enjoying having him with us.  

Only 2 months until he flies back to Kiev, Ukraine.  :(

Where have I been?

It has been a wonderfully busy summer.

I plan to blog it all soon.

after all, this is my version of scrapbooking! I was excited to come across a site (blog2print) that can transform blogger blogs into photo books! (Hoping to make one of 2009 soon!)

Anyway...

Some BIG NEWS!!!

1 ) Jack is here!!!!

Eric's youngest cousin, Jack, is going to be staying with us for a semester! He is 16 and a missionary kid in Ukraine. Each of his siblings has spent a semester in the states with family to get a feel for America and being on their own before leaving for the states for college.

It didn't look like any of the uncles or aunts could take him. And when we heard that both Eric and I thought separately..."We could have him."

So that's what we are doing. Eric moved out of his office and Jack moved in on Sunday! Toured Carroll High School (BIG!) yesterday and getting excited for what the next 4 months will bring!

Should be fun!

and

2) We're going to homeschool this year!

Yeah, I'm just going to let that sink in for a minute.

.

.

.

.

.

.

There you go.

You read that correctly.

Something I never thought I'd do, but am 100% thrilled to embark on!

yep! We're doing it! Liam and Kate are excited and so are Eric and I. Owen will still be attending preschool 3 afternoons a week. (I may be crazy but not crazy enough to start out with 3 kids off the bat).

I'm not sure where to start in explaining how we got HERE right now... maybe a future post.

But for now... know that it is a decision that we approached with much prayer, wise counsel and research and feel the Lord leading us to.

We've been really blessed beyond words to have found support and encouragement from our family and friends. Thank you!

So here we go off to a new journey!

Potter Home School starts Monday!