August 2018

New Beginnings.

For the first time in many years the Irvin Academy only has 3 students.

Our oldest 5 headed off to the local public schools.  It is bitter sweet (as in getting up at 6 am every day is bitter, not having to coordinate 5 additional kids and their 45 different subjects is sweet).

For the most part, we are loving it and they are all doing well. The biggest bummer is that I miss having them all home.  I miss the freedom of our schedule and spending so much

 time learning together.  

We had one of my favorite sports seasons ever, cross country.  It was my favorite because all 5 of the oldest kids did it together (which meant they all had practice and meets at the same time!).  I also really enjoyed seeing this kids go from couch potatoes to athletes. 

Caroline took came in 5th for the girls overall in her first meet.

And the baby goats continued their reign as the cutest animals on the farm.

July 2018

We'll call July the month of Goats and Boats.

We spent as much of our free time as we could on the lake.  One of our favorite things to do is to invite friends to join us.

Boating and ice cream with the Brackens.

Eli and his awesome curls.

And the newest additions to Desta Farms joined us, Rosy and Daisy.  

Our sweet Nigerian Dwarf goats.  What could be cuter?

 

We all love them (they beat having pigs hands down).

More boating with these lovely ladies.

Captain Nick did an awesome job all summer navigating the waters and making sure we were all having a blast.

Our little garden was quite fruitful.  I always joke that the only thing I can keep alive are kids....this year we got to add a few more things to the list.

A great shot of the kids and our resident grandparents.

And a particularly beautiful sunset.  

I captured this sunset after a pretty stormy time in my life and it just captured me.  Even though it had been nearly two years since we moved away from most of our friends and family, I was still struggling (and still do) with the loss and the change.  I had let my emotions build into an ugly outburst and hurt some people with my words.  This day on the lake brought a little healing to those relationships.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ² Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4:1-3

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ²⁶ “In your anger do not sin”^[d]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷ and do not give the devil a foothold.

Ephesians 4:25-26

June 2018

So my very thoughtful and generous children gave me one of the best gifts I've ever received this past Christmas when they had the first three years of my blog bound into book form.  I've always wanted to do this, but have never gotten around to it.  My parents gave me a few more years for my birthday in a second book.  I still have several years that will eventually need to be done, but having these two books has inspired me to continue chronicling our lives so that we have something to look back on in the future.  I had the best time reliving the moments of the past and seeing my sweet babies when they were all so little. 

So, getting back on track, I give you, June.

June 2018 was filled with lots of sun and water fun (and these delicious blueberries that grow in our front yard).

We had what I called a 1980s summer, which meant we spent loads of time outside, eating ice cream, swimming and playing together with very little technology time.

 We also celebrated Meron's 12th birthday.  

One of the absolute highlights was spending time on the lake in the pontoon boat that Nick and the kids restored.

We took Meron's celebration along for the ride.

Later that month we headed to Florida.  First stop was the party of the year celebrating my childhood friend Kara's 40th birthday....yes we are that old and I don't know how that happened.

We spent 10 days with my parents soaking up the sunshine (as I write this it is 38 degrees, cold, gray and raining, I miss the sun!).

We knocked out another birthday, celebrating Angel turning 6!

We spent a glorious day at the beach.

And all of that fun was had before these poor girls went through the 

wisdom teeth removal right of passage.  

We do have videos, but we're saving those for there rehearsal dinners :-)