Gone to the beach ...

with some very special people.  Be back later.

More sleeping on the porch

Matthew got home from school last night and because all the beds and one sofa are already filled at our house at the moment, he chose to sleep on the porch.  With rain falling and thunder rumbling in the distance, the cool night air and a cozy comforter, it was a very good place to sleep.  At 10:45 this morning, he's still snoozing.

Peace on the porch

While Coty, Scotty, Lisa, and Natty swam yesterday afternoon, I minded the baby.  When she fell asleep, I snuggled her onto a comforter on the porch swing.  Whenever the swing slowed, I gave it a gentle push.  Baby Jubilee slept peacefully there for about an hour.

This tells a little story of our porch ... this special place where so many have shared a cup of tea or a glass of wine and conversation by candlelight ... or early morning solitary reading, reflection, rest, and refreshment ... it is a place of peace.

The season ends ...

... with a tough loss to a strong Cape Fear team.  I'm betting they'll go on to win the State Cup final tomorrow.  It's always hard to end the season with a loss like today, but the boys played well.

I wore one of my favorite shirts today - given to me by my mom a couple of years ago.  It says, "Nobody trains to make excuses."  So, though the team, plagued by injuries was down to one sub today, no excuses for today's loss.  They could have won if a few things had gone differently -  but they didn't.  Soccer is like that.  Life is like that.  Losing is not the end of the world ... though it may feel like it for the first couple of hours after the game.

So, club soccer season is over ... for a while.  I love it and I'll miss it.

That's my Joel boy, all the way to the right, defending on a corner kick

On to the next round ...

We're off to Greensboro this morning for the NC State Cup semi-finals.  Joel's team won two more games last weekend to advance.  If they win today, they play in the final tomorrow.  We're pretty excited around here!

Pictures from last Sunday's final first round game ...

raining steadily so they moved us to a turf field ...

Hope these boys are ready for a tough opponent today.  The team has lost a few players to injury through the season and plays today with only two subs.  But they play with so much heart!!!  

Go FCCA!

Needle and ThREAD #2

Earlier this week, my sewing room looked like a fabric bomb went off.  I pulled out my Cameroonian fabric stash and sewed four tote bags for a silent auction at a dinner that Joel and his Human Geography classmates are putting on tonight to raise money for a school in South Sudan.

Meanwhile, Natty, who was hanging out with me for the morning, went through my scrap box and pulled out pieces she liked.  I cut a rectangle of flannel for the back and told her to arrange the pieces on the flannel.  Here's her creation with a few sewing edits to make everything fit.  This is a quilt for her beloved Bubba, the bunny.  A little upgrade from the blanket Bubba carries with her all the time.  Natty was pleased and I thoroughly enjoyed the free style fabric play.  I think it's a little like free writing for a writer or doodling for an artist.  Get's the juices flowing.  It's got me thinking about some other mini-quilts and oh, so eager to get going on the big quilt project of the summer.

In February, Kandyce posted an intriguing and irresistible link on my facebook wall.  I read it and immediately sent an email off to Sarah.

In early March, I received a large package in the mail.  With a whole lot of excitement, I opened it and found 11 new saris, in blues, greens -  chartreuse and cyan, to be more precise - as well as some neutrals, mostly in shades of brown.  That's a LOT of fabric.  Saris are 9-10 yards long.

Aren't they gorgeous!!! So, this summer's first quilt project is to make a queen sized quilt for the saribari auction.

In anticipation of this quilt project, I read these two quilting books.  There are so many great quilting books out there, it was hard to choose!

Block Party: The Modern Quilting Bee - The Journey of 12 Women, 1 Blog, and 12 Improvisational Projects by Alissa Haight Carlton and Kristin Lejnieks

The Practical Guide to Patchwork: New Basics for the Modern Quiltmaker: 12 Quilt Projects by Elizabeth Hartman

Almost done ...

Our last AP Government review session was yesterday.  We sat on the screened porch and ate cinnamon rolls and talked about the bureaucracy, selective incorporation, and civil liberties.

Our last biology class is today.  We'll sit on the porch and talk about desertification, bioindicators, and biodiversity.

I love my students, but I am so ready to be done.  My brain is tired, tired, tired and ready to focus on something very different for a while.

I have some ideas and plans.  I know I've mentioned the saris.  I promise, I'll show you pictures soon.

I also mentioned a triathlon a little while back.  More to say about that later.

And a few other things.

This picture, of course, has nothing to do with this post, except that I will feel like jumping at 12:45 today!  Natty took this when we were playing hopscotch last week.

Students arrive in 45 minutes, so that's all for now.

A few more graduation pics

 Joel, Jenn, Mama, and Daddy

 almost up to the stage ...

 and a hug from a friend with diploma in hand

my two economists

Joel, Andrew, Thomas and Kay 

 brothers

and that beautiful super moon!

The weekend in (a very brief) review ...

because I am very tired and will have a hard time being terribly coherent.

Part I - Andrew's graduation from Furman University, Friday and Saturday

In which we go to parties with Andrew's friends on Friday night, enjoy a relaxed morning and very delicious lunch with my parents on Saturday, and get dressed up to attend the graduation ceremony on a gorgeous, balmy Saturday evening and beam with pride and thanksgiving for this third son that we love so much.

Part II - Joel's first NC State Cup Group Match, Sunday afternoon

In which we forget our directions but call another parent also on the road and get there just fine, dress down in our shorts and T-shirts and sit in the hot sun to watch Joel's team, FCCA Premier, win a well fought, exciting, somewhat nerve wracking (for the parents on the sidelines) game, 2-1, and cheer and and clap and gives thanks for this youngest son that we love so much.

And now, 

after a wonderful weekend of watching, enjoying, celebrating these two young men...

with a very full, very thankful heart ...

I'm. going. to. bed. zzzzzzzzzz

Graduation day!

Andrew is graduating from Furman today.  I keep wondering how it can possibly be that his college years are already over!?

Photo from his Phi Beta Kappa induction in April

Graduation pictures to come ...

Andrew heads back to Charlotte next year to teach high school math with Teach for America.  Very happy to have my young man heading back our way and looking forward to all that the next year holds for him!

Little girls

The other day, I was feeling the weight of some hard and heavy things.  It was sort of a sad day with some bleak situations staring me in the face.  Life is like that sometimes.

Life is also teaching a three year old about honeysuckle.  Natty and I went for a walk the other evening when her parents went out to dinner.  The fragrance of honeysuckle wafted from the roadside and we wandered over to the edge where the blackberries were beginning to bloom.  I picked a few honeysuckle flowers and taught Natty how to pinch the end off and gently pull the style out til the tiny drop of nectar squeezed through.  She touched it to the tip of her tongue and was delighted. We picked a handful of honeysuckle blossoms and she practiced til she got it.

Life these days also includes a good bit of baby minding, baby holding, and baby loving.  Sunday morning I sat in the porch swing and read my Bible.  On the lounge beside me, nestled into a folded over comforter with a light wool throw for a cover, this sweet little girl slept soundly.

Happy to have these little girls (and their parents!) with us for such an extended time.

And happy that about the time they leave, I get to see another special little girl (and her parents!) for her very first trip to the beach.  I'm already thinking about some of the firsts - first time playing in the ocean, first time hunting for shells, first time feeding the turtles in the lake, first time building a sand castle ...