Thomas's Tale

The children have once again been writing in class. Today I am going to feature the inimitable Thomas's tale. The children were given two phrases from a book we are reading together and then were told to put it in a story. I will italicize the phrases in the story below. Enjoy!

One day John heard the sound of a small engine across the brown water. He looked up to see what it was. It was then that he saw the granite boulder the size of an elephant and the shape of an egg coming straight towards him. He screamed in terror and started to run. It was uncanny how it seemed to follow him. When he turned right, it turned right, and when he turned left it turned left. It gained on him every step that he took until it was only a few feet behind him. He finally reached a baobab tree and hid behind it. He thought he heard a mechanical noise and he saw a camera emerging from the top. The camera pointed straight towards him and the ball started again. He heard the tree splinter behind him and he started to run again. He made it to the road just as it reached him.
Optional ending #1: Squish, splat he was flattened thinner than a pancake.
Optional ending #2: As he reached the road he saw a vacant car with the keys in the ignition. He jumped in and started the engine. He raced off in a cloud of dust outracing the robot, for it was a robot sent to kill him. It still chases him to this day. So, if you see a man with a granite ball behind him, you can be sure it's John.
The End

Lily and Other Random Thoughts

We are so glad to be able to tell you that our friend Lily is home from the hospital. This has been the best possible medicine for her. She is off all her pain meds and is enjoying tooling around the house in her wheel chair. She is starting to eat more. She will have to return to the hospital in about a week for more skin grafts. Hopefully that will only be a three day stay. Please keep Lily and her family in your prayers. There is still a long way to go before she is recovered.

This is my Dad. He and Mom are taking JoAn and Michelle down to Mountain Top Youth Camp for a week. The camp is called 'Daughters of Destiny'. It is a week of Bible teaching and learning new practical skills. The girls are doing some tatting, doll making and other fun hand work. They really enjoy the time with other like minded young women. It is a spiritual encouragement as well as a break from household and work responsibilities.

JoAn is working hard to save money for some further training. We are looking at the College Plus pr;gram. It enables one to earn a fully accredited four year degree in less than two years and for a lot less money. You do most of your study at home. It is a good way to get the education you want without going into serious debt. (www.collegeplus.com)

I do miss JoAn. She is gone much of the time now with working. Our lives have gotten busier as we have added 3 more students to our homeschool. It is for an unspecified period of time. Their mom is unwell and we are enjoying their company. Michelle is especially glad to have another girl join our school. Brooke is 12 and she and Michelle are good friends. Chance is 7 and has an amazing mind for memorizing. Ulysses is 3 and pays close attention to the other children. He is a busy boy and we are glad he still takes a nap. The children spend a lot of time playing volleyball in the back yard.

To end this post. I stole the following two random thoughts from Thomas Stowell in his latest post. They made me giggle.

*Upon learning that the Constitution requires a president to be a natural born citizen, a college student said: "What makes a natural born citizen any more qualified than one born by C-section?"
*Airlines that keep passengers trapped for hours in planes sitting on the runway should be prosecuted for unlawful imprisonment.

~Mom

Lily Update and other tidbits

Our friend Lily is still in the hospital, but she is continuing to improve. She has done well since her surgery a week ago when they rebuilt her leg and foot. The grafts all seem to be taking and healing. Today she was fitted for her back brace and was able to sit up for the first time in almost 2.5 weeks. She won't be ready for re-hab until she can put weight on her leg, so she is going to be released to go home, maybe in the next week. Please keep praying for her and the family. She has a lot still to go through. She has another surgery scheduled for more skin grafts in 2 weeks. Pray for strength and peace as there is a lot to persevere through. The hospital is only allowing parental visitors now. They are afraid of swine flu spreading. This is a hardship for Lily and their family. Joel and Lily are twins and are used to being together.

We had a nice visit on Friday with our dear friends the Stauffers. When our two families get together there are 17 children (although several of them are young adults now). The children have a grand time playing together. It is always a bit shocking to drive up to their house and to see a sign with large letters saying 'Kids for Sale'. It is only when you get real close that you see the much smaller print above it saying 'goat'.

Elizabeth really enjoyed holding baby Ezra. He was a little under the weather and so he was content to just be held, even by another little person.

Michelle was taking pictures again. I liked this one with the spider web with the raindrops on it and the blurred background. You can see by the gray sky in the background that fall is arriving on the North Coast.

Thomas was putting out a trap in the back field. Can you see what is in the trap? NO? Look close. It is black and white. It is NOT a cat. Unless you mean a 'polecat'. He got it released without being sprayed. Enough trapping son!

ALSO we still DO NOT have a winner in our herbal identification contest. Come on People!!

~Mom

JoAn's CEF Graduation

This summer JoAn took the CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) teacher training course and did very well. Last year she had worked with a CEF 'after school' club once a week. She really enjoyed the course, which required a lot of hard work. She had to practice teaching the wordless book, Bible lessons, Bible memory verses and songs. It has been very helpful as she has taught at VBS and Awana at church. She will start with the 'after school' club this week. She does it with a couple other people from church.

They had a nice program for the graduates. They taught us several of the children's songs. T-Bob got to hold one of them up.

This is a picture of the graduating class. The two ladies in front are the instructors. The gray haired lady in the back is an alumnus.

There are so many opportunities right now to get these clubs going. The schools have to let them in just like any other club. There are a number of schools in our area that are really wanting clubs, but there aren't the leaders to teach them. Something to pray about.

~Mom

Mr. Boots Writes a Funny Story

Mr. Boots really enjoyed his own writing assignment today. This is his picture as I read it to the class at lunch. He was laughing so hard he was crying and snorting. The assignment was to use the words "Texas, toilet, games, knife, grenade, horses". Each member of the class contributed six words randomly, and then each student drew six of those words out of a hat and had to use them in a story. Obviously there are more boys than girls in our school based on the words.
Here is Mr. Boot's story:

Texas is a place where there are many strange characters. One character was a guy named Jim who sold toilets and card games. You might not see the connection, but they both had a 'Royal Flush'.

He had an equally strange brother. His brother was a rancher. He would ride his horse long and hard all day, rounding up cattle and any other critter that would yield more than half a pound of meat. He would then grind the meat and sell it to Walmart. One day he was riding through Maine on the way to the bunkhouse, when he saw some cattle coming down a hill. He threw a hand grenade and suddenly he had a wagon load of lean ground meat (it was lean Mr. Boots explained to me, because it was on a hill). The only problem was that it was on the ground.

John, as his name happened to be, got out his Shindiawa pocket blower and blew his lean ground beef into his saddle bags and started home. On the way home he cut the cheese which he had brought along with his S.O.G. knife and sold it as well as the lean ground beef to Trader Joe's. When John got home his wife served him meatloaf, cheese, and Reduced Guilt crackers for dinner. The next day Trader Joe's sent him a contract to have him provide all their lean ground beef. With the proceeds he stopped sending the inferior ground meat to Walmart and only sold Grade A lean ground beef. He never did tell them how he got the meat so tender, but passed it on as a family secret for generations and generations.

If you go to Trader Joe's and buy Grade A lean ground beef, remember John the meat packer and his brother who sold johns and card games.

This story was Mr. Boot's lunch ticket. The high quality student I get to work with is amazing. Pray for home school mom's everywhere. Especially the one's with teenage sons.

~Mom & Mr. Boots

Manly Men Prepare for Winter

The old white farm house is heated by TWO hungry woodstoves. This requires us to have about six or seven full cords of wood ready to burn. It is NO fun to run out. We had that happen two years ago. Burning fresh cut wood is painful. First, it is too wet too burn and then it doesn't seem to yield much heat. This year we aim to be prepared. Mr. Boots is the project director. He has the biggest muscles and is able to move the big unsplit pieces over to the splitter that we borrowed.

Michelle put some time in on the splitter as well. We all know that wood heats you twice. The day you cut and split it and the day you burn it. It was a comfortable day for splitting. Not too hot and a little breeze. Note all the big logs in the background. We didn't just split 'girly' wood. (That's wood that is less than two feet in diameter). They split Manly logs!

Thomas also preferred the splitting to the stacking. He likes working in solitude.

Mr. Boots and T-Bob did the majority of the wood moving and stacking. The wood has to be transported to the other side of the yard. The boys delighted in seeing how full they could make it and still be able to move it. Mr. Boots is a lot stronger this year. It came close to being a 'fool's load' a couple times. ( Do you know what that is?)

This is the woodpile about 2/3 through the process of stacking. The little white play house is where we store our kindling. IT was stacked to the full height all the way to the back of the little house. It is now covered and drying. We are fortunate that we still had about two cords left from last winter. That wood is dry and ready to burn. The wood we have for this year has been cut for awhile and should be seasoned by the time we need it. Another big job done.

~Mom

Keep praying for Lily

MONDAY EVENING:
Carol - 9 hour surgery complete and doctors said it went well. We'll know if the grafts are successful in about 5 days, with the next 48 hours being the most critical. Thank you for praying for us today. Please continue to pray for healing.

Monday 2:30 PM Lily has been in surgery for 6 hours and things have gone well. THere is still about 3-6 more hours of work to be done. This will be the most sensitive. It is the skin and muscle grafts. Keep praying for the doctors and that the Tater Tot family will have peace.
SUNDAY UPDATE:
From her Mom:
Lily has had another good day. Surgery is scheduled for 8 AM tomorrow and could last as long as 12 hours. The plan is for full reconstruction of her right leg, ankle and foot. Please pray that the Great Physician, who gave these surgeons their skill, will guide their hands and Lily's leg would be saved and restored to full function.
TOWFH (the old white farm house) says:
She is undergoing bone, muscle and skin grafts. Pray that the doctors find the circulation in her leg improved. Pray for the family. The hospital she is at is a long drive from their home. Pray that they have safety on the road and that they would have God's peace tomorrow. It will be a long day for them. Thank-you !

UPDATE 9:30 AM Friday
Lily had a good night - much better than her parents'! A vascular surgeon has been added to her "team" and the reconstruction surgeries are still tentatively scheduled for Monday, possibly doing everything at once instead of separa...te surgeries for the bones and skin and muscle grafts. Your prayers are being answered.

They are going to do another clean out operation on her leg again today.
Keep praying!

Garden Update

LAte summer and early fall are a great time to replant and update in the garden. We cleaned out the beds and took out the things that were no longer producing. The boys tilled the soil and mixed in more topsoil. We replanted the lettuce.

We don't like radishes much, however they grow so well and so quickly. We can't resist them. They are very healthy for you and I keep hoping that I will learn to like them. So far it is not working. So our friends that do like them get to eat them. You could still plant them in September.

These are the peas we planted. Peas love cold weather. They are growing like crazy since I took this picture. They can grow an inch or two a day with enough water and sun.

We replanted them where the cucumbers were. Beans and peas are good at putting nitrogen back in the soil. As of today the peas had reached the fencing which is a good 6 inches above the soil.

I wanted to report that our tomatoes did eventually ripen and they taste delicious. The golden cherry tomato plants are about 12 feet high. This artistic tomato photo was taken by Michelle, the official blog photographer. She also took the picture on the banner of our blog.

~Mom

Herb Identification Contest

This is an herb identification contest. There is a great prize. The first person that sends me all the herbs correctly identified is the winner. Ignore the weeds. Some of the herbs are starting to flower. That may be a help or a hindrance depending on your skill. Answers can be either attached as a comment or directly as an e-mail (handsandnails AT sbcglobal DOT net). The above photo is picture number 1.

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Good Luck. We will note on the top when this contest is closed. Remember the old Peter, Paul and Mary song.

~Mom

Manly Men and a Wee Helper

The Mangos have a very congested front yard. Between vehicles, gardens,shrubbery, and a large driveway everything has to earn it's place. The crab apple didn't make the cut this fall. It is in the way for our auxiliary parking space as well as shading the 2 smaller fruit trees we planted this spring. We only got wormy crab apples that we never used and it made a big mess. Michelle was upset to lose the beautiful flowers and the symmetry with the neighbors lawn. They also have a crab apple on the opposite of the property line in the same location. We felt her pain, but it wasn't enough to sway the judge's decision.

T-Bob and Thomas started in with the little hatchet. They were given basic instruction on tool usage as well as how to aim a tree to get it to fall where they wanted.

They worked diligently at chopping the trunk. This was a job they could get into. I think they were relating to George Washington, No Lie! They were excited to have such a manly man task.

With such a little hatchet they were able to stretch this chore out and smile while they did. The boys were taking dominion over the earth. A biblical concept.

They decided this side branch must come off before the trunk could be attacked on this side. Whoopee, more chopping required!

The boys promised me that this was a poised picture. They would never let a four year old girl swing a hatchet and cut up a tree. I was a bit relieved. We let our children do a lot, but I wasn't totally comfortable with this being an action shot.

They worked hard for at least 45 minutes until that old tree submitted.

Victory at last!

The neighbor boy came over to commend them. No one was excited about cutting the branches up and tying them for the trash man. They did have to hurry and cut it small enough so that the motor vehicles could get through. A rain storm and a desire to go somewhere in the car are good motivators. Good work Men!

~Mom

PRAY for LILY

See Updates at the bottom:

Last year the Mangos went to Washington DC for an extended field trip/vacation. We were invited by our friends the Tater Tots to stay at their home. This was a grand undertaking for them as they were used to having just their twins around. The twins , Joel and Lily, are the same age as T-Bob. We had a wonderful time. We even got to watch the fireworks on the 4th of July over the mall in DC. We had a mini reunion with them on our trip to Gettysburg. They came and visited us for the day. The children got to renew their friendships.

On Saturday, Sept. 19th Lily got hit by a large ATV and had to be life flighted to a trauma center.
Her Mom sent out the following report on Sunday at 4:30.
4:30 PM Sunday. I firmly believe that, not only does the "fervent prayer of a righteous man avail much", but the fervent prayers of many righteous men avails even more. We are so encourage by the countless prayers going up for Lily and our family. Thank you for asking your friends and church families - people who don't even know us - to pray.It has been a good day. Lily continues to stay stable. She was wide awake this afternoon and smiled at her Dad's jokes. She is still intubated, so she can't talk, but she's communicating with us well.
We spoke to the orthopedic surgeon. The bones in her foot, ankle, and lower leg were crushed and she lost significant muscle and skin. Tomorrow (Monday) they will take her back into surgery to clean the wound again and assess what is viable. From there the will start to plan reconstruction of the foot and leg.
I'm not completely sure of all the abdominal injuries.. They had to remove a section of her bowel. There were tears in other places and a laceration on her liver which was repaired. They expect all of this to heal.

She also has some fractures in her spine. They expect these to heal without causing any problems. She will be fitted for a back brace one her abdomen heals.

So you can see we have a long, difficult road ahead of us, but there is so much to thank the Lord for. A couple of specific request are for protection from infection, viability in her leg and foot, and that they will be able to take her off the ventilator after surgery tomorrow.

Please pray especially for Joel. He's really missing Lily.

As of 5PM EST, Monday, they were just taking her to surgery. Please keep the family in your prayers.

UPDATE: 8:30 PM Monday Sept 21.

surgery went very well. No sign of infection and everthing appears viable. The surgeon gave us hope for a good long term prognosis, but it will take a miracle. We believe in miracles! The next surgery is planned for Friday to reconstruct the bones, then plastic surgery sometime next week for skin grafts. THANK YOU for your prayers.

UPDATE: 3:15 Tuesday

Lily has made good progress in the last 12 hours. She is no longer intubated and they were able to take off the neck brace. She is more comfortable and in good spirits. Please keep praying for the healing of her leg, especially as they start with the skin and muscle grafts.

UPDATE: 8:30 PM Tues

Lily has been moved out of PICU. She will be in a regular room now.

UPDATE: 7 PM THursday

Lily continues to progress well. THe latest highlight is that she ate an orange popsicle today. Today they also did an angiogram to see what kind of blood supply there is left in her leg. She did have a good visit with her brother Joel yesterday, which helped them both. Tomorrow (Friday) she will have the bone graft done and then on Monday they will try and do the muscle and skin grafts. She is feeling a bit homesick. PLease keep Lily and her family in your prayers.

Dallas. The BAD and the good

Dallas is such a friendly dog, he loves greeting the neighbors when they return from a short vacation.

He likes to run around the yard and play with the children. Mostly he is a good puppy. BUT, the other day when Elizabeth was home alone with Mom she went out and played with him and he followed her into the house. A real NO NO. He is NOT allowed in the house. Michelle had made a special treat to take to the church potluck that evening. It was cooling on the dining room table. Dallas thought we had made it for him.

He put his paws up on the table and started having a snack. I was down in the basement when I heard Elizabeth shrieking hysterically that Dallas was eating the cake. By the time I got up there he was hiding under the kitchen table. He knew he was in trouble. I opened the back door and gave him a swat on his rump as he hurdled by.

This is Dallas with his 'blankie'. He drags it around the yard all day long. He won't go to sleep without it. He likes to keep it in the sun. It is more comfortable to lie on than the dirt.

Below are some videos of Dallas waiting for the ball to be thrown to him and then running to fetch it. HE spends a lot of time doing this. He does wait quietly for the ball to be thrown.

The videos are backwards. I still can't always figure the correct way to upload all these things. Note Dallas nodding and shaking his head as he answers the questions correctly. :-)

~Mom

Friends Visiting

Our good friends visited us on Sunday evening. They were driving from their parents home in MI to their own place in NC. They have 3 darling children. This is their baby Lily. She is 15 weeks old and is a real snuggler. We ladies really enjoyed holding her.

This is their 2 year old son Isaac. He is a real sweet energetic boy. He talks up a storm and is very friendly. Their oldest son, Reuben, 4, somehow missed the camera. I think he was moving too fast. They are really a neat family.

Jeremy is a very tall (6' 8") coast guard guy. He is an excellent Dad who spends a lot of time with his boys.

Faith and Jeremy moved to Cleveland when Jeremy was stationed here about 6 years ago. They lived here for 2 years. They left just after Reuben was born. Elizabeth and he are only a week a part. They are doing an excellent job as parents. Faith was homeschooled and plans to do the same with their children. It is neat to see the growth in their life.

~Mom