And All is Right with Our World.......

The economy is bad according to the experts. Toby has been really busy the last few days in the financial world and we heard today that two major restaurant chains have closed here in town. What is next? Our first reaction would be fear of what the future may hold, but today, as I sat pondering what was going on in the world around us and reminding myself that God is more than enough, I looked around me and realized something very important........my world was still OK! I have four beautiful kids and I am able to stay home and spend a lot of time with them daily! We are all healthy and busy pursuing the things that make us happy. We have food on the table and never go to bed hungry. As I sat and pondered all these things, I was so glad that I know a God that is always more than enough!!!!!!!

Here is a small glimpse into one of our homeschooling days! The weather has been so beautiful lately! The heat and humidity have gone for a few days. I love it when my kids can learn without being cooped up in a classroom or house.

We bought a bushel of sweet potatoes this year from a local farmer and they were very dirty. Here is Nic and Kensli cleaning the dirt off for me!

Just look how good they washed them!
Yum, we baked sweet potatoes for lunch!!!!!

Ricky did most of his independent work on the trampoline today! He is really enjoying studying American history this year. He is always sharing something interesting he has learned!
Kaitlyn working on her journal. She loves to write and enjoys keeping up with what happens daily!

Fall Sports

It's official, I am now a soccer mom! This is the 1st year any of the kids have shown an interest in soccer, so that is the reason for my never having earned the title. Both Kaitlyn and Nicholas are playing soccer! Our fall season officially kicked off last Saturday, so we spent a lot of the day at the sports complex. Except for the heat, it was a lot of fun!!!!

Go, Mavericks and Falcons!

My 2 soccer stars.

Of course, Ricky is once again following his love for baseball. We asked if he wanted to play another sport this fall, but when he was chosen for a select travel ball team, he decided to "PLAY BALL!"

Go, Bayou Bengals!

Ricky sliding in to home!

Hurricane Ike

Ike blew through here, but fortunately we did not receive the damage that Gustav left us! Our state has been battered twice in about 2 weeks and we are slowly crawling out from under all the debris!!!!! Many people here have had flood damage or trees on their homes! My heart breaks for those in FEMA trailers or shelters. Hopefully, we will not have any more hurricanes this season.

Here is a picture I took the morning before Ike blew through here! Kensli's face tells how we feel about another hurricane!!!!

PUPPY LOVE

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to add to our family! Here is our newest addition:

JAX

Conversations with Kensli

Kensli is my constant talker. Sunday morning at church we passed a lady and she just started laughing! I said, "She's my talker." The woman replied, "That is VERY evident!!!" Kensli talks non-stop about everything! I thought Ricky could talk, but he doesn't even hold a candle to our little bit of spice!!!!

Kensli is now potty trained and the other day I walked in on her on the potty!

Kensli: "I'm poo-pooing!"
Me: "I can tell!"
Kensli: "How do you know?"
Me: "Because, I think I'll call you a little stinker"
Kensli: "AH! I am going to tell your mommy and daddy that you called me names!"

Kensli loves to squeal and scream! She has the shrillest scream, that I think could probably shatter glass if she were to scream for very long. The other day she had squealed, screamed and fussed about everything to the point that I was tired of hearing it! Then it dawned on me that she was probably hungry, because she had refused breakfast that morning! Here is the conversation..........

Me: "Kensli, I am tired of the squealing and screaming! I think you are hungry and that is why you are out of sorts."
Kensli: "But, I'm not hungry!"
Me: "Did you eat your breakfast this morning?"
Kensli: "NO!"
Me: "So, that means that if you eat something you will feel better and can play sweetly with your brother........."
Kensli (as she looks at me with big eyes) finishes my sentence: ".......and I can scream even louder!"

Yes, I did feed her and prayed that the screaming would not be louder!!!!!

Also, she gets mad at her dad quite easily! When mad, she pouts at him and will not let it go with out Toby doing some sweet talking! A couple of mornings ago, while Toby was getting ready for work, I found her pouting on our bed!

Me: "What's wrong with you?"
Kensli: "Daddy!"
Me: "What did Daddy do now?"
Kensli: "He's being difficult!"

With that she got down and went to play!

What's Been Going On

Well, our town is cleaning up and slowly returning to normal! A lot of houses were flooded and that will take some time to repair. Several families of our church are out of their homes and will lose all their furniture, etc. I pray for their quick recovery!

We have been keeping a very wary eye on Ike, but it seems to be going to Texas, which is a BIG relief. I hate it for friends and family on the Texas coast, but I am not sure we could have gone through another storm this soon. I have been exhausted this week and I know it is from all the stress of last week.

We are trying to get back into some sort of routine after Gustav messed up our schedule! It is hard with 4, but I am determined to succeed! I guess the balancing act of 4 in school is what is really the hardest part. Of course, life doesn't help with all its problems and situations. You would think that I could block off 8-3 as school hours, but then the dyer starts acting up, someone is sick and has to see the dr., or a little hurricane comes blowing through this area of the world. All these little things never wait until after 3 in the evening!!!!!! Guess that is what keeps life interesting, and if so, life has been VERY interesting lately!

WE SURVIVED GUSTAV!!!!!!!

I have not had much time to post on our blog lately because of GUSTAV and all the prep for its arrival. We had family in from Broussard, so at least we had a good visit for several days. Thankfully all their houses and camps are fine!

Things got pretty bad on Monday afternoon and lasted until late in the night. Our yard is covered in limbs and leaves, but thankfully that is all the damage we have. This morning we woke to heavy rain and flooding. More is scheduled for this afternoon.

Gustav really doesn't want to go away, and we have had lots of tornado warnings! We are still conserving water and have power, but across the street is still out of electricity! Toby took his generator over to an elderly neighbor until her power is back on.

I-49 is bumper to bumper with traffic from people trying to go back home. On the way up they had the counterflow, but now they are back to trying to get home without the added lanes. 1.something million people trying to return home.........slow......congested.....yikes!

Toby is over at a friends trying to help them get the water out of their house! The sun has gone back in and it looks like more rain. Toby just called and said our friends will be coming here to eat. Hopefully the carpet is all that was damaged in their home!!!!!!!

The tropics are really active and looks like we could be dealing with another storm soon!