Five things I’ve been doing instead of keeping up with my blog
1) Getting settled into a back-to-school routine. As hard as it is to believe that summer vacation is over, the boys are full-swing back into the academic world. For the most part, it’s gone pretty well so far – although I’d forgotten how much I loathe the alarm. My middle son was the most excited about the school year since he’s at the middle school now. His enthusiasm has been dampened by his math/science teacher, who seems to be rather snarky and impatient with the kids. The man has no patience when the kids don’t understand him right away, and since Blake’s accident, he tends to get confused somewhat easily. I’m trying really hard to give Blake coping strategies since he’ll one day have a boss who doesn’t care about his traumatic brain injury any more than this teacher does, and we’ve added Mr. Cranky to our prayer list (but I don’t have him on there as Mr. Cranky, promise). Still, I’ve told Blake all he has to do is say the word and I’ll happily unleash my inner Mama Bear on this teacher.
This is last year’s picture. Looking at it, I can’t believe how much this kid has grown in 12 months!
2) Being a football mom. Back-to-school is one thing. Football season is an animal all its own. Don’t get me wrong, I love football season. The highlight of my day is watching the team practice, and I am counting down to their first game. Still, there’s a lot of work that goes on to be sure the team is fed before games and getting information out to other parents. Then there’s the fundraising. Last year’s big event was Kiss the Pig, and kids put money into each coach’s jar to see who would have to kiss a pig at the last home game of the year. This year, we’re looking to top the pig venture, but so far we don’t have any brilliant ideas. Well, we had one, but the coaches shot it down right away. Apparently none of them were willing to dress up like a cheerleader or even do a cheer during the game, so we’re back to the drawing board. (If you have any ideas, I welcome them!)
3) Blogging. Not too terribly long 
ago my husband and I revived a blog we’d kept up until early 2012. It’s called echad, which is the Hebrew word for one. On it, I talk about what being a Christian means to me in today’s world. I write about my struggles, my triumphs and random insights from my Bible studies. Every week, I post my favorite quote from my pastor. Since my husband and I both have a heart for social justice, we also regularly talk about those issues and how people can get involved in making the world a better place. Although my faith is integral to who I am, so it’s never absent from my writing, I also don’t discuss it here much because it just doesn’t feel like it’s right venue for that. So, if you’re interested in learning more about that side of me, I encourage you to check echad out!
4) Fencing, and not the interesting kind. I don’t know if the fencing projects
will ever end. I think and hope I’m almost finished, but I also thought I was finished with my goat pen for the season and then Cinnamon kindly showed me I wasn’t. So we’ll see. Over the course of the summer, my family has fenced the alpaca pasture, two goat pastures, and a yard in the front and back. Most of this was done with saplings we cleared from the pastures and scrap fencing we found. The last fence for the season is the horse pasture, and it should be complete by Thursday. Even thinking about all we’ve done makes me tired all over again. I have to admit I’m really proud of us, though. My aunt came over for lunch after church last Sunday. She hadn’t seen the place since we moved in last March. She couldn’t get over how much we’ve done, and that made me super happy. Suddenly, it all felt really worth it.
5) Watching Duck Dynasty. I know I’m late to the party, but my 9-year-old has recently introduced my family to the wonders of the reality show Duck Dynasty. It took about two episodes for us to become totally and completely addicted. I love the family in that show, and watching their antics has become my family’s new favorite way to unwind after a day of our own adventures. Our schedule has been so chaotic lately that at the end of the day, instead of checking in online like I’m supposed to, I find myself vegging out on the couch with my boys in front of Duck Dynasty. (We still don’t have cable. We bought the DVD.) If that’s not a good bonding experience, I don’t know what is.
