Hello, Again

Has anyone but me noticed how badly I have neglected our blog? Well, here are some updates. The butterflies were beautiful! I think it may have been one of the most amazing things I've ever seen - watching them hatch from their coccoons. We were privileged to watch one of them at he came out. Here's a picture of him drying his wings. Beautiful!

The kids have been having some fun things lately. We went pumpkin picking with some friends, apple picking with our family, we had a back to school party, and Asa had a sleepover for his birthday. Maddie celebrated her 4th birthday yesterday, and she is eagerly awaiting her birthday party on Saturday!

Asa had developed a cooking bug due in part to a cookbook he got for his birthday. He likes developing "recipes" which he then makes me try! (YECK!) So we decided to channel that creative energy into something edible. He now wants to cook all of the time. He made muffins last Friday and sold them to our neighbors in about an hour. He made $6 and was thrilled. We decided setting up a table in front of our door was easier than opening a restaurant, which is what he wanted to do! I suppose it's all about living within your means while not squashing the creative energy!

School is not going exceptionally well. October is an insane month, and so far I don't see November or December improving much! Probably better to not ask! :) I guess that also explains the neglect of the blog! Sorry!

Caterpillars

To show how much (and little) I know about caterpillars, they went and proved me right (and wrong). Just yesterday I wrote that I think they are getting close to coccooning. Very early this morning, 2 of them coccooned and it was an amazing sight. It looked very awkward and painful, but I suppose becoming a new creature is often difficult. But I was convinced that Nellie and Carle were going first, and NO - it was Spike and then Bobcat. Nellie and Carle are (it appears to me in my "Oh So Very Educated In Caterpillar Behavior" self) desperately searching for a landing space to hang and build their coccoons. It is completely fascinating!

Stuff

I have a minute or two to write something before I jump back into life! Here are some fun things that have been happening around here:

School has been really fun. Maddie is making a lot of progress in her letter names and sounds. Asa is loving history, but doing well in his other subjects as well. We are learning about Jamestown this week, and we bought him some settler and indian figures. He's been spending the whole day playing Jamestown with his Lincoln Logs and people. The local history museum also had an interactive exhibit about J'town, and the admission was free this weekend. We had a good time trying to "Survive J'town". (We all died except for Asa's friend Brandon!)

We are the proud parents of 5 caterpillars. We have them in their new homes with plenty of fresh leaves and water. They seem to be taking very well to their surroundings. We're waiting, not so patiently, for them to start cocooning. Their names are Carle (after the author of the Very Hungry Caterpillar but pronounced Carly) - I think she's the closest to cocooning, Nellie, Spike (they have bristles on their backs), Bobcat (after the Caterpillar brand of tractors) and Tyke (because he's just a little baby). We found them on some bushes out by the pool and decided to see if we could make our little science experiment work. It's a lot of fun. I tried to take pictures, but it's really hard to see a 2 inch caterpillar in a little jar. Updates coming soon!!

Here are some of the things being said around our house. Maddie is praying for a friend of ours that's in Iraq. She says, "Dear Lord, please let Reuben have a good day at war and please let him not get killed. Amen" I thought that was really precious. And today, we were praying for some friends that need a new job, and Asa says to me, "Mom, if you would let me start my own business, I could give him a job!" And today, Maddie is playing Little Mermaid, and I'm Ursula (I always have to be the bad guy - type casting?) and Asa is the prince - of course. Well, Maddie is running around saying, "My name is Areola" instead of Arial. (Is that too racy to type? Oh well) I didn't bother to correct her because she has no idea what she is saying. I suppose if it continues on to tomorrow, I'll have to ask her to stop. Just my luck she'd announce in church that her new name is Areola. HA!

Hope all is well with everyone out there. Drop us a line sometime. We'd love to hear from you!

Goin' Goth

Hopefully Asa learned his lesson about leaving his markers out.

Lesson learned: Never trust an unusually quiet baby!!

KY State Fair

It's that time of year again . . . when the Preston family gets strangely and manically excited about the fair. This year we were joined by my sister and her daughter, and we had a great time. Here are some highlights and pictures!

Okay, I know it's not a picture of our family, but this was the most beautiful rooster I've ever seen. His tail was so perfectly rounded and his colors were amazing. I hope he won a prize. BTW, Maddie can do an amazingly accurate immitation of a rooster. I also got to hold baby chicks which was fun, but pretty much guaranteed I wouldn't be eating any chicken that day!

This is Caroline (obviously) in front of the rabbits. There were some amazing rabbits there, especially ones called Otter Black rabbits - Beautiful!
(Above and Below) Asa and Maddie both made beeswax candles at the 4H exhibit area. We always enjoy seeing the beehive and seeing if we can find the queen. Asa also enjoys looking at the bug collections in the judging area. He's well on his way to having a pretty cool collection.

What fair is complete without having a cutout picture taken. Here Abe and Mary Todd enjoying the day.

You may not be able to see this very well, but this is "Bruiser - The World's Largest Dog". We were all siked about seeing this enormous dog and we had even spent considerable time discussing the breed beforehand - "Was it a great Dane or a Saint Bernard?" -- NEITHER! It was a dumb dressed up dog that we darted over to see! Uh! One parent, upon seeing Bruiser, even uttered a phrase that my kids have never heard before! YIKES! As Jessi, my niece, said, "We need some earmuffs!"

Above are pictures of one of the highlights - the National Guard Obstacle Course. We had told Maddie she was too small, but she insisted she could do it! That girl always amazes us with her tenacity and fire. She did that entire course by herself with only one nudge from Logan along the way. She is so full of spirit!
Becky, Jessi and the kids on the tram taking us to the rides.

This is the part that Maddie is still talking about - the bungee jumping thing. She had so much fun - until the guy tried getting her to do a flip. At 10:00 at night, she is not interested in doing flips. Anyway, here are a couple more of her doing that!

The Father-Son Campout (from Logan)

July 19Th several fathers from our church packed their wide-eyed, adventurous sons for a time of camping, cooking, and spiritual renewal. Asa and I were among those caught up in this eastward trek. We had hoped for a relaxing camping trip and what we got was so much more.

We began Friday night with some games in the grass and a dinner of hamburgers and chips. After dinner we played a modified version of capture the flag, where two teams were pitted against each other with socks filled with flour as weapons. It was great and as you can imagine the rules were constantly changing to protect the little ones younger than nine.

That night we gathered around the fire to cook smores and talk. Lee Sexton (one of the church elders) led us in a short devotional and then set us (fathers) up for a time to share our love for Jesus Christ with our sons. We pulled away each to our families and I found talking to Asa about Jesus (a thing I do regularly) a very difficult task. The weight of my love for my savior and my son was overwhelming. I struggled greatly to fight back the tears but I managed to share Christ's love for us and my desire for Asa to love and to serve Him.

We slept OK that night and woke to a great feast. Myself and others prepared five dozen eggs with cheese, an army of sausages, several large bags of hash browns with seasoning, and a couple dozen bagels. It was a feast to be sure and we enjoyed it immensely. After breakfast we took a hike and the dads talked about history and botany while the boys ran ahead to explore the unknown. When we came back to camp we packed up and headed out.

I said before that more happened than I had thought might. The truth is that the fullness of a weekend like that one may be seen in the strong stares of our sons' eyes into ours. It may be seen in their greater desire to be near us. It may be seen in the hugs and smiles that they offer that seem to be of more substance than we had noticed before. It may be, but most likely the true fullness of that weekend will be seen in the eyes of our Lord as He shares with us the fruit of our repeated attempts with our sons: "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Here's me with our tent.

Asa loved exploring with the flashlight.

The boys couldn't stay away from the fire.

Look at our man-feast!

The hike proved to be a great time.

Reflections

We have been studying the book of Deuteronomy in Sunday School lately, and I have had some reflections over the past week on how I fit in with this book. Here they are:

**I have always thought that the Israelites wandering in the desert in Exodus were really dense to not see the Lord's provision in their lives. He provided manna, quail, water from rocks, etc., yet they continued to test God and question his goodness and provision in their lives. While studying Deut 8 today in SS, I realized that the Israelites were no different from me. The only difference between us is that they were going on the blind trust in Moses' word, and I have the complete written word of God at my disposal with promises of the Lord's goodness and provision in my life. I question God and doubt him during difficult times even though he promises to provide for us and to work out everything for my good.

**I have always thought that the Israelites were very ungrateful and wicked to not appreciate the provisions of God in their lives (they were, don't get me wrong!) I mean really, he sends manna and quail, he rescues them from Egypt, they see the signs and miracles, and he is promising them the Promised Land. Yet the griped and complained about everything. In Deut 8, it talks about how much the Lord gave them - even down to preserving their feet from swelling, but they were still so ungrateful. Those wicked Israelites. Then it hits me again -- how many times a day do I complain (even in my heart) about the size of my apartment, the size of my car, how many times we've eaten spaghetti this month, etc, etc. . . . . But how many times have I stopped to appreciate that the Lord has completely met all my needs? He has given me every good thing in Christ in addition to meeting my daily physical needs, yet I still grumble and complain. The scripture is so right when it says "There is none righteous, no not one" either 3000 years ago or today!

**In Deut 7, the Moses talks about the Lord requiring the Israelites to completely destroy the people groups living in the Promised Land. But then he says something to the effect of "I could have destroyed all those people at once, but I didn't lest the wild beasts overtake you." WOW!! This really hit me! The Lord was able to clear a path quickly and easily, but he chose not to in his wisdom and steadfast love for his people. He knew that if there weren't enough people inhabiting that land, that the wild animals would not be hunted enough and they would grow to numerous for the Israelites to handle. How many times have I questioned the goodness of God in the past 2 years because we've had to wait for his timing. But He knows whats out there waiting for us. He knows when we are ready and when they are ready to receive us. He knows what is best and in what way we can best serve Him. Maybe the wild beasts are still too numerous for us to go. God is good.

Anyway, this may be a lot of rambling, but I just wanted to encourage everyone to hold tight to the Lord. His ways and his love are true and right. He will not leave us or forsake us. Going through trials is a difficult time to see the truths of God, but they are true none the less.