October was a blast! It flew by, but we crammed the month full of fun things and special memories. Our sweet Eli is growing up so much! We have noticed that he has gotten a lot taller in the past couple of months. He has also really become quite the conversationalist and he has a hilarious sense of humor! He and Emma have the best time talking and playing together. Seeing the two of them together just about causes my heart to burst with happiness. Clint and I are so blessed with two such precious kids.
The first weekend of October was pretty low key. We stayed around the house and just enjoyed being at home. Eli wanted to wear his Georgia Tech football uniform and both kids just played with their toys. Clint and Emma started working on a wardrobe for Emma’s doll clothes. They have so much fun making things together in Clint’s workshop in the basement! The first Monday of October, Clint and I played in the school golf tournament with our friends Chris and Troy. It was a really fun day! I headed back to school after that to participate in a fun evening at school with the softball team and our sports management class raising money and awareness for Breast Cancer in honor of our dear friend Mama Epp. One of the activities was a pie in the face booth. Of course I signed up for that to help raise money…I knew people would pie me! People actually gave Emma money to pie me! She was squealing with laughter. Several friends also participated and we all had a blast! We closed out the evening by shaving Jim Bitner’s head. Several people contributed to #BuzzBitner. All for a good cause and a really fun evening!
The second weekend of October was spent at the Tim Crunk 5K. Our family was so incredibly privileged to know our dear friend Tim Crunk and his family for many years! After Tim passed away, this race was started in his honor to help raise money for education for kids in Haiti. I was honored to be the race coordinator this year. Emma was a HUGE help and her NCCS Cross Country team participated in the race as well. It was a special time with our friends from Cedarcrest Church and so many of Tim’s friends from all over the community! After church that Sunday morning we visited a pumpkin patch at a local church and had lots of fun snapping pictures. That was one of the moments when we realized how tall Eli had gotten. It was one of the first cool mornings and our poor son only had capri length pants!! We also ran in Kohl’s to make sure he had some new pants!
Emma had a great time running on the Soaring Eagles Cross Country team at school this fall with Coach Cochran and Coach Kimbrel (two of my awesome high school teachers). I’ve known both of those ladies since they were in high school and it was such a treat to see the way that they invested in Emma…and how much she looks up to them! Most of Emma’s buddies ran cross country and they had a great time! They all got so much better from the start of the season until the end. Emma is already talking about next year! I figure that must be a good sign!
We headed to Memphis for Fall Break. Emma was out on Wednesday while I had some meetings at school. We hit the road around 4pm that Wednesday and got to Memphis around 10pm. That Thursday was the first birthday for my sweet nephews Simon and James. We had so much fun celebrating them that whole weekend! My birthday was that Friday and everyone was so sweet to me too! On Friday we got to stop by Briarcrest and visit my high school principal who is the Headmaster there. Mr. Simpson is a treasured friend and mentor and our whole family really enjoyed catching up with him! James and Simon’s birthday party was so fun! The theme was “Two Scoops are Better than One”. My sister had all kinds of creative ideas and kept us all busy getting ready for the party. We can always count on her to have a list of projects for us…and we can also always count on her taking great care of us! The big hit of the party was the Ice Cream truck. All the kids loved it! It was such a treasure to have all 5 of our kids together for a few days. I wish we all lived closer together!
When we returned to school it was Homecoming week! That’s always a special time with all of the dress up days and fun activities! Emma especially loves helping with the Student Government activities leading up to the Homecoming Court. She looks up to those high schoolers so much and I’m so grateful for how sweet they are to her! Eli had a great time at Homecoming also! He is really growing up and looks forward to hanging out with his friends at the game too. We are looking forward to many years of Friday night football and basketball at NCCS! We wrapped up that weekend by heading down to enjoy some of the Homecoming Festivities at Georgia Tech. We knew that we’d never make it through a late night game, so we just did the tailgating and went to see our good friend Amy Wallace’s band, The Mustangs, in concert at the Alumni tent. We got some great pics around campus and ended our evening at Antico Pizza. After church that Sunday, Emma went to a friend’s birthday party at the gymnastics place. It was a perfect weekend for our crew!
The last week of October was Grandparents Day at school. Clint’s parents are always so sweet to come for the program and to take Emma out to lunch. The highlight of this year’s program for us was when the kids sang “Our God” in Spanish. The Spanish teacher had invited Emma to stand in the front to help direct. She said that Emma was really doing well with her Spanish and had been helping other kids. She wanted to let her help at the program. That was such a blessing! There is nothing that makes me more excited than to hear when Emma is serving others.
We wrapped up October with our first ever trick or treat night with the kids. Honestly…I have mixed feelings about Halloween. The reason for that is all of the evil and horror that people wrap up in the holiday. We decided to look at it as a fun opportunity to dress up and hang out with friends while picking up free candy. Emma was Bell and Eli was Captain America. And…we have enough candy to last us…well, forever I believe.
Today we turned the page to November 1. The next two months are full of lots of fun as we celebrate both Emma and Eli’s birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and lots of family and friend time. We are committed to making the most of it. God has been so gracious to us. Our prayer is that we would honor the Lord by living for His glory and the good of others.