Celebrating 24 years

 Our anniversary this year was very enjoyable.  Since our church now meets in the evening, we were free for lunch on Sunday, so Pete and I drove out to Foxboro to eat at a restaurant our friends had told us about.  We sat looking out over the Allegheny River, a very relaxing vista.  The leaves had not quite started to change yet, but it was apretty little getaway anyway.

Some new melodious sounds in the house

 Jinna has taken up the harp!  She is taking lessons with Mrs. Jensen in the neighborhood, and it has been so lovely hearing her play.  Unlike with other instruments, the beginner does not sound squeaky, squawky, or screechy.... the notes sound pretty right from the beginning.

Her first song was "Bless the Lord O My Soul," and she has moved on to several others already.  We are thankful for this new opportunity for her!

They're off and running

 Colsen is attempting a new sport this season: cross-country.  It was a big decision, foregoing his love of soccer, but he felt the culture of the xc team was something he really wanted to be a part of, and besides, they're really good!  They're a favorite to win States this year, so this seemed like a good endeavor to jump in on,

He quickly showed himself to be a valued member of the varsity team, one of "the 7," and those 7 are training together allllll the time.  They run all over town every day, spending hours upon hours together.  It's a good thing they like each other.

Their first few races have gone quite well and they've won everything....even when Colsen had to run a whole race with his shoe half on!  He typically places 4th, 5th, or 6th on the team and is one of the fastest sophomores in the state.

An argument against learning

 This weekend Miles got in trouble for something and Pete told him he had to write a 3-paragraph paper on why learning was so important, with Biblical support.  An hour later Miles called us and asked if he could write a paper from the opposite perspective, also with Biblical support.  Out of curiosity, we said yes.

Sure enough, he produced a paper all about the evils of modern education, including quoting one of the GCC profs, "the honorable Dr. Jason Edwards," who had talked about how schools were designed in the Industrial Age to mass produce workers.

This was the final bit of the paper, with the Biblical support:

We're in trouble.

College students are back!

The town always feels so much more alive when the college students are back.  We love hearing the sports teams practicing with their loud music, people cheering, chants of "Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek," etc...  The decibel levels and energy levels go up around here in late August and we are all for it.

On Labor Day weekend we invited the international student group over for a cookout and it was delightful hearing the various stories the students have.  I am fully convinced these are the smartest people in town!

   

We're also happy to have more events to go to again, like concerts and coffee houses and lectures and games.  Our kids benefit so much!