I'm glad that so many of you enjoyed the photos!  :-)

This week the children have been learning about one of the sadder aspects of country living.  Something has been successfully attacking our chickens and we've gone from 13 to 10 in the last few days.  The one found dead this morning was named Golden Nugget and was like Thomas' baby.  We'd had her since she was a gangly bigger chick and he dearly loved her.  Yes, I know we're talking about a chicken, but children can bond to about any kind of animal.  Anyway, he loved carrying her around in his arms, sitting at the picnic table holding her and petting her, and even bringing her into our enclosed porch to sit on the wicker couch and love on her.  She adored him, too.  He went out this morning to feed them and gather eggs and found her body ripped in two right inside the chicken coop.  :-(  He came in all shaken up and has been sad since then.  

We're in the midst of a bunch of doctor appointments right now.  Last week we had Naomi Ruth, Susanna, and Benjamin's well child check-ups.  Miriam had hers this past Tuesday.  She's now 41lb (69%) and 44 inches (90%).  Everything looked good with her.  One question our doctor asked me took me a little off guard, though.  She asked, "How is everything going with her autism?"  I told her at first that I wasn't sure how to answer that and then thought a bit more and finally said, "About how you'd expect with autism."  That seemed to satisfy her.  I'm not sure what she was looking for.  Today I brought Thomas (87lb) and Rebekah (50lb) in for their appointments.  Just out of curiosity, I had Hannah weighed, too.  She and Rebekah have been the same weight or super close since they were tiny.  Hannah also weighed 50lb.  :-D  Anyway, this was for plantar warts.  I'd tried all kinds of natural remedies and over the counter stuff, too.  Well, she checked them out and said that they were out of her league.  We're now seeing a podiatrist next Wednesday to remove them.  Lovely!  At least the feet should be healed and in good shape for Christmas vacation.  We are heading out on the road for Texas on Dec. 22nd.

Last night the children had another practice for their Christmas play.  The big performance is this coming Sunday.  Hannah has now become one of the African dancers and she's just thrilled about it.  :-D  This evening, I'll be dropping Sarah and Hannah off at the church to practice the African dance routine and then heading with Benjamin to a Christmas party with my Bible study group.  Aaron will pick them up when it is over.

Here at home, they've been busy creating and practicing their own Christmas play.  Sarah is Mary, Samuel is Joseph, and Benjamin is Baby Jesus.  Thomas and Stephen are the wise men and Susanna is the wise woman.  :-D  Hannah is a shepherd, Miriam is an angel, Naomi Ruth is the inn keeper and Rebekah is the inn keeper's daughter.  We have enough children for our own production.  :-D  Once they are ready for the big production, I'll take photos of them and share here.

I view life skills as a very important part of our homeschooling.  This week I've been teaching Thomas (11) and Naomi Ruth (10) how to make bread from scratch.  They both think its really neat and we're all enjoying the fruit of their labor!  Naomi Ruth has even learned now how to grind up the wheat using our electric mill.  Talk about yummy and healthy!!!

Love, Dawn