The rest of the week's updates.

Faith's volleyball season is almost over, and she has come a long way. Having never really played volleyball before, she had to start from the ground up. One of the things she really had to get comfortable with was serving. The first several games her serves never made it over the net, and despite her efforts to be a good sport about it you could often see the disappointment etched on her face. But she has been practicing, and has finally become almost one with the ball on her serves. Last week it was her turn to serve during the last volley, which left earning the game point up to her. I could read the nervousness in her demeanor, but when that ball sailed over the net, and her team got that final point, she just lit up. Her teammates swarmed her, and I was just so happy for her. I didn't have any pictures of that, but I made sure the camera was ready for the next game.

She began the game by serving first for her team, and proceeded to serve five points in a row. It was a bright, shining moment for her. You go girl!



They ended up winning that set of games, and here they are cheering afterwards.

After the game I took the girls to McDonalds so Faith could redeem her free ice cream cone pass.
I think this will end up being the last bowl of salsa from my garden. It is a variety of bell peppers, Anaheim peppers, Big Boy tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, and jalapenos.The tomatoes seem to be done, although I still have about a hundred jalapenos and peppers out there. I will probably end up dehydrating those for future chilis.

There is a baby hamburger in the next door pasture who likes to come over and play in our tall grass. Yes, our back yard is calf-high again. All the rain this year had our acreage growing faster than we could deal with it with one little riding mower and both of us working. Therefore, we are growing majestic hills of hay, and are not really sure what we will end up doing with it. Our neighbors all have so much hay already that they don't need ours. Maybe this little guy will corrupt enough of his herd-mates into breaking through the fencelines to come chow down on it.
My friend Roberta calls this a Willy Worm. I assumed it was a caterpillar of some sort, but I really am not sure. They keep hanging out on our doorstep for some reason. Do you see its knife-ish mouth on the right side? I really hope that thing is just for cutting leaves, but I am not willing to let one crawl on my hands to find out if it is carnivorous.

Oh yes, I need to update you on Chet's run for Student Council. I am terribly sad to report that he was defeated. By one vote. That isn't the biggest kicker, though. He lost by one vote, but he didn't vote for himself. He says he thinks it is selfish to vote for himself. I was flabbergasted, and yet so proud of him for deciding what his own honor code is and sticking with it, even though it really did cost him this time. I told you he would be a good candidate for Congressional reform!

The kids and I are on our own this weekend. Jack and our friend Nathan have gone on an Emmaus Walk and will be back on Sunday. I don't know how I didn't notice Kevin giving Jack bunny ears when I took this. Jack and Kevin are both six feet tall, but they sure look short next to Donnie and Nathan, don't they?

I have one more story to share, then I am going to finish up the housework, chase the kids to bed, and relish being able to stay up all night and scrap. Kyle brought home a note from the nurse. (I will scan it on Monday and post it here.)Did he have a fever, you ask? No. He wasn't coughing, didn't have a headache, and wasn't in any pain. What caused him such distress that he was sent to the nurse's office? I quote...the "stomach" box is checked, and in the notes it says "shirt on backwards, said it was choking him." Do you think the nurse had a straight face as she wrote this?