Trunk or Treat

Tim was Yoda, Christopher was General Grievous (a Star Wars character), John was Darth Vader, and Anna was a butterfly. The boys tried to get Anna to go with their Star Wars theme, but she would have none of it. Way to hold your ground, Anna Jean!
In the picture below, Tim and I were tickled by how the sun came down through the clouds on his head, just like in Dagobah! (You have to be a real Star Wars geek to understand what I'm talking about.)

Jeff Smith did hayrides around the church property.

People were actually asking to have their pictures taken with Yoda.

We had well over 400 people at Trunk or Treat this year! There were so many people, infact, that we could not get an exact count. When it came time to line-up for the trunks, people were wrapped around the building. Praise the Lord!

Caraline Klick and Anna.

Tim and OB1 (Mike Cooley).

Al and Janice Adams.

Below, Anna and her friend Emma.

A new trend at this year's TOT was people bringing their dogs. Below was Palin, who belongs to (our very politically conservative friends) the Cherrys. Palin is dressed-up like the Little Mermaid. True story: During Trunk or Treat, Palin actually chewed through her leash and ate her tiara!

My favorite costumes of the evening belonged to Dorothy and the Good Witch, with real-live dog Toto.

John with his friends Bryson and Josiah Robinette, below. Kaylee and Jenna Davis, the boys' friends from school joined us.

OB1 couldn't help himself from fighting Darth Vader in our yard.

Andrew, Stacy, and Ayden Graham.

WINNING!!!

After winning the 4th grade spell-off at his school, Christopher went-on to beat the 5th and 6th graders and became the 2011 Milford Christian Academy Spelling Champion!

We are so proud of you, Christopher!!!

We met Christopher at dismissal after school with a bunch of balloons that said "Congratulations" and "You are awesome," and then we let him pick any restaurant (ooh! restaurant is one of his spelling words!) where he wanted to celebrate. He chose the Olive Garden, where he opted to forego spaghetti (ooh! spaghetti was one of his spelling words!) to have pizza.

Christopher said that Friday was the happiest day of his life.

So now we're learning the same words the National Spelling Bee kids learn (the process goes State Bee, Regional Bee, and then National Bee). Here are a few of our favorites:

sukiyaki

megalopolis

homogeneous

mahal

fastidious

obsequious

eiderdown

koholrabi

inselberg

pitchblende

realschule

jeremiad

Panglossian

asthmogenic

contrapuntal

Two things make it hard to study these words with Christopher: (A) I don't know how to pronounce most of them, and (B) I have no idea what they mean. Even with a mom who used to be an English teacher, the big-time spelling bees are a challenge!

Can I have a definition for that word? Can you use it in a sentence, please?

PRAISES!

• Both of my boys were finalists at their school for the big school spelling bee tomorrow! The top 5 spellers in each class wil compete tomorrow for a chance to go to the BCA multi-school spell-off. Good luck John and Christopher!!!




• Jeff Smith had a staggering 16 first-time visitors in youth group at our church Wednesday night: praise the Lord! Most of those teens had never been to church before, and we were so glad to have them.

Thanks to the Berean Spirit class for inviting our family to their yearly Harvest Party/bonfire at the Thornberrys' house. Mrs. Thornberry was so gracious (and courageous) that after we ate, she turned her dining room into a pumpkin carving station for all the kids. They had a blast! And thankfully, after it was over, I didn't have to clean-up the mess!

Anna said she wanted to carve an "angry pumpkin," and I think she got her wish. I asked her to make a face like her pumpkin, and this is what she came-up with.

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace/Boyhood Home

Just past the border of Kentucky and Ohio, in Elizabethtown, KY, there lies a great pair of historical sites that recognize the childhood and boyhood of Abraham Lincoln. We saw the sites on a sunny, crisp autumn afternoon, and I would recommend them to anyone traveling through the area.

Tim and I were really surprised to find the Lincoln family Bible in the birthplace musem: we would have expected that Bible to have been in the Library of Congress! This was a bronze statue of Abraham's family that portrays his father, mother, older sister Sarah, and Abraham as a baby.

Below, this was the actual well where the Lincoln family drew their water.

The outside of the Lincoln Boyhood home area was absolutely beautiful. It was amazing to me that no one had developed on it all these years.

John and Anna threw rocks into the creek behind Lincoln's boyhood home. In this very creek, when Abraham was around Christopher's age, he almost drowned once when the creek was high and he and his best friend were trying to cross it. Neither boy could swim, so the friend reached Lincoln a a branch and pulled him back on land. Who would have thought that friend was saving the life of the greatest President the US would ever know?

Above, the beautiful memorial at the Lincoln birthplace. Below, a replica cabin at the Lincoln boyhood home similar to the one the Lincolns lived in.

These are the very fields were Lincoln and his father farmed. They raised corn and pumpkins.