a wee bit crazy

As usual for the beginning of the semester, things are just a wee bit crazy around here. There is barely a down moment. The days fly by. The weeks go even faster. I'm pretty sure Ben (for sure) and I (more recently) could've earned an honorary counseling degree. High School Kids. College Leaders. Freshmen in college getting a grip. Parents. Sometimes it is 100% overwhelming. But by the grace of God we keep going and God moves more and we get to be part of it. 

Anyways, some pictures from the past couple of weeks. 

At a recent visit to the Underdonk's, Ellie taught Ted how to play chess. 

The very next morning at the first WVU game of the season (I'm working on 4 weeks behind here), we tailgated together. What's a tailgate without chess? Nothing I tell you. Nothing.

This summer, Paul Millard's sweet wife, Laura, babysat my kids 3 days a week.  She is one of our Young Life College leaders, too. Ted got to spend some time with Paul and even got an autograph on his hat. It's been fun to cheer for him whether he does well or not. He's a good, good guy!

Ellie & Ted

A very generous business man in Morgantown gave us an entire parking lot for every WVU game. We sell the spots and keep the money for Young Life. It's an incredible gift. Who should pull in the first week but my brother, Jay, and my nephew, Trey. Ted loves Trey so much so it was a fun surprise. Totally random that they've parked there in the past and had no idea we would be there.

Ellie & Sophie

Labor Day we had our Funday Monday Finale. We played family football at the Lair. Sophie was all time center. Ben was all time quarterback. It was a good (and hot) day.

Topped off with a late lunch at Dairy Queen. Lunch being ice cream only.

 

Cousin Henry joined the family at the end of August. The kids have face timed a couple of times to meet him. They're not super thrilled because he doesn't do a whole lot yet. Andy still has to do all the entertaining.

I got to meet Henry a little over a week ago. Sweet baby!

Buster also poses for pictures and I hated to leave him out.

The weather was beautiful last week. We've done lots of homework and reading on the back porch. The best kind of reading is when Ted reads to Sophie and we count it as a 2-for-1 homework.

Ted is playing flag football this season. Ben is the assistant coach. They got cruuuuuushed the first game and beaten by a fair amount the two after that. Kids didn't care. Coaches (Ken & Ben) do. You would've thought they lost the Super Bowl that week. Between the Steelers, the Mountaineers and Ted's flag football team (also the Steelers), it's going to be a long, dare I say painful, season.

And we've already had our first football injury.

This board has been Sophie's ongoing project since Gary Pap redid the front room in May. It started when he let her paint her name on it. Then she used sharpie to write all over it. Then sharpie to color it all. Now she's adding stickers. It's quite the masterpiece.

Sundays nights are for leadership and first year. We outgrew the space we've used for the past 3 years. Now we're meeting at the church where Ben has his office.

These people are pretty amazing. College students choosing to invest in the lives of others.