We are in the swing of summer now.  The school year ended with not much hoopla.  We just sort of . . . ended.  The little chickens are getting bigger and I think by August 1st we will be able to move them to the coop with the others.  We have officially ended our baseball season.  Last night was round two of Zach's baseball team championship games.  We lost to a very good team.  They had all very good hitters and very good runners.  It was a very nice season as the coaches were all very nice and not over zealous to live vicariously through their boys.  There was cheering and all that, but not to the point of making it drudgery to go to a game.  Our coach is a youth pastor at a local Alliance church which was neat.  Then last night we found out he is going on a mission trip and his group of kids are leaving Saturday.  Well, funny thing is, he is going on the same mission trip Rodger and Josh are leaving for on Friday.  They are going to Trujillo, Peru.  They will be gone till the 16th of July.  There are about 160 people going on this trip.  It is a district wide youth trip to Peru.  I am excited for them and especially for Josh because it will be a wonderful opportunity for him to see another country and the poverty that is prevelant in so many places (not that I am happy others are living in poverty, but to see what others go through will hopefully grow a heart of compassion in him). 

I have missed out on my blog, but I have sort of taken a break from it for the summer.  Since I am not making money off of this thing, I don't feel so pressured to keep it going full tilt.  We just are so active and I forget I haven't been here and then "poof", where did that whole month go?

One of our ducks thinks she is going to hatch an egg or two.  She is sitting down on her nest all the time.  I am thinking that we will not have any chicks.  This is the year they are to prove their worth.  According to the books I have read the ducks LOVE to eat japanese beetles.  I'm hoping so because we have quite a few of those buggers floating around our property.  They start to eat all the garden foods and then they go for the fruit trees and then the bushes and so it goes.  

We just picked 1 1/3 gallons of black raspberries this morning.  I am going to make jam out of these and then with all the other bounty we get we will make cobblers and freeze them.  It was our first pick of the season.  One little funny moment from this morning was when Sophie had her bucket almost full and she tripped over a log and fell a little.  What do you think came out of my mouth first?  Was it, "are you o.k.?"  NO.  Was it, "did you hurt your foot/leg/face?"  Nope.  It was more along the lines of, "did you save the berries?"  Yep.  I am shamefull.  Hey, this season only comes once a year.   One does what one must do.

On another note, some books I am reading/have read lately.  Uncle Tom's Cabin has been finished.  Highly recommend it if you have not read it.

Reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  Good book worth a read.

Reading "Saddam's Secrets"  by Gen. Georges Sada.  He was a very close person in Saddam's regime.  Mr. Sada just spoke at our church this past week and he shared lots of neat things concerning the wars and being under such a dictator.  Again, highly recommend it.

So there is our summer in a nutshell so far.  I am sure I am missing something though.  Maybe that will give me something to write about.  I hope you all are doing well and hopefully I will be able to get around to your sites here soon.

Most sincerely, Tammy