update on the guys

well, the school year is started and we're also at the start of a new season of sports. evan is playing outdoor soccer this fall, while noah and drew are both doing fall baseball. taylor just started a new sport - cross country - and the boy who hasn't wanted to do any sport in years is LOVING it! we hoped this would be the thing for him - he's a great runner with lots of endurance. we'll have first games for soccer & baseball this weekend and hopefully get to check out a cross country meet soon too (although i hear they aren't too exciting, since we don't run with the runners. phew!!).

school is going well so far. drew is in the "superior" 8th grade, taylor now has all of drew's teachers from 7th grade and noah has moved up to the middle school too, now in sixth grade (which means we have all three grades covered in that school - we are all about the middle school!) ev just started the first of his two years alone in the elementary school (4th grade) and seems to be doing pretty well.

all of the boys are enjoying a little more freedom these days - walking around the village with friends after school (seems to be the substitute for my days of "going to the mall") or biking or walking to friends' homes. and, thankfully, between the 4 of them, we seem to be kept up to speed. (always helps to have taylor blurt out to drew at the dinner table "who was that girl you were walking with today?!") (yes, we're also at the age where it is dangerous to walk past the bathroom because the cologne is so strong you can't breathe!!)

anyway, as i write this, drew & taylor are at a "teen dance" while ev, noah, ed & i are preparing for a game of mexican train (dominoes). ed has been in erie all week for his new job (training in erie for three weeks - we just completed the second week...), so we're anxious to hang out with him as much as we can before monday morning (5 AM!) one more week of the training and then he's able to be home during the week with a 14 minute commute (he keeps trying to find the quickest route - maybe he wants to beat my 3 minute commute??). so far, the job is good and he's excited about it. thanks be to God for this wonderful provision!!! :)