Team Tully: The Headlines

I know I say this all the time but "time flies". It is almost Halloween!!! I feel like the first day of school was just yesterday! As I sit here at my computer on a finally fall day I am just stunned by the passage of time and the changing of seasons - both in an Earth revolution sense and in a human spirit sense. These last two months have been full...full of thanksgiving and change and awareness. The good life. I have very few pictures (well, relatively!) to share but I have put together a few of the headlines from these past couple of weeks:

1. Hurricane Matthew! We hosted the most amazing refugees for a whole week! They were gracious and helpful and kind and generous. Ima and Sheshy joined us as we hosted Refugee Camp. Hurricane Matthew was not kind to their island and they were mandated to evacuate and we were thrilled that we could provide them with a safe place to be to ride out the storm. Matthew hit the island as a Category 2 hurricane and it left very little unscathed. I and S's house was structurally sound and in the grand scheme of things spending days on end removing fallen trees and debris from their property, doing without electricity, water, and sewer meant that they were lucky. I am told that the pictures do not do it justice. But this little island is full of strength and good people and they will soon be back on their feet welcoming droves and droves of people to an island slice of heaven.

Luke reading to Ima and Shesh and Jasper - refugee camp nightly activity :-)

He is smiling. He is smiling while there is a gigantic tree across their driveway and pounds and pounds of debris and limbs to move. My parents - grateful to be home and healthy and able - to not only clean up their property but to spend hours and hours helping neighbors and friends. Leading by example...as always. Love.

2. Fall Festivals are the best! This time of year is my favorite and fall festivals just make me happy. They are simple and fun! Just gather a bunch of pumpkins, some apples, and some friends and life is good! While L and I were enjoying a history and food walking tour of our capital city (should be a headline of its own but it was AWESOME and such a fun date night!) the amazing and wonderful Drayton family spent their Saturday night with Luke. He had a blast and we are so thankful for such fantastic friends!

We also went to a fall festival at our beloved farm stand. These people have become friends of mine and we shop there weekly. They have taught me how to best make spaghetti squash, how to do something with okra besides frying it, and they even text me when kale comes in! A family run business that we adore. Such good people.

FRESH apple juice

3. School Fun and School Service! The school year seems to be the busiest at the beginning and at the end. Luke is having an awesome year and I have become a little more involved beyond my weekly book stacking duties and book fair planning. A friend ( a dear friend whose name rhymes with LaDawn) asked me to help her out with the Box Top program at the school. I said yes, because she is my friend, not because I know anything about box tops. In fact, the irony of me being in charge of the Box Top program still makes me laugh. I buy very few name brand items so I have very few box tops to actually contribute but I can count and so the two of us are ruling the Box Top world. We just had the first collection and she and I (and Ima and Shesh - lucky for them box top counting was part of refugee camp) counted well over 10,000 box tops. :-) So school life is active for both me and Luke. I love being able to be a part of his education and his school. It matters to me.

Sweet Luke at his school Fun Run fundraising even! Go, Luke - he ran over 2 miles!

4. Soccer Season! Luke requested to play soccer again for the fall season. He is part of a wonderful team full of fun and funny boys and he has a coach that is enthusiastic and kind and respected. He is having lots of fun and L and I love to watch him play and be a part of a team.

Pre-game huddle

5. Friends! I continue to watch our neighbors every other week after school. We love it and it fills our afternoons with noise and laughter and games and wildness. Awesome! We are often the house to come to and most afternoon we have 8 kids in the backyard. I love it! We also just recently had a neighborhood block party that was super successful and such a great way to spend more time with old neighbors and get to know and welcome the new neighbors. It was a great turnout and the adults chatted while the kids played for over 3 hours. Simplicity at its finest....we rolled out two grills and it was a "bring your own protein, bring your own drinks, and bring a dish to share." It was fantastic and a perfect way to spend a Sunday evening. We have also made it a point to get together with friends that we don't see as regularly, who don't live in the neighborhood, and who Luke doesn't have class with anymore.