Decade of Parenting

Well, there's something about your child hitting double digits that makes you wonder where the last 10 years went. With more ups than downs, we feel extremely blessed! Thank you for the cards, gifts, and phone calls. Enjoy the following pictures...Nana, the white star wars lego ship is what you got Easton. He spent 3 and half hours straight on it and got it done. Everything you see below we did on his day + a trip to a driving range and playground. He also got to see National Treasure 2 after church.

Marcie (Babe)

Point well taken Dad!! We need to give a little Marcie time to all of those who read this blog. As you see above, she is a Babe, and that is what I call her most of the time!! In the picture with Marcie are two of her neices (Alli Kate and Becca). It's sweet how much her nieces love to see her and she gets a little taste of what it may have been like...you just never know as God could overcome my exclusive V-club membership and do whatever He wants to do. That's what it would take for us to get a little girl or God would have to convict our hearts to adopt a little female angel.

Marcie is working very hard with homeschooling, keeping the house up to her standards (with a little help from her boys of course), making time with God, and putting up with Stocky Stracke...me! Being a teacher of two different grades simultaneously is tough enough when you have two other boys wanting your attention and getting into everything. If it wasn't for Math, homeschooling would be much easier...Easton has the ability but has days he would rather be doing anything but the math set before him. I've told him that I enjoyed math, I just despised the Algebra and Geometry...ugghhh! I'm very proud of Marcie for what she does on a daily basis and is actually joyful and excited to see me when I get home from work. Without being cheesy, there are a lot of things she does on a daily basis that are beyond what is deserved or merited on my part.

So, here's to you Marcie and women like you...I don't know how you do it and get it done with so much Joy and dependence on Him! Thank you for teaching my boys about the Trinity and all the academic stuff too. I love you Marcie...and as Grandma Stracke says...I better not mess this one up. Your children are rising up and calling you blessed!

Todd

Random Shots...

Here are a couple of random photos of late. I will start with one of my favorites of Owen in his Bama Jams. Just a little bit of difference in air off the ramp between Easton and Andrew. Isaac (Obi Wan Kenobi) with his one-eyed friend Casey. He literally had one eye shut in all of the pictures we took...pretty funny.

It's your Birthday...Get busy...

We had a great day celebrating Isaac's 8th Birthday as Marcie always does a good job of spreading the "wealth" of gifts throughout the day. I'll give you a little photo tour of some of the things we did. Bass Pro and the driving range won't make it as I didn't take the camera with me...

Yep, Owen still loves the boots baby...aren't they cute at the park?

The bike ramp was a lot of fun...
Isaac picked out the mellow yellow and wanted to drink it like his Dad does...sorry about the manners he's learning nana!

A little Red Robin tasted good to the soul...
Isaac was excited to watch Star Wars for the first time...
A great way to end the night with Marcie's fresh stove popcorn and watching little Annakin Skywalker growing up in Star Wars I!! Isaac got a number of gifts that didn't get represented here but I hope you enjoyed a snapshot of his day. He got to have a friend spend the night Friday as we continued the celebration and watched II & IV...may the force be with you!

Pumpkin Patch

We traveled up I65 to Clanton, Alabama to a big farm that had all sorts of activities to go along with a hay ride and picking your pumpkin out of an actual pumpkin patch. We had a lot of fun with the boys as I'm enjoying having an actual day off on Friday's with the family.

Below are some of the other attractions involving a Tee Pee and sunflowers...

Snake handling

I know what you're thinking, was this a part of a worship service?? Ha! This is just boys being boys out at Grandma and Big Daddy's land. This is a good snake as it's a big rat snake that eats rodents and keeps copperhead snakes away. The boys saw it and Big Daddy caught it. They each took a turn holding it and I passed this time on holding it.

The snake ended up being a good teaching opportunity as Isaac had wanted to hold the snake all day long but was fighting fear. This happened to be on the day I was teaching at Harding lectureship. As soon as I got back at about 5:30, Isaac immediately overcame his fear and started holding it. If you look closely it was wrapping itself around his arm above and his leg below but he continued to smile as he was so proud.

They were very careful the whole time with the snake and eventually let it go and went about catching lizards, frogs, turtles, and spiders. Plenty to do on the 180 acres! Mom, aren't you glad they did this 2 days before you arrived!!

Easton's 2nd Rite of Passage (Jasper, Ark.)

We were blessed to spend some time at Ponca campground on the "Little" Buffalo River near Jasper, Arkansas. The weather was beautiful and got down around 50 degrees Thursday night. We had to pack quickly on Saturday morning as rain and thunder were approaching. The following pictures include the beautiful campground area with the scenic river pictures/me and Easton in front of our tent with his new pocket knife that he found out was very sharp after cutting his fingers twice/our caving excursion that we rappelled into through a small opening 25 feet down. We then climbed and crawled almost 1,500 feet to the back through little waterfalls, bats, etc. It was so much fun and we spent the weekend talking about courage and faith.

The river photos show how clear the water is and we actually snorkeled and swam with the smallmouth bass. The water is actually 6 to 8 feet deep in the shots next to the rock facing. Look closely to see the elk we spotted from the road. Thanks again Dad for going and doing more than you thought you could do. Be blessed everyone and more pictures are coming soon of "Snake Handling" and pumpkin patches. Todd