September, in part...

 September! Oh glorious September!! You have been so, so good and full of beauty! 

What a kick-off to the month to be in one of our favorite places, Acadia National Park in Maine. Now that is a glorious place in itself. Raw beauty and wonder that makes my heart sing. A week spent hiking and climbing rocks and traversing the beautiful terrain. Having no obligations other than to eat, sleep, and do whatever we pleased. I do miss waking in the morning before everyone else, pouring a cup of coffee and enjoying my Bible reading in complete solitude with only the birds in the trees to accompany me. 

And then it was so good to return to our cozy little home here in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania. It's always so good to go away, but it's also just as nice to come home. Home to the familiar and the routine, invigorated and ready to conquer the world one laundry basket and school lesson at a time.

We came home and had two days to gear up for the new school year. I had done all of the major prepping before we had left, so I just had a few ends to tidy up for our start. And then I had major first-day-of-school jitters, more than I've ever had before. Gosh, I felt like I was back in school myself. I think it was just all the emotions bundled up and tied tight. I'm telling you, homeschooling is not easy. It's no small thing to feel the weight of your children's educations on your shoulders. Normally I'm pretty good with shrugging that off and going with the flow, but, boy, this year has been a bit different. Perhaps it's because Ian is in seventh grade, and I feel like we need to step up the game a bit more. (And perhaps I, like every other homeschool mom, am just hard on myself and want to try my darndest not to screw my children up.) 

Whatever the reason, the first day came and went, and fairly smoothly at that. So now we're in our second week and trying to find a rhythm that will fit our family this year. That will come. It always does.

In the midst of all of this, Ian turned thirteen! Another teenager. We celebrated in a low-key way, per his request, with a campfire and cookout for the five of us followed by a game of Settlers of Catan. I made key lime pie, also per the birthday boy's request, which was quite yummy and vegan and gluten free to boot. It was a great, simple celebration. We have Sergei's coming up the end of this month. He's going to be twenty! What?! Really? Twenty?

And this morning was the perfect autumn morning. There was a slight crispness in the air that was just enough to warrant some of my handmade woolens being put to use when I went out to tend to the animals. Just a hat and scarf. And then it warmed up to around eighty which was marvelous. And the sun was out! Yes, these days of yours, September, have been stunning!