September

Chase arrives at the Boston Mission home. Here he is with President and Sister Evans.






Rayne turns 21!! For her birthday dinner she chose poor boy sandwiches and the best dessert this side of heaven, sticky toffee pudding. Deeee-licious.



Isaiah bought her a gorgeous necklace for her birthday. He is getting really good at gift giving!



The kitties are getting bigger all the time--and are still so adorable!









We went to Sea Cliff beach this month. I really think that my favorite times at the beach are during the Fall and Winter. The tide was very far in, further than I've ever seen it. It washed over all the beach where we usually sit and even chased us back within a few feet of the back fence. It washed over the rise in the middle of the beach and created a river of sorts right in front of us. Totally cool. The kids spent more time in that "river" than they did in the actual ocean. They rode the boogie board down the river until the ranger stopped them, warning them that they might hit the poles of the pier....seemed unlikely, but we are compliant people, so they stopped the boogie board rides.





Towards the end of our day at the beach, a seal came out of the ocean and onto the sand. He just stayed there! People would come up to him and take photos and just hang around and he was very mellow. I guess he's used to people!


















When we returned home from the beach, Scott, James and Vincent (nephews) were allowed to spend a few days with us. That evening they played some sort of murder detective game. Vincent is the bloody victim. Gory, isn't he?

In other news, Isaiah got his second class AND first class ranks in boy scouts. He also earned several merit badges. He's set a goal to get his Eagle WAY before his brother did. And that shouldn't be too terribly difficult since Chase got those Eagle papers in the day before his 18th birthday.

It's been a quiet and nice month. We miss Chase a lot. Letters are so different from face-to-face contact. Of course. It's fun to hear his voice in the e-mails, though, and he does sound quite happy. And we're so proud of him!