When Anna Turned 14

Anna turned 14 this month!  Truth-be-told, she's felt all of 14 for a year already.  She is a smart, intuitive, gifted, mature girl and she makes us so, so proud.  Happy Birthday you, Anna Brown!

Gifts included a new hand-held shower head, journaling pens, fun new Sharpie markers, a pre-order of a book in a series that she loves, a mini-torch, new bedsheets, a lettering book, and a bracelet maker doohicky.  She also got to take a kayaking trip to mark the occasion.  Pics further down! From FL grandparents she got some moolah and the AL grandparents sent $14 for the occasion.  At a visit shortly after, they completed some wishlist items for her - a slingshot, a goretex raincoat, cookie dough, and some cool fidget rings.

What makes Anna an awesome birthday girl is that she makes her own birthday cakes.  HA!  This year, it was pumpkin cake ... using pumpkins from our own garden.

At youth, she wore the traditional Birthday Beard and Noah led the birthday song serenade.

 Kayaking with her friend, Lainey.  They went 9 miles down the Caney Fork.  She said this outing was her favorite birthday activity yet.  So enjoyable!

What a year this girl just finished: enduring three different surgeries, acing her first high school courses as a middle schooler and now as a freshman holding her own, suffering multiple pet deaths and another round of family drama courtesy of her brother that has taken a toll on her heart, scooting all over town without parents thanks to that same new driving brother, starting babysitting, growing in her art skills and poetry writing, getting into trying animation, designing our Sweet Rock Flock logo, joining up in a high school bible study, and taking a trip out of state for church camp.  She's still as passionate about her pets as ever and she's really branching out style-wise in terms of hair and clothes and her bedroom.  She's killing it in school GPA-wise and there's hardly a week that goes by that some youth worker or the youth pastor himself doesn't stop me to tell me how much they think of that Annagirl.  She knows her own mind and she is comfortable enough there to stick with it and the still small voice of the Lord rather than follow the crowd.  May she always live with such freeing conviction.  She's become quite the little social butterfly of late, hanging out with so many different girlfriends on any given day.  Her closest friend is Addie, but her other faves include Lainey, Lacey, Josie, Mallory, Ava, Kate, another Kate, Lexi and her sister, Addi.  We thank the Lord for the gift of these dear friendships in her life.  For her birthday, would you pray that she would continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord in this and coming years of teenage life?  Thank you so much!  

Anna, my love, you are a light.  You delight.  You are just right.  I like you so much and I love you to pieces.  You are the neatest little spirit!  Getting to walk beside you all these years is pure joy and I humbly thank the Lord for this gift.  Keep on doing you, Baby Girl!  Proud of you.  Happy Birthday again!

Love, Mom

September's Stuff

 Harvesting things that feel like fall! 

And enjoying the first fire in Josh's second fire pit down at the bottom of the property.

Adorable friendships from second grade.

 Confessions of the heart a la Lasa ...

Just a random shot of a really cool mileage milestone for the Highlander.  HA!

This girl learned to play chess this month and took to it so quickly.  Impressed with her!

Cat pic.  Can't help it.

Another Bunco sesh.  Didn't win a dime.

Season's first campout.  Spot the tent way down there... 

This poor puppy came home sick from school and had to miss the next day.  She bounced right back after that.  Glad!  Speaking of poor puppies, Anna had another wisdom teeth surgery and got good and swollen and tight in the jaw.  We didn't think to take any pics this go round...

A weekend of campouts ...  One night, our friends, the Ferrells, joined us for smores.

Pickleball, apple slushies (twice!), park, fairy houses, and skating on a weekend Noah was grounded and therefore home and available to us.  Ha! (Speaking of Noah, pray for him and us.  He's going through a hard time and it just takes a toll on us all as we work through things.)

Annagirl had a birthday - number 14!  She is alllll of 14 and I love her at this stage.

Anna picked kayaking for her birthday outing this year ... 9 miles down the Caney Fork with her friend, Lainey.  She said it was "so enjoyable" and her favorite birthday thing to date!  She was reallllllllly sore afterward though.  It was pretty funny.  She said it hurt to even squeeze the shampoo bottle.  Ha!

We continue to deliver 5-6 dozen eggs to friends at church each week.  Anna is in charge of getting them where they go.  She gets the money for them, too, and is learning to manage those profits and invest them back into the chickens as she goes.

We started this girl in her own bible study at night - learning the chatechism.  She is all about it.  It's a song format thing that we did with Noah and Anna forever ago.  She is also enjoying her bedtime read-aloud of Harry Potter, the second book now, and a book about prayer.

All the pumpkiny things have been made around here, including Anna's choice for birthday cake.

Anna also had her top wisdom teeth removed this month plus a little cutting of some gums for a sluggish 12 year molar on the bottom.  She came through the surgery with ease, though the swelling and soreness was much more pronounced this time compared to the last time in January for the bottom two wisdom teeth.  I took this shot of her at the follow up appt a week or so later.  I just thought she looked so lovely sitting there working on math in the waiting room.

I miss my screened porch from 167 Wimbledon Ct so bad.  I have had to settle for this goofy looking thing on the front door.  It ain't pretty, but it works.  It will surely rip the paint off whenever we decide to take it down though.  Sigh.

These cats. I still can't believe we have cats.  Finnick is the fave of the two.  He is very snuggly and he comes when we call.

Close encounters with critters on any given day ... this turkey, that deer, and our second annual giant fall spider ... right outside our porch.  Last month, it was a little skunk who seemed very confused.  And this morning, 5 turkeys for a visit.

Just some buds the kiddos love to spend time with.  Mason and Maddy have met up with Noah and Anna a couple times to bowl and/or eat out this month.  They are new to the youth group, they also homeschool, and live really nearby.  Noah's also met up with another friend, Jackson, for some pickleball too.  He's gone to pizza and walked the square with a youth leader, Alan.  Noah would have social events every night of the week if we'd let him.

Anna and some dearheart girlfriends from church.  Anna is wearing the birthday beard which is a youth group tradition for those whose birthdays fall on a Sunday. 😆

As for me, I did a little side job working for a friend who has a local organizing business one day this month.  It was just a few hours, but I loved the work and the extra moolah it brings.  It is MUCH needed.  So I am excited to have three more days of work booked with her next month already, too! Josh did an extra job for a neighboring school district and an extra job for the preschool childcare in his own district and that extra money has saved us this month as well .... helping to cover Anna's surgery and some upcoming counseling for Noah and a new woodstove we need for winter.  Thank you, Lord, for this provision.  Did I tell y'all Josh is going to try to add a second job onto his work days?  Driving a bus in his district.  Stay tuned!