can't deny it any longer

Baby feet are one of my favorite things in the whole world. They're shapeless, funkless, with kissable little toes. The little tootsies in this picture are my niece's baby feet, sprinkled with the cutest possible touch of sand. How sweet are those feet!

These feet here? I promise they were baby feet just a few months ago. They are my favorite little feet in the whole world. When we were in China, and for a while after we came home, homesickness and separation hit the little prince hard, and when he WOULD NOT let Mama or Baba hold him, the one point of contact he would allow me was to hold one little foot. I held on, hoping that one little gesture told him we loved him even if we weren't much comfort yet. He still will slide one foot into my hand when we snuggle, scrunching his little toes. And of course the funniest joke in the world is for him to trick me into smelling his "stinky" feet.

But clearly, something has changed. The picture hints at it, but even then, I could deny it was happening. No more. The shapelessness has resolved itself into an arch, the sweet little stubby toes have begun to get longer and longer, and there's clearly a ball and a heel. A heel, people! No sweet little blobby foot anymore-it's irrefutably a Little Boy Foot, not a baby foot!

Inevitable, I know. It's still the sweetest foot, but would it have been too much to just let it stay a baby foot a little longer?! I know-if this is how I take the "passage of the foot," I'm in for a world of growing pains. And let's not get started on how I'll embarrass him. "Mom, you blogged about my feet?"

I wonder if there's still some ice cream in the freezer. Guess I'll have to tough it out. I'll be accepting condolences.

Wow-that was quick!

I can't believe it's September!

I spent August in a flurry of canning and freezing, with 16 pints of pepper relish, 10 pints and 4 quarts of pickles, 8 pints of peaches, 2 pints of figs, 15 quarts of green beans, 5 quarts of blackeyed peas, and 7 quarts of corn to show for my efforts. Putting up food is gratifying.

We also managed to squeeze our way down to SC and Florida for 10 days (sans Shane-poor man had to work!). The invitation to visit came from none other than Mrs. Murphey, from Cumberland College days. Mrs. Murphey and her late husband traveled to Israel in 1952 to establish a kibbutz. Instead, they wound up running a home for children of Arabic and Jewish descent, a subsistence garden, a church, and a school. After nearly thirty years, they returned to the States, where Mr. Murphey taught Hebrew, among other things, at Cumberland College, and Mrs. Murphey earned her Masters in Music. They took us under their capable wings when Shane and I first got married, and they carried us through some traumatic experiences.

While we were invited to visit Mrs. Murphey at her timeshare in Florida, the understanding was that she needed some help ordering the memories in her mind and the writings her husband compiled, so that she could begin the task of writing the history of the "Village" she and her husband poured so much of their lives into.

So we went! And I typed and typed and typed, and YoYo climbed Florida's tallest lighthouse and spent lots of time playing in the sand. We got to spend some great time on both ends of the trip with my sister Andrea, her hubby Tyson, and YoYo's beautiful cousin Reagan.

We also have been getting ready for school-YoYo's preschool starts next week, and I'll be teaching art there one day a week!

Oh, and we went to the Williamson County Fair with friends-and I learned my boy is fearless! He climbed aboard his first ride, a flying elephant, and I was sure he'd bail as soon as it started moving. Oh but no! He waved and cheered, and when the ride finally began to slow down and return to the ground, he kept asking, "Why is it stopping?" to the laughter of all within earshot. The three amigos enjoyed rides until 10 pm, when their esteemed parents decided that the best option was to let everyone share cotton candy on the way back to the cars. Oh what a night!