We left the house at 5:32 Saturday morning to drop Noah off for …

The Big Backpacking Trek of 2012.

Happy Mother Moment #1…

On his last night home he barreled into the living room, slapped something down hard on the table and said, “Can’t forget this.. it’s my most important thing!”

It was his Bible.

Happy Mother Moment #2…

In the final moments before the troop left, a group of us mothers went to the van for a last goodbye. After lots of Bye-Mom’s, several I’ll-Be-Fine-Mom’s and not a few eye roll’s we closed the van doors and walked a ways back to a good vantage point for waving.  A second later I hear the van door open and see my boy sauntering towards me. He gives me a hug, a pat on the back, says “Good-bye Shortie!”  and then he hops back onto the van.

“That Noah’s a good kid,” says the troop leader.

Real Mother Moment #1…

Came home to discover a pile of items that had been removed from his backpack since they were reportedly “non-essential items.” Among them were his extra flashlight, a small collapsible shovel, the ziplock baggies full of carrots I made up for his snack,

and several pairs of clean underwear.

oh my.

Noah has taken to mowing lawns. Last year he spent every single Friday morning mowing the big field behind the church. This year someone else has volunteered to do it as well, and it’s crampin’ his style just a bit. He only gets to mow at church on alternate Fridays this year.

Noah says the best thing about mowing the church lawn is that he doesn’t get paid for it.

I really do love that boy.

Noah came barrelling downstairs this morning.
“They said we were gonna get a sugar dusting of snow today, but I’d say this storm is the icing on the cake!”

Get it? … the icing on the cake. Icing. Cake.

That kid. Sometimes he cracks me up.

Help me out girls… I need some scripture verses pertaining to cheerful obedience, and I need ‘em right snappy-like.

And I’ll bet dollars to donuts all of the other homeschooling mamas out there know precisely why I need ‘em. Snappy-like.

After a couple of weeks with no new snow to speak of, Noah was thrilled to see the flakes start falling last night. So thrilled in fact that he pulled his coat and hat on over his pajamas soze to get in a few licks of shoveling before bed.

He wanted to get a head start on the morning, dontcha know..

Noah’s been getting up early lately.

He rolls out of bed around five and comes downstairs to get dressed by the warmth of the heating vent in the front hall. He likes to have a cup of cocoa all steamy hot and waiting for him. Sometimes he’s so tired that he falls asleep midway through the process, but he wakes himself up.

First he shovels out our walks and driveways with the big scoop shovel. Then he goes back and cleans up the sides with the regular one.

Then he goes across the street and shovels out Jen’s house. She has a bad hip and he doesn’t want her to have to walk through the deep snow when she gets home from her stint on the night shift. Next comes Dave and Heidi’s house. Dave has to be on the road for his job by 6:45. Then he hits Teacher Sherri’s house and then makes sure the next door neighbors’ driveway is clear.

He’s soaked through and his nose is drippy. His hands are freezing cold and he’s hungry.

But a plateful of hot food prepared to his exacting standards (Eggs- overcooked. Bacon- extra crispy.) soon puts everything to rights. Good humor is restored.

Noah started doing this because- in his own words- he “likes to be a good neighbor and besides, he likes the exercise.” And for several weeks he has gotten up and out every morning with no more reward than an occasional thanks and a good feeling. But then the other day Heidi came over with a ten dollar bill in hand and insisted he take it. The day after that the next door neighbors pressed a few bills on him and then Teacher Sherri offered to pay him all winter if he wanted to keep shoveling that long. He did.

So now he’s got himself a little business going and he feels like quite the man. He gets up every morning when it’s still dark and gets right to work. He has to. It’s his job.

And everybody’s depending on him.