Labor Day in Marshall

The weekend after school started, we took a trip to Marshall to visit Ty's dad and stepmom and his brother Jason and his family. It is always wonderful to be outside on their land--just fishing and playing and feeding the cows! 

Jake went hunting for the first time. Ty and Pops took him with them to hunt doves, and he thought it was awesome. Mommy is getting over her hunting fears. I was definitely raised a city girl and hunting was all new to me when I married Ty. I love the bonding aspect of it--it's a family tradition for sure.

Grace had her first sleepover with her cousin, Elsie Jane. She had a wonderful time at their house dancing and being entertained by Uncle Jason and spoiled by Aunt Jolie.

Grace also caught her first fish although she might be a little more like her "city girl" Mom than her "country" Dad :) When Ty helped her reel it in, she promptly began screaming and jumping. We managed to get a picture which is a bit misleading. Other than the picture, she had nothing to do with that "yucky fish." We'll have to work on her a bit! To her credit, she does love feeding the cows…she just doesn't want to touch a fish :) 

It's always great to spend the weekend with family :)

Nonnie and Grace

Elsie Jane and Jake

Jake, EJ, and our goofy Grace

Playing outside

By the pond

Starting School

The McCathran family is officially back to school after a nice, relaxing summer. Jake started Kindergarten (sniff, sniff!) the last week of August. A month later, I can officially say that he loves it! I couldn't be more thankful for his wonderful school and the caring teachers and staff. Jake is quite the prayed over kid (thanks to the many, many people who are constantly praying for his heart), and I know it is no coincidence that school is going so well. I wrote a blog post for It's My Heart last week--you can view it here and see my thoughts on the first day of school. 

At the beginning of the summer I was nervous about him starting school for two reasons: his heart and his speech delay. He had a glowing check-up from his cardiologist in July (although he still of course has limitations and will be watched carefully). We went to a few specialists, a different speech therapist and an audiologist this summer to determine if his speech delay had a "label." We had been told several times he might have auditory processing disorder. I do believe he has a mild version of this but the audiologist won't diagnose this until he's seven and thinks he may outgrow some of the symptoms of this before then. He's also been doing a headphone therapy program through his speech pathologist to help with listening skills. Between lots of therapy, the headphones, and prayer, he's come a long way the past few months! So far in Kindergarten he is doing great with listening and with being attentive to his teacher. His vocabulary has exploded as well and he now asks question after question after question! A year ago, Jake wasn't really conversational and was still really struggling to communicate, especially with his peers and teacher--he didn't use many sentences and wasn't able to tell stories or ask questions. We are incredibly grateful for the strides he has made. It made him entering Kindergarten this fall so much easier. With Jake, it is so physically evident how God continues to take care of him. 

Here are his back to school pictures:

Meanwhile, Gracie Girl and I also started back to school. I'm teaching Pre-K again, and she started the three year old class at Pre-School. She loves school, too, and quickly catches on to what she's learning at school. So far, she's most excited about learning all about frogs--she even knows they're amphibians which she proudly tells us :) She also loves chapel, and I'm so thankful she learns about God's word everyday at school--she loves to retell the stories she learns and say her Bible verses. 

Here is her back to school picture: