Candice & Todd's blog: We have an 11 year old!

Isabella turned 11 this month.

She wanted to go rock-climbing, so we booked a party at a nearby facility and invited some of her classmates.

Her party "rocked" ha!

Here is a photo download.

We were proud of Mercer - he gave it a try.

She took treats to her class on her actual birthday. And - we took her out to dinner at her favorite Italian restaurant the evening of her birthday.

She got angel hair pasta with alfredo sauce. (this is a little more "grown-up" than the mac-and-cheese she used to ask for on her birthday)

She opened gifts when we got home. (We got her a bag of "sage" light green stuff - like a hoodie, water bottles, etc. Sage is her new kick. She says she wants a sage colored car when she gets older. ??)

Of other "turning-11" news... she had her annual pedestrian appointment. She's FINALLY tall enough to get rid of the booster seats in the back seat of the car! (she's been asking for this for a year or so!) she's finally over 4'-9" yay!

She loved it at the rock-climbing place so much, she went back the next day (and now it's Thanksgiving break... and I've taken her back once already too.) She got a free 30 day pass as a gift to the birthday child from the facility. super cool!

She conquered the wall with the spinning panels.

I thought this was a cool-looking wall - PVC pipe elbows with LED lights inside. She conquered this after a couple of tries - as it is pretty slippery.

(She still has not conquered the one with the vines. But she still has 20+ days of her birthday pass to give it a try!)

I'd say she had a good birthday this year!

But - her birthday is not over... we still have something to do that we gifted her (an escape room experience). Stay tuned.

In other news, Mercer had his baseball fundraiser - the "Batter-Up" breakfast.

He's had conditioning after school 3 days a week and will start a throwing program after break. (Thankfully, there is a kid that goes to our church is trying out for baseball; they can throw together this year, as Todd says that he can't throw back as far to get the ball back to Mercer now.) :/ Also - trying to find the time for Todd and Mercer to throw - this will be easier - the boys can just stay after school / I can bring M home after he throws.

Mercer has grown a bit closer to this friend at church. (there aren't many boys but a slew of girls.) He and this friend, Andrew, apparently racked it up at the "Highland Games" that they brought back to the youth program in honor of the Kirkin' of the Tartan that happened earlier this month. (instead of throwing logs - throw 2x4s...) no photos because I didn't go, but glad he's staying involved / wanting to go to all the things there!

I was "off" from my Building Committee meeting & had a free Sunday morning, so I attended the Kirkin' of the Tartan lesson that preceded the church service. It was really interesting. Obviously neither Todd nor I were brought up Presbyterian - we landed here because we liked the church and the people were friendly, quite honestly. (We tried out many churches on the square first.) So - we have been introduced to many things that I was not familiar with or practicing previously (like Advent season and Lent).

"The tartan is a symbol of this love and togetherness, no matter what our heritage. In our Kirkin' service, we remember ancient times, as well as past and present kith and kin, while asking God's help and blessings in the future."

"History of the Service

We celebrate clans and tartans because the clansmen demonstrated true brotherhood and the clan was the family. In early history, clans were simply a gathering of peoples for their protection and for economic, political and social support. They were not necessarily related by blood. Scotland in the mid-18th century saw the English parliament and monarchy (The Disarming Act, 1746 - 1782) banning weapons, as well as the wearing of tartan or kilts by Highland clansmen (effective August 1747). A latter-day legend has it that clansmen would carry small pieces of the banned tartan cloth to the Church (Kirk) and the clergymen would slip a blessing into the service. Specific tartans developed simply because each area liked to weave a certain design using local herb dyes."

"As a remembrance of early Scottish Presbyterianism, Kirkin' o' the Tartan worship services have spread across America. On Sunday evening, April 27, 1941, in Washington, D.C., at a special service was led by famed pastor Peter Marshall (1935 - 1949) of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. Designed to raise funds, this Kirkin' service sought to aid Scottish churches during the early days of World War II, as well as the British war effort, by providing a mobile kitchen, according to the church bulletin. This initial, simple Kirkin' service later evolved into what is today the Kirkin' o' the Tartan. Since 1954, an annual Kirkin' o' the Tartan has been held at the National Cathedral in the nation's capital."

- information taken from FPC Spartanburg SC's website

Something that they told us during the history lesson that paster Peter Marshall was in seminary in Georgia and was a visiting pastor at our church (FPC Marietta) when he was called to Washington DC church to become the head pastor. That is the year that he started the Kirkin service. We have a direct connection to this!

This is our church's 3rd most popular service / 3rd most attended! (After Christmas and Easter, of course) I tried to get the family to go in person earlier this month, but... we (Mercer and I) came home and we all watched the bagpipe-playing / tartan-carrying from home online. We've been before. One of the things that our pastor talked about was the word "clan" (we are trying to appeal to more people of color and this word was targeted by one member who said it was offensive). Also the pastor said too that even if you don't have a tartan - you do not have Scottish heritage, that you can still participate by getting any-ol tartan you can find and jump in! All are welcome.

I messaged dad about the Moore (mohr / muir) clan to see if we had a connection. He sent me a GIANT package of stuff about the scottish heritage and it goes back to the Dickson clan? That's about as far as I got through the type-written and hand-written info. It will take A LOT to get through it all!

Other things that happened earlier this month (before break):

Isabella had a performance with her music teacher - another performance at the Green Room. She played a song on the piano and another on violin. (She surprised them by not needing her sheet music) No blindfolds this time!

Todd went up to the school to have (probably) his last Thanksgiving dinner with Isabella at school. I don't know that they do this in middle school - just elementary. So glad he was able to make it up there (and of course they have the book-fair timed so that when parents / grandparents are up at the school, they can take their kids and buy books!).

We don't have pictures of that - nor do I have pictures of the next thing I'm going to mention, but it was unique - so posting here. I went to a neighbor's house before break and went to a Murder Mystery dinner party. My neighbor is in a bunko group and since she was hosting, she invited me join. I was on a team with some women who lived nearby and enjoyed their company / we had a good time. We "solved" the mystery more on a hunch than on solid clues. But - the thing that was interesting... at the end of the evening, a woman who was on the other team came up to me and said "Do you know how I know you?" I said no but she looked familiar.... she was the social worker who did our home-study paperwork for both kids!

We saw her years earlier on the square for Isabella's adoption day celebration.... but her fiery red hair has faded, so I didn't recognize her at first. She and I talked for an hour -- talking about her (now grown) adopted children (this is how she got into the business) and our adopted children... showing her pictures and sharing what they're doing / sharing about the birth parents / what we know on both. (She was never involved in that side - only dealing with us - the adoptive parents). We ended up shutting down our neighbor's party! (yes it was on a school night, but so glad I went.)

Sadly, our annual neighborhood event - Cherokee Heights Art Festival - was cancelled due to rain. They cancelled - not even rescheduled - so it looks like we'll have to wait 'til next year. We're in a drought, so the rain is much needed.

I'll end with another hike and photos of fall leaves. We were enjoying the hike through the fallen leaves. Isabella and I were impressed with the "path" worn into the fallen leaves by the previous hikers.