Life without cable

My children think we have returned to the dark ages. I love it! Our oldest has started making posters in protest, but the others are figuring out things to do.

 

Did you know that the Colonists played jacks?

Making some joyful noises

 

Measuring mushrooms after a good rain

Making a model of a cell from jello (cytoplasm), plum (nucleus), grapes (vacuoles), and sandwich container (cell wall)

 

 

Making time to sit down and write about what we're learning...this skill is so much harder than conversational speaking.

What to do while stuck in the carpool line? Snap a picture of the clouds, go home and label for the weather log.

The kids tried their hands at tennis today and had a great lesson.

A took B and another father-son duo to the USC game, so our household was all wondering, "What are we going to do today?" We're grilling out tonight, but as I had house organization things to do, I didn't plan on entertaining anyone all day. I was happy to see homework projects being done, forts built, dolls played with (!), and some creative movement.

We'll probably pop popcorn and rent a movie later tonight, but I was thankful for a chance to not go anywhere today.

Last night B had a scrimmage baseball game. As it ran late, we took the family to a nearby burger joint for dinner. One of our bunch declared that he had had enough to eat and promptly threw up all over the floor. We couldn't get out of there fast enough! Oops! In our hurry, another family member left a purse behind, so we had to go back and show our faces to retrieve it. It may be awhile (or never) before we return.

 

What I can do

Britt Nicole - Set the World on Fire
► 4:10► 4:10	www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb_UTj1mxq0Oct 23, 2007 - 4 min - BrittNicoleSparrow Album: Say It (2007)

 

 

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.

Helen Keller

I read this quote off of a girl's t-shirt at Bible Study on Nehemiah tonight. It made an impression on me, so I thought I'd write it down here to remember it for later.

 

 

 

As ladies shared around the room, my mind wandered off to how much I would like to home in my bed asleep. I agreed with everything that they were saying, I just didn't have the energy to vocalize much.

 

 

 

Sometimes, faithfulness is quiet.

 

In my fatigue, it was hard to think about my heart breaking any more over the needs of the world. We have been moved to tears, moved to action, and now moved to the daily work of keeping our promises.

 

 

 

Perhaps in another season of life I will have great emotion too. Today, I am doing the laundry one load at a time, trying to faithfully love those entrusted in my care.

 

Labor Day Weekend

Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love.

Ephesians 4:2 NLT

First time putt-putting

 

Allowing some junk food on the last day of summer vacation.

Giving each kids a snack budget and turning them loose at the gas station convenience store on the way to the lake.

I turn up my adult nose to the cheese puffs and orange soda, and then remember that my latte and baked goods fixes do not rank much healthier on the nutrition scale!

Homeschool on the road...how long is a mile?

Visiting Dad at work. Taking a tour of the manufacturing plant.

 

 

 

Spaghetti night....this is the night...what a beautiful night....music at dinner and makeshift candlelight as we practice our table manners.

 

The swarm of bees

This is a swarm of bees that relocated itself to a pecan tree at the family lake house. My sister-in-law happened to know some bee keepers who came out and vacuumed the bees into a bee box and took them off to a new home. This was fascinating to us who know absolutely nothing about bees.

After the queen had been whisked away, a few straggler bees remained in the same spot still furiously working. These bees were designed to work, to serve their queen. They know nothing else. May I show such dedication to the life I was designed to live.

Other People's Gardens

 

 

I am not a real gardener. I don't know anything about really making things grow. I do however, have a crazy penchant for sticking things in the ground and hoping they make it. This week I received a bunch of irises that Andy's co-worker dug up from their yard. Alan and his wife are the kind of gardeners that actually keep up with when you are supposed to divide rhizomes and such.

As I worked to transplant these new additions, I admired the day lilies that my friend had given me when she also divided her plants, four pink crepe myrtles that someone else unloaded, and a wispy wisteria vine from my mother-in-law's trainer at the gym.

I also asked my parents-in-law if I could dig up a few of the cannas that had settled themselves down by the lake, and they threw in a ginger lily that someone had given them. On my back porch is a free-to-a-good-home elder tree that the nursery was giving away as it will be cold soon. It hasn't died yet, so I am happy to enjoy it as long as it lives. I stick the past beautiful ferns and mums in the ground too when they are past their happy stage in pots, and some have chosen to thrive.


These are all fledgling plants, but in my romanticism, I hope to one day see towering canopies of pink lining my backyard. I love imaging what they may look like if they make it.

It is harder for me to have long range vision with my children. I wish I weren't so impatient that they learn to speak kindly to one another and remember to pick up their stuff on the floor now. We continue to study James at church, and I really enjoyed yesterday's sermon. May I have the same patience James described in chapter 5... the kind of hope that waits, like a farmer or gardener. The kind of patience that hopes, like the prophets, who could only do their part and wait to see how their messages would be received; the patience of Job, that endures in weariness and struggle.

May I do my part of watering and feeding and checking for dangerous "caterpillars", and may our children thrive in time as well.

 

 

 

Date Night

Sometimes, even when you're not even asking for anything special, the Lord just shows off and blesses you with extra kindness. Last night was such a date night for us.

First of all, we had two of our former college student friends call and ASK if they could babysit....um, YES!

Then, we had groupons for both kid takeout pizza and our tapas restaurant, and my man even enjoyed his petite steak. Then, our favorite couches were available at Nonnah's, and as we sat in the window, a violinist was serenading "us" inches away on the other side of the glass. Half a piece of apple pie and a decaf French press later, I was in ambience heaven. That's even our car in the primo parking space out front.

I love knowing whom to thank when life is sweet.

 

Tranquility

Today I am thankful to be able to sit on the porch with my mother-in-law and have all my children attended to by other family members for a few minutes. I am amazed to see her up and around and functioning so well without bending or twisting her new spine. She is adapting beautifully.

I am thankful for my sweet father-in-law and his organization of all of Jane's meds.

I am thankful for my husband for taking kids on jet ski rides. Thanks Aunt Nee Nee for going off shopping somewhere with L. Thanks Uncle Haden for hopping in the lake water with those not on the jet ski. Thanks Granddaddy for firing up the pontoon and whisking the other three off for a boat ride.

Being quiet for just a few minutes restores my soul. It's a team effort to create a little tranquility, and I am a happy recipient.

It's almost hard not to be doing something when you are in production mode all the time. It seems as if there is always something else to attend to. Last night while the girls were whipping up a happy birthday carrot cake, I worked on recylcing papers that had been in a bin on our office desk since we moved...in 2008! It was fun to run across various things and see what changes had occurred since MJ was 2 and is now almost 7. I was a little disheartening to realize that I had passed by that stack for 4 years and not made much progress in cleaning up. It had become a part of the scenery!

Here at the family's lake house, I do not have to be folding the laundry (though there's a load waiting for me at home). We had barbecue to celebrate Uncle Haden's birthday and Labor Day while we're all up here together....so I didn't have to think up what was for lunch. Two great girls are coming to stay with our kids tonight so I won't be reading the stories or reminding someone to brush their teeth tonight when I go on another Groupon date with my husband (Tapas night).

I hear the bunch pulling up to the dock now, and as Aunt Nee Nee noted, they definitely make their presence known. This is the point of Labor Day, to enjoy rest after one's labors. And yet, it almost feels strange. Can I learn to hear the lapping of the waves upon the shore while there are squeals and motors running? It's a matter of focus to have Sabbath rest and find tranquility in the midst of the noise. The lapping water is still there if I can concentrate on hearing it.

 

Be at rest O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. Psalm 116:7