The Great Outdoors

Tubing down the Saluda River with family friends

This two hour float trip turned out to be a four hour paddle trip...with only arms for paddles. We were pooped out in a good, exhausted way, but we made back it safe and sound. We are setting a personal family record for outdoorsiness this summer. Rafting, tubing, paddle boarding, kayaking, water sports, hiking, picnicking, horseback riding. We still like air conditioning, bug repellent, and hot showers, but I'm thrilled to be able to enjoy some of God's creation with my people. It's one of the ways that I connect with Him most.

I am proud of my mom for joining us on family adventures. Zip-lining is next on her retirement list.

Mimi had two of the girls sleepover last weekend and showed them her wedding dress.

A shoulder rub train is always a good idea.

Working a puzzle together at the lake

Sitting on my soul sister's back porch processing life together listening to the frogs and eating strawberries while the sun goes down.

I am thankful for every lazy, and every busy, day of summer with my family. BLT's and apple salad works for dinner. Kids giddy from squirting extra helpings of whipped cream over their fruit. Games of chess, or Wii battles, or Nerf wars. An hour to read a book for fun without feeling guilty. Days where kids can come over and play instead of meeting at the ballfield for organized team practices. Interacting with neighbors that go to different schools. Time to fall asleep slowly instead of conking out instantly from complete exhaustion. For each and every such day, I thank You, God,

 

Work and Play

This has been an in-between sort of week. Just the regular routine. No camps, no trips, extra time at home. Time to play and time to work on some domestic skills.

The boys are learning to make spaghetti sauce and peach crisps. They argued with me at the beginning. "Why can't we grow up to eat pizza and cereal all the time?" But, once they got their hands dirty, they were all smiles and pleased with how their dishes turned out.

My house is a museum of crunchy laundry this week. The dryer went out, and every available space has some drippy clothes hanging across it. My man and the internet are going to attempt to learn about circuit board repairs. We will remember to add soft, fluffy underwear to our gratitude list as a result of this detour from convenience.

What I am reading:

"We forget that each person is a mystery to be explored and appreciated, someone with whom we can connect and for whom we can pray." - chapter 5 "Being Present for Others" in Jan Johnson's Enjoying the Presence of God book.

I enjoyed my children today. I enjoyed them when we drove to music lessons and training sessions. I enjoyed going to Target together. I enjoyed reading books together and going to the library. I enjoyed singing songs from musicals at the top of our lungs driving back and forth down the highway. I enjoyed playing "restaurant" when the girls wanted to pretend that they were chefs and servers. We even lit candles and played soft music for ambience.

I enjoyed that they are at an age where they can entertain themselves upstairs while I laid out laundry all over our house to dry. I enjoyed them...until I took one look at the wreckage of their rooms and found them all camped in front of the t.v. with shoes and pillows and blankets dumped in every direction. Stuff strewn from here to there. Trash on the floor and not in the trash can. No one in the least bit concerned, but completely absorbed in the tales of King Arthur. One glance and something inside me snapped. Fun mom turned into army sergeant mom. All business. Show's over.

They vacuumed up hamster litter and fingernail glitter. They picked up 1000 rainbow loom bands, Legos, and marbles from the marble chutes. They washed dishes and emptied trash cans. They cleaned the van. They cleaned the silly string that one child sprayed over every surface he could find in the yard and garage. The boys cloroxed the floor where someone had mis-aimed in a hurry (probably to get back to the t.v.) and an enormous blob of gum that never made it into the trash can. We pulled socks and underwear out from under the beds. More than once a child asked if I was ok. "No," I replied, "and you will never see the television again if your rooms look like this." I was not kidding.

We finished well. I calmed down from my cleaning fury. We put the house back in acceptable (though not perfect) order. We read another story and gave goodnight hugs and kisses. I still don't know if they will ever care about cleanliness and order themselves, but at least I will know they have some skills to manage their own chaos.

I pray that we will find the balance between work and play. That I will teach them well, but not spend so much time managing them that I forget to enjoy them and appreciate them...We'll see how I do tomorrow...and how long those rooms stay clean.

 

 

Last Weekend

My boy is all speed and action on the water

Coaching a friend on technique

I'm more of a paddler....stroke....stroke....

What a great way to spend an afternoon....active fun with friends

This past weekend offered more rainy, stay on the couch weather. That was much needed to.

We are trying to get the kids to become more aware of their screen time usage. Days can go by in a blur of digital entertainment. Some of that in summer is fun, but we are trying to instill in them that life is about more than one's personal entertainment devices. I guess we'll see when they are older which lessons stick.

Here is a snapshot of me organizing a binder of choreography notes for my fitness classes. In the background my family is playing a game of "tickle finger", screaming and chasing one another in the dark. A downpour and a screen time budget didn't stop these guys for a moment.

We enjoyed more delicious peaches

And the girls continue to churn out waffles, fried rice, and one minute lower carb egg sandwiches.

Loving our church and faith community

 

We caught an outdoor showing of 101 Dalmatians

We made out like bandits at the friends of the library booksale

Thanks Grandmama and Granddaddy for getting us in to use our coupons. For thirteen years we have participated in the summer reading program at the library, and only twice have we actually made it to the sale to redeem the free book coupon that the kids win. Score!

 

Cultivating an awareness of God

There is a small index card in my closet that reads "Cultivate a life more perceptive of God". My creative friend gave me this number seven (thinking of us, as in "Davis, party of seven"). I have decided to use it as a reminder of the Psalms that read "Seven times a day, I will praise you." (Psalm 119:164) Each time I walk by, I will attempt to stop and redirect my thoughts towards the One I love. Sometimes in the midst of broken musical instruments, fender benders, bickering children, sticky watermelon juice exploding all over the kitchen, and possibly pregnant hamsters, I lose my focus and warm fuzzy feelings of communion. I explode in a huff of mama frustration more like Jesus calling the Pharisees a brood of vipers than Jesus snuggling the little children on His lap. A little physical reminder might do just the trick to stay more connected to God in the distracting and irritating moments too.

Borrowing a "loaner" guitar from church when ours mysteriously turned up like this....did someone step on it? In a house with five kids, it remains a mystery.

Thankful that my husband wasn't injured when someone ran into him yesterday

Saying adieu to a soul sister friend moving to Texas-

marveling at the great strides she has made to follow God whole-heartedly

Thankful to have walked beside her for part of the journey

Thankful for cut flowers that look this pretty after a week of gracing my table, and for the one who gave them to me

Seeing God in ordinary stuff like Disney movies about bitter fairies

My children have no idea why I am teary-eyed during scenes between Maleficent and Aurora. Perhaps one day, when they are parents and experience mama-love they will sense having been watched over too.

 

Then and Now

My Aunt Debbie and I have a running joke about being born in the wrong eras. She grew up in the fifties wearing scratchy frilly dresses and having to take ballroom dance lessons. She is more of a creative free-flowing seventies girl at heart. I love vintage things and would have loved dressing up (though not in itchy clothes) and going dancing.

 

My sweet mother-in-law once gave me antique earrings that had been in her family. My grandmother called these ear "bobs" because most ladies did not pierce their ears at that time. The trouble is that those earrings for non-pierced ears pinch like anything, so my mother-in-law had them converted into post earrings for me. Now I can enjoy vintage style with modern conveniences. We're not much for roughing it if we don't have to.

I do feel a little like a sissy when I listen to Farm Boy though. Laura Ingells Wilder describes the annual process of butchering hogs and cattle and how the leather was cured for when the cobbler later came to their house to make everyone one pair of shoes for the year. The pork fat (lard) was saved to make soap, and the beef fat (tallow) was saved to make enough candles for the year. Every snip of meat was frozen or salted or turned into sausage. Such an enormous amount of work. Why then, am I tired after going to the store to pick up some Jimmy Dean? Why do I draw a blank when it comes to thinking up something to cook for dinner once I've lugged the groceries I've bought into the house?

This week, I delegated the "What's for dinner on Wednesday?" question. My man has been away, working hard in Texas. So, we have temporarily lifted the "let's eat less carbs" ban and had the kids each pick a day to menu plan. My girlfriend had mentioned recently that her intention was to have her girls learn to take responsibility for various meals, and I remembered that that had been my intention too, but I hadn't yet done anything this summer to train them. I was delighted to see my eight year old set her alarm with her sister and get up at 6:30am to make the family muffins for breakfast. So Laura Ingells Wilder prairie girl!

I am also impressed with my teen daughter's budding omelette skills.

 

Tonight my Sunday School girls and I enjoyed hearing a fellow "Jesus girl " share about her life's journey at the women's night summer Oasis. She shared about different seasons in her life when she was more or less interested in God, and how God continued to draw her to Himself. She talked about the importance of having someone in your life who can push you forward in your walk with Him, as well as looking around to see whom you might encourage along the path in return. As I've considered whom I may encourage this year, my children are an obvious choice, but I pray that the simple musings and reflections in this blog might also spark some godly reflection. A blog about pet hamsters, junior high hair treatments, and antique jewelry doesn't exactly qualify me for a spot on the evangelism committee, but I still hope that as I journey with Him, others may lift their thoughts to Him along with me. If His eye is on the lilies of the field and the sparrow, He must care about the dailiness of our lives too.

 

Things I love

The fact that my man will match his tie to my dress color for weddings

Wrought-iron, millwork, and time catching up with dear girlfriends

Managers who decide our humble costumes qualify for free chicken dinners

Junior chefs with culinary skills

Mornings when a kid can sleep in....

I'm not so great at sleeping in anymore, but I'm glad that there are people who can.

Grandparents who teach great skills like Canasta

and biscuit-making

and butter-making

And that my mom knew we liked the caramel icing so much on my birthday cake that she made a batch of icing blobs (like delicious nut free pralines) for dessert.