Fair preparations

My girls love the fair! It's probably one highlight of their summer when they get to go and see all the animals, ride the ponies and enjoy lemonade.

This year we decided to enter a number of things in our county fair. Last week was very full of preparation...very full! So full that I realized when Thursday rolled around (the deadline for entering) that I had not planned well. I figured 2-3 days was sufficient for finishing up artwork, cutting out foam board for mounting, baking and filling out forms. What I failed to consider is just everyday life - tired girls, fussing and arguing, my big girl having a hard time deciding which picture to enter, a baby who was throwing up numerous times a day, trips to the grocery store for cake supplies we didn't have, a tired mind who tried to cut out foam board and talk on the phone at the same time...and then had to recut foam board. Yes, I should have allowed 2 weeks for this, but nevertheless, we got it all done, I was completely exhausted, but it was well worth it.

Today we go to see if we received any ribbons from our endeavors - 6 drawings, 8 photographs, 2 cakes and one jar of applesauce. Here are a few shots from last Wednesday.

(Notice the blue/green hue on Mckenna's face? Before baking she had just put on her make up)

Funny faces...







The best part...sitting down to enjoy the beaters!







I was so proud of my big girl! She pretty much baked her cake all by herself, with just minimal help from momma. She's growing up so fast.

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H2O

According to Wikipedia, "Water is the only common substance found naturally in all three common states of matter and it is essential for life on Earth." Water is also the one chemical compound we can remember from chemistry class....H2O

As promised, I want to begin posting more on the topic of grieving, as we have experienced it and what we have learned. As I've contemplated doing this, I wanted to have a subject title for all the posts that pertain to this, something that summed up my desire in them. The word that kept coming back to me and others I talked with was, HOPE. Jesus, because of what He has done for us, has hope to offer (H2O). And that hope has been living water for my soul over the past 2 years now. This hope, in the midst of life's most difficult trials and unimaginable pain, is essential for our souls and carries us on through suffering. And I know it will carry me on to the day when I'll see my little girl again.

It is my desire that these posts on grieving will highlight the gospel and the hope we have through Jesus. I'm no writer and as I've said before, am so aware that there are countless others who have suffered much more than I have. But this is my feeble effort to serve the many around me who are walking through such hard trials right now, as well as friends of those suffering.

These posts will probably be very few and far between my others. As is with everyone, life is full and crazy. And I'm now an official homeschooling mom! We started last week. I feel like I'm in a major juggling act of priorities and responsibilities. But I will write when I can and hope to include others in these posts as well.

Jesus has hope to offer us, even in the midst of tragedy, loss and pain. And in the midst of grieving that hope is water for the soul, an anchor to sustain us.

Stay tuned for more H2O posts!

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Mckenna + camera

A few day ago, Mckenna walked out the door with my camera in hand to take some pictures. She has been begging me for some time to take some pictures with my camera. I felt a little more comfortable knowing Kristen was right near by, but still a bit nervous. She had her very first spontaneous photography lesson, thanks to Kristen! Camera survived and out of almost 175 pictures a few came out not so bad.

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Trip to Pop-pops and Grandma's

Last week the girls and I headed down to my dads for a visit. The girl's have been asking for so long to go to Pop-pops and Grandmas. They get wonderfully spoiled with all their favorite foods and summer fun! My sister came down with all her 5 in toe as well. So, to say it's crazy is an understatement, but we make a lot of memories! It's non-stop for us moms and with both Addie and Wyatt not sleeping much at all and up a good part of the night, we both came back pretty exhausted. The kids had a blast.

Every day was some new and fun activity. Two of the girl's favorite things were the Pirate Ship adventure and the water park....and Selah would add presents and birthday cake (celebrating her birthday in June) from Pop-pop and Grandma. I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few from the Pirate Ship (Kelly stayed home with the babies and I went with my dad and the older kids).

The Pirate Ship adventure is pretty impressive. They dress the kids up like pirates (my girls wanted no part in that!), get their face (or hands as my girls insisted :) and give them each a Pirate name like Torrential Ty, Jumbo Shrimp June, and Kut Throat Keenan. Then they go out on a ship for an adventure...and parents get to come and watch. The kids love it!

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Tick

It seems we talk a lot about bugs around here. Yes, it's true. Amazingly enough, however, we have yet to see any deer ticks...until tonight that is. The girls were playing outside today as usual and in the afternoon I turned on the sprinkler to cool them off. It was around 9:45pm when everyone was finally tucked in bed and asleep (Addie took a long time as she was especially fussy tonight). Well, I thought everyone was asleep. Around 10:30 Selah came downstairs to start to tell me about this monster with 2 big eyes that she thought was in her room. As I leaned over to pick her up, I noticed something on her belly. Yep, an itsy bitsy tick, which I figured was a deer tick. I called Dave who was out with some friends and asked if he could come home. We talked with some experts in extracting deer ticks so we knew what to do. As Selah heard me talking on the phone she started to flip out and cry. When I got off we had a little talk while waiting for Daddy to come home:

S: (crying) Mommy, I don't want to go to the doctor...I don't want to! What is he going to do? Will it hurt?
M: You see that little bitty bug? Well, Daddy is going to come home and take him off for you. Then we have to take him to the doctor because he might be sick. And if the doctor tells us that he is sick then you might have his sickness. So, he'll give us some medicine for you.
S: Oh. So, the little bug will go to the doctors?
M: Yes. That little bug is called a "tick."
S: And he might have a sickness?
M: Yes.
S: Poor little guy!

Gotta love her love for bugs! Even extends to ticks.

Later when Dave arrived home she told him all about this little "pick" (as she called it) and that he might have a "sn"-ickness (her word for sickness). She told him she might get it, but it's ok cause the doctor will give her medicine. She had the whole plan worked out of going to bed, waking up in the morning, eating dinner (what she calls every meal), then taking him to the doctor. She told me right before we put her back to bed that she wanted to take a picture of the little "pick" in the morning.

How I love this little girl of mine! And we'll be praying this little "pick" tests negative for Lyme's.

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One huge moth

One of the things I love about our home (and I think Selah would heartily agree) is that it's on a piece of property that is just crawling with nature...literally. Selah manages to discover and find new bugs and critters every day.

Two days ago, she walked in with a moth that looked like, as Dave put it, a mouse with wings. The thing was HUGE! And it was fuzzy. She happily put it in a bag, but then let it go. Then yesterday she just happens to find it again (I keep telling myself that it was the same one and our yard is not infested with these things!) and this time held it in her bare hands, petting it, with admiration. Earlier I had cautioned her against holding it, saying I'm not sure what it would do. Then moments later comes running in with excitement to tell me, "Mom the moth is a nice moth. I put him in my hand and he didn't bite. He's a nice guy."

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Waiting

“…waiting is living through those moments when you do not understand what God is doing and you have no power to change your circumstances for the better…So much of our daily comfort comes from the fact that we are able to make sense of our circumstances… Waiting is hard for us because we tie our hearts to other glories. We so often live for the glory of human acceptance, of personal achievement, of power and position, of possessions and places, and of comfort and pleasure. So when God’s glory requires that these things be withheld from us – things we look to for identity, meaning, and purpose – we find waiting a grueling, burdensome experience. Waiting means surrendering your glory. Waiting means submitting to His glory. Waiting means understanding that you were given life and breath for the glory of another. Waiting gives you opportunity to forsake the delusion of you own glory and rest in the God of awesome glory. Only when you do that will you find what you seek, and what you were meant to have: lasting identity, meaning and purpose, and peace in Christ…”

This is what we are doing these days...waiting on the Lord in so many areas of our lives. I find it hard, very hard. Yet, even on my tear-filled days of anxiousness and weariness, I know the Lord is doing a great work in our hearts, revealing my false hopes and sins that can rob God of His glory.

Dave sent me this quote this morning. I don't think it could be improved upon. It is one I will print out and post up in my kitchen. Unfortunately, he does not know where it's from or who wrote it. If you know, please let me know.

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Bird's nest

"Mom, look what Daddy found!"

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He likes to be asked.

Dave and I have started to read The Chronicles of Narnia to the girls. It's been years since I have picked up these books and after just the first one I am reminded how much I love them. I love how Aslan is portrayed and what a wonderful picture C.S. Lewis paints for us of who God is like. I read the following portion to Mckenna yesterday and it was a sweet reminder to me of how the Lord loves to hear our prayers:

"The valley in which they had come down was in the heart of the mountains; snowy heights, one of them looking rose-red in the reflections of the sunset, towered above them.

'I am hungry,' said Digory.

'Well, tuck in,' said Fledge, taking a big mouthful of grass. Then he raised his head, still chewing and with the bits of grass sticking out on each side of his mouth like whiskers, and said, 'Come on, you two. Don't be shy. There's plenty for us all.'

'But we can't eat grass,' said Digory.

'H'm, h'm,' said Fledge, speaking with his mouth full. 'Well--h'm--don't know quite what you'll do then. Very good grass too.'

Polly and Digory stared at one another in dismay.

'Well, I do think someone might have arranged about our meals,' said Digory.

'I'm sure Aslan would have, if you'd asked him,' said Fledge.

'Wouldn't he know without being asked?' said Polly.

'I've no doubt he would,' said the Horse (still with his mouth full). 'But I've a sort of idea he likes to be asked.' "

From The Magician's Nephew, C.S. Lewis

Isn't that good?!! That brief quote has been an encouragement to my soul today to bring all our needs to the throne of grace.

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Sweet Wyatt

Love this boy!

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Bubbles

As I mentioned earlier, our friends from Sweden, Birgitta and Emil, were here a few weeks ago. We had such a great time with them and so did our girls. They absolutely love children and are so good with them. My girls just ate up the attention and could convince Emil to do just about anything (including ride their bikes, climb trees and Selah's favorite, blow bubbles). On more than one occasion, we found Emil outside blowing big bubbles for the girls to catch and pop! They loved it!

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Keenan's history camp

Last night the girls and I had the opportunity to go see Keenan perform in a reinactment. All week he has been participating in a history camp that is part of Covenant Life School. They learn about a particular war that took place in history, this time being the French and Indian War. Each boy involved takes on the role of a solider and learns what life was like in the 1700's for the men who were in battle. I could not have been more impressed. They had a whole military camp set up, the way it would have been in 1775. Keenan was part of the British army. The girl and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

After it was all over, the boys camped out in tents for the night. But Keenan ended up calling home at 2am...because he had gotten left alone in a tent, tried to sleep outside and was getting eaten alive by mosquitos. Poor boy! But overall, I think this will probably be one of Keenan's highlights of the summer.

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Cousins at play

W: The fun begins!

A: That's my toy.

A: I want my toy.

W: You can't have your toy.

W: Look what I have, Addie!

A: Ouch!

A: Mom...

Save me!

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