The Goin's On

We are full blown into summer fun. The kids are enjoying our mini-lake pool pretty much every day.

They have become quite helpful, actually. I am not quite sure what they are up to. We have been asking them to do more on the house and around the camper and so far they are actually enjoying it and asking for more! I don't remember doing that - the asking part - when I was a kid :)

The house is progressing. John finished framing above the doors in the basement, so we are almost completely closed in (still looking for the front door).

I have been working on putting mud around the basement windows and doors and now caulking around the rest of the windows. I have all but finished the mud work. Seriously questioning my sanity at the number and size of windows in our house - now that I am actually working with them :) Caulking windows is tricky - and messy. Not one of my favorite jobs, but I am learning more and more each window I do. By the end, I may just be an expert!

Bugs. Period. It's just crazy the amount and size of bugs that have died in our house. And let's not even think about those that have taken up residence - yuck.

We did learn about a very interesting wasp - the mud dauber wasp. These wasps are building these mud nests in our house in a few places. When we knocked the nests down, little critters that looked like spiders fell out of the inside. After some research, we discovered that it is actually spiders (or other insects) that the bee paralyzes, lays an egg on and then closes in. Kind of creepy and cool. I like the idea that they are taking care of spiders, but I would rather they build their nests outside of the house.

John has been a researching, thinking, designing machine. He is waayyyy ahead of me and does a fantastic job of thinking things through. Thanks, honey, for all of your hard work.

The stair stringers are being built for us and should be ready this week or next. We will then fasten temporary treads on until construction is finished. I can't wait to show you pictures - I think they are going to be very cool!

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In other news:
We are also preparing for the next school year at home. I was able to go to the local home school convention last Friday and picked up most of my books for next year. The kids are so excited - Hadden even prayed the other night that "school would start soon" or something to that effect.

I am excited, too, and want to spend some time this summer getting organized and plan a rough schedule. I really want to be more structured and organized.

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Yes, "Annie" is still here. She has endured Lilly and has hung around. :)

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The last couple of days have been a little bit cooler and we have not needed to run the a/c, so that has been a welcome break. We had friends up last night for the evening and enjoyed sitting out on the back porch (John was leading the chapel service, so wasn't able to be here).

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Soak this in ...

Colossians 1:10-14
And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

This is what makes the heat bearable

These pictures are all from the same sunset on last Tuesday night. You are welcome to visit and see them for yourself :)

Note: I get a little carried away taking pictures of sunsets - just ask anyone who has been to Hawaii with me.








This one is my favorite.






Good night


This was the cloud off the east side as the sun was setting.

Psalm 113:3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised.

Just when I thought...

things couldn't get more exciting than the UPS driver coming up to our house ...

I decided to see if I could see what was wrong with the weed-whacker. I was in flip-flops and shorts, but I decided to see if I could get it to run. Surprise, surprise, after a fashion it started to run. Although I wasn't really dressed appropriately for weeding, I decided to just do a little bit of the worst part around the trampoline and finish the rest at another time.

Sorry - that wasn't the exciting part :) No damaged toes or legs from the weeding. I know better, so I won't do it again.

The exciting part is what happened next. The kids were enjoying playing in the kiddie pool and I went and sat in a patio chair near the pool to cool off. While I was sitting there, our faithful dog, Lilly made a funny movement on the patio behind me. It was an unusual noise, so I turned to see what she was doing. There within about 3-4 feet of me was a RATTLESNAKE!!! And very much alive. It rattled its tail once and started to slither away.

I was pretty much frozen - not sure what to do. When I felt there was a safe enough distance between me and the snake, I hopped up and grabbed a shovel that was nearby. I have heard of people killing snakes with shovels, so it seemed like a good idea at the time. But, I just couldn't get myself to do it - there wasn't a real clear shot and I was shaking so bad I thought I might miss!! And then what?

btw - the kids were safely in the pool watching me.

Plan B - I decided to run to the camper and get the shotgun that my Dad gave John (thanks, Dad!). That way, I could keep my distance and still do away with the snake. Good plan, right? Except for the slight problem that I don't know a whole lot about guns ... like how to load one, for example. Minor detail. The gun is in a locked case so I had to find the right key ... unlock 3 locks ... get some shells out of the box ... and figure out how to get them into the gun. All the while, shaking like a crazy woman! The adrenaline was on full-throttle, let me tell you.

I actually did manage to figure out how to get the shell into the gun and ready to fire (well, I think - the pointy thingy was pointing forward and it was down in the barrel of the gun - works for me). I figured out how to release the safety on the trigger and I was ready.

All the time spent fiddling with the gun, I did inside the camper. When I came out, I didn't see him anywhere. He had last been spotted underneath our plyforms (which we are now using, btw), so I decided to climb up on them and try to scare him out. You're just going to have to picture this, because I obviously didn't think of you and have the camera handy :) There I was, shotgun in hand, still in my flip-flops ... jumping up and down on the plyform stack. The kids started laughing at me and said "now that's a picture, Mom".

My mistake was time - I *should* have grabbed all the needed parts for my little operation and took them out and kept an eye on the snake while I was learning how to work the gun.

The lesson of the story? Keep your eye on the enemy.

Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

Very exciting!!!

Can you imagine my surprise hearing a horn toot outside of the camper and looking out to see this ... ?



We have a new driver and are VERY excited about it! The last one called and had us drive to the mailbox to pick up our packages. Whoo hoo - this one actually DOES her job. Awesome and kudos to the brown company :)

That's all.

What would you do?

Just wondering what you would do ...

During the school year we learned about some of the patriotic songs and their history. During that time, we learned about the song "Yankee Doodle" ... the chorus is:

Yankee Doodle, keep it up,
Yankee Doodle, Dandy
Mind the music and the step
And with the girls be handy

Somehow ... now my kids sing the last line as:

And let the girls be handy

Do you see my dilemma? Is it ok to just let it go and not correct them? :)

What would you do?

Weather report - HOT!

Need I say more?

Proud versus broken - source

Someone had asked me to use the material from the information I posted about proud versus broken people. Since the information was not original to me, I felt that I should at least try to find out who did write it. Here is the answer that I received from the person who I heard it from:

"It has been a few years since I came a crossed this in a journal article in Spirit of Revival by Life Action Revival Ministries; so I am not sure who wrote the article it was in; but if you gave credit to Life Action Revival Ministries, I know that is where it originated. To this day it is still one of the best heart tools to inventory my heart I have come across." - Paul