Just a few things...

Anna clapping her hands watching the Elephants

We've been so busy around here lately. We've started our new year of homeschooling. Lilla is having a good time, especially with the french she began today. She is quite adorable, I must admit, when she says, "Au Revoir" and it sounds better than me after two years of high school French. Hilarious.

Also this week, we've gone to a baptism for 100 people at our church, went to my mom's house to spend time with my grandma who lives in Florida, went to the zoo to see the butterfly's one last time this summer, adopted two fish, one of which has already passed on to that big fishtank in the sky), had a playdate at the park and made new friends and had dinner with my bestie and her family tonight.

Lilla learning about a sundial

Blogging seems to have taken a backseat, which pretty much always seems the case in the summer. We are outside more, tending the garden, taking care of the yard, attending gatherings, grilling, and just doing the normal summer stuff. I think as fall approaches there will be more time to spend processing and writing better posts. I'm sure there will be many more pictures, as there never seem to be a shortage in this home! And hopefully, I can catch back up with more blogging buddies, who also seem to have faded away this summer.

Anyway, hope you are well and your weekend is full of blessings!

God's economy

Just read this off a friend's facebook post. It hit home with me, as I am quick to jump when little things annoy me. I get irritated often, just like last night when my oldest jumped on the couch where I had just told her a cup of water sat. Patience was not my strong suit at this moment. I was thinking of God's economy. Fortunately, this helps me to a little more.

A magazine article asked, “How would you respond to this? You ask one of your children to go get a rake, and he dents the car with it as he’s bringing it around.”

I hate to think how I’d respond!

The article advocated viewing such incidents “from God’s eternal perspective,” such as asking, “How much is that dent going to bother me a year from now?” The author said, “In God’s economy, it doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.”

It wasn’t long before a test situation arose. I went to take some cheese from the refrigerator and found part of the outside dried out. What a waste of good money! I had purposely bought a larger piece than usual because it was on sale. “Who forgot to put the cheese back in a plastic bag?” I started to bellow accusingly.

I took a second look at the orange wedge on the butcher block. How important would this be in a year?

I trimmed off the dry part and tossed it on the back porch for two grateful cats. Then I sliced some, wrapped the rest, and placed it back in the refrigerator. A reminder was in order for the family. But not a tantrum.

Not in God’s economy, anyway.
Father, please give me Your perspective.
—B. J. CONNOR

Disney

A little over a week ago, we went to Disney World for the week.

Something not at all like us.

We never take vacations.

This year we did.

And, I can't say we were disappointed.

We had fun on a Safari.

And having breakfast with princesses.

And hugging Mickey.

And kissed Donald on the nose.

Seeing a Broadway type production.

And shot down the bad guys.

And spent a lot of time trying to cool off.

And finally saw The World.

Fear Not

Yesterday, as we were preparing dinner on the grill, Lilla brought her beach Barbies out to play on the deck. The Barbie pool had come with a little itty bitty bottle of sunblock, which, of course, was dropped and fell between the slats in the deck.

Lilla was so upset and wanted that little bottle so badly. Unfortunately, there is only about 6 inches between the deck and the slab of cement beneath it. No adult could possibly get under there. Also, my landscaping is way overgrown, and woah, am I not prepared to find out what might be living in there!

So, although there was crying and nashing of teeth, I had to tell Lilla we just couldn't get it. She kept begging and saying, "Why not?" I finally said, "Listen, mommy is scared to go anywhere near the edges of the deck, I don't know what I'll find!"

In her sweet little Lilla way, she said, "But Mom, we have Jesus, and when you have Jesus, you have nothing to fear. Right?"

And just like that, I am speechless again.

Isaiah 41:10 "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Nothing beats the beach

This past week we spent in Florida. Disney was the name of the game for 5 days. The last two days we spent driving back to Indy and we are ever so tired. But, we did manage to fit in a couple of hours in Jacksonville beach on our way back, and oh, we love the beach so much. It's too bad we are so land locked, because I would so be there all the time. Here are a few pics from that day...

We can hardly wait to go back again!

Saturday Photo Hunt - Colorful

We went to Disney World last week. They have a shopping area there called Downtown Disney. It's got an awesome lego store that you can pick out the amount, type and color of legos you want. I took this with the Kodak I carry in my purse so the resolution is not great, but I think you must get the hint in how COLORFUL that place truly is!

To participate or see more entries into the hunt, go to http://tnchick.com.