Today was the day for farewells, it seems. Brother Motz and Sister Joy are leaving for a time and several months, respectfully. In honor of these events, we had a meal together at the family home. And then tonight Uncle Juniors were farewelled at the Cleveland church, so that brought many fine people together. At least we have plenty of reminders that we’re not really home yet.

Anyway, we took advantage of the photographic prowess of one of our relatives today to get some family shots to use on our upcoming Thanksgiving/Christmas/Holiday cards. These are several attempts that were taken. The final version will be different, I promise.

A happy good-morning to all our patient friends out there.  We don’t seem to be too great at keeping our blog updated.  Hopefully you understand a busy phase of life and blogs kept for necessary little outpourings of thoughts occasionally.  But I thought you would all enjoy a little catch-up on familiar happenings from our home today… perhaps?

PD is busy at the store, just having finished their 5th anniversary sale.  He is also adjusting to having both his co-workers desert him recently to pursue other interests (Ahem!), so that has created some new challenges for my amazing man.  Honey, I so respect your ability to manage it all yourself, and THEN come home an manage your wife and children.  :)  Thanks for your patient, kind example of Christ’s love to us.  I pray He will reward you with a wonderful relationship with God every day, and whatever else your heart desires, although I don’t know if He would include that computer you would love to have or not.  :) Sigh… the only time I wish for lots of money is when it’s time to buy a gift for my man!

The girlies and I have finally started school.  Last year was a bit of a negative school experience for Esther, with Mama sick on the couch too many days to count.  This year, along with a deep gratitude for my improving health and stamina, my goal for this school year is that learning will be fun for the girls, and we will have good memories of doing things together, even if the books aren’t perfectly completed!  We’ve got to make up for lost time here.  Yet even as I say that, I know that the truth of the matter is that the time has not been lost.  Those lessons God taught me through my weakness are truly invaluable.  I can never scorn the deep heart-searching of God in me or the bittersweet moments of having absolutely nothing to give my family, and finding His grace and strength to far surpass my own.  I can never disregard the deepening of my faith in a God Who is truly amazing, or the way that He drew my focus deeply towards eternity and the real purposes of God in our lives.  I thank Him for His redemptive heart that is seen even now in our home as He guides my focus to the hearts of my husband and children in a deeper way than ever before.  He is a good God and He is the essence of Love… true Love.

Wish I would have pics of the FUN time we had yesterday, but we are greatly lacking a camera presently… so I shall try to describe to you the joy we discovered in something very simple.  I had a flashback of ecstatic memories of walking along our old farm lane years ago with my bosom friend, picking all kinds of weeds and berries and grasses to make fall bouquets.  Instantly, I thought of my little girls and their love of nature, and the plan was formed!  We pulled out the stroller for wee Meg so her legs wouldn’t  get so tired, and off we went, trumping along our road in search of many beauties.  All three girls had a basket in their hand, and Mama carried the scissors.  :)  We had a virtual blast, finding bright red berries and white daisies and all kinds of exotic-looking weeds and wheat, even some perfumed stuff and purple-colored grasses… and of course, added the wonderful allergy-laden mustard flowers for the bright yellow accents.  :)  We chattered and exclaimed over every new type.  Not every day do the weeds in the neighborhood get so much admiration!  Our return was triumphant with unbelievably beautiful bouquets in our baskets, flushed faces, and tired feet.  Once again, I decided that we are meant to live much closer to the earth than we do; the simple things created by God yield entirely more real pleasure than all the plastic toys in the world! 

I think I will post some pictures of our wild girly family, and our wise, handsome Dad!  Blessings to all of you and may you find your All in All in Jesus today…

 

                            My intelligent, thinking, reader girl…

 

           My butterfly girl!                                     My BUSY sunbeam! 

           

                                                   Beauty

         

                                           And we all fall down!!!

         

                Ecstasy                                          The journey of life goes on…

                               I wonder HOW I got into this family!!

                    

                                          Precious cuddle time

         

                                                Sitting Pretty

         

                                             I love my Mama!

         

                                          Jaime means… “I Love”

         

                                      The Ultimate Quiet Time

            Water-lover Jaime                                 ‘Here, Mom, its for you, a mud cake!’

          

Here’s  what happens when we visit Dad in his nice furniture store!!!  NOT 4 SALE!  DISPLAY ONLY!

          

Wise old Dad… Best lover in the world… my sweetheart.  Thanks, Honey, for all you do and all you are.  We love you!!

          

And we just can’t forget our beloved Cabob… ‘big brother’ to some little girls who always wanted one!  Lil bro (to PD n I), we love you and thank you for letting us be a wee part of your life.  God’s plan for you is amazing and beautiful, and though the journey is watered by tears and change, we are excited for the sweet relationship you are building with Him.  God’s promises for you are true!

                              And here is some of his awesome photography!

I’m sorry about the lack of posting here, but WordPress has been giving us some annoying little fits, which really cut back on the ease of use, especially when it came to uploading pictures. So now, I have finally downloaded Windows Live Writer Beta, and I’m giving it a try. We shall see what we shall see…

This picture was incredibly easy to insert, and I’ve got lots of snazzy border options, and alignment and resizing are a snap. All of this previously required a minimum of a (almost) bachelor’s degree in HyperText Markup Language and a heavy dose of patience to accomplish. Now anyone who can drive a mouse can do it! I think I am liking it. Please don’t disappoint me, Mr. Gates.

This is a new post. There is nothing much to it.

Keep serving the Lord!

Keep on smiling.

Amen.

 

The house is quiet once again. I love the late hours more than I should, but it is so refreshing to my spirit to unwind in the quiet sounds of night time. To all of you early morning risers… I admire you, and hope to be more like you one day, but I do love the moonlight. :)

August in NC is unusually mild this year, much to our enjoyment. What a pleasant surprise to have relatively cooler days and nights than usual! Gardens and produce fields are fairly bursting with their abundance of fruits and vegetables. It’s incredible how much food I have processed for almost no price, from apples in my neighbor’s back yard to blueberries and strawberries from Dad’s awesome patch (thank-you, Dad, for all your hard work in the gardens and your generosity with the outcome!), to corn and melons in our own garden, tomatoes from the local produce farm, etc. We are blessed beyond words. Last week, I spent the day with two friends, making veggie soup. We had a virtual blast filling a tub with gallons and gallons of all sorts of vegetables and meat and broth. We squealed with delight when the last of 60 quarts were filled and when we divided the cost after all our garden and pantry donations, it came to about 4 dollars each! What an incredible blessing that soup will be this winter. It is a joy to be physically able to do all this, too. I hope I will never again take my health for granted.

Thank-you, God.

Yesterday was a somber time of reliving memories of when our dear brother friend Isaac drowned in Honduras 5 months ago. We ask ourselves, what have we learned? Has Isaac’s life and death done in our hearts what God intended? Have we responded in a way that our own hearts are more conditioned for life and death?

As I pondered, I realized that we cannot even see all that God has done in our hearts through this tragedy. But my own personal response is overwhelming gratitude for Isaac’s life… the things he taught me while he was here. Some of you will understand… but I just want to mention a few things that I’m deeply grateful for.

Thank-you, Isaac…

For teaching me so much about the value of genuine honesty,
For showing us what true friendship is; for examplifyng compassion and care at its best,
For teaching me so much about true intercession and faith, inspired by eternal love,
For your quiet, gentle voice,
For the way you loved little children, and showed us how to yearn to be like them,
For your artwork and photography, sweet treasures to our aching hearts,
For forgiving,
For searching,
For living your life with purpose,
For seeking your purpose,
For finding your life in Him,
For making a difference,
And for leaving us with a vibrant hope of eternity.

I love to think of you now… completely at rest in your spirit, no more worries, safe with God Himself. I love to imagine you stepping from this life into LIFE eternal, with wonder and delight in your Heaven-filled eyes. I love to think of your faith becoming sight at last. Isaac, I hope God lets you see the reality of how much we love you, and how grateful we are for who you were here with us. You changed my life for eternity.

I miss you…

I am thankful, too, for all the sweet friendships shared with those of us left waiting our turns. So many friends have grown dearer than ever as we are bonded closely in this journey of deep grief. Then there are some precious new ones that I cannot imagine life without today. Thank-you, God!

You don’t know how much you need a break until you take one.  We left our house early Monday morning with my sister and her hubby who were visiting us, and spent the day cruising a beautiful lake, enjoying the water and each other while roasting deliciously in the sun.  As I stretched out on the comfy boat seats and gazed at the sky, I felt myself relaxing from the inside out.  We needed this day.  My hubby grinned from his position of driver… he was totally enjoying his birthday bonus.  He deserved it. 

The girls enjoyed their day on the water immensely, too.  EG and Jaime loved the tubing and especially jumping from the tube to swim to the boat… anything for some time in the water.

 A few other pictures.

” Here I go with my hard sayings again, but I keep thinking of a little seed we plant.  It grows first of all maybe one a beautiful flower and while it is there nobody sees it much but it can see an feel the warm sunshine and feels a measure of safety and familiarity. When the flower starts fading, that little seed is ready for something, but first of all it gets stripped away from it’s hiding place either by the wind or some strong hand;

 

However it happens, that little seed has a lot of potential that will only be fulfilled one way…So into the ground that dear little thing goes, buried beneath the cold unforgiving soil where it can no longer see the hand that buried it and the warmth of the sunshine is distant at the most. How forsaken it must feel! I wonder what it would say if it could speak… Do you think it longs to see or at least feel the sunshine?  But it’s left to a lonely death with no evidence that there is any future ahead—

 

Why does a seed even begin to grow out of such a miserable state?  How can it?  If you will notice= it doesn’t begin either until a bunch of rain (trials? tears?) dumps on it… more misery, we think.  And why does the gardener smile when it rains?

 

I wonder… what could ever grow up out of such conditions?  But it does.  What is inside that little seed?  A promise, a life, a future beautiful and perfec t(it can’t change into something less)… Why then must it go through this death process so brutal? But something stirs deep inside as the sun begins to draw life through the dark soil.  The sun is there, unchanged, warm and faithful- real, alive.  The seed can’t feel it’s direct rays but it knows somehow that it’s up there somewhere.

 

 Brave little seed, you will grow if you reach for the sun… You feel forsaken, but you are not.  The sun is warm and true above your cold coverings.  You will see it soon if you yield yourself to the Hand that tends you.  Oh, how He must long to uncover you and protect you from death.  But He knows it would ruin you… and so He waits for the rose.

 

Hey, and just for your encouragement, I see a little seed hurting like crazy all cracked and splintered cause there is new green life bursting up from inside of him… COURAGE, my friend!  We love you very much.”

“A GOOD MARRIAGE IS MADE OF TWO VERY GOOD FORGIVERS.”

 It’s true. 

 Out of all the good forgivers in the world, how did it come to be that mine is the best?  I’m not worthy, but I’m thankful to God, and to him.