My Favorite Way to Start the Day

Someone help! I can't stop taking pictures!

 

Streams in the Desert

The July 26th reading of Streams in the Desert kind of hit me square between the eyes.Waiting on God with hope and waiting on God for hope are two different things and i'm learning it's ok to be in the place of waiting for hope. I've been there and i've felt that i must just not have enough faith or maybe i'm not trusting the Lord enough. But it doesn't mean that I've failed. Some time life just hurts and are we going to keep trusting Him even when we feel like there's no hope?

Streams In The Desert - July 26th
"By faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope." -Galatians 5:5

There are times when everything looks very dark to me - so dark that I have to wait before I have hope. Waiting with hope is very difficult, but true patience is expressed when we much even wait for hope. When we see no hint of success yet refuse to despair, when we see nothing but the darkness of night through out window yet keep the shutters open because stars may appear in the sky, and when we have an empty place in our heart yet will not allow it to be filled with anything less than God's best - that is the greatest kind of patience in the universe. It is the story of Job in the midst of the storm, Abraham on the road to Moriah, Moses in the desert of Midian, and the Son of Man in the Garden of Gethsemane. And there is no patience as strong as that which endures because we see "him who is invisible" (Heb. 11:27). It is the kind of patience that waits for hope.

Dear Lord, You have made waiting beautiful and patience divine. You have taught us that Your will should be accepted, simply because it is Your will. You have revealed to us that a person may see nothing but sorrow in his cup yet still be willing to drink it because of a conviction that Your eyes see further than his own.

Father, give me Your divine power - the power of Gethsemane. Give me the strength to wait for hope - to look through the window when there are no stars. Even when my joy is gone, give me the strength to stand victoriously in the darkest night and say, "To my heavenly Father, the sun still shines."

I will have reached the point of greatest strength once I have learned to wait for hope. -George Matheson

A Picnic in Pictures

Loving these lazy days of summer with my kiddos!

Would You Rather?

If you had to choose, would you rather have imagination or knowledge?

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand."  -Albert Einstein

Advice for a New Gardener

'Just living is not enough,' said the butterfly.
'One must have sunshine, freedom,
and a little flower.'    ~Hans Christian Andersen

Ethan helping me water the flowers.

"We can complain because rose bushes have thorns,
or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses."~Abraham Lincoln

While our neighbors are away we've been looking after their flowers. I love it. I can't wait to get to Florida and dig my hands into the dirt and plant my own garden. There's so much to learn though! I'll be starting with very little gardening knowledge or experience!

What advice or tips would you give to a beginning gardener? What are the essential "tools" that I need to start with?

Starting a little list of sites i want to keep about gardening in FL:
Sweet Potatoes
http://www.netpamj.com/groundcover.htm

http://centralfloridagarden.blogspot.com/

Gardening Calander

Broccoli
Front Yard Farmer
*Home Farming

Sunday Visitors

Like the kids on this swing these long warm days of July seems to be flying!

In three weeks we'll be moving back to Florida.



Kind of sad to leave Missouri and move away from my Aunt and her sweet girls.

These pictures are from when they came to visit on Sunday.

We took the kids to one of my favorite places on campus. There's this great playground by the ice cold creek.

My Aunt Ginna, her daughter Anna and I.

Anna, Sara, Elijah

Sara

Anna

The Big Apple Adventure!

Elijah attended VBS last week and had so much fun!

Ethan was too little to go and he was so upset one day when we dropped his big brother off. He was bawling and kept saying, "I VBS too! "

These pictures are from the Family night program on Friday evening. Each group got up and sang a song. This the the pre-k and kindergartner singing. Elijah's the one in the middle right under the Statue of Liberty.

When he saw us in the audience he grinned and waved!

Afterwards there were snacks in the gym. Here is Kristie and Elijah. She helped out with VBS just not with his class.

On Saturday Geoff took me out to see a movie and Kristie babysat the boys for us.

She's a super babysitter! They played with cars...

had snack in their fort...

played air hockey...

"When can Kristie watch me again? She was fun!" -Elijah

All the pictures are from Kristie's mom.  Thanks Sue!

L.E.N.S. Photo Challenge ~You are my sunshine

Ethan at the creek yesterday.

Welcome to the LEarning Never Stops Photo Challenge!

The theme this week is: You are my sunshine.

The sweetest things in life

The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.
~Robert Louis Stevenson

Days Like Today

Enjoyed a walk just me and my boy this morning while his big brother was at VBS...

Taking pictures...

Waiting for these to come out of the oven...

photo credit and recipe here

Being challenged and encouraged by this...

I just love days like today.

Some times you just have to roll with it!

Uh oh... some one looks like they're not feeling well...
When Ethan lays himself on the couch with a blanket and doesn't move you know something is up.

I'll spare you the details. I'll just say this changes our plans for the day.

Elijah is away at vacation bible school this morning and we had planned to visit a family from church after VBS and play with their animals but since Ethan is sick I don't think we'll be going any where today.

There are unexpected days and we just have to learn to go with the flow and change your plans if you have to.

What's Your Favorite Childhood Game?

I used to love playing this game when I was a little girl growing up in Africa.

Mom and Dad would say "Go pick out a game to play!" and my sister and I would run and grab Shoots and Ladders or CANDY LAND! =)

I loved the bright colors, the fun characters! I would imagine myself walking through the Peppermint Forest with giant candy canes as trees or visiting Gramma Nut in her peanut brittle house!

Elijah and I played a few games yesterday. 

I'd like to give my kids have good memories of playing games with their family!

Ethan was interested... in knocking the pieces off the board and confiscating the cards!

He beat me three out of four games!

Do you have a favorite childhood game?