Friday, July 27, 2007

growing up


Tonight a milestone was scaled in our home. To some, this may not mean a whole lot, but to a mom who has been working with her son on reading, this is a HUGE thing. Sam doesn't really like to read. He likes being read to and has started graduating from pictures books to chapter books (with some pictures). It is like pulling teeth to get him to read words, but at the library the other day, I took my time in picking out some very easy beginner books for him to read. I realized how hard it is to find books that have very few words on the pages, and yet are full sentences where every word could be sounded out. I found three. And he read an entire one, all by himself, tonight. You could see he was getting so frustrated with himself over some words, but when it clicked in his brain, he got really excited when he re-read the entire sentence. His eyes lit up and he got a huge smile on his face. Praise filled our home tonight over his huge accomplishment. I'm so very proud of him, and from this big step, I hope he sees how amazing reading can be and all the adventures he can imagine from reading books.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

#2

Today Ed left on trip number two. The past days have been filled with dehydrating chicken for jerky, green peppers and onions for fajitas, apples, strawberries and blueberries to add to the morning oatmeal. Eight sandwiches were baked for lunches, noodles measured out for stroganoff, rice to accompany the fajitas, and every bag labeled for each guy. Breakfasts, snacks, lunches, snacks, dinners. The kitchen has once again exploded with foods for trail mix, oatmeal bars (which I couldn't sneak a few in as all 16 were needed), bags of packaged tuna and apple cider found on the clearance rack at a nearby grocery store. The dishwasher is getting its workout and the rest of the mess can wait until tomorrow.

To end the day after the guys left I started clearing out the shed, garage and basement for a garage sale the neighbors are having. The truck was stuffed full and so much more is going to go tomorrow.

Right now my bed is calling along with the movie I picked out for me from the library. I think a small snack is in order too.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

plans

Today Ed left on his first of three backpacking trips for the men's ministry. So with him gone, we're finding things to do to keep busy until his return on Sunday.

Today was helping my dear friend sing at a kids park party by the lake. I love being by the water and the kids did too. I could've done without Ronald McDonald talking to me though (clowns give me the heebee geebees), but all was well.

Tomorrow is blueberry picking!! YAY!!! Time to stock up the freezer to last us through the fall, winter and spring until next year.

Tomorrow night is the musician bbq and Ed's mom is coming for the weekend. Me, myself and I get to indulge in an evening of adult conversation, and eat as slow as I'd like. I'm very much looking forward to it!

Saturday is undetermined as to what is going to happen.

Sunday is church and then Ed will be home by dinner time.

Right now it is time for books and bed. The kitchen that exploded with preparations of camping food for the guys, is mainly cleaned up and will still be there tomorrow morning.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

thankful

Today is a day of thankfulness.
For:
A washer and dryer.
A working refrigerator.
Fans.
Clothes line.
Communication to the outside world.
Lights.
Water.
Flushing toilets.
The basics that I take advantage of every single day and not realize it.

After a 19 hour stint of having no electricity (which also means no water and no septic), I am truly thankful for the every day items in our home. It made today a really fun adventure though!!

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Our holiday

It has been another great 4th holiday. It began on the 3rd with 70+ friends and family gathered at our home to eat very yummy food while chatting and playing games. The evening ended with a spectacular fireworks show across the street and thesmores around the fire pit. Our family was praying all week for the rain to hold off, and other than 30 seconds of sprinkles, it didn't start raining until we climbed into bed
last night. Thank you Jesus!!

Today was a lazy day of sleeping in, going out to breakfast with Grandma, watching a parade, going to a fair for sno-cones and inflatable rides and then out to lunch with Grandma, followed by a nice nap. Tonight is cleaning up the house and taking it easy.

What a great holiday it has been! I experienced the blessings of having a cleaning fairy yesterday who was a HUGE help, the relaxing atmosphere of a large crowd at our home and being able to celebrate our country's birth with my family.

Now the kitchen needs some loving attention and so does the newly decorated laundry room that is keeping an eye on the mountains of laundry that need to be done.

Happy 4th of July!!

Sunday, July 01, 2007

blink

Have you ever seen one of those stunt drivers in the movies where their car is flying through the air on its side then lands on it's roof,smushing the car so much that you can't even pick out the windows anymore? That is the only way I can describe the horror that flew before my eyes last evening and is seared inside of my brain. Replaying over and over again. Happening in slow motion. Hearing metal collide into metal. Smelling burnt rubber. Seeing the shocked faces of those standing around me. Everyone standing stone still. Watching. Trying to comprehend what just happened before all of our eyes. Then in the blink of an eye, people running to help all involved. Parents searching frantically for their kids. It was a movie being played out. Or so it seemed.

After watching the fireworks out in a little farm town, from the lawn of a friends uncle's house with the majority of the people our family didn't know, this scene happened. We were getting ready to leave when we heard a horrible metal on metal impact, turned around to see a car hurdling through the air to land on it's roof, on
the lawn, that we were all standing on.

Amazingly, no one was seriously hurt. The 20 year old of the flying car came out with a scraped elbow. How he lived I don't think anyone will be able to comprehend as he wasn't wearing hisseat belt.

I hope I never see, hear, smell anything like this again.

And while sitting there watching the entire town's fire department take care of all that were involved, our 3 year old pipes up and says, "I think we should pray for that man. That he's ok." And we did just that.

A wake up call of how life can so swiftly change. And a reminder of the child like faith we are called to have, to go to Christ with our scraped knees, thankful hearts and crushing blows.