Bugged Out~!!!

We have seen some interesting little bugs here lately.

Some nice:

can you see the grasshopper above?!!?

And some not so nice:

This first one is a scorpion.....yuck! He is stuck on a bag trap. Thanking God for bug traps!

Last night, we were all wanting to go on a walk, the evening being perfect for a trek up and down the hills. E took a shortcut through the yard and walked too close to an underground hive. He was stung several times, the little bugs also crawling inside my capri pants as well as into my shirt. Though the moments of the stings were scary and painful, I can laugh at my reaction quite easily.

I cannot laugh at all (yet) about them attacking and stinging E ... poor little guy.

So after we all took off our loose clothes, showered and washed away all signs of the bees (or yellow jackets, hornets, sweat bees....whatever they are!), we made sure we were all tucked in and tight. Esp since the little stingers chased and followed my little stinker into the house.

We sure looked silly...

but we wanted no more under the clothes stings----yowch!!!!!!

Little Hearts

Sometimes I am fearful of opening the door and allowing our children to step outside of our protective arms and home.

This world is big.

The hearts entrusted to us are little in size and very tender.

But, as I found out the other day, those very small hearts are large and strong in love and sincerity...

and faith.

"Mommy," said D-D, our 6 year old, with a catch in her voice, "I don't have anyone to tell about Jesus!"

~Then she began to cry.~

"All my friends already know!!!!" she sobs. "I have no one to tell. No one!"

She brings me such joy in our Lord....and because of that joy, I am also shamed. She is embracing Hope within her and is living out my desire....that our Hope will never be hidden.

Possibly without fully realizing it, she has taken Jesus' words of grace into her young heart and is desperate to share that grace and salvation to those around her. Though it hurts my heart, I love that God sometimes speaks to us through the innocence and faith of our children, that through the Spirit working in their hearts, HE pulls at mine and makes me once again desperate to please Him and love those around me.

Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation…

Mark 16:15

Forced Changes

When we moved into our new house, the precious owner left behind a few things. All of which we have been thankful for:: terracotta flowerpots, work-benches in the shop, cans of Benjamin Moore paint, other odds and ends in the shop, a beautiful LIVING ficus tree in the house, and a Glade plug-in.

I have never had a Glade plugin before, but we have enjoyed the faint scent of freshness it puts in the air---that is, if you get the right scent. And, as we have now found out, if you have the plug-in turned in the right direction. For some reason, the last time I put the oil into the plugin, I turned it sideways. I noticed that the aroma was a bit too much, but could not figure out why. Dana, however, did. The oil was leaking out of its container. So, I took it out of the outlet, laid it on our beautiful bathroom countertop, and wiped up the oil.

Now, if you have been around me much lately, you will know how quickly I am forgetting things. Like the tea kettle on the stove, the laundry in the wash (gag!), the laundry in the dryer (and I do not like ironing), breakfast for myself, sometimes lunch, returning phone calls, appointments, setting my alarm, and even what the day is when my alarm DOES wake me up. But this day, I forgot about the plug-in.

Sitting on top of the wood countertop in the bathroom.

On that beautiful piece of furniture that helped me love the house just that smidgen more.

A few days later, I noticed the plugin on its side and thought, "I need to put that away!"...when I picked it up, there was a pool of oil underneath. With a bit of a growl at the extra work I made for myself, I went and got paper towels and pledge to clean up the mess.

What I cleaned off was the entire finish and the paint job of the piece.

AND the oil! I did get the oil!

All this time, I thought this bit of furniture was beautifully stained wood with an interesting and lovely wood-grain. Boy, was I wrong!!!!!

So now, we have this awful mess on a lovely piece of furniture:

what to do??....what to do??

Well, Dana remembered that one of the numerous things left in the shop were sheets of slate. THREE SHEETS OF SLATE!!!!!!! We will see what we can find out about how to use that slate as a countertop ("we" meaning "HE", with me cheering in the background!). I hope "we" can fix this mess and make this a lovely piece of furniture once again.

And, I will never, never, never, never, NE.VER. lay a Glade plug-in on a wooden counter-top again!!!!

Sweet Shortcake!

Our Z-boy has lots of curls. I love them. I have loved the idea of those curls years before he was born.

What? How on earth? Well...take a look at Dana when he was a little blond-headed tyke:

I am so thankful that our bookend children both have beautiful curls like their daddy did (and, I imagine, still does...if he'd grow his hair out). One child can grow out their hair and look like a girl and it is all good. But we figured it was time for the youngest to stop being mistaken for a girl. We thought it might do a bit of "damage" to his esteem or image or...to his parents' sensibilities! :o)

So, this past Sunday night, we got out the scissors and then began the sniffles snipping.

Before:

After:

I DO miss those curls, but brushing his hair is now much, much easier.

In Concert

Allison Krauss will be here soon to perform on our campus. I am not sure which I am more excited to hear....her voice, or her instruments/band. I am sure there will be some great blue grass and fabulous folksy music. Toooooo much fun. I also hope that she will sing her A capella version of this song. It is quite lovely!

Holding Me

One of my favorites for quite a while.



And I just heard another song that she sings. Parts of the song remind me of the story "The Runaway Bunny" by Margaret Wise Brown (who also wrote "Goodnight Moon"):

Sunshiney Day

It is definitely a bright and sunshiney day around this man's house! ::

Jim's Pancakes

Don't you think it would be so easy to have a bright smile on your face if these sorts of creations greeted you for breakfast every morning?!!?

Jim's PancakesJim's Pancakes

Jim's Pancakes

SUPER BASH!

We had a great time celebrating Z's birthday. We also got a few photos of E opening a gift that just arrived. So, tonight, we DID get a few shots of E doing a birthday thing of his own!

Z is getting the hang of opening presents

and loved his final gift from us:~: Then he opened his gifts from the grandparents. He really got tickled with the card, which sang to him, and then carried around his Iron Man robot.

Yes, it was on this SUPER day
we discovered (all over again) that we have a house
full of Avengers and Super Heroes !!!!

Soooo,
with the gifts opened,

it was then time for the birthday cake.


Our Z-boy loved it!
~~~
!!!Yay!!!!

The Great 4 Year Old

(if you want the photo larger, click on the image)

Wait For It.....Wait For It....

I began the cake for Z on Thursday evening. Having the M&Ms separated early certainly helped!

The cake in progress:

Ring The Bell

School is now in session. The kids did great getting up and getting ready for their first day back to school.Summer certainly flew by and though the kids were ready for school, I was not.

I could have had another week or two with the them, playing, visiting, watching movies, staying up and sleeping in.

But those good things must make way for some other good things.

And at the end of the day, we all had some stories to tell...