Lily's Christmas Concert

 

Perfectly imperfect

 

We headed out to our little land in search of the perfect Christmas tree. Luis had cleared most of the land already, all except a small section that was full of pine trees. He knows how much I love Christmas. He knows I love to have a real tree. Jonathan was at a friends house, and this was Josh's last full day at home. I was disappointed that we weren't all together. Nonetheless, Josh, Lily and I headed to the land where Luis was already waiting. I started to look at the trees, and they all looked like Southern Pines. Tall skinny trunks with few branches and long soft needles. Definitely not the Douglas Fir that I had stuck in recesses of my imagination. It was an unrealistic desire. We do, after all, live in the Upstate of South Carolina. After about a minute of looking, I had already decided that our perfect tree wasn't to be found on our land. I somehow managed to convince Josh of the same thing, without even saying a word. Moms have a way of doing that, you know. Then, I saw Lily emerge from a small group of trees with a smile on her face. 

With a matter-of-fact grin and her hands on her hips, she announced that she found our tree. I half-heartedly strolled toward her, trying to muster up some kind of enthusiasm. As I walked closer, I noticed that tucked in the middle of a group of Southern Pines, was another pine tree that I hadn't seen before.  I wasn't exactly sure what kind of pine it was, but I could tell that Lily was  certain it was the one...and she had managed to convince Luis. Daddys' little girls have a way of doing that too, you know. Luis fired up the chainsaw and we watched the tree fall. Still doubtful, I watched Luis drag the tree out and stand it upright. It definitely had potential. At least more potential than the other trees. 

We decided to bring it home and give it a try. The kids and I hopped in my car and went home to prepare the living room for the tree. 

It is probably hard to tell from the picture, but this tree is 12 feet tall. That's even after Luis cut about three feet off the bottom. It actually has two trunks and two tips. It has a bare spot and we probably trimmed too many lower branches off. But this tree was meant to be ours. Truth be told, this tree reminds me of my little family. We're a little different. Sometime we don't look like everyone around us. At times we have been overlooked, passed by, misjudged. That can hurt more that we let on. We have had "bare spots"...times that felt like we weren't going to make it financially, emotionally and probably a ton of other adverbs you want to chuck in there. Then there are those times when we remember that we are chosen, and we stand tall, even if we are leaning slightly, even if we might fall completely down once in a while. 

An old friend wrote recently about how we often only let people see what we want them to see. We photoshop the flaws, crop out the chaos, apply the filter that puts us in the best light. But what if we were just real? What if we let people see how we struggle, how we blow it at times, how we fail? Maybe then we wouldn't feel like we always miss "the mark" because the mark we are trying to live up to might not even be real.

So here it is...our perfectly imperfect Christmas tree. Right where it belongs in the middle of my livingroom. Reminding me that life isn't perfect, but beauty can still be found in imperfection.

Isaiah 6:1

 

I was reminded today of something our Pastor Robert Peralta said, and it really hit home as we have been praying so hard for our friend, Andrew Swift.

It went something like this:

"The king’s train was actually made up of pieces or swatches of the royal robes of defeated kings. The conquering king would have portions of the defeated kings robe cut and sown into his own robe as a symbol and testimony of the conqueror’s strength and power. Isaiah looked at the train on God's robe and there were so many conquests until His robe, "filled the temple." Symbolizing He had defeated every enemy". 

When Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple, he was seeing a mighty king who has never, ever lost a battle!! I was reminded again today that the Lord never has and never will lose a battle. Forever, He has the victory!!

Does that mean we will always understand the struggles? No, because His ways are higher than our ways. But when we put our faith and our trust in the One that never loses a battle, we can rest in knowing He will work all things for our good. ❤

Soccer Tournament in Charlotte

 

Lily's team finished in second place overall. Not bad for a whole new team that isn't used to playing together. Lily played her heart out and didn't give up, despite hurting her knee on the first day. She played in both games the second day and played great! Still sore today, but hopefully on the mend!

School Days!

 Well, we all made it through the first week back in school. Morning car drop off lines almost did me in, but we all survived! Josh moved back in to college and he is so happy to be back. He is trying out the Exercise Science Major and is thinking he will make Spanish a double major rather than a minor  I can't wait to see all that God has in store for each of them!

Lily began middle school (6th grade), Jon is a Junior in High School and Josh is a Sophomore in college. When did my babies stop being babies?! (They will always be my babies!)

The elephant above was Jonathan's Summer Art Project. White colored pencil on black paper. Isn't it great!?!

Summer Staycation 2021: Day 5

 We ventured about an hour from home to Table Rock State Park. Some hiked, others swam and some rode a paddleboat. It was a ton of fun! I am worn out!

Summer Staycation 2021: Day 4

Sleeping in is such a beautiful thing...even when sleeping in is only until 8:30am. LOL

Today was a stay-close-to-home day. Lily and I headed over to Callaham Orchard in Belton. We picked blueberries, found the perfect watermelon and fed their goats. Banana blueberry bread and muffins are cooling now. They will be our snack for tomorrow's adventure!

Summer Staycation 2021: Day 3

So, I had to make an inexpected trip to the Honda dealership, so today day got off to a slow start. Josh told me about something called Geocaching (which I had just heard of for the first time earlier today! Must be fate!) Basically. Geocaching is using a cell phone app to find certain locations where there are sometimes hidden capsules or just something interesting to see. We saw there was one right in our town, so we piled in the car and went hunting. After about 20 minutes of searching, Jonathan, my official treasure hunter, found the capsule. It had a logbook to sign and coin to take. We left something for the next person!

Our second location was in Williamston, the next town over. The clues led us to Mineral Spring Park, a place that we have been several times. To our surprise, we saw something new that we never saw before, and it happened to be the item that the Geocache app lead us to. There is a spring in the middle of the park, and people come there to drink the water. 

We all took a drink (except Jonathan)....so if the rest of us get Montezuma's revenge, we will know what caused it!

We really like Geocaching, and plan to do it wherever we go for the rest of the week!

Summer Staycation 2021: Day 2

Day 2 got of to a slooooow start. Mama was still recoving from the exhausting day before. So much so, that we overslept and missed church! 

Josh's friend, Blake was still with us, so I got up, made some brunch for the gang, then ran Jonathan to soccer practice. After that, we headed to Hartwell Lake for a swim. A nice, low key day!

Summer Staycation 2021: Day 1

 Day one of our Staycation: Atlanta!

Not gonna lie...I found out why they call it Hot-lanta! 94 degree and nothing but cement. We left at 8:30am, went to pick up Jonathan's soccer buddy, and we headed to Georgia. 2.5 hours from us...not bad. We arrived around 12:30pm (traffic was hairy!) And met up with Josh and one of his college friends. We parked and walked to Restaurant 10 which was literally across the street from the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Food was great, but the corn bread muffins were to die for. Not sure what type of secret goodness was baked in or poured over those muffins, but man, they were the best!

After eating, we walked to the stadium to watch our first Major League Soccer game; Atlanta United vs. Columbus Crew. It was a lot of fun for our Carolina crew of 7 soccer players/fans!

The game was over around 5:30pm and we (finally) made it back to our car around 6:30pm and home around 9:30pm. Exhausting, but so much fun! On to day 2!

Goodbye 5th Grade!

 My baby is officially a middle-schooler...I can hardly believe how fast the years are flying by. We finished the year with awards day. We are so proud of her hard work and great attitude this year!

Bubble Gum Rail Trail Artwork

Jonathan and his Honors Art Classmates were asked to participate in creating murals for the new walking trail, the Bubble Gum Rail Trail, in our town of Belton, SC. We went down this afternoon to see his work in person. It was beautiful and so exciting to see his work become part of our town. They all made an interpretation of VanGogh's Starry Night (in the full mural you can see different squares for each artist), as well as an animal mural (Jon did the rhino and the antelope).

I love to see his talented work!!