Summer fun

Well, summer is almost gone, and the kids start school in less than two weeks. It has flown by for all of us! The kids have enjoyed playing with our new neighbors, whose family of 8 consists of 5 boys and a little girl Lily's age named Kendra. Our house has become the neighborhood hangout, partly because we don't let our kids go wandering the neighborhood, and partly because we have a basketball net and soccer field. It will be a tough transition to early bedtimes!

Here's some pictures!

The Gift

Disclaimer: The following is something that could stir up jealousy in housewives around the globe, or seriously challenge your status as a husband, such as the case may be. Consider yourself forewarned. Read AT YOUR OWN RISK.



Most of you know that I have been married to my sweet Luis for almost 17 years. He is a hardworking, motivated, adventurous kind of guy. Mechanically inclined, he can fix just about anything. He's handsome, in great shape, and loves me and our children to death. He is devoted to God, volunteers in our church, and spends his free time studying to improve himself.  But all of these wonderful characteristics just fade into the background when I wake up each morning to the gift he leaves me before he goes to work. Every morning, without fail, he places it on the kitchen counter, ensuring that I won't miss it.  I know, most women would just love if their husband's remembered a gift on their birthday or anniversary, but a gift every day?!? Unheard of in most circles. I know, I know...I am a blessed woman. Try to contain your envy, hold back that bitter jealousy. And whatever you do, please don't let your jealousy turn on your loved ones who have failed to bestow such generosity upon you.

What, you may ask, could my husband me giving me EVERY MORNING that would cause me to stop everything and make a blog entry on the subject? Well, I thought you just might ask, and since words can not adequately describe it, I thought a picture just might be able to do it justice.

 



 Are you as speechless as I am each day? Yea, I thought you might be. Well, in case you can not figure out what this is, it is the used coffee filter, complete with used coffee grounds from the coffee pot. Isn't that something! And I think what strikes me the most about my daily gift is the ironic location in which Luis places it each and every day. Here, let me show you...

 

 

Can you see what I mean?!? Just moving this gift 12 inches, and I might never find it! He's so strategic and careful to place it exactly where he knows I will find it problem free. So, there you have it. My daily gift from my sweet husband. Sorry ladies, he's taken. Don't be a hater.

 

On a side note, for those of you who are not fluent in the original language of this post, I have attached a link to help you decipher some or all of what I just wrote. Click here for that resource. 

Less is More

I was cutting the grass tonight, as there was a break in the torrential rains we have been having for the last two weeks. (No ark yet, but there's more rain in the forecast!) I love to cut the grass. I think it's because it's the chore I had at home when I was in high school, and it reminds me of Dad. I still cut the grass methodically, just like he taught me. Neat geometrical shapes, straight lines, just like Dad would have done it. Cutting as close as I can to the trees without hitting them. Yes, I have some obsessive/compulsive details to sort out. It also effects the way I pack the refrigerator after grocery shopping, how I load the dishwasher and the way clothes are placed in the dresser drawers. As I mowed around my rectangles, I wondered if he could see me, and if my lines looked as straight from his vantage point as they did from mine. Probably not.  After all, he is surrounded by perfection...and I have to settle for a fallen earth for now.

I finished the lawn, and drove the mower to the front yard where Luis was pruning our little maple tree. The builder planted our tree, and the two other maples at the houses next door and down the road, all around the same time. For some reason, however, ours hasn't grown as much as the neighboring trees have. Luis watered it faithfully while it was young. We have kept the kids from hanging on it's branches. Last spring, our next door neighbor put mulch around his tree. It seemed to really make it grow a good bit. So, a while back, we bought some mulch for our tree. Nothing.

I drove up to Luis and asked him why he was cutting so much off of our already small tree and he said something that struck a chord inside of me. He said, "I am pruning some branches off the bottom to let the air get more inside the tree." Huh. That made me think. We had spent so much time adding things to the tree, thinking that was what it needed. We even tried copying our neighbors to see if that would help. But maybe instead of adding to the tree, what it really needed was a little pruning and thinning out. So, as usual when I am doing yard work, I looked for the spiritual correlation in my little maple. As Christians, many times we look at our own lives and we don't feel like we are growing and flourishing. We look around us, and compare our lives to others that we see and we just don't seem to measure up. We may try to do more, only to fall short when we come to the end of the day. Often times, we try to be someone else, imitate what they do, in hopes that we will have the same results as that person does. We forget that, like each of the trees, we are all unique with our own purpose and plan for our life. But many times we just end up fooling ourselves. Sometimes the solution is not adding more to the problem, but rather evaluating what we have, and seeing what needs to be cut away. Maybe we have packed our lives so tightly with what we believe is supposed to help us, that the wind of the Spirit can't reach us and flow freely through those areas that are full of our own desires and selfish ambitions. Maybe there really are times where less is more, and if we allow God to prune our life sucking areas away, then we will grow and flourish like we were made to.

Well, I can't judge our maple's growth by one day of pruning, but I have this sneaky suspicion that our tree is going to start to grow like never before. Not because we decided to throw one more thing on the tree or the ground around it, but because of what we decided to take away. One day, when I am able to sit under the huge shade of our once small tree, I hope I will remember the lesson that it taught me today.

Fooling Around with the Camera

As I am sure you have realized by now, I am crazy about taking pictures of my family. I'm sure I go a little overboard, but someday when the kids are grown and they ask me about pictures, I will have thousands to show them. Today, I took my camera and for about an hour, I just snapped away. I think I ended up with something like 300 shots, but of course, there are only a few that are blog worthy. I have been trying to learn how to use the many features on the camera that Luis bought me a few months ago. Usually I just stick to the auto setting, and point and shoot, but I keep seeing all those dials and buttons...and I just know that they have a purpose! Anyway, here are some of my favorites.

Josh is really changing. He's still a little kid inside a bigger body. He puts up with my photo craziness. He has such a sweetness to him.

Jonathan's eyes tell so many stories. He's always thinking and watching.

He's a little mischievous sometimes....

He knows what he likes....

And he's constantly dreaming...

Lily runs the show...

Cars and skirts...

Always playing with a brother...for better or for worse...

A natural beauty....

...with a little sass...

 

And, of course, my collection wouldn't be complete without a few shots of the man of the house. This is what he was doing while I was clicking like a mad woman...

Studying on the computer....

While watching the news....

...and wondering when I am going to stop taking pictures and cook dinner!

And towards the end, I found him like this:

I think he gave up on me!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

We decided that Luis has been working so hard, that he needed a little break! So, we went to the Greenville Drive Fluor Field for a ball game. It only took him about 5 innings to fully relax :) It was a lot of fun! We parked about 10 minutes from the field, rode the trolley there and back and had a great time! Here are some pictures!

Since we bought the tickets the same day, all the seats were taken so we got lawn seats. We got there early, brought our blankets, and found a great spot!
 

Lily had the best seat in the park!