Psalm 57:10

Yesterday our family met up with some sweet family friends at a pumpkin patch in Franklin. The drive was amazingly beautiful. (And long. I now recognize that going anywhere from our new town is like going to Grandmother's house...over the river and through the woods!) 

There were several moments on the way though that I was just captivated by God's creation. In the past two weeks, there have been several deaths between our former and current community. The beauty of the day yesterday was a gentle reminder that even in trial, God is still God, and good. The blue sky, fluffy white clouds, and autumn trees were breathtaking. 

After several hours of exploring the pumpkin patch, my friend B and I took our girls into an old barn while the boys went through the corn maze. The barn was adorable and had little activity centers for the younger children. As I walked in, I saw this hanging on the wall.

 

 

My heart was overwhelmed at yet another reminder of His goodness. I'm not sure which version of Psalm 57:10 this is (the closest I can find is Amplified) but I absolutely love it. 

So thankful for His love and the reminders He gives us.

Canoes and Calculators

Hello, hello. I would apologize for my lack of updating the blog, but since when would that be a new thing?! Maybe now that we are nice and settled in this new season of our lives I'll be more consistent in keeping the blog updated. No promises though ;)

2 weeks ago some of our very dear friends visited and we went and canoed a local river together. All the fun canoe shots are on W's phone, but these two were taken in the van before we canoed. All 4 kiddos proudly donned bandanas. I don't think Sam realized she was outnumbered by the boys. Little Missy can sure hold her own. The picture of the boys makes me laugh because it was their "mean" picture...immediately followed by the sweetest giggles. You'd never know by looking at those tough faces!

Years ago I spent a summer in Columbia, SC doing summer missions through our BCM. My mission partner for the summer all but adopted me and her family always had "brown cows" in their freezer. I think the "Brown Cow" is specific to Mayfield popsicles, but I'm not 100%. Anyway, since we've moved here the little grocery store in town sells the Purity brand, called "little dippers." They are my all time favorite treat. Each one is 80 calories and the ice cream/chocolate ratio is perfect. I've now passed the love of brown cows on to my family. Here is the evidence.

 

The next picture cracks me up. I was in maximum chill mode, watching Netflix on the iPad in our bedroom. Earlier that day we'd spent time with an older family from church, and they gave both children calculators. In case you don't know, my husband is Captain Macintosh. Sir iApple. Steve Jobs' heir apparent. Needless to say, Sam was obsessed with the pushing buttons on the calculator. She came into the room and rested her back on my back, propped her feet up onto my feet. I call this picture "make yourself at home!"

We are starting homeschool again tomorrow. We're shaking things up just a little bit from last year and doing 1st grade again. Several factors played into my decision, but ultimately I know this is the right thing to do. On a scale of 0-encouraged with homeschooling, I'm floating at about a -5 right now. I keep finding myself justifying myself to other people and constantly defending our decision to homeschool...which is exhausting. Just keeping swimming, just keep swimming as Dorie (and Stephanie) said.

In other exciting news, I am planning a trip to NYC this fall. Whoa. Just typing it out makes it real and exciting. A sweet friend and I are going to see this dapper fellow on Broadway:

Source: truly-classy.tumblr.com via michellemitch on Pinterest

If you're not familiar with his hunkiness him, he is Dan Stevens, who plays Matthew Crawley on Downton Abbey. I'm tickled pink to be going and so grateful my hubs will let me frolic in the Big Apple for a few days.

Hope all is well with you and yours...I'd love an update if I haven't heard from you in a while!

 

New Beginnings

(sorry for the order of the photos! I can't figure out how to put them in order with my captions!)

Hi!

My computer is still resting in a box so I'm updating from my iPhone. We'll see how this works out!

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. W preached his last sermon at our church in P-Town on Father's Day. They gave us an amazing going away luncheon and I cried the whole time.

The following Wednesday the moving truck took all of our belongings to our new town. I loaded up with Sam, Duke and all of our bedding for the trip over.

The church members came by the droves to welcome us to our new home. They brought tons of food and we had our first dinner in our new house that night.

Our first Sunday the congregation gave us a pounding. If you're unfamiliar with this practice, they (in theory) each bring a pound of food. Our cup(board) runneth over!

Yesterday some of our former youth (now all grown up college students) surprised us by coming over for church. They are the best!

The house is almost put together. We all love the space we've acquired compared to our old house. Which still has not sold, so all prayers appreciated!!!

Proof is in the Pudding

In our gardening adventures recently, Mr. L has been brave kind enough to let me have a go at the tiller. I love it! It validates this feeling I have for using large power tools. I will confess that although I have not taken down the fence around the garden, I may have come close. Turning corners and starting new rows takes practice. And I seem to occasionally forget that I must release the handle in order for the tiller to come to a stop.

When I first showed W the pictures of me tilling, he wasn't 100% convinced the images weren't staged. I can hardly believe he would ever doubt my tilling abilities :)

All in all, my countrification process is moving right along.

Seasons of Friendships

A few years ago (wow, maybe 10 years?) I read the book "The Five Love Languages" for the first time. I wasn't married, wasn't dating...just a girl in college. Several years later as W and I prepared for marriage, I read it again. I have always been "quality time" first and foremost in how I receive love. Coming in at a close second is "words of encouragement."

 

This still rings true today. I treasure notes that friends send me. I'm not going to pretend that I am uber classical, but in a day when e-mail and text messages are convenient, I appreciate the time and effort that is put into sending a card.

Friendship has been heavy on my heart lately. I've lost a friend in the last few months. I tried as best as I knew how to handle the situation with grace, all along praying "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly more than we can ask or imagine, according to the power that works within us (Ephesians 3:20)" begging that this friendship be spared. 

It wasn't spared. And it hurts.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Esslesiastes 3:1

I've also been thinking of the above verse. I know that God gives us friendships for different seasons in our lives. And as He gives, He also takes away. I have several friends in my life that no matter distance nor time apart, we always pick up where we left off. We may rarely see each other and only have heart-to-heart conversations maybe 2-3 times a year. But, it always seems when we talk that no time has passed. 

And sometimes, it's more evident that time has passed.

I talked to my sweet friend Megan this week, who is now engaged to be married. (Meg, this is my confession to you!). We met in college and even lived together for a brief time before W and I were married. It was a time in both of our lives where our faith seemed to be unstoppable. It made me so sad that our conversation the other day was surface level and a wee bit awkward. Yet I'm not sad, because the time that our friendship was so intimate holds a special place in my heart. I know that though the friendship doesn't look like what it used to, it's still there...it's just a different season.

We moved to this town two weeks before T-Pup was born. Now, almost seven years later, we are preparing to start a new chapter in story of our life. W will graduate in two weeks with his Masters of Divinity. Shortly following that, he is to be ordained/commissioned as an Elder (still a 3 year probation period following this step) in the United Methodist Church. He will be the new pastor of a church about an hour from here. We'll move into their parsonage in June and a new season will begin.

I want to be a seasoned friend. I want to always encourage, never tear down. I want to send letters of "hey, friend!" without reason to make others smile. I want to be on my knees for sisters in Christ who are up to their elbows in their children's diapers or wedding plans or ministry. As I think about what my friends are to me, I'm convicted of the friend I have not been to them. 

I want to be a good friend. 

 

Lizard Love

T-Pup and SAM made a new friend today. They loved him to death...in more ways than one! They initially made him a "queen sized bed" out of a small leaf, only to be upgraded to a "king sized leaf."

I love that they spent over two hours with this little lizard, never missing the comforts of inside.

Mawwiage, wove.

Mawwiage. Mawwiage is what bwings us togethew today. Mawwiage, that bwessed awwangement, that dweam within a dweam. And wove, twue wove, wiww fowow you fowevah and evah.

It's been far too long since I've last seen The Princess Bride!

Anyway, on the subject and mawwiage and wove, my sweet husband brought me flowers home today. My favorite, hydrangeas.

They may or may not have been from a funeral.

Wove, twue wove.

Girliness

I've recently added a few items to my daily regiment that I absolutely love. And women share these things with each other, right?

First item: Shampoo. If I could have it my way, I would constantly have this in our shower: Lush Shampoo. The specific kind I love is the "Cynthia Sylvia Stout". My sweet friend Megan came to town a few years ago and when we hugged I awkwardly stood there smelling her hair. I love to get Lush at Christmas or my birthday. Practically speaking though, I'm not one to usually drop $30 for shampoo alone.

Which brings me to my constant dilemma of which hair products to buy. I have thick, wavy hair. Pantene makes me itch and Dove weighs it down. I usually grab the Herbal Essences "Hello Hydration" but I'm always annoyed the combo of shampoo and conditioner nears $10. (Hello multiple personalities...you love Lush. Herbal essences is el cheapo compared to that!)

My sweet friend Bethany, who is in our women's Bible study, had a keratin treatment at the salon recently. I was more than intrigued. I did some research and talked to my haircut lady, and she said she feared the keratin treatment might relax the wave I have too much, but that I should look into some keratin shampoos.

I automatically thought of dollar signs. Then one glorious day, I see this at Wal-Mart: Suave Keratin Infusion. My hopes were not set high because, come on... it's Suave. The epitome of cheap hair care. I am here to tell you though, it's perfect. I bought the shampoo and conditioner (for a whopping $2.64 each). Highly recommend.

Second item: Facewash. I have finally met my match made in heaven. Neutrogena pink grapefruit foaming scrub. The first week I used it, it dried my face out completely. My skin even peeled. I was slightly mortified until the next week when it was so incredibly soft that I knew I'd use it again. I built up slowly only using a few times a week, but now can easily use it twice a day.

Third Item: Facial moisturizer. I've used Cetaphil (actually, the Equate version) for the last few years and it's been fine. But a few weeks ago I was at the Dermatologist's office with T (they've been treating him for a few warts) when I noticed their plethora of freebie samples. I picked up the Eucerin Daily Protection, and haven't thought about Cetaphil since then. It's light and not greasy at all, and a SPF of 30 is an added bonus for this fair skinned girl.

If you're in the market for any of the above, I hope I've helped :) Any lovely secrets you'd like to share with me...feel free!

Gardening Update

Big progress on our gardening front! Take a look at our cucumbers and tomato plants! 

 

An incredibly generous gentleman at our church, Mr. L, is teaching me the ropes of gardening. I've wanted to learn for several years now, but honestly just didn't know where to start. He is a brave soul for taking on this crew! Here is T raking out some rocks.

 

Sam spreading the spinach seeds. Her itty-bitty hands were the perfect size for this job!

 

 

The hard workers after the job was done!

 

And yours truly getting the tiller back to the shed. Mr. L actually let me till the spinach rows, but we didn't get any pictures of that lest the tiller run away from me and disaster strike!

 

 

So far we have our tomato and cucumber seeds growing inside, and outside we've helped plant potatoes and spinach. Mr. L has planted more potatoes, onions, and english peas.

 

In other news, have you heard of the game Draw Something? A former classmate of W's tweeted her user name for the game, so out of curiosity I looked it up on the app store. I went ahead and purchased it, and have had the best time for the past 48 hours playing with friends we never get to see. It is essentially like Pictionary via the internet/social media. W drew this picture, but misread the word. He thought it was "window" but it was actually "widow." Too funny.

 

I've been playing with my sister also. Here is one that she drew this afternoon that was fun.

 

 

One friend's word to draw was "Tebowing". I wish I would have snapped a screen shot of his drawing. Priceless! If you are on Draw Something, leave your user ID in the comments :)

'Round here...

  

We've been planting tomato and cucumber seeds and daily checking their growth.

 

  

Painting with friends.

Having princess tea parties with friends.

 Wearing John Deere hats and playing in the country.

Making DIY photo canvases (Thanks, Stephanie!).

 

Round here, we always stand up straight. Round here, something radiates.

(50 points if you can name the song)

Prized Possessions

Certain characteristics are innate within little boys. The need to capture, have dominion, and take hostage of little critters (including but not limited to frogs, birds, and little sisters) are common occurrences around here. Today, it was just a moth. Lord help me the day it is a snake.

Watching the Weather

Update: Although we did not receive snow, there were parts of the state that did. Guess the Farmers' Almanac was right!

It is so wild how different our weather has been this year compared to last year. We had the monumental snow on January 10th that left 12-15 inches in places. It seemed to never melt. Then we had another two good snows with 2-3 inches each time. That was all January and February.

This is what we've had so far this year: 

Just the slightest dusting of snow. It was barely 32 degrees and melted within an hour of falling.


Last week, we were in Tractor Supply buying dog food for Duke when I saw a shelf of Farmers' Almanacs. My only true knowledge of the everything-you-need-to-know-book is based on Back to the Future, so I was interested to flip through one. Then, I saw this page:

So far, so good. Today is February 7th and it is considerably cooler today than it has been in a while. I keep checking the forecast on my Weather Channel app, and so far no mention of snow. We'll see!

What do you think? Any validity to the Farmers' Almanac?

Duke

Once again, months have passed since I've last updated. The pattern is clearly evident! A blogger, I am not. A wife, mother, first grade teacher, cook, laundry mat, chauffeur...I am. And now, I have another title. Dog mother, doggie mamma, cleaner of dog excrement...you get the point. Meet the Duke of Cambridge. 

He is a 1 year, almost 8 month old dog. We rescued him from a local shelter. And though I'd love to tell you he is some pure bred, fancy pants pup...he is a mut. You can see some beagle in him and maybe a bit of hound. We can tell by his actions he was definitely in the wild before being in the shelter. He hasn't quite grasped the concept that we will feed him and take care of him. He still feels the need to eat rocks and pounce after rabbits and birds. 

W makes me so mad...he is the Duke Whisperer. He works with him on training daily and they are wrapped around each others fingers (er, paws). Me on the other hand, I love him. But in the day time I can only meet his basic needs...not much extra time for doggie boot camp.

T-Pup and Sam are smitten with him. They are so thankful to finally have a pup. Sam often calls him "Dukie" which makes me giggle. I think back to my 7th grade art class. We were assigned to recreate a CD cover. My choice? The "Dookie" album from Green Day. Each time she calls him "Dukie" I think of my primitive recreation of this picture:

Charming, right? I don't think my junior high years were my best.

So meet the newest member of our family. Official family photo coming Christmas card, 2012.