A Fun Father's Day Weekend!

Chris is a fantastic Daddy. He is loving, patient, ecouraging, fun and he catches yummy fish! For Father's Day, the kiddos and I bought him a tube to pull behind the boat. It was a little scary for me at first- but a blast for everyone (including Mama) by the end!

We had perfect weather Friday evening for tubing- the wind was blowing from the South and it laid the waves down for a smooth first time tubing. Here are a few pictures of the trip.

Saturday morning, Chris went off-shore to fish (he caught a beautiful Lane Snapper- pinkish with bright yellow stripes! Yummy!). While he was fishing, the kiddos & I went blueberry picking. We set up an assembly line when we arrived back home- Timbo picked out the stems, Ben wiped them clean & Lauren sorted to be eaten fresh or frozen! Andrew just ate the blueberries. :)

On Father's Day, we enjoyed a relaxing day at home. Fresh-picked blueberries in the homemade pancakes for breakfast. Then we had an absolutely glorious church service- man, heaven is going to be so amazing. I can't wait to worship with all the saints! After church, we napped (the 2nd best gift a Dad can receive!) and then grilled out (in the rain). We tried Salmon on a cedar plank... yummy! I didn't take pictures of that, but the children had a blast playing in the drizzling rain while Chris grilled.

Worth Listening To

Does faith always come easily and naturally to you? No? Ok, good- then read on.

A few evenings ago, Chris and I listened to a sermon John Piper gave at New Attitude 08. I won't do it justice to try and summarize it, so just listen to it. :) www.newattitude.org/conference The sermon I'm referring to is "Fighting for Faith with God's Word" although you won't go wrong listening to any of the messages on that page! I'm halfway through Al Mohler's Q&A session and it's been fantastic as well. In "Fighting for Faith", Piper encourages us to equip ourselves for various trials by being familiar with and memorizing scripture.

What areas do you find yourself weak in? (Some that popped right into my mind: anger, lack of joy, impatience...) And what situations might you encounter? Throughout the message, I found myself making a mental list of passages of scripture I would like to study more and commit to memory. Fantastic exhortation- make the time to listen! I'd love to hear which verses the Lord has laid on your heart or an area you intend to focus on as far as memorization goes. :) That's what the "comment" section is for!!

YIKES!

I think it's a bit crazy when I get excited about finding gas at $3.91. That's painful when filling up the truck!

"Back when I was a kid..." (read that in a crackly old voice!) it used to be only $ .79!! And I could buy gum for $ .01!! Johnston's Feed Store had a penny gum machine that dispensed a handfull of gum squares. Green and red were my favorite. Pink tasted like Pepto Bismol. Blech. Oh, and they had the best sausage... but I digress. :) I just had to share the joy of my gas price!!

It's not easy bein'... REAL.

Do you remember Chester the Cheetah's love for Cheetos? "It's not easy, bein' cheesy." He'd end up in Wile E. Coyote-type situations all for the love of cheese.

Today I was tidying up around the house- going through the mail and a stack of things I've been reading. Southern Living's new issue arrived recently- I love the food section and the decorating ideas! Oh, and I'm almost through my Cook's Illustrated. What a fabulous magazine! I learn so much about the science behind recipes and what makes a particular food taste absolutely dynamite. For example- did you know that for perfect mashed potatoes, you should steam potatoes instead of boiling them? Rinse them part way through cooking to wash the starch off and they loose the gummy consistency that can ruin otherwise fabulous mashed taters! Great magazine. Then I need to go through the MINT and the Clipper Keeper and clip coupons... a penny saved is a penny earned!

In the midst of this busyness, I had "one of those" moments. I am allowing good things to crowd out the most important things. I love saving money, decorating, gardening and cooking. But those shouldn't be my primary focus! Wow... It's not easy bein' REAL.

The back of my magazine basket reflects what I desire to come first (backwards, I know.) I need to get back to reading Above Rubies (http://www.aboverubies.org/), No Greater Joy (http://www.nogreaterjoy.org/), and Homeschooling Today (http://www.homeschoolingtoday.com/) which point me to God's Word as I strive to be a loving, encouraging wife and an obedient, joy FULL mamma. My bedside desk has Stepping Heavenward and Heaven on it (fantastic reads, both) but they're under a liberal, feminist, junk-filled mothering magazine I received at a Dr's office recently. Well, they were... I took the magazine off today to toss. ;)

So there it is- the reality of daily clutter crowding out what I want to be of FIRST importance. I'm publicly confessing and I'm starting the process (again) of re-orienting my life and my heart to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful for His mercy, His drawing me and His help in my quest to overcome the CHEESYness of life.

CHOCOLATE APPARENT CAUSE OF DEATH IN RECENT RODENT MURDER

I couldn't resist the urge to write a "headline" for this post. Okay, okay... chocolate wasn't the cause of death. Read on for "the rest of the story."

It all started one beautiful spring day. I was very tired (probably up too late doing a blog the night before?!) and so I headed to the pantry halfway through school for a picker-upper- AKA Dark Chocolate covered Espresso Beans. Mmmmm... Don't worry, baby loves them too. :)

Anyways, I noticed 2 beans laying on the shelf with all the chocolate nibbled off! The children sat around the table with angelic "I swear I didn't touch them" looks in spite of my toughest questions... well, actually Timothy cracked and admitted that maybe he ate them. But his breath passed the sniff test (no coffee or chocolate breath) and so he went off to play with knights.

OK- I'll speed this up a little. :) I noticed nibbles of espresso bean on the shelf- and then nibbles through the plastic. Hmm... I'm no "CSI" but I know fishy (oops- rodenty?) when I see it. The box was tossed and the pantry searched.

Over the next several days I found more evidences of an invader but couldn't locate the critter! She must have been pregnant or PMSing because she went for all the chocolate! She ate the chocolate off of a Twix bar (not the cookie or the caramel, thank you very much) and ate into TWO bags of my Ghirardhelli 60% Cocoa Chips! YIKES! This rodent was annoying AND expensive!

Chris put out a glue board with peanut butter (that's what the pest control people do!), which she crawled on AND off of. :( ICKY! The next night, he baited one with chocolate. Bingo! You see the pix... she was caught! But glue boards don't kill them- they just catch them! (Don't worry, this one was a kinder, gentler glue board with anesthetics!) How'd it die? Let's suffice it to say that Ben kindly put the rodent out of it's misery with his excellent aim.

I spent the next several days taking every single thing out of the pantry, disinfecting the shelves, walls, cans, etc... and tossing everything with critter marks. Ick. The jury is still out on whether it's a rat or a mouse. Do you know? I know one thing- GUILTY.

Baby O is 18 weeks (give or take)

Our little one is growing so quickly! I can't believe we are halfway to our due date already! I felt him* move for the first time April 2... I was laying on my tummy (I'm trying to enjoy that while I still can!) and it was such a precious, unmistakable flutter.

This photo of a baby about the same age as our little one- isn't it amazing how perfectly formed he is already!? Baby O has fingernails, loves to stretch & wiggle and can hear our voices! The children already talk to him and Andrew blows raspberries on my tummy regularly- which probably feels a bit funny to baby. I guess that's a good way to get him used to all the lovin' he'll get once he makes his debut!!

The miracle of the life developing in me is awesome- something that gives me just a glimpse of God's amazing creative power. It's easy to take grass and trees and flowers and veggies for granted- they've been around as long as I remember. But this new life forming inside me- this precious eternal soul that the Lord has seen fit to entrust to Chris and me... wow. I just don't have anything to say that can be more eloquent than God's Word- so I'll close w/some Psalms.

"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." -Psalm 139:13-16 (italics mine)

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward." -Psalm 127:3

*him as in the universal, mankind sort of way

DC Family Trip

Wow, DC is amazing! We had a great time learning, touring, laughing, hanging out with Jenny, eating (did you know Dean & Deluca has great chocolate!?), and just seeing a new part of the country.

It was a bit chilly for this Florida girl (30s to 50s), but truly the Lord blessed us with perfect weather.

The slideshow starts with our drive to Carey & Claudia's in NC. They have such a beautiful home and family! (We miss you guys!) We completed our trip to DC the 2nd day- but had a 2 hour delay when an accident stopped traffic. At least we had a gorgeous view and PB&J ingredients in the van! When we arrived in Gaithersburg late that night, our dear friend Jenny W had beds ready and heaters on- what a blessing.

The tourist pix start at the Mall on Easter Sunday. We celebrated Christ's resurrection at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg. CJ preached a great message (as he is known to do- hand motions and all!) and we all enjoyed worshipping with the CLC church family. Then we headed into town and you'll see some of our stops- monuments, museums and T Rexes- OH MY!

The week was fantastic in every way- even silly mishaps became great memories. When it rained in Annapolis, we took advantage of the Loews Hotel's Playstation and Fischer Price toys to have a fun morning after all. :) That's just one little example of the Lord's goodness and grace over our family as we travelled. Many people called us crazy for driving 12 hours up with 9,6,3 & 1 year olds but we wouldn't change a moment of the trip if we could.