I really REALLY want these verses to hang in my kitchen. They give my days a perspective that I need.  Instead of scribbling them out on scratch paper and magneting them to my frig, I decided to make them pretty.  Well, now they match my kitchen quite nicely, but I can't quite bring myself to print the darn thing out.  Why?  Because I just can't convince myself that Job had red gingham and daisies in mind when he said these things.  In fact, I think if I was to decorate these verses accurately, I would surround them with yuckiness--dead people, dead animals, a man wasting away and wishing he had never been born.  That's the beauty of the words--Job said them in the midst of the yuckiness.  Here I am in the midst of red gingham and daisies, and sometimes I can't bring myself to say the words.  Maybe the yuckiness makes it easier to yearn...

Our Tenth Anniversary

   

It's been ten whole years (in May) since we said "I do" and headed off into the wild blue yonder not knowing a thing about being grown ups.  I love that man more today than I did then, and I daily (okay, maybe weekly!!) wonder how God found me worthy of him.

We celebrated our ten years with a trip for Tim (and yes, I mean he went without me!!) to the Cayman Islands.  Now, before you get your panties in a wad (am I allowed to say that, being a minister's wife and all!?!), let me explain...

...you see, we had already decided to postpone a big anniversary trip until next year because Simon would be about a month old on our actual 10th anniversary, and what fun is a romantic getaway when you have a one month old along??  So, I was fine with that UNTIL one of Tim's college buddies emailed and said something along the lines of, "I'm turning 30, I want all of my friends to go on a trip with me, I'll pay for yours if you can't afford it, and you can't say no."  Well, how sweet (ok, I'll admit, that's not exactly what I said when I read the email).  I'm all about honesty, so let's say I was a little less than excited about this prospect.  Let me lay it out for you the way I laid it out for Tim....so, I'm supposed to stay home BY MYSELF with a 7 year old, a 3 year old and a 2 month old while you are laying on a beach all day,  eating out every night, staying in a super nice hotel KNOWING that it's our 10th anniversary and I should be on that STINKING BEACH WITH YOU!?!  AND I'm supposed to be happy about it?!?!?  AND I might have cried some real tears, too.

Then, I finally settled down a little bit and pretended to be, I mean, was excited for Tim.  I even bought him some new sunglasses, swim trunks, and flip flops.  I packed his sun screen and aloe.  I kissed him goodbye.  I said, with complete sincerity, "Have a good time.  You deserve it."

And you know what?  He does.  He deserves to be with his buddies.  He NEEDS to be with his buddies to fully be the man God wants him to be.  I need him to have that time.  In fact, it allows him to love me better when I actually let go and realize the world does not revolve around me and my pleasure.

Okay, so now where are we going next year???????

One Touch

My sweet friend, Sherri, brought this song into my world, and, since she doesn't have a blog of her own, I decided to take it upon myself to be her surrogate blogger.  I'm nice that way.  I am loving this song--the truths in it are overwhelming to me.  Our Savior is so precious.

Simon meets his Great Grandma...

Potty Training Blues
After lunch, Ezra was watching his "Tommy Karate" video. He brought me the remote control and asked, "How do you pause it?". I carefully explained which button to push to pause it and how to start it again when he was ready. I was thinking, "oh, I love the way he's getting more independent." The next thing I know Tim is bringing a poopy pull-up to the trash. I said, "oh, I didn't know Ezra pooped." Tim replied, "He just explained it to me--he knew he was pooping when he asked you how to pause the movie. He wanted to know how to pause it so he wouldn't miss any of the movie when one of us had to change him."

...and so I ask...is this progress or not?????

“The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

Oh, wow. It feels good to be home. Simon is asleep...the big boys are watching a movie and hopefully drifting off...Tim fell asleep on the loveseat...and I am loving the quiet of the house.

We've been at The Institute this week--a summer program we do at our church for students who would like to go deeper. We had eleven kids this year, and we discussed the book Adventures in Missing the Point by Brian Mclaren and Tony Campolo. We had some fantastic discussions--don't ever let anyone tell you that teenagers can't think deeply. It is an honor to be involved in their lives.

Tomorrow, we will rest up, do the laundry, buy some groceries, wash some sheets, air up the air mattresses, and make a peach pie cause, as Grammie says, "Company's coming up the road." Tim's Grandma (GG, as we call her), uncle, aunt, cousin, husband of cousin, and baby of cousin are all coming in this week. I'm predicting we will eat and laugh a lot.