What I Learned This Summer

If you read my previous post, you'll remember this was the summerthatflewby. Yes, it has been jam packed with fun activities, one right after the other.

When you have a lot going, sleep tends to be hard to come by. I love mornings unless I'm behind on sleep. Then getting up with the alarm can be a real chore. Fumbling through breakfast, waking tired kids, or letting them sleep, trying to catch up on housework, all makes for a crazy schedule and many days I felt pretty far from the organized person I usually am.

Somehow, in the midst of all this, I would find myself thinking, "Now the virtuous woman would have read her Bible and prayed for an hour, all before 7 AM, even if she was sleep deprived, and you're just getting breakfast cleared away and it's mid morning." (or later!)

"But I can't! I'm too tired!" And then I'd argue with myself.

That's when I heard the soft whisper of "Grace, my child."

Ah, grace. It's the 'in' word these days, I know. Some of you hate it. Some of you get it. Some of you don't. Someday my husband will guest blog for me and put it in his own words, which is the way I understand it best. (He always says, "If you think grace is a license to sin, you don't truly understand it.")

And since I can't do anything to earn love from Jesus, not even reading my Bible or praying for an hour, I'll just soak the love up while I do the laundry, I'll see Him smile on me when I read to Brooke, I'll feel Him chuckle when I sit and listen to my big kids tell jokes, I'll sense His arms around me when I'm having a particularly stressful day, and I'll stop placing conditions on myself to get Jesus to perform.

Before I change the subject, I must tell you my Cato story.

It was one of the last days of our family vacation. We were motel-ing in Harrison, OH and taking in the Creation Museum. The first night at that motel, I sat at the pool with the children so Leon could enjoy some quiet time. The next night was my turn. The plan was that I would drive down the street to Pizza Hut and order a pizza for our supper. But I had about 45 minutes of free time before that. So Leon heads to the pool, and I'm alone in our beautiful, apartment-sized motel room for 45 blissful, quiet minutes. I have my Bible and a great devotional book along, but first I turn on the TV to see if anything good was on. I found a silly chick flick and turned off my brain and relaxed. Suddenly, I noticed the time, so I grabbed the keys and my wallet and headed out the door. At Pizza Hut I was told I had to wait about 15 minutes for my order, so I decided to go see what this town has in it. The entire trip I kept telling Leon that I'd LOVE to find a Cato, since we don't have one real close. So I'm driving down the road talking to God out loud, and I said, "I know I wasn't a very good girl today, God. I should have been  reading my Bible or praying back at the motel during my alone time. I'd love to find a Cato but I don't deserve it-" I was literally mid sentence when I saw it. A Cato sign. I started to cry. I felt God as real that moment as I ever have in my life. I felt Him saying, "You think you get good things in exchange for performing well. That's not how I work. I love you regardless of your choices." Let's just say, I have a new favorite shirt and skirt from Cato that day; I like to think of them as my extra special gifts from God. That's grace, folks.

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Today the children and I went to pick out a puppy for our family. Meet Prince. He's all cute and roly-poly, but completely terrified of the cats. I suppose that will change soon enough. Let's just hope he trains easily, because training children is hard enough, much less a puppy.

 And here are my cute pig-tailed girls!

Bask in the father's Love. It'll change your life!

Thesummerthatflewby

This summer just may go down in history as being our most jam-packed one yet, but wait, I say that every summer don't I?

Memorial Day weekend found us back on our campsite, working on fixing up the cabin and clearing some brush. We invited Leon's family over for a 'trash can supper' the last evening.

 This is how Brooke eats breakfast in the rain.

 It poured rain one afternoon, so the children got to hang out in the cabin and read.

  Corn hole!

And then we had VBS at church, which Leon and I helped plan.

Our family vacation came right on the tail of VBS, then I was home for 4 days before I left for a Stutzman Ladies weekend at a cabin in TN celebrating the big sister's 40th. What a grand time we had!

This was the good group picture.

 This was the funny group picture. See, dear Heidi handles the camera and all, but on her mad dash to join us before the camera flashed, she wiped out on the just-rained-on deck and this is what happened.

 Heidi was the crafty brain behind these lovely wooden signs and Jen and Elaine helped her. What fun to choose our own and personalize them with our own color scheme.

The birthday girl herself, painting her sign.

 Megan baking muffins in the kitchen. This is what she thinks of cooking for her sisters in law. (The lighting is terrible in this picture, but I'm not up to editing pictures right now.)

 My sweet mother-in-law, getting a much deserved foot soak.

The famous game of Blok-us.

 We ate good food, spent a day on the lake on a pontoon, ate at Olive Garden, played games, watched a movie, read, hunted for bears, ;) enjoyed the lovely remote area, laughed at the chicken crossing the road, soaked our feet, and shared encouraging words with each other. It was a treasure of a weekend!

I sent my oldest son to camp the very day after I returned from TN. How can we possibly have a child old enough to go off to camp for 5 days?! We missed Logan so much but he had a fantastic time. While he was gone, I totally re-painted the boy's room as a surprise for him. Jamison helped me with the floor.

Immediately after he returned, Leon's sister and her family arrived and stayed with us for the next 9 days. What fun we had! The children enjoyed their cousins so much! We adults enjoyed some wonderful conversations as well! And I didn't take one picture!

Other summer fun.....

snapping beans, which the children do not enjoy but their Mom is very grateful for their help, and since they eat a lot of food, the Mom thinks it is only right and fair that they help out!

playing Narnia......

Trying out new work shoes and having your Mom laugh at your style...or lack of style...

 taking pictures of the kittens and having Mom delete most of them...

mowing yard, weeding the garden, swimming, riding 4 wheeler, building extravagant creations in the sandbox, playing in the old barn......

Last Saturday, Leon and Annika went to pick up a pony for the children. It is Annika's dream come true. She has been taking very good care of Cherokee ever since she joined our family, even going so far as to scoop up every little pile of manure she drops in the yard.  I hope Cherokee knows how loved she is.

In the middle of all the fun, Jamison celebrated his 11th birthday. Being the big boy that he is, he didn't even fuss that it went mostly un-noticed. :)We are still planning a celebration.

Two and a half weeks until school starts! The children groan and complain but I think we are all ready for a school schedule again.

 The children pulled out the tent again and are enjoying sleeping in the yard. Somehow sleeping outside never gets old.

And that's a quick run down of our summer, thus far.