One Thousand Gifts (61 - 70)

Ingratitude.  It's the enemy's tool to destroy us.  It causes us to be discontent; to always want more.  I find that I am guilty of this.  In fact, my entire life has been characterized by ingratitude. Looking back, I cannot remember a time when I felt truly grateful for the things I have been given (tangible and intangible). Maybe it's a product of living in a land of abundance and freedom and in a family that God blessed with enough. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining! :)

Regardless.... I have renewed my journey to be grateful. And in the process, God promises that I will fin joy and contentment as well.

The first five things in this list were written months ago. It was at then that I seem to have forgotten, again, to be grateful.


61.  Thankful that there was only smoke, no fire!

62.  For a windy day in which to blow the smoke out of the house!

63.  Friends who show up or call at just the right time

64.  A husband who knows when I need a break, and insists on it.

65.  God's hand of guidance on the doctor, and protection on my friend as she underwent surgery....again.

66.  Rain in the desert!

67. Air conditioning.  Because even in the rain it is still HOT!

68.  Being so blessed to have all of our needs met and many of our wants too.

69.  Quiet in the house (at least for another 5 minutes)

70.  Rain!  I know I just said it but it bears repeating.  We see so little of it..  

Olympics

The kids have been having a great time watching the Olympics.  Today they decided to have their own!  The events included; Balloon Volleyball, Bicycle Racing, Gymnastics and general calisthenics.  Of course, Team USA won them all! 

4th of July

What a fun evening we had.  Our friends Nikki and Greg came over with their son, Joshua.  Our grand daughter was here also. We barbecued burgers, and just enjoyed fellowship. When the sun went down we blew up lots and lots of fireworks.  

Boo did better this year.  She watched a little then decided it was too scary and finished the evening sitting in Nikki's car.  At least I didn't have to watch the action from the upstairs window with her again this year! She did venture out to do sparklers though.

Still trying to figure out how to work with slow shutter speeds without blurring out the people.  I'm not sure it's possible but I sure had fun!

Perspective

If we keep our heads down, either out of defeat or loss or shame or tiredness... whatever the reason, we are going to miss the beautiful sun (and Son) that is right there in front of us, shining its warmth on our faces and our souls!    Mary Beth Chapman from her book "Choosing to See" 

I have been in the middle of an all out pity party lately.  Funny how those things just sneak up on you.  It took me a while to realize that I was the guest of honor at this gala.  As I was reading a book, the above quote woke me up.  I have been walking in defeat and utter exhaustion lately.

I've had so many people tell me over the last several years that I'm crazy to have the family that I do.  That it's unnatural to have so many children that close in age.  I cannot leave the house with hearing something like this from total strangers! Then when folks find out that I home school also, more negative comments are made.  Sometimes it feels as though I have many eyes on me waiting to see if I fall.  When the fall comes, the "I told you so" will come with it.

So, being the stubborn person that I am, I decided that I was going to do it all, and without help, thank you very much.  I would rarely even ask help from my own wonderful husband! The end result is a tired, cranky, critical mom who is not a good example to her kids. I see now what an egotistical mindset that was.  God didn't put us on this earth to operate in a bubble.  He created us with a desire to love on one another, to help each other.  

It's been a long time since I looked up.  While I've been looking down, I've seen every piece of dirt in the house, every toy that was out of place, every fault that my children have.  It's time to look up.  To focus on the One who made those beautiful and amazing children to be who they are.  When my focus is on Jesus, the dirt and nicks in the walls just kind of fade away.

Mary Beth Chapman goes on to say in the next paragraph:

We need to understand down to the depth of our souls that whether He is quietly behind a storm cloud or blazing obviously in the bright blue sky right in our faces, Jesus, the Son, is always-not sometimes-present. No matter what the circumstance.  

And, where Jesus is, there is joy!  So, in order to help me regain some joy, Bob and I are making some changes.  One of them will be to give me time to pursue an interest separate from the children.  So I picked something on my bucket list.  I won't tell you what that interest is yet though.  Since I do have a tendency not to follow through on projects, I'll wait a bit.  


In each of these smiling faces is the image of Jesus.  I just need to choose to see.

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If you are looking for a great book to read, I highly recommend Mary Beth Chapman's "Choosing to See".  She speaks about how God is working in her family through the tragic death of their 5 year old daughter.  If you get it, keep the tissues near by.

Summer

Our summer vacation began May 31st.  We go back to school July 17th. It's going so fast!  Too fast.  We haven't been doing a lot but it seems we are always busy.  We've been spending our time playing games, staying cool at the water park and YMCA pool.  We're spending a lot of time with friends.  It's not unusual for there to be 11 kids in the house (I'm sure we have broken the sound barrier!!).

In addition to having as much fun as we can, we have also been working on treating each other with honor and respect.  


The Bible says in Romans 12:10 "Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another"

Boy, that sure hasn't been happening around here lately!  The sibling rivalry has been out of control.  So, I instituted a zero tolerance law.  Some of our more, ummm, strong-willed children are slow in getting the point, but progress is slowly being made and peace is returning to the home.  

Manly Men

My boys.  What can I say?  They are goofballs!

They seem like they are constantly competing with each other to see who is the fastest or strongest.  B and T are especially competitive with each other.  It gets a little exhausting to deal with sometimes.  (And all this BEFORE the testosterone fully kicks in!)

 S (on the right end) is wired a little differently.  Athletics don't thrill him much, but get him anywhere within 20 feet of a video game and he'll whoop everyone! He likes things where he has to use brain over brawn. I think we may have an engineer in the making!

Here is the whole motley crew!  We took a walk last night.  The gutter happened to have a lot of water in it.  My grand daughter, Little E (in front), was absolutely amazed by it.  She insisted it was the ocean!  She floated leaves down the the "ocean". She stacked rocks in it and made a dam.  She jumped in it...repeatedly. I didn't think we would ever make it around the block!  It was so cute to see her delight in something so ordinary.

P52: "Still Life" (Week 19)

This week's project was "Still Life".  When I think of a still life, I think of a bowl of fruit on a table.  I actually had to google it to see if this qualified!  How funny is that?!

A few days ago, we were at a park for P.E. and I saw the most beautiful tree! It was totally decked out in yellow flowers. The early morning sun was shining down on it, making it seem to glow! I have no idea what kind of tree it is.  I should know.  I see them all over town.  But they are usually much smaller, and more sparse.

Here's my sweet granddaughter playing hide & seek inside under the tree.  I have been so blessed to be able to spend a lot of time with her this last week or so.  She is such a priceless treasure!