"I hold on to You for dear life, and you hold me steady as a post..." Psalm 63

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Surviving...

Summer
This is how we do it...
This past week the heat was almost UNBEARABLE...

Lukewarm pool water got us through...

We've also completed Week One 
with our sweet Japanese student, Ren
We're continually surprised to see what is so normal to us
through her eyes...
We're learning a lot about her
and a lot about us...
And it is good.

This weekend we played "tourist" in our own town 
we enjoyed seeing her delight over what is to us, almost invisible
like back roads...
and the Amish...
and farms...
and covered bridges...
and farm animals...
we discovered we could stay all day in our own town and spend
nothing but $1 on a water sold by Amish children and a 1/4 tank of gas...
and actually LIKE it...
Summer...
It suits us fine.
"Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world."
Ada Louise Huxtable

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

{Word-less Wednesday} Universal language....

Finding common ground...

"Our Similarities bring us to a common ground;
Our differences allow us to be fascinated by each other."
 American novelist, 1936Tom Robbins

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

stretch marks...

It's not the first time I've had them...
unfortunately, no one warned me when I was pregnant with Alex that 
my previously tiny body would forever bear the marks of  the strain of all that extra weight.
I've grown used to them and am old enough to know that life is too short to care...{too much}

BUT..
these days I'm enduring a different kind of stretching and straining on my body...
ones that I am sure will also leave lasting marks.
I am expanding beyond my natural ability in so many ways lately.
And it is good
And I am grateful

But stretching means change
and change is sometimes hard and uncomfortable at first.

I am stretching in
my schedule
my flexibility
my relationships
my time
my thoughts
my prayers
my control 
{or lack thereof}

I'm not really mourning what "was", so much...
I see the marks, and I'm pretty sure they will always be a reminder of what got me here.
And "here" is probably not really a final destination, 
but a stop along the way.

There are many unknowns up ahead...
and if I look too far ahead, 
the unknowns are 
daunting
and 
lonely

But I'm pretty confident that the stretch marks of 
today are so that in my tomorrows I can see 
the bigger picture of what God was doing.  

There's no pride in bearing our stretch marks, either on the outside or the inside...but there is a sense of satisfaction that the results were worth the pulling and expanding.

“Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew. 

They're what make the instrument stretch-what make you go beyond the norm.”

Cicely Tyson 

Favorite moments of the last week:

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Blog hopping...

I'm counting down the days
 until two of my kids and I depart on a Mission Trip to 
Hamtramack, Michigan.  

4 days
 that's all...

4 days to 
*Finish up my week of work
*Do about 8 1/2 loads of laundry
{with a broken dryer- BONUS!}
*Run Emma to a LAX tourney in Downingtown
{Saturday AND Sunday}
*Write notes ALL OVER THE HOUSE for Alex, 
who will be KEEPING IT CLEAN while we are gone
*Pack 

It will get done...it will.  

But I'm baling out here and hopping over to our team blog
because, a person cannot do it all.
So, until we're back and settled into our Lancaster routine,
I'll be blogging HERE.



Monday, July 4, 2011

Happy Birthday, Mom...



"Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant 
and the rule of law under God is acknowledged." 


In our family, we celebrate FREEDOM on July 4th
but we also celebrate MOM.

Today is her birthday...
so, while we celebrate our country's freedom
we also celebrate her life 
and remember that without her, 
none of THIS:







Happy Birthday, Mom
We love you
and
celebrate YOU today!

"...Her children and her husband
   stand up and bless her."


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