Up to Date

These past few weeks have flown by and I'm just now getting around to looking at my pictures and organizing them. There are some peaceful and rare moments like the photo below- Romy napping.  Most days she is in her room and playing during nap time.  I was surprised that today she slept until 9am!  

 I love this early summer weather.  It hasn't hit the really hot period yet.  I catch my kids out enjoying it too.

This is the time of end of the year activities such as field day and well, the last day.  Their last day was today. Let the good times roll!  When I picked them up today Gwen was crying saying she'd miss her teacher.  I asked if her teacher saw her cry and she said she did.  I asked how she responded and she said she gave her a hug and then said now you need to move on. :)

I found this horse at the thrift store and I knew it must be Romy's.  She has been playing with it a lot.

Max loves laying in the sinks and just chilling out.

Romy had her last day of "school".  She goes with me when I teach Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I think it's good for her. I made these for her class.

We took the plunge and signed Zeke up for a sport.  We have decided to only do one at a time so we can support each person as a family.  We all make every effort to make every game Zeke has in baseball.  He is enjoying it and learning a lot I think. 

I have been doing a lot of concerts too.  We are getting ready to record this next weekend- Irish music. 

Mother's day came and went and it was so nice.  Gwen made a fruit arrangement for me.

Ben wrote a poem for me.  He always makes me laugh.

 With all the time at ballfields, Romy has to find stuff to do.  She made this plant into a "chair".

We've been taking more walks and this is one of my favorite trees.  It's like the leaves applaud.

Romy and her friend playing.

Last day of the bee class.

Poor Max never leaves the house, so when he was chasing this fly I couldn't help but be amused. 

Romy doing a suncatcher. 

On our walks we've been seeing the albino squirrel in our neighborhood.  It's a novelty really, but I like to take photos of him when I see it. 

Come Home to Supper

It's the continuous chore- cooking.  Sometimes I need fresh ideas and inspiration.  This cookbook I got from the library and have loved everything I've made it in it.  I made stuffed bell peppers from this book last night and enjoyed one for lunch.  This cook book has little sayings and anecdotes that are so cute and meaningful.  I think I will post my menu plan for the week, because if you are like me... you too have the continuous chore of cooking. (and older kids that are eating like adults)

Asian skillet meal
Pasta salad with vegetables
Janice's Stuffed Bell Peppers (p.6)
Dinner Rolls, left over ham, broccoli fritters
Chicken Tortilla soup (p. 94)
Grilled chicken, Coleslaw, Brussels sprouts
Ham and vegetable egg casserole, cantaloupe

All The Things

As you all know, I am a believer in Jesus.  I have grown up spiritually inclined and curious of how others experience and think about God.  I recently finished the study of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers and I really have struggled with some of the stories in those three books.  I think it's good to struggle sometimes.  I mean, when I see my kids in the summer struggle during a swimming lesson it makes me panic a little bit, but then I have a little something I say in my mind to calm myself "there is value in this struggle." 

In particular, I struggled with the story in Numbers 25 when Phinehas son of Aaron, saw an Israelite man bring a Moabite chieftains' daughter into his tent to presumably have sex.  Well, Phinehas went in there and speared them both through and killed them.  The thing I had trouble with was God counting the murder of those two as righteousness.  I mean, just a book away and you have "do not kill."  Maybe God told Phinehas to do that, but it isn't recorded.  

And then there are the times when God tells people to kill a whole town of people.  Men, women and children, and even animals.  Now I know that it was a much more brutal time back then.  It still is difficult for me to understand but this video helped if you've ever had the question of how does the character of God in the Old Testament and New Testament Jesus fit together. (video at the end of blog post). 

Stained glass window in the Church of the Resurrection- a large United Methodist church in town.  It's beautiful and I love it. 

I love spending time with this little girl.

Gwen's class did an art project to auction off.

I thought these were funny.

This is a hat that Gwen crocheted.  I thought she looked so cute in it I had to take a photo.

I've started using this type of lipstick called Lipsense.  It seems like everyone is selling something all the time.

Romy found a little cubby in my classroom to hide out in.

She had a singing presentation in CBS (Community Bible Study).  I love the look of a child first noticing their mom in the audience.  This was Romy's.

Easter 2017

We had a very busy Easter week.  Busy with good things though and fun times with Grandma Morris in town.  We had an Easter egg hunt at Grandma Barreth's home on Saturday.  Here's a few pictures from that. 

The older two had to let the little ones have a head start.

We hid some eggs for the advanced hunter.  Here she is getting one on top of the van.

Climbing to get one.  I mean, this is a hunt after all.

Is it me or does she look like a pre-teen?

Owen.

My two girls Easter Sunday.  Aren't they beautiful?

My 3

Ben wasn't in this photo because he was getting ready to tell the kids at church the story and dressed like a Roman soldier.

I got Zeke a chocolate bunny holding a baseball bat. There is no Easter bunny here, just boring ol' mom and dad giving you chocolate. :)

Romy was with me when I chose the one Easter treat to get the kids and I was pleased that she chose a chocolate cross.  Pleased because it was less chocolate overall and also because it was a cross.  When I gave it to her on Easter morning... she wasn't pleased.  My mom said, "isn't that just like all of us.. we choose something and then when it comes we aren't pleased with it."  She got over it and ate it in one sitting.

Here's a few of Ben telling the Easter story through the perspective of a Roman soldier (watching the Crucifixion and guarding the tomb)

Today we went to our Community Bible Study and Romy looked so cute today that I wanted to take some photos of her.  She insists on making a "funny face".

The first of our peonies opened today.  What a wonderful gift!  What a life to be thankful for!

Spring Time in the Park

I love spring.  I love the flowers, the weather, the sun, the everything.  Here's Romy helping me cook again. (making deviled eggs this time)

Ben teaching the Bible to kids.

Gwen participating.

Max sunning.

Me making treats for teachers at the preschool.

The albino squirrel while I'm on a walk with Gwen.

Riding the horsey at the store.

Ants have invaded.

Zeke in his first grade musical.  He is one of the 3 little pigs.  Isn't he precious?

On getting older

I'm no Maya Angelou, but here goes-

When your eyes are a little puffy
And your neck a little wrinkly
And you don't have the same worry
When you can't find the energy for things
And Brussels sprouts and birds and squirrels excite
You know you're gaining ground.

You know when commitment
And hard won unity are sexy
And surrender is a constant friend and not foe
You are moving on-

When you worry about a legacy
More than your own comfort
Or quality relationships instead of quantity
You are getting older

Getting older isn't bad at all
It's slower and more purposeful
And round and full
It isn't straining for what you don't have
But accepting the thing placed in your hands

Tall Trees

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by Maya Angelou

When Great Trees Fall


by Maya Angelou

May 28, 2014

When great trees fall,

rocks on distant hills shudder,

lions hunker down

in tall grasses,

and even elephants

lumber after safety.



When great trees fall

in forests,

small things recoil into silence,

their senses

eroded beyond fear.



When great souls die,

the air around us becomes

light, rare, sterile.

We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,

see with

a hurtful clarity.

Our memory, suddenly sharpened,

examines,

gnaws on kind words

unsaid,

promised walks

never taken.


Great souls die and

our reality, bound to

them, takes leave of us.

Our souls,

dependent upon their

nurture,

now shrink, wizened.

Our minds, formed

and informed by their

radiance,
fall away.

We are not so much maddened

as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of
dark, cold

caves.



And when great souls die,

after a period peace blooms,

slowly and always

irregularly. Spaces fill

with a kind of

soothing electric vibration.

Our senses, restored, never

to be the same, whisper to us.

They existed. They existed.

We can be. Be and be

better. For they existed.

― Maya Angelou