lazy days of Summer

It is officially too hot to do anything but swim this week.  It's been in the nineties every day so far this week, and today it's going to be even hotter.

Gulp.

I have a new official "low" temperature that I can swim in.  The neighbor's pool was a chilly seventy-eight degrees yesterday, and I took the plunge.  I'm telling you...it was HOT.

The pool felt amazing.

I thought I would share some pictures from yesterday.

Isn't he adorable?  The heads you see at the bottom are Noah (left) and Myles.  I love Jonah's swimming trunks...thanks to one of my sweet friends for handing them down to us.  Ahem, Maria.  ;)

Noah loves to dive.  He does it all the time.  He's also fabulous at doing flips off the diving board.  I love his swimming trunks, too.  Ahem again, Maria.

And this would be Drew.  This is what he spends his time doing.  Goof ball.

(Graham was at home when I took these, which is why there's not one of him.  I'll try to get one today.)

That's what we did yesterday.  All day.  We started at ten-thirty and swam till noon.  We came home and ate lunch and did a little house and yard work, then went back over at about one.  And swam until three-thirty.  I have the tan lines to prove it.  ;)

I'll leave you with one last picture that I love:

I took this on Monday when we were cleaning upstairs.  Jonah made this sign several weeks ago to remind himself and Noah to take care of their beloved leopard gecko, Buddy.  (Original name, right?)  Taking care of Buddy consists of cleaning out his cage, spraying his moss with water to keep him moist, refilling his water, and feeding him crickets.  And then, there are the crickets.  Taking care of them consists of cleaning out their cage and feeding them orange cubes.  Yes, they have pets for their pet.  I love that Jonah made this sign.

I will never win awards for decorating (although I love to do that), but I am SO the Mom who has their artwork all over my house.  It's on my fridge, my front door, my bedroom door, and on the doors of their rooms.  It's also on the side of the homeschool shelf in the living room and in my tornado closet.  It's everywhere.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.

I also have it in a giant three ring binder that I refer to as The Mom Book.  They know when they draw something to either hang it somewhere or put it within the page protectors of The Mom Book.

Today will consist of more of the same.  Our neighbor's nephews are coming over to hang out all day.  We'll swim again.  And tonight there's church.  :)  I love Wednesday nights...I love that everyone is dying to get out the door to church.  We also take a couple of neighborhood friends with us during the Summer months, for Mid-Week Mania.  And tonight after church, Jonah and Noah have a friend coming home with them to spend the night.

I love Summer.  Have I mentioned that?  I do.  I pray your day is blessed, my friends.  Thanks for reading!

Love to all.

A Wreath of Snow, by Liz Curtis Higgs (a book review for Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group)

I got this book last December and never got around to writing a review for it, so please accept my apologies as I do that now, during the hottest time of year.  :)

A Wreath of Snow, by Liz Curtis Higgs

I was so excited to get this book in the mail.  I love all things Christmas, and everything about this book delivered the love and warmth of my favorite time of year.  A Wreath of Snow has a beautiful cover, but the real beauty takes place on the pages inside.

It's magnificently written, so much so that you can almost feel the cold on the night of Christmas Eve, the time of year that the book starts.  You can feel the emotions of Meg and Gordon as well, as they experience the joys and forgiveness that a life of redemption brings to them and their family.

I encourage you to read this gem of a novella~whether at Christmas time, or any other time of year.  Poignantly written and highly symbolic of the grace we receive from the Lord Jesus Christ, this book will challenge you to examine the relationships in your life, first and foremost, your relationship with the Lord, and also with the relationships you have with family.

Happy reading, and love to all!

I'm attaching a link to the website my review is posted.  http://www.waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks/

a quiet morning

For the second Sunday in a row, I was up at 5:30.  I love getting up this early, while everyone else is still sound asleep.  I am definitely a morning person.  Last week my sister spent the night with us, because Todd, Graham and Drew were out of town.  I loved waking up early with Trish and sharing coffee with her and watching country music videos.

{That's my weekend guilty pleasure.}

This morning, my darling hubby decided to sleep walk.  He never does that, so I immediately was wide awake.  {It was probably because we had a little scare last night~it sounded like someone was breaking into our house.  That wasn't the case, it was a huge metal thing that fell in our garage.}  He finally came back to bed, and after laying there for five minutes, I got up and took a shower.  I've had my quiet time, I checked my email and Facebook, so I thought I would share some of what we did yesterday.

After Todd worked all night long over Friday night, he came home at seven a.m. Saturday and slept till about 11:30.  We ate lunch and went to our friend's house so the boys could swim.

 

These boys...the three musketeers.  They were together at the baseball game Friday night, too, and loved every single minute.  This is their oldest and dearest friend, Andy.  I love this family so much.

We stayed at their house until about four then headed out to my mom's and Bill's for dinner.

Someone was super attached to his Big Daddy last night...and was soaking in everything the man said.

Big Daddy was showing Jonah how to make a roux.

There was a pile of grass and Jonah all but insisted on helping him rake it all up.

Look at these little guys!  How they've grown over the past few weeks...this time next week, they'll be flying on their own.

And what's a visit to the grands' house without a ride on the tractor?

These boys are so blessed to have such amazing grandparents~and three sets of them, too!  They're extra special.  ;)  Not a day goes by that I don't thank the Lord for this fact.  It seriously takes more than just parents to raise kids, and I am so thankful for the time and love all these grands have invested into the lives of our boys.  They've helped shape who they are.

It's Sunday, so I hope you find your way to some time with the Lord today.  If you don't have a church home, come join us at Collierville First Baptist Church.  We'll be there at 9:15 for Sunday school, and church starts at 10:45.  I know for a fact the worship is going to be amazing this morning.  Love to all!

few words Friday

We had an extra teenager all day.  I bought groceries.  We swam.

I satisfied my baby fix.

A friend had six free tickets to the Redbirds game, so even though Todd is working for the sheriff's department tonight, I had five handsome fellas that needed entertaining.

And some of our best friends went, too.  Their daughter and her friend photo-bombed us, but I cropped them out.  Ha!

I don't know what Andy was doing.  I really don't know what Noah was doing.  I notice two things about this picture of Noah: one, he has on the same outfit he wore yesterday and two, could his clothes be any brighter?!

I got my one required shot.

A little downtown scenery.

I took this one of them walking, and Jonah said, "That's two!"  Turkey.

It was a great day and an amazing night.  For all these things, I give thanks to the Lord.  Love to all.

lost

Forgive the lack of writing.  I've been lost in the piles of camp laundry.  Almost everything has been washed, but I noticed that when pulled out of the dryer, everything still smells like sunscreen.  Do you have that problem?  Though it's really not a problem~I love the smell of sunscreen.  It's among my top fave smells, because it's the smell of Summer.

 See?  It reminds me of this.  Carefree days spent by the pool.

Since that was one of the last pictures I took today, I'll start at the beginning.  I woke up and enjoyed some coffee and Jesus time this morning.

It's so important that I get this time in, or my day goes haywire.  It's funny how that works, isn't it?  I'm still trucking through the book Unglued, and still underlining way too much.  But it's so good!  It's like Lysa TerKeurst can see straight into my life.  I'm also on day four of She Reads Truth on my YouVersion ap.  I'm reading in 1 Peter.  It's really good, too.

After my quiet time, the kiddos all had breakfast, we prayed, and got our day started.  That involved Graham and Drew actually unpacking their camp suitcases.  And this made more laundry.  :/

I finally found my way to the bottom of my laundry basket though, and we took off.  We went back to my mom-in-love's house to swim and hang out again.

While we were waiting on her to come out, I took this picture of their house.  Isn't it pretty?  The flowers are gorgeous!  I love day lilies...they remind me of God's new mercies.  (Day lilies bloom fresh each morning.)

We swam and swam and swam, and the kids argued.  To the point of making me very aggravated.  They better do better tomorrow...or else.

We ate a yummy dinner of grilled chicken, macaroni, corn, biscuits and fruit salad.  And the kids swam one more time, this time on Daddy's and Papa's watch.  And now, we're home.  With one extra.  ;)  Graham's friend is spending the night with us.

I have to say...I love having extra kids.  We were driving home from his house with the windows rolled down and the music turned up, and my heart was full and content.  The more the merrier, I always say.

Well...my mattress is calling my name.  And my book.  Love to all.

p.s.  I took this picture of Noah while we waited on dinner tonight~his eyes were so blue with that tan he's sporting and his favorite green shirt.

I could get lost in those eyes.  Isn't he sweet?

thoughts

I am SO READY for my husband and older boys to get home.  Todd just sent me the text I've been waiting for~they just got on the road and are headed this way!  Well, in about six hours, plus however long it takes them to eat.

I pray it's before midnight...I'm not sure I can last that long.

I spent today cleaning and getting my washing machine empty so I can start watching the "camp" clothes.  I say "camp", because my idea of camp does not involve a beach.  Fun was had by all, though...and they all stayed healthy and safe, praise God for that!

Jonah and Noah are in the pool next door.  I'm fighting with a headache.  Hopefully I'll win the battle.  Maybe after a little catnap...

And as I write this, I sit here and don't have any idea what we're going to have for dinner.  We've eaten out a little too much this week, and I'm in the mood for something simple.  Like grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.  Hmmm...I think I just got inspired by writing that.

I am exhausted.  I don't know why...except maybe for the twin ten year old's I had in bed with me last night. It seems like I woke up every five minutes with a knee in my back.

Jonah and Noah cleaned out their chest today and got rid of some shorts and shirts.  I have to admit that I had a moment of sadness over a certain pair of shorts that Jonah wore every single Friday for two straight years in a row.  It's another end of an era in their lives.

I posted this pic on Instagram and Facebook, and a sweet friend of mine told me that her son had outgrown some shorts identical to these.  Two hours later, when I opened my front door, there was a bag hanging on the door knob, and in it like ten pairs of shorts!  You can imagine the excitement in my house.  All of them fit perfectly!  I am so blessed to have friends like her, and we have no problems at all with taking shorts that my kids' friends' have outgrown.

I happen to have several friends like Danielle~Maria, Beth, Andrea, my sisters Debi and Tricia give us things, my sister Lisa buys them things, my Mom buys them things, my mom-in-love buys them things...I am so blessed!  Thank You, Lord, for their generosity!  I pray I can give back like them.  In fact, I do have a bag of clothes that I'm going to let my neighbor go through for her youngest nephew.  Hopefully she'll be able to use something, and the leftovers will go to our church's clothes closet.

I started this post two hours ago, and I am happy to say that I won the battle against my headache.  I've been having sinus headaches the past few days, and I don't always like to take medicine.  I'm trying to just wear my glasses and drink plenty of water.  It usually works, too, although I do take things when nothing else works.

I am on chapter three of the book Unglued by Lysa TerKeurst.  Can I just say, "Oh. my. word.".

I have underlined too many things already and taken too many notes in my journal.  If you are alive and breathing and are around people at all~read this.  Now.  Run, do not walk to the nearest bookstore.  Some highlights of what I've read so far:

"I know what it's like to praise God one minute and in the next minute, yell and scream at my child."

"I also know what it's like to be on the receiving end of unglued behavior and to experience that painful sting of disrespect that makes me want to hurt the one who hurt me."

{Ouch.}

"Imperfect progress~changes that are slow steps of progress wrapped in grace."

"No, we won't bend from the weight of our past, but we will bow to the One who holds out hope for a better future."

"God gave us emotions so we could experience life, not destroy it."

I learned in chapter two, called "I'm Not A Freak-Out Woman", that I can develop a new perspective, a new vantage point, and in that in doing so I can react to life around me in a calmer, more grounded way.

Developing a new perspective comes from renewing our minds~which can only be done in the reading of God's word.

Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and prove what God's will is~His good, pleasing and perfect will."

We can also take captive our thoughts and make them obedient to Christ.  {This is straight out of God's word~this verse is found in 2 Corinthians 10:5.}

Lysa then writes about Joshua and how he might have felt when God gave him instructions on how to tear down the walls of Jericho.  God willing, He will give me instruction through His word, on how to tear down the walls I may have built up in my heart.  It all starts with one good choice~that choice being the knowledge that "I can face things that are out of my control and not act out of control."

***Please know that everything inside quotation marks was taken out of Lysa TerKeurst's book Unglued.  The Bible verse in quotations was taken from the Bible.***

I love the phrase, "wrapped in grace".  Lord, may all my thoughts and reactions all be wrapped in Your grace.

Love to all.

highlights from our weekend, for the non-Facebook peeps

 This is where my hubby and Graham and Drew have been since Friday around noon: Panama City Beach.  This is church camp for them this year.  Can I just say~I could really get into meeting Jesus on the beach every morning?  I'm a little jealous...if I'm going to be completely honest with you on here, and I try to be very honest and transparent on this blog.

Please excuse the black around the edges~these are screen shots from my phone.  Todd and Drew texted me these pictures.

They swam with this little guy on Sunday.  They took a boat out to Shell Island to see and swim with these dolphins.  Pretty awesome, huh?

I started reading this yesterday.  And have underlined way too much already, just in chapter one.  Ouch.

My beautiful mom made some killer fried okra Saturday night.  And all those yummy desserts...oh my word. The baby birds have grown hair, too!  Aren't they precious?

Yesterday was church day, and my tank got filled back up for the week.  :)  I spent some sweet time in God's word this morning...this is from Deuteronomy chapter 7...verse 9 says this: "Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands."

To a thousand generations...

God is so gracious.  So faithful and good.  I pray that you know this love.  This faithfulness.

Love to all.