Last days of Summer 2015

Well, the summer is coming to an end for all my kids.    

But until then, we've been cutting, cutting, cutting. 

 With all the fruit we've been getting from Birch's, we ended up getting a dehydrator.  We eat as many as we cut, so it takes a bit longer to prep than I thought.  And I haven't worked out all the details that might change the length of time the fruit is drying... but it is so yummy! 
 We are all loving it.

Katy is preparing for Senior pictures with Aunt Priscila. We tried on MANY dresses this week and found a few lovely ones.  She has a friend coming over to help practice make-up and hair today and tomorrow.  So excited!

Mom is excited if I think about it in baby steps.  Look, Senior pictures.  Look, new class schedule. Look, you need all my financial information for scholarship paperwork.  

But if I think about how she won't be here next year.... sadness.

Jacob is having a wonderful month.   Swimming, friends, sleepovers, cousins and food.  What more could a boy ask for!  That's him on the rope swing.  

My new phone/camera - is a lower quality than my previous phone.  That's ok.  It's a choice I made, and for the most part, I am enjoying not being on my "phone" all the time.  But I miss the camera from the Nexxus.  Guess I'll have to start carrying around a real camera, now. 

 Whoa... that feels so old school.

Emily and Becca, both have their own devices - not for calling or texting yet, because they are always with us!  But they have email, google hangout, Pinterest, and Spotify. 

It keeps them real "busy".  

Let me know if you need their contact info.

Amanda is off to camp this week.  It is the first time she's been gone 5 nights.  She's been to this camp before (twice) but as a jr. camper and it was only for 2 nights.  She was SUPER nervous this past week and kept worrying about it.  Sometimes, alternating between tears and laughter.

So Darren talked with her about Philippians 4:6-7

Which means one day we were driving home and she says, "I'm really nervous about camp."  Then proceeds to bow her head, put her hands together and say, "Jesus, give me peace." 

 I LOVE that Amanda!   

Once I dropped her off, she still needed hugs, but she found her friends and she was off.  She did stop to turn around and wave to me.  My heart be still.

Claire has turned into a great swimmer this year!  Her favorite is the mermaid (dolphin) - but she's getting better at freestyle and back stroke, too. Claire also decided to get a pixie cut as well, she wanted to match the sisters.  She looks a little like Fantine. 
 It's just hair.  It will grow back.

This is how I feel, too.  Every time someone asked for a pixie cut....

Darren has started a new client, who lives on the East coast.  So his mornings will be starting 2 hours earlier, which just about coincides with the new school year.  No one wants to get up early.  

We want to soak in the last few days of summer!!!!

We got to visit with a friend yesterday that just moved out of the city, onto their own little farm.  We sat in the hammocks and talked in the shade.  All the kids want to move to a farm now.  We are pretty sure the ratio of work:hammock is something like 3:1 or 5:1 maybe even 10:1.  

They don't believe me.

Hope you enjoying your last days of summer, too. 

Heidi's Messy Oil Spill

My good friend Heidi blogged about her oil spill. A bottle of olive oil fell and broke - sending oil and glass all over her kitchen.

During cleanup, Heidi was able to reflect for a moment on what the Lord was saying. He reminded her how oil is a prophetic picture of Holy Spirit and how when He's around, it's bound to get messy.

I remember a time when time Darren and I made a conscience decision to let Katy make a mess. She was learning to be independent and desperately wanted to pour her own milk. All I could see was the mess she would make and I would have to clean up. All she could think of was the thrill of doing it by herself. But in the end, it was just spilled milk...

I know, I know, no crying over spilled milk. But I could only see more work for me, not the joy for her. (By the way - at 12 she still spills the milk. So does everyone else in this house.)

In Heidi's story, she ended up doing a prophetic act... the oil (Holy Spirit) breaking out of the container (we can see Him, but not touch him. Talk about Him but never to Him. Grieve Holy Spirit and somehow not know it?). And the "mess" was all over her feet (and her kitchen). He annointed her feet with oil.

As I think back to my decision to let Katy make a mess, I realize I have to do the same thing with Holy Spirit. I have to give Him permission to make a "mess" in my kitchen, in my life, in my heart...or else fear will cause me (us) to miss Him altogether.

It's a scary thing to let Him have free reign...because that means we are not in control. But things fall and break all the time. This time, it might have to be us.