pso apparently my blog is having issues. that’s ok. (i’ve come to that conclusion after a half hour of wrestling with technology.) so, you don’t need to try to read the posts below since the visible html make that rather difficult. i’ll try to fix it soon. btw, my “soon” is within three days./p

pBack Story: Yesterday I pulled approximately 17 boxes of beloved books from my attic. (I took a photo lest you think I exaggerate.) My hope was that maybe I’d rifle through them, find my love for them waning, and put most of them in my yard sale on Saturday. The reality was that after rifling through, I could only bring myself to part with about 2 boxfuls. Pitiful. Not really making a dent there. Thus followed the semi-meltdown (which in 12-hour retrospect was actually me struggling with God). You should also know that I have as many bookshelves in my living space as can be considered reasonable, and they, too, are overcrowded./p
pEnter this morning:/p

pBack Story: Yesterday I pulled approximately 18 boxes of beloved books from my attic. (I took a photo lest you think I exaggerate.) My hope was that maybe I’d rifle through them, find my love for them waning, and put most of them in my yard sale on Saturday. The reality was that after rifling through, I could only bring myself to part with about 2 boxfuls. Pitiful. Not really making a dent there. Thus followed the semi-meltdown (which in 12-hour retrospect was actually me struggling with God). You should also know that I have as many bookshelves in my living space as can be considered reasonable, and they, too, are overcrowded./p
pEnter this morning: To be honest (and that’s hard), I think the whole book dilemma has deep roots. And I think that’s why it has been so difficult to come to terms with (probably also the reason these thoughts of redding out books, toys, movies, collections have been gnawing at me for YEARS!). Anyhow, I wanted to let you know that God gave me a little insight last evening in the practical realm and a big encouragement in the spiritual realm this morning./p
pbr /Last night’s insight: room for books is like a budget. There’s only so much money, lots of good stuff to buy, but one must set limits. There’s only so many calories burned, and if one wants to shed pounds, one must live within the calorie budget. Likewise, there’s only so many bookshelves and rooms in my home, and if we all want to stay sane, I should learn to live within that budget./p
pbr /This morning’s encouragement: Colossians 3:1-17. I knew when I woke up this morning that last night’s insight was not all I needed. I felt the attic’s pull once again. In the short quiet before my loves awoke, I let my fingers (and the Spirit) browse around online. He brought me these verses. I looked it up in the Message to help it sink in…/p
p style=”text-align: center;”span style=”font-size: 16px;” /span/p
h5 class=”passage-header” style=”font-family: ‘Charis SIL’, charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;”span style=”font-family: ‘American Typewriter’; font-size: 24px;”span style=”color: #00ff22;”He Is Your Life/span/span/h5
p style=”text-align: center;”span style=”font-family: ‘American Typewriter’; font-size: 17px;”span style=”font-size: 12px;” /spanspan style=”font-size: 12px;”So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. /span/spanspan style=”font-family: ‘American Typewriter’; font-size: 13px;”Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christspan style=”color: #8fff25;” /spanspan style=”color: #00ff22;”(your real life, remember)/span shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ./span/p
p style=”font-family: ‘Charis SIL’, charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;”span style=”font-family: ‘American Typewriter’;” And that means span style=”color: #00ff22;”killing off everything connected with that way of death/span: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and span style=”color: #a77946;”grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God./span It’s because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn’t long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it’s all gone for good:span style=”color: #a77946;” bad temper, irritability, meanness,/span profanity, dirty talk./span/p
p style=”font-family: ‘Charis SIL’, charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;”span style=”font-family: ‘American Typewriter’;” Don’t lie to one another. You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. span style=”color: #00ff22;”All the old fashions are now obsolete. /spanWords like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ./span/p
p style=”font-family: ‘Charis SIL’, charis, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;”span style=”font-family: ‘American Typewriter’;” So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: span style=”color: #00ff22;”compassion, kindness,/span humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, span style=”color: #00ff22;”content with second place,/span quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it./span/p
p style=”text-align: center;”span style=”font-family: ‘American Typewriter’; font-size: 13px;” Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. span style=”color: #00ff22;”Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house./span Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. span style=”color: #00ff22;”And sing, sing your hearts out to God!/span Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way./span/p
p style=”text-align: left;”So, my issue (as suspected) is not books, or toys, or art supplies. And what I’m doing is not saving for a rainy day or simply making a collection or keeping what we might need. My issue is clinging to the old life and not letting God fill that space. Also to remember, there is nothing inherently wrong (I think) with libraries or toy collections or art supplies. (I need help remembering things from both angles because I have another issue with “all or nothing.” *sigh*)/p
p style=”text-align: left;”br /Do I feel overjoyed to slash my stash? Not really, but there is a hint of excitement to find out where God it leading me. Is this going to be easy? I suspect not. But I also suspect it will be a step toward peace, a step toward growing closer to my Lord who saves me from my love of stuff, and a step in the right direction (i.e. away from the funny farm). It will be hard because i’m one of the best justifiers I know. It will be hard because I can find beauty of design in so many places (and I like to hoard those beauties and surround myself with them and stack them up in my attic). And it will be hard because I’m not good with balance. Also? It’s scary to post this all here, for all three of you who may read it. Because what if I fail? What if I forget? Then why post? Well, for starters it feels good to put things down (ha! literally on the page and spiritually into His hands). And I think I owe some small semblance of explanation to those who listened to me rant last night. And also, I hope by “being real,” others can be encouraged in their journey. Here goes. Wish me grace!/p

pI’ve been debating for quite a while (as you can surmise from the date of my last post) whether or not to continue blogging. The biggest pro to me is the journal-keeping quality for us to look back on. The biggest con seems to be the sucking of time by my screen (read: my lack of control in screen time)./p
pAt any rate, I’ve been feeling lately like the occasional tidbit. So here is today’s./p
pLately Josselyn has been talking up a storm, and that 2-year-old dialect is one of my absolute favorites. Yesterday she requested mozzarella sticks, which in her accent sounds almost exactly like “lots of yellow sticks.” Direct pronunciation might read like “yottsayellastix.” I love words, especially the non-sensical ones./p

The weather could not be more perfect today. It’s the kind you just want to stick in a bottle and save. Tonight I have the privilege of co-hosting the Summer Moon Swim. My sweet baboo is the real host with the most. Feeling extra blessed today.

Yesterday was 102°. Today is supposed to be 99°. It’s been weeks since we got a good soaking rain. The pool is feeling rather warm, but we are so thankful for it nonetheless.

We’ve been spending lots of time in the pool. I love my new underwater camera. What a great deal! It even takes videos. (But I haven’t figured out how to post them here.) I bought some new goggles. Cy chipped in a little extra so that he could get these fancy schmancy reptile-eyes!

This little water bug can nearly swim. She loves to be in the water constantly. She especially gets excited when PopPop comes to swim with her. She’s talking a ton now. Yesterday she was talking about swimming with PopPop, and she specified, “No unnah wawa,” which being translated is “No under water,” i.e. she doesn’t want to be dunked. Funny.

We now have three “deep enders.” This is Angela, permitted to “deep end” if she wears her life jacket. She’s already doggy paddling. She might be a deep ender by the end of summer! Hard to remember she’s still only 3-years-old. Her stature and sense of humor are far beyond that.

“Sometimes we sits and thinks, and sometimes we justs sits.”

~ a quote that I remember from a poster but whose author I don’t remember

(probably an underpaid poster writer somewhere)

My amazing husband has conquered our yard, including this patio.

We now can manage the nature God has blessed us with and still have time to sit and enjoy each other.

Last year I had to face the reality that we are not retired (like the last resident),

and gardening is not one of our top priorities or hobbies (like the last resident).

We do so appreciate all the beauty that the previous resident cultivated on our property.

And now we are overjoyed to have it down to a manageable level for people such as us.

A lesson I am continually learning (truly) is that although so many things are wonderful, I am only human, finite, with only so much time, energy, and money. I constantly struggle (and I have to admit, I’m tired of that struggle, but the lesson continues until the lesson is learned) with “all the great projects” I wish to do.

One of those “projects” is just to get done with my list of projects, sit, and enjoy life with these little cuties.

Struggle.

Constant.

Ugh.

Most days I can’t believe I’m this old and still learning these things that I would guess should have been learned long ago. But I console myself with “as long as I’m still learning, still striving, this must be an encouragement.”

So I strive to put aside my busyness and focus on what really matters. All the while struggling not to ignore the stewardship of my talents nor to become lazy. (struggle, struggle, struggle.) I find inspiration in the way my husband balances life ~ play and work, what wants to be and what needs to be, yeses and nos. I find motivation in my children ~ living with all they’ve got, never giving up on me, never holding a grudge for time I didn’t spend with them (but should have).

And I look to my Savior who loves me for the quiet strength and peace I need to accept from Him.

He provides times of practice for being still and unbusy. Times like camping and times like pretend camping.

Thank you, Lord, for these blessings.

So… I go in spurts. I was keeping up for a while, but now I’m way behind in posting photos.

So… here’s a half-random mishmosh.

Back in May we got together with Grammy Slice for a classic pork and knöedls dinner. Delic!

We’re hoping it’ll be an annual tradition.

Here’s Gram with six of her eight great-grandbabies (one of the eight is “on the way”).

Cousin Jaime’s visit was the inspiration for said dinner. Many folks claim that Josse is Jaime’s little look-alike.

Elle Mae received an amazing haircut from Aunt Jenna.

Mama was sad to see the beautiful goldilocks go, but this ‘do is definitely better for pool weather!

And Mama also could not convince Shelby to keep her long tresses.

Arrived home one day from running errands solo (quite unusual) and discovered this on the driveway.

Had to run and grab my camera to capture such an amazing sight.

Sometimes life hands you unexpected surprises that light up your day.

Like a dual-colored animal cracker, for instance!

Use it up, Wear it out, Make do, Or do without. Here’s Angela demonstrating the “make do” part.

Feeding the kitty using her rain boot as the scoop since she couldn’t find the traditional plastic cup.

Sissies so sweet!

Can you see it? We call it the golden ladybug! oooOOOOooooo. It was beautiful.

(Turns out it’s a beetle, technically, whose shell resembles a tortoise shape.) Very cool.

And we’ve begun enjoying one of our most refreshing blessings!

It took some doin’, but I finally worked through the accumulated junk and treasures in the pot shop (aka clay studio). Now we have begun our play in clay. Before all that happened, we gained some inspiration by going to Eldreth’s annual open house.

I didn’t realize how fun it would be. Shelby, Angela, and Josselyn came along with me. Next year we’ll all go.

They had this throwing station (each child could make a pot for free). Then they had another station where each child could paint some of their signature cobalt slip onto a bowl for free. They fired all the bowls, and we could pick them up the next week.

And what a fire! This is one of their three gas kilns. You can sort of tell how huge they are by the size of the ware all around it. They also had a station for bigger kids (aka me) could decorate (with guidance if needed) some greenware for a fee. Pretty cool stuff. Dave Eldreth was also on the premises for signing pieces. I’d recommend the trip if you’re anywhere even remotely closeby.

Maybe I can make this my final floral post for a while.

Honeysuckle Trumpets.

I called these our “ruffled” Peonies. They’re a little crazy.

Peonies. These ones have a “bleeding” center.

Abundant Koosas.

Another Peony.

I think I counted six different kinds of Columbine in the yard.

I’ll just post two. I love the insides hanging down like a handful of mini pumpkin seeds.

One of the best parts of the beautiful gardens? Beautiful bouquets from my sweeties.