You Don't See That Every Day

Sometimes it's good to look back on things and see how far we have come.  A year ago today I had a gut-wrenching day.  Gut-wrenching in the literal term. I had no idea if I would be a widow by morning or not. Oh, I had hope. And I had prayer, fervent prayer that it would be "not" for the answer.  Never have I prayed so hard, or felt so connected to God.  I had no way to help, except though prayer.  I had no one to turn to who could actually comfort me, except God. Oh, I had friends and family praying and surrounding me with love. But none of them could say 100% that he would come home. Only going to God would give me hope.  For years I have struggled with prayer. I didn't believe that God would actually listen to me. I hoped He would; I hoped Jesus would want to intercede for me. But I think deep down I doubted my petty prayers would be heard among the masses God must hear daily. But on 9/25 last year, I had no doubt. I knew He heard me. I knew in my inmost

Once upon a time we had three children. And then number four arrived, on September 21 of 2005. Our third girl baby. Her oldest sibling, our only boy, shed a few tears when he heard the news. He has since gotten over that. We celebrated this girl's birthday in a strange succession of events this week. On her birthday we had a cross country meet to go to, and then rushed off to church for Awana. So we weren't going to be able to have our family celebration until the late evening. However, plans had to change when we got home and discovered our dog had escaped again. With thunder and lightning overhead our dog got scared and ran. So we spent a lot of time tracking her down -- the Internet was a wonderful tool that night, connecting us with a mutual friend of the family who found our dog. By the time we were settled back at the house we only had time for presents. So we had cake and ice cream the following night. And then yesterday she got to have a birthday party with frien

(Note: I wrote this awhile back, but forgot to publish, oops) One week of school done. And there has already been drama in the middle-schooler's life. Ugh, drama, drama. Immaturity and insecurity bring about a lot of pain and drama. I think the girls have it worse than the boys. My son had some at that age and learned quickly who was his friend and who had integrity versus who was still learning. It's a good thing those piercing words were not aimed at my daughter last week. My mama bear claws might have come out. As it was, I was angry at first with the girls who were laughing at another child. And then I was just really saddened to think they might know better but chose to act that way. I gotta admit, I cried a little last Wednesday as we prayed over the kids and sent them off to the first day at school this year. I have two younger ones at home that will keep me company and keep me hopping; but I really enjoyed having all my minions with us for the past three months.

A few years ago, like maybe five or so, the Girl Who Swims did some kids triathlons. And she loved it. Fast forward-- now in high school, she runs, she swims, she runs some more. This weekend she and the Mr. did a sprint triathlon together with a number of guys from the church. It was a beautiful day although it started a little early for a Saturday! We were up at the crack of sunlight to get to the lake in time. Thankfully we could go in two shifts so the non-participants slept in a few minutes more and didn't rush quite as much. The Mr has been training for this for just over a month. He runs regularly, and has been swimming ever since he started rehab on his shoulder. But putting the bicycling part into the rotation made the difference. The pants that were getting tight are now loose! And he had a great time just doing the course. He was pretty nervous about the swim section, since he isn't a swimmer. He did just fine, staying at the back of the men's heat, and ge

August 2016-- family campout. We made it to Diamond Lake this year for our camping experience. It has now become one of our favorites. Even though it was quite a long drive, with many "how much farther?" questions from the 6 year old, there was plenty to see, and plenty of time to talk. We did see a car accident that must have happened within the half hour; that was pretty sobering. We got there in time for the kids to set up the tent with Dad while I got dinner together with some helpers. The yellow jackets decided they liked our taco salad, so we had to move our supper time inside the tent. Once we were done the visitors left and we came out in time to go down to the lake for a beautiful sunset. A campfire, with s'mores and a game helped end the day.   Brrr - the nighttime is cold there! Even though we weren't all feeling rested the next morning we went on bike rides. Little K. is now pretty much a pro on her bike without training wheels. That was an