You Don't See That Every Day

Summer is here. Swimming, grilling, and family reunions. Around our area the temps have been in the 90s for awhile. We had a few cooling off days and now the sun is back on full force. In times like these it's nice to have friends with a pool. A couple of Sundays ago, I woke the Mr from his Sunday nap and said get your swim shorts on, we're going!  And we had a very enjoyable, laughter-filled afternoon of swimming and Marco Polo. This past weekend we didn't have a pool, but we had a lot of fun. My niece and nephew, whom we don't get to see often ... I think it may have been 7 years since they were here ... came and stayed with us. We really enjoyed getting to know them again as adults. And my kids loved hanging out with their cousins. We also had a family reunion combined with a 60th Anniversary party for my aunt and uncle. There were so many people there - many I didn't know, even though I recognized their last name. But first, we started the weekend ...

I was at the store the other day and saw something that made me cringe. A little child was yelling back to his mom, telling her No , he was Not going to do what she had asked him to do. Now, I know my children are not perfect angels. Believe me, they have plenty of faults, just like we all do. But they were never allowed to tell their parents No - as in directly defying an "order". Young parents, I get it - you're tired, you don't want to fight that battle again, and so you let them get away with that behavior. But really, if you let them do it now, it's going to get worse. Letting them tell you No now destroys the respect relationship between a parent and a child. Yes, I think a child needs to respect their parents. How else do they learn about authority? When a police officer pulls them over and asks them to get out of the car, do you think it will go well with them if they tell the police officer No? Or think about their teacher in school. The teacher asks ...

My kids often played school with their siblings, friends, and/or cousins when they were younger. I did it when I was a kid too. But I never wanted to be a Teacher. (Yes, there is irony in me homeschooling my children.) As I've gotten older and experienced the world. I've come to appreciate teachers much, much more. I spend maybe an hour or two twice a month teaching kids in Sunday school. I can't imagine doing that day after day during the school year. I've also had a large number of coaches in my life. 4 years of high school track and then cross country,  4 years of basketball and two more in college, along with the dozens of coaches my kids have gone through .... brings me to really appreciate the patience and knowledge passed on from these coaches to me and to my children. But this past week I have had a new experience in the teaching realm. I got to coach Long Jump for our track and field group at the church Skills Camp. It was ... wonderful. I thoroughly enjoy...

You might think that a 40-something year old married mother of five wouldn't be afraid of much. You might think that such a woman who has been to the ER more than once with 4 of those five children, and more times than that with her husband, wouldn't be afraid of much. Over our 21 years of marriage I've had to face a few of my fears. Deep water, high heights, and high fevers have all served a sort in deepening my prayer life. One other area of my life that leads me to my knees is traveling without the Mr. Traveling in itself can be stressful. Not the everyday drive around town, or over to the coast travel. Last week I loaded up our four girls and myself and all our camping gear, and the five of us drove 8 hours to a campsite, where we joined my siblings and families for part of the annual family camp. I didn't sleep well the whole week beforehand; crazy dreams and interrupted nights had me wondering what was going on. But we did it. And we made it. And we had fun...

Family. Most of us don't get to pick our family. I'm fortunate that the one I picked to marry into is one that I really really like to hang out with. For most of our married life, my husband has not seen his two brothers and their families on a regular basis. Unless by regular you mean once a year or less. Because they live out of state, time together is a rare but precious time indeed. As we all age and have kids grow older, and incomes change, our times together have increased. And the fun and memories just keep getting better. Last year for the first married niece's wedding, all 3 brothers and their entire families were able to be together (although the bride and groom weren't there for long) and talk came around to doing this get-together thing more often. So this last month we had what was one of hopefully many to come family reunions. We rented a lodge from our church that is located on the Oregon coast. It was supposed to rain all wee...