Summer moments- Precious and Few!

Last night the children went out together to play baseball and other sports together.  That gave Ben and I a moment, in the house together.  Delightful, whether complaining or encouraging eachother, we are attempting to build "Cherish" into our marital vocabulary.  As we struggle with the vicisitudes of this season.  Health challenges, emotional challenges and financial, we are struggling together.  God is there and He is building our large family, for himself and that is the work and pain that we are feeling.

Our Favorite Father!

And Crown Thy Good...____________Happy Belated Flag Day

Cuts and Scrapes will happen

I remember sadly the scrapes of my early life. The older I get, the further back in my remembrance, the pain. Dr. Smith, on Lost in Space was always crying, "Oh, the pain, the pain, the pain!" Today, it is my Ethan who is crying "oh the pain of it". He is old to have this kind of pain. We've been through a break of a bone with him and now he decided to scrape up his body and take off a "whole heap of skin", in the process. This, I hear is a manly rite of passage. I heard him screaming and began to pray. I cannot tell you the long process of the week that led up to this rite. All of heaven, came to comfort me and some of earth. Pats on the back in the exact place where the cut would be and I remember, this is what makes a man out of him. I know that you would have placed your body underneath him to protect his very skin. Love said, it is for his own growth process. He is not a baby and God ordains even these things. Last night we used the cleaning of the wounds to remember my daddy's rite of passage through switchblade play. Thank God that this is not the naughtiness that we are cleaning up. I sat with my grandma, years after and saw the agony on her face as she recounted her son's torn skin. Here I was following her agony to clean up the wounds of "war"? Not war but disobedience. Praying that this will be part of beating our swords or switchblades to plowshears. The stories flowed in the night and the bar-mitzva continues.

When Mu comes over?

Every year, Heaven surprises me. 29 years married and our house got in such a tumult that they had to send Mu to calm it down. Elyse didn't get the memo. We have all been on High alert about En's condition and he is sometimes walking and we are always watching him. We took our anniversary drive and took Enoch with us. {he hasn't been well for a while} We forgot to tell the household. It wasn't raining where we were. We went to the park. We saw En smile for a minute. The house was in a tumult. The hawks told us, a cardinal came and said it to us. We had no idea. We drove back in the pouring rain that always reminds me of Mu and Sunken Meadows park when we were kids. When we got home Elyse had been out searching for her brother, outside with a dear neighbor. She was soaked to the skin. We all felt loved. We all felt God's blessing in family. If he was out there walking, she would have found him. She is his oldest sister. I know how she feels. I have lived to love baby brothers and sisters and husband and children. That is what life is all about. Nothing is like the passion that makes you leave the comfort of home to search for the lost. We know she has a missionary heart of prayer for different people groups, but her charity begins at home and Mu's torrential reminder of rain was an anniversary gift to remind us what love is all about. Heaven and earth collide in family.

I can imagine that Helen Keller would lead this song in the glorious choir in Heaven

Happy Birthday Ju, Keep singing to the King!