summer moments...August collage

There is adventure in the form of climbing Mount Everest (I have a decided opinion on this form of adventure), and there is adventure in the every day nothings and everythings. I looked up adventure in the dictionary and was given this definition: "an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity." I may be taking poetic license, but I'd say that parenting and marriage fall under this definition more frequently than not. Just sayin'. As we slowly transition out of summer, I pulled some August snapshots from my phone. It's just life, a bunch of little nothings that make everythings. Not most people's definition of adventure, but mine.

celebrating my mom's birthday...

evening reading time...

pizza and pop on the patio with our neighbor

Spider-belle

D and Cece rocked it also, so to speak...

Princess Belle/Elsa and her patio art...I'm learning to let go and just let her grab whatever supplies she wants to create her "masterpieces." She loves anything hands-on.

The girls had a friend over and can I just say that our girls have a pretty terrific daddy. He gave them designer pedicures. And won over a few hearts too.

D and Cece each made thank you signs for our waitress when we were out to lunch. So sweet.

Ducks! We were crossing our fingers that she wouldn't go swimming with them....

Our sweet neighbors Maggie and Marge had the kids and I over for a movie (in their movie theater) and the real-deal old-fashioned banana splits complete with homemade pineapple, chocolate, and strawberry syrup toppings, and of course whipped cream, pecans and cherries on top. And, as an aside, old movies are awesome. We watched The Castaways with Hayley Mills. I grew up on her movies and they were considered classics at that point too. So fun.

Pure joy...Belle is in the shimmering splash somewhere...

This is how we ended our first day of school. The girls started this week, D starts on Monday. Still more summer left, but it'll be mixed with a bit more structure. And we'll probably still end up at the pool.

can I choose you?

Many evenings as we put our kids to bed, we're done. "Done" being a universal code parents use when they feel like they cannot do one more thing. One more question, whine, mess, request, anything will tip the scale to results that will be nothing resembling pretty. My husband and I don't like this about ourselves. We know we live in days which are very long, and years which are very short. My husband and I talk often of finding the balance between taking the "brain space" we need in the evenings without putting a wall up towards our kids. Boundaries are good for their life, but we can draw the lines too sharply at times. Balance. Illusive, yet worth striving to find as our parenting seasons change.

Several nights ago, I was tucking Belle into bed and she requested a story. Our dialogue went something like this:

Belle: "Please can you read me a story? Just me? Just one book? Please?" (She pleads quite well with her big chocolate brown eyes.)

Me: "Not tonight, time to sleep."

Belle: "Oh, please!?"

Me: "Okay, just one."

I grabbed Horace off of the girls' bookcase and read this very sweet story to my very sweet girl. I love this book. It tells the story of a leopard cub adopted by a tiger family. One day, he sets off to find a family that looks like he does. He finds a family playing in the park and spends the day with them, but realizes that just because they look like him, it does not make them his family. It's a beautiful story of adoption, displaying that families do not have to look the same to be designed perfectly.

I love my kids so very much. They call themselves chocolate, caramel, and vanilla. It is their normal. I can't imagine having a daughter who looks like me and I wouldn't want it because I wouldn't have my two beauties. I tell them often how very glad I am that God chose them especially for our family. I want them to rest in that truth. Knowing God sovereignly hand-picked them to be with us. Not just for their sake, but for ours. I don't know where we would be without them.

Belle was thoughtful as I read her Horace. In the middle she said, "I never wanted a new family." Sweet words for my heart.

When I finished and I was tucking her in (again), she looked at me and said, "Hey mom, can I choose you as my mom every single day?"

I would love that.

We bought this leopard for Belle when she was born. When she first learned to talk, she named it "Beppo" because that was as close as she could come to "leopard." Sweet memories.

i'm loving...these books

Books come in all flavors and I crave different flavors as I wade through the stream of moments that become my days, weeks, months, and years. Right now, I've needed some soul encouragement, and I've loved these three books.

I've mentioned Bittersweet before, but I'm still loving it. It's written in more of a vignette form, so I can sit down and read several sections when I have a few free minutes. I like how Shauna Niequist writes, but I also like what she writes. And as an aside, if you have struggled with infertility and miscarriages, I'd grab this book in a heartbeat (or for loved ones). It's a collaboration of so many stories and topics, but this theme has stood out to me. That particular struggle is not one I have faced, but I have still appreciated what she has written. I don't want to put this book in a box by mentioning only one topic, so I'll say this book would be for any woman who is dealing with this beautiful messy life...so everyone (in my opinion...whatever that is worth!). I've been stewing in some bittersweet brew, so I'll say again how much I've appreciated this book.

 

My sweet friend pointed me toward this read saying that it sounded like my kind of book. I read the title and description and then hopped on Amazon and ordered it (thank you Amazon Prime). This is kind of my mantra, finding beauty and joy where I live each day. Blooming where God has planted me, but resting in hope for what He has beyond today. I have an adventurous heart that has been stunted and disgruntled with discontent as of late. So, this book has been a gift to my hurting heart. I haven't connected with the practical parts of the book as much, but I would consider her tips and ideas good ones, just not new to me personally. However, when Sarah Mae speaks to the heart of our struggles and dreams and hopes, and connects those to a loving, engaged and present God, I'm listening. In the midst of Cheerios and laundry and squabbly messes, I can still find joy and beauty and I can rest in a God who sees, who knows, who cares, and who has not forgotten me.

Do you love Jane Austen? Then you will LOVE this. When I'm dealing with a lot of stress and battling anxiety, I can't read contemporary fiction. It makes me feel frenetic and crazy. I have to go back to the classics (or those handful of books which have been read and re-read countless times). Published in 1855, it is not a book about the American Civil War as I originally thought (before I knew the publishing date...I do know my history dates, at least that one!). It tells the story of a young woman who moves with her parents from Southern England to the industrial North. The BBC made a miniseries from this book that is positively lovely lovely lovely. I love old books because they have stood the test of time. The rubbish has ceased to be published and only the best literature has survived. I often wander what books will be read from our time 100 years from now. The writing is complex and intellectual, unlike most fiction found today, and the fact that I must concentrate on what I'm reading helps pull my scattered brain from all that flits around it, unanchored and disorderly. I'm savoring this read.

School is around the corner. Yay! And, sigh. Trusting God for the adventure He has for my family this year!

summer goals~100 books

 

So, my almost 12-year-old is continuing his march toward reading 100 books for this summer. The deadline is the real end of summer, September 21st-ish and he thinks he'll make it. His base goal was 75 books by the end of summer vacation, somewhere in the mid-August vicinity. 

I asked him to pick five favorites (a tall order as he loved many of these titles and did not find one that he loathed). 

Drumroll, please! (descriptions given courtesy of D..."idiomatic" may have been my word, but D dictated the rest...)

1. Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain--classic, adventure, history...he devoured it.
2. Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone by J.K. Rowling--magic, adventure, special powers, mystery, friendship...
3. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster--an adventure with lots of idiomatic fun (expressions, sayings, play on words, and idioms)
4. Emily's Runaway Imagination by Beverly Cleary--a story set in the early 1900's on a farm, Emily is creative, energetic and imaginative...
5. Eric Liddell by Janet and Geoff Benge--story of a missionary to China who was also one of  the greatest runners. He honored God with his whole life...