July | 2014 | Good to be Home

a simply wonderful life

(listen as you read)

It’s a beautiful Saturday. The door keeps opening and slamming shut again as the children take turns running in and out for what specific reasons I don’t always know. What I do know is that they’re busy, it’s summer, and these are perfect days to enjoy their childhood. The windows are open and I can hear wind chimes blowing musically in the breeze. When my husband comes in I will ask him to make me a cup of coffee (he likes to). My eyes are sleepy from reading this afternoon, outside in the sun by the pond, with friend/daughter Grace contentedly by my side. Our little boys Seth and Caleb swam for a while and then ate popsicles. It’s good to sit and type, thinking about my family and how thankful I am for these days.

Yesterday was a very rainy fourth of July and we did NOTHING patriotic. (Wait, is grilling hot dogs patriotic?) I was exhausted and filled with determination to reorganize the downstairs boys’ room, and we did it. Ahh, it feels so good. I threw away several bags of garbage and old toys. I also weeded through their bookshelves and added another couple of bags to the pile to donate. The boys now have a lovely clean room.

Ironically, today was the annual library book sale. We all went, in two vehicles because Rich had to take our old broken freezer to the dump. After leaving behind three bags, and taking a new box of books, we went to the diner for lunch, and then I read outside on a blanket with Grace.

NEW BOOKS!! HAPPY DAY!!

My children will have memories of coming home with bags of used books, carefully chosen from the laden tables at our local library.

I was so happy to find another old C.W. Anderson “Blaze” book, the children love them.

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people

who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. ~Anna Quindlen

(my personal stack)

(playing a card game) I love seeing the siblings pair off and do things together. They are forming such wonderful bonds for life. Grace and Jacob get along so well, and of course Jacob and Ethan are practically like twins with the way they’ve grown up together. David does well with Ethan, too. Caleb, Seth, and Sarah play together all day long, riding bikes and swimming. This is probably the best part of having lots of children, there’s always someone to spend time with and someone else to spend time with when the first person gets boring. 🙂

(clawing another’s face)

(spying)

(wondering)

(reading) That red book is my journal in which I write the titles and reactions to the books I read, along with dates and sometimes a quote or two.

(sunning)

I was looking down into my flower beds from the porch and spotted Billy sleeping.

He didn’t come. I sent Caleb out with a message for his dad that I would like a cup of coffee please. Two minutes later Rich stomped serenely through the house to get ice and a towel for his hand….”what did you do?!?”……. “oh, I burned my hand on that motor what kind of coffee am I making?”

I love my husband.

*****

glorious summer days

“Then I said softly to myself—-

‘That must have been the Sun!”

Emily Dickenson

Isaac and Cassandra’s Engagement Shoot

My youngest brother is getting married in August to a beautiful Christian woman. He is ready and eager for marriage, living single for the last few years has never seemed natural, and praise God he has found his love of a lifetime. They are incredibly happy, to be around them is to be lifted up in their joy, it’s contagious.

I met my friend Joanna in college and almost 20 years down the road we are knit together in close friendship. Both of us would say that *we would be a different person if we didn’t have the other in our life*. She has grown me, loved me, taught me, inspired me. She is a busy mom of five, and a talented photographer, too…

Isaac and Cassandra needed a photographer for their wedding and Joanna was so gracious to say yes to the opportunity. It’s been a dream come true for us as friends, having her involved in a sweet family moment in the town and home-place that I grew up in. I plan on helping her on the wedding day, and we can’t wait to work together.

Last Saturday, Joanna did an engagement shoot for them, in order to get to know them better before their big day. I was here at home in Connecticut, but a piece of my heart was in rural New York with Isaac, Cassandra, and Joanna, since I knew exactly when they were taking these pictures. I couldn’t wait to see the final outcome, and when Cass posted them all on Facebook yesterday I asked her if I could please share them here, with my blogging friends.

Who isn’t touched by young love, and the promise of a new beginning? What will the years hold?

When I look at these photos, tears come to my eyes. I love Joanna’s photography here; she worked like an angel in the background, making some magic in capturing images that Isaac and Cassandra will cherish forever.