tuesday morning

Posted on April 24, 2018 by Shanda

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Good Morning!

The pie tasted even better this morning. I just ate a piece for breakfast. (more details on instagram). Sunlight is flooding, FLOODING into the room and it’s glorious. We’ve finally had warm springtime weather and I spent most of the afternoon yesterday outdoors. I was looking forward to blogging but as soon as the door slammed behind the children going to school after a long spring break and I was alone in the house for the first time in forever, what did I end up doing?

C L E A N I N G

I turned on the tv and cleaned away to my hearts content asking myself who I was and why and how did I turn into this woman delighting in cleaning when she was alone in her very own nest?

And then, I read my book which is just getting good and un-put-downable, went for a brisk walk, watched the busy birds, and baked a pie.

This morning when the door slammed I grabbed my computer to blog.

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Guess what play Sarah is going to see today? And guess who was making her laugh while I took her photo?

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*****

The Lord loves you not to-day, Christian, because of anything you are doing, or
being, or saying, or thinking, but he loves you still, because his great heart is full of
love, and it runneth over to you…….. Charles Spurgeon

SaveSave

//easter sunday in orlando//

Posted on April 11, 2018 by Shanda

(I heard this song at the dentist with my son Caleb yesterday and liked it so much).

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April 1, 2018

It was Easter Sunday and we decided to take a day of rest. Rich read resurrection Scriptures to us in our hotel room that morning and then we slathered on sunscreen, put on our bathing suits, and headed for the pool.

Oh I forgot to mention that Caleb and Seth tried to play basketball first thing in the morning but came right back to the room because “There is an easter egg hunt going on, there are eggs everywhere even on the basketball court.” I noticed Sarah (who was still in her pajamas and in bed) perk up at these words, so I asked Caleb to “hop like a bunny and go get Sarah an egg”. We all laughed hysterically as he hopped out the door as only Caleb can, and then 10 minutes later, hop back inside the room with an egg and his front teeth sticking out of his lips just like the Easter bunny. We affectionately call Caleb “Moose” for a reason, his bunny “hops” were more like heavy stomping earthquakes and he quickly hopped/launched himself off balance and into the wall as he tossed the egg to his sister. “They were all gone so I told a man I needed one for my sister and asked if he would give me one of his. There were kids with huge bags full of eggs.” Sarah opened her egg to find a grape-flavored hard candy and was thrilled.

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Rich and I settled into pool chairs and very soon David was coming over to show me that he finally caught a lizard. (the round scar on his stomach is from a spider bite, chronicled on this blog about 10 years ago).

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David was very curious about the wild life around the pool. Now and then a duck or two would fly over to see if there were any crumbs to eat. David tossed one a potato chip and we laughed to see it gobble it down only to bob his head up and down forcefully to bring it back up. It landed on the pavement just as dry as it had gone into his beak.

David also saw a bird spear a fish over at the lake and came to report enthusiastlically.

My heart bursts with joy that he comes to share things with me so often. I love to hear his stories and the way he tells them is always unique and interesting. I am an eager listener.

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Sarah (in pink) quickly made a friend of a little girl just a year younger. Eventually I met the little girl’s mother. They had plans to go to a park that day but after seeing the girls swimming and getting along so well they ended up staying at the pool all day too. They had traveled to Orlando all the way from Ireland and it was fun to visit with the mom and ask her questions about her country.

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We eventually made the girls get out of the pool to share a hot dog lunch together. Sarah didn’t want to get out of the water and made sure to let me know that she “wasn’t done swimming yet.” I was so glad to have gotten the children goggles before our trip because they had the greatest time throwing a little plastic card into the pool and diving for it.

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Behind the pool there was a lake and Caleb was so happy to go fishing. He and Seth also played basketball for a while, too, and Seth was nicknamed “Seth Curry” by some other boys were were playing with them.

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After Sarah’s great reluctance to meet Disney characters at the park, I was truly intrigued to see that she got out of her beloved pool to approach the Easter bunny. But on second thought, I decided that it had more to do with the eggs than the bunny. It was the most adorable thing to see her and her friend get out of the water and hold hands as they walked over to the bunny for an egg. All in all, Sarah managed to bring home about 7 or 8 plastic easter eggs.

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I spent the day in my chair with my book, journal (pictured above) and various nice coffee drinks. The tallness of our hotel blocked the sun after a while so Rich moved to the other side but I stayed put. I would rather not roast myself; it was perfect in the shade and Rich always gets annoyed because I still get tan so much better than he does even though he stays in the sun.

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Eventually it was time for dinner so we got all cleaned up and headed to a steakhouse for a good meal.

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“Yeah but mom look, I’m not even in the picture.”

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What is it with boys trying to look cool and thereby not smiling?

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Handsome Caleb after a day in the sunshine.

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Someone take away that soda!

The boys had steak dinners. I had crab legs and Sarah had spaghetti.

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Even though we truly didn’t NEED dessert, the next thing we did was drive to a soft serve place for cones.

It was the kind of heavy cream soft serve that makes you feel full and sick after eating only half of it.

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It was a good ending to a relaxing day.

*********

What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven–and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future.

The Day is coming when you’ll have it all–life heal and whole. ~ 1 Peter 1

magic kingdom

Posted on April 9, 2018 by Shanda

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I had flown down to Orlando the day before to meet Rich who was already in town for business. He looked so handsome leaning against a pillar in the airport at the end of the escalator to greet us. We spent the rest of that day hugging, settling in the hotel, swimming, and exploring.

The next morning we drove from our hotel to Magic Kingdom. Rich and I were looking forward to finishing up our parenting goal of making sure all seven of our children got to Disney in their childhoods. Sarah was the only one who hadn’t been; we had David, Caleb, and Seth with us too, and the older three were in college but we had taken them when they were little. In fact, it’s all on the blog. The only trip that I didn’t blog about was when David was a baby and that’s only because I didn’t have a blog back then (15 years ago).

We took the Ferry over to the park.

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A nice thing about the boys having already experienced Disney was that they could knowledgeably “inform” Sarah about all the things she would see and do. These types of conversations had been going on for weeks and she was very excited.

She and Seth kept their eyes on the castle all the way across the water.

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It’s always a lovely sight.

Okay—–honestly, Rich and I, now that we are back home, have already decided that never again if we can help it, will we go to Disney during Spring Break season. The crowds were next to impossible. There were some good things, however, as having so many excited people added to our own excitement. (It also added to the length of time standing in lines.) It was fun to hear different languages being spoken all around us and observing families from all over the world enjoying this famous destination. But it was a very vast sea of humanity. . . . .

Speaking of crowds, we only lost children twice. In fact, the first thing we did was lose children. And by “lose” I mean, it was all their own fault (a miscommunication of sorts). What happened was this: In the midst of a thousand other people, Caleb had to use the bathroom so badly that as soon as we got across the water and departed from the ferry boat we located restrooms. He and Seth ran just a little bit ahead of us into the men’s room, we were right behind them. Sarah and I went into the ladies room and Rich and Dave went in just after the other boys, who never saw them. Rich and Dave were still in the stalls when Caleb and Seth got done, so when they came outside and didn’t see us, they headed straight for the main entrance (just to the right of the lines) without any of us seeing them, either. So THEN, the rest of us finished up and waited outside the bathrooms. No Caleb, no Seth. Before we even knew they were “missing” my phone rang. They had immediately called me from a Security officer’s phone and found us. In a nutshell, they thought we had went to the ticket counter to wait for them to go to the bathroom.

The second time was similar. We were standing in line (a Very Long Line) waiting to go on a roller coaster. We could see the restrooms from where we were standing so Seth ran out of line to go to the bathroom and then got confused trying to find us again. Rich went to look for him just as my phone rang. Seth had asked the first couple he saw to use their phone. He was so close to us that I saw him talking to me on the phone. So I just yelled, “SETH over here!” gave the couple a smile and a friendly wave, and called Rich to tell him Seth was safe and sound.

So right away we knew that the children would be able to find us again if they ended up lost in the multitudes of people. Truly it was somewhat of a miracle that we didn’t lose them around every corner, it was THAT crowded.

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Main Street Parade

(we just caught the very end of it on our way to a ride).

Thunder Mountain.

It was so cute to listen to Sarah make plans with Caleb to sit together; and to actually have Caleb agree to do it was adorable. When we got home after our vacation was over, she had me print this very photo so she could take it to school.

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My beautiful travelers.

After a long winter, the sunshine we enjoyed in Orlando was such a treat. We just made sure to use lots of sunscreen.

We bought this photo from our next ride (Splash Mountain; Rich’s #1 favorite) to add to our collection. We bought the frame to go with it and it was nice that they could send our purchase to the front of the park for us to pick up at the end of the day. It’s now hanging on the wall next to a photo from Hershey Park, and one from Six Flags.

BD967BE0-EC96-4426-9855-52912599E529 “Before (sobs) and After (smiles)”

Sarah got the #1 Overcomer of the Day award for riding Splash Mountain even though she was terrified. The combination of water and a drop down was almost too much for her. That’s why you see me holding her like that in the photo.

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The Buzz Lightyear ride is a favorite.

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We didn’t buy this one but I thought it was the cutest ever with Rich’s big muscles and Seth closing one eye to aim and shoot.

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Waiting for the Presidents show, we enjoyed the displays of memorabilia. I took this photo of Projectile Points for Mom and brother Dave, only we call them Arrowheads.

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And of course the boys intently studied Teddy Roosevelt’s sword and asked me to take a photo.

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I did take my big camera with me to Disney. I took a handful of photos with it on this day, including this nice one of handsome Caleb with Rich in the background (in his own car) but after Magic Kingdom I left it in the hotel. I’m not saying I’ll never use it again, but I think when I have a bunch of other travel-mates with me and it’s a busy park it’s just easier to use the phone camera. It was more of a time to take candids for my family then to think about thoughtful photography. But I do love this photo of Caleb.

Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse; be still my heart.

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Standing in line for the Enchanted Tiki Room; “vintage” Disney at it’s very best.

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Fireworks to make all the sentimental grown ups cry. And I did, too. (We waited for them to begin next to another family. The dad was complaining almost in a desperate way because they had gone straight to the park from the airport and hadn’t even checked into the hotel. They were exhausted. He was wondering if the show would be worth it and almost didn’t want to wait. He wanted to leave to escape the crowds. But they stayed and later on during the show I could hear him singing along to the songs with his son up on his shoulders and I thought, “yes, it’s worth it.”)

Seth took this as we waited for Rich to get our photo; it was the last picture taken of our visit to Magic Kingdom. We had walked a total of 5.8 miles that day and went to bed at midnight after pancakes at Ihop.

Tomorrow I will share photos from Epcot.

one dollar photo shoot

Posted on February 23, 2018 by Shanda

“I live to enjoy life by the littlest things, feeling the grass between my toes, breathing fresh air, watching the wind sway the trees, enjoying the company of loved ones, a deep conversation, getting lost in a good book, going for a walk in nature, watching my kids grow up. Just the feeling itself of being alive, the absolute amazing fact that we are here right now, breathing, thinking, doing.” ~Marigold Wellington

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On Wednesday the temperature reached 63! I was too hot at times! And the very next day the temperature dropped 30 degrees and by that afternoon it was snowing enough that all after school activities were cancelled. I looked out the window from the couch, where I was cozy with a soft blanket, and saw the big wet flakes falling straight out of the sky. It was so pretty. I remembered how I would have Grace dress up so I could take her photos out in the snow. Sarah was downstairs playing video games. I sighed. I didn’t feel like bothering to ask her. I was too tired. I knew it would take some convincing on my part to do a photoshoot with Sarah. Therefore I watched the rest of my movie.

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Well, lo and behold about an hour later I had to shut in the chickens because there were no mature children home to send instead. As I pulled on boots and took my coat from the closet, Sarah came upstairs. “Where are you going?” “I have to go shut in the chickens.”

“CAN I GO WITH YOU?”

“Sure!”

And so it happened!

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After the hens were properly shut in she asked,

“Do you want to see Ethan’s secret hiding place?”

“Sure!”

It wasn’t very far away but traveling there was was rather difficult. I had to crawl on my hands and knees to get past some of the branches. I had to remove briars from the both of us at times, too. We were crawling through the bushes and trees to get to Ethan’s secret hiding place.

It was a big tall white birch tree. Caleb discovered it once a long time ago when Sammy the cat led him to it by meowing. And then he in turn showed Seth and Sarah. It’s all a secret. They knew what it was by Ethan’s name scratched into the bark. It said, “Ethan loves……” and I’m not going to tell you the name because it’s a secret, too. By the time w got home I had forgotten it was a secret hiding spot so I told Ethan about it and he laughed and Sarah said, “Did Sammy show you the spot, too, E?” And he said, “I think a cat did lead me to it actually.”

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FOLKLORE: the traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth.

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Isn’t it amazing that in just one afternoon enough tiny snowflakes can fall to cover the ground and the trees? A million little things………all together can add up to something significant.

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the mom

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Sarah Joy age 7 years and 9 months. On a small walk with mom to the chicken coop.

Thanks for letting me take your pictures, Sarah! I love you!

PS, I had to pay her a dollar.

a muffin morning

Posted on February 19, 2018 by Shanda

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“I’ll measure the flour, you can dump it in,”

“You’re good at measuring.”

“And you’re good at dumping.”

“3 Tablespoons of sugar.”

“You don’t have to mix so strenuously.”

“1 Tablespoon of baking powder.”

“Baking powder?”

“And 1 teaspoon of salt.”

“Did you already put the salt in? I wanted to use my little teaspoon.”

“Okay, now we have to put the wet ingredients in this bowl.”

“You can crack the egg, just let me pour the milk in first.”

“A whole cup of milk.”

“I need to melt half a stick of butter.”

“The key to perfect muffins is to never over-mix the batter.”

“Repeat after me, I will never over-mix my muffin batter.”

“I will never over-mix my muffin batter.”

Good girl.

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Sarah ate all 6 of her tiny muffins and then ate one of mine. Then Caleb and Seth each had a muffin. Ethan came home from picking up Tessa and they ate the remaining nine muffins which meant Michael, David, Jacob, and I did not get a muffin. (12-3=9)

“I feel so bad,” said Tessa when she realized.

“I don’t. I’m proud of us.” said Ethan with his eyes closed contentedly.

yes

Posted on November 8, 2017 by Shanda

It’s Friday, and I pick up my little travel companion from school early. She’s so excited that she can’t stop talking. We are going to see her best friend and her sister. She’s holding my hand and skipping to the car. Her joy is contagious.

We stop at Starbucks which is our tradition before every road trip.

The drive takes us all afternoon.

At one point we go from sun to rain and I see a rainbow in the sky.

I listen to podcasts; she watches Shrek for the 10,000th time.

We stop at TJ Maxx for a curling iron because I forgot mine at home. We leave with little presents for all five of Joanna’s kids…..and no curling iron.

Eventually we reach our hotel. It’s getting dark and it’s cold. But we settle into our room and get back into the car to meet sister Grace and her boyfriend Caleb for dinner at a Greek place just a few minutes away. We can’t wait to see them.

At the restaurant, we order macaroni and cheese for Sarah, a pork chop dinner for Grace, and gyros for Caleb and me. The food is delicious and filling and gives us energy.

After we eat, we go next door and visit puppies in a shop.

*****

It’s Saturday and Grace’s 18th birthday.

She has plans for the day with Caleb so I take Sarah to see her best friend and pick up Joanna for a women’s Bible conference. She’s speaking and I can’t wait to hear her.

We drive to the church early and then sit in the car and talk while I put on make up.

It’s been a year since our last visit but it feels like we were never apart.

We go into the church and find seats. The tables are decorated with pretty lanterns and pumpkins and doilies. There is cold water and coffee or tea to drink and miniature bagels and clementines to snack on.

While she is away saying hello to some of the other ladies, I take a photo of our Bibles on the table and feel my heart bursting with gratitude for the moment.

The talks with other women are just what we need, the songs we sing help us to praise Him with the center of our being, and we pray together and learn more about Him.

We learn to say “Yes, Lord”; yes, and amen.

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 1:20

I am astounded once again, that He has said Yes to me.

Joanna and I go into a little classroom after the conference and both of us take photos of an amazing mobile that has caught our attention; it is made out of a tree branch, and used for the church’s preschool ministry. We both decide we want to make one, too.

After the conference, we go to the hotel so I can change and then go back to her house to check on the girls. Grace and Caleb will be joining us for dinner later and we have the whole evening to look forward to.

grandma wants to stay home

Posted on October 21, 2017 by Shanda

Saturday morning.

I have bread dough rising. I’m wearing a cute outfit and feeling young and healthy. My daughter Sarah is in her own little world on the floor and I hear her say to herself as she busily works at taking a fancy dress off her doll, “I’m going to teach Bitty Baby to do a CARTWHEEL.” I get the camera because she’s cute and she holds up her babies and sings, “Hi Grandma!!!!!!”

It takes me a second and then I realize.

She just called me Grandma.

I’m also annoyed because my dough has an hour to rise and my husband just told me I have to ride along all the way to the airport so he can pick up a big van from the rental place and drive it home. (I say annoyed but we are laughing about it. I’m whining, “I want to stay home!!!!” and he’s not listening to me and saying, “Too bad!!”)

sarah’s hair

Posted on October 12, 2017 by Shanda

Everyone knows that one of the many job descriptions of “MOM” is “HAIR STYLIST” whether she wants to be or not, it’s inevitable.

As I look through the recent photos I have taken with my phone I see a theme developing. It all started on Monday night when my young daughter/hair client came to me with a case of the grumps AND tangles.

“Get a brush, Sarah, and I’ll brush your hair nice and soft,” I said.

I brushed and brushed and she just loved it. It was very relaxing to sit and have a super wonderful mom hair stylist gently brush her long hair.

I admired how pretty it was, clean and sweet smelling, with little waves and a variety of color, everything from blond to dark brown.

I took a picture to show her how long it was getting.

I held up the blondest piece and the brownest piece and took another photo. I even called Rich over to look, “Rich, look how pretty Sarah’s hair is.”

We remember when she was a toddler and she was practically bald, it took years for her to get any length to speak of. In fact, her siblings called her “Baldo” now and then.

Sarah went to bed that night feeling much better.

The next evening after school she walked over to me and raved, “Moooooooom, Ariana came to school today with bluuuuuuuuuue hairrrrrrrrrrr.” Sarah had been quite impressed by it. I knew what was coming….sure enough, I found her five minutes later, digging through the crayons looking for her hair chalk that we bought a couple years ago. “I found it! Can you put blue and pink in my hair before school tomorrow?”

“Only if you pay me in a five minute hug, a happy smile, and a kiss on the cheek.”

(A good hair stylist ALWAYS prices her services accordingly.)

Naturally I had to take a photo to show my youngest client her hair and to make sure it was just what she desired. I only get paid if it’s done right. “It needs a little more blue, please.” I colored a few more streaks and off to school she went.

When she came back home, I noticed the pony tail was out and her hair was all over the place again. She and her brothers grabbed a snack and then ran next door to play with the neighbors.

About 45 minutes later, the Dad next door came to the house with Caleb by his side and Sarah walking a few steps behind looking distressed, with her hand on her head. They stopped to explain what had happened but Sarah kept going into the bathroom. I noticed a long piece of hair in Brian’s hand. “I was in the house when the boys came running to tell me that Sarah needed help. She was on the swing and her hair was caught in the chain. I got her all untangled but……yeah, she has a little bald spot on the top of her head now.”

Brian and Caleb left to go back next door and I reminded Caleb to come home in 10 minutes for dinner…………

Then I turned to go check on Sarah’s hair. I may or may not have been laughing. I encouraged her that it really wasn’t that bad and I knew just how to fix it so no one would know. Soon she was happily playing on the kindle with her hair brushed back into a pony tail, with lots and lots of hair spray in front.

(As this was a true need, I didn’t request payment.)

Here is a photo of Sarah’s bald spot before school this morning, right before her most talented hair stylist worked on it.

And here is a photo of her happy smile afterwards; priceless.

a good report for Sarah

Posted on July 27, 2017 by Shanda

*****

The nature photos are from the ambling walk I took yesterday evening after dinner (chicken parmesan) and Rich had fallen asleep on the couch….

*****

Worry weighs a person down, an encouraging word cheers a person up. Proverbs 12:25

Good afternoon! This is the first chance I’ve had to sit and blog today because first thing this morning Sarah, Seth, and I got ready and went to another one of Sarah’s follow up appointments for her kidney. Remember last year she had surgery? Well, I am happy to report that after an ultrasound today on her kidney everything looks great and they don’t need to see her in the office again for a year. (She will be taking a 24 hour urine collection test next month to see if we have been able to increase her water intake and her citrates. But they will call with the results). We are praising God for this news!

waiting room selfies

Isn’t it fun when you’re put in an exam room and left to wait and wait? No, we didn’t think so, either. But we did read a book and color and count the change in my purse and that was sort of fun.

As soon as the doctor came in Sarah became anxious, had a threatening face, slapped a high five as hard as she could, and HISSED. The man said he used to be a marine and he could take it and was very patient with Sarah. Sarah was a little less anxious when the women came in. (She had three appointments back to back; radiology, nephrology, and urology). It was interesting to see that she still had some fears lingering from her lengthy experience a year ago, but all in all she did very well today and of course any doctor’s appointment with “no shots” is a good one in her book.

Visiting the gift shop is always a treat after her appointments. They each picked out a fidget spinner.

And then we ate lunch downstairs in the cafeteria where Sarah got a hamburger, Seth a slice of pizza, and myself a salad.

Last but not least, a stop at the store and then at the farm stand to get a dozen ears of corn, “Corn AGAIN?” Sarah asked. Yes, I’ll be buying it constantly while it’s in season! It’s so good this time of year.

“He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” Isaiah 40:11

“It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace.” Hebrews 13:9

HE LOVES YOU!

you’re part of my heart

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Shanda

SUMMER
VACATION

We went to the playground.

The boys had friends over to play baseball, football, video games, fishing, swimming….

If we should be so lucky
as to touch the lives of many, so be it.
But if our lot is not more than the setting of a table,
or the tending of a garden,
or showing a child a path in the woods,
our lives are no less worthy.
Kent Nerburn

Grace and I went for a long walk through the woods, visited Sam-cat and the chickens. She read to me the medicinal values of yarrow and elderberry, she chewed yarrow even though she didn’t have a tooth ache and said it made her tongue numb. Mountain Laurel is in bloom and almost done. We ate wild strawberries and sniffed deeply of wild roses.

I think this is how we’re supposed
to be in the world ~
present and in awe.
Anne Lamott

We went together to take our small visitors home and then to the grocery store where she is getting ready to work this summer. I made chili and pasta for dinner.