Life happenings.........

What a busy month July was for us....filled with good things, sad things, and learning things......

A dear sweet older saint, when home to be with the Lord.  He is in the presence of His Savior at this very moment and freed from the burdens of this world.  What a joy that is.....He was my friend's father and he invested in my life when I was young.  What a blessing to be able to share with him last year the impact he had on my life.  The prayers of their family, his time in teaching us, before I was even a believer, is precious to me.  Then in AZ, they were our family away from family because they had moved there a little earlier than we did.  All this to say.....you never know who you are impacting!  He told me last year that I was the hardest young person he had ( I believe it, I'm analytical what can I say :).....I am  sure I am not proud of that but I did question everything and he so patiently taught me.  Such a Godly man.  Is that not awesome or what!  Our lives are truly a tale that is spun and some day if the Lord tarries, someone else will tell some of our story.  Is that great or what?! I want mine to be for Jesus!  

Just for randomness.... here is a picture of some of our harvest from our tiny garden.  Just enough cucumbers to make pickles and enough tomatoes to keep us satisfied.  To think that life lives in a little seed.....then springs up and gives more.  Who can do that but a grand Creator God!   I think I could go on and on, praising God for who He is, but for now...I will leave you with a picture to remember some of the good things that God brings forth! 

Those are Pappy's potatoes- Yum!

We also celebrated our youngest son's birthday.......

He has now left the single digit phase of his life....he didn't get to enjoy his birthday for too long.  His older brother wanted to bless him with a movie that he has wanted to see and their dad thought it would be a treat to buy popcorn with butter ....   ( Dad loves his snacks :-) He didn't know it had certain things in it, we do now.... and Jon ended up with a severe migraine and emptying the contents of the food out of his stomach.  We just put off his birthday dinner until the next day;  he had a long weekend celebration.  We are so thankful for him......He gives our life such energy and spice.....you can tell he feels bad in the above picture because he normally doesn't sit this still or sleep on a chair! 

....we also helped in VBS.  This has a special place in my life for it is the first place I heard the gospel.  The kiddos are so much fun........I love children.....

they are awesome!!!!!

I almost forgot.....we were also able to have the team from the Academy of Arts with us over the 4th of July weekend.  We had a blast! They were wonderful, they sang hymns in my kitchen for hours......who could ask for more.  Not me, and you know what...I had a little bit of a heart attitude before hand because there was this big celebration over in Gettysburg.  I love when God doesn't let you have you own way and gives you something bigger and better.  The Lord impressed upon my heart this thought, if your brother has a need and you can fill it, do it.  They had a need.....they needed a host home and we could fill it.  So we piled all those awesome young people in our home and enjoyed one another for 3 days.....I was beyond blessed and so was my family....there is something to be said about hospitality.  I didn't know how it was even going to all work but God provided and those young ladies and men were so gracious. 

We took them tubing down the Yellow Breeches and it was a blast...I got stuck on the rocks with one of the guys and we laughed so hard, it must have been a sight to see.....fun and a great memory...here is the final pic at the end.....sorry, I didn't want my camera to get wet so I don't have any on the creek but I do have a picture from where we began.  

The drenched crew after 3 hours on a creek!

This was our starting point, so pretty!  

We just finished up a 3 day parent practicum with Classical Conversations.......Incredible!  What an encouragement to me...I hope to post more on that later......

We are not a "busy" family per say due to my hubby's schedule.  Also as older parents we see the benefit of being home when we can be and to build rest into the schedule.  We try to maintain that focus here, so, we are looking forward to enjoying the rest of the summer, Lord willing, with fun summer activities like fishing, creek wading, and swimming....doesn't that sound nice....I think so, too! 

What have I learned this month or been reminded of....

a) God's plan is always best even when I think mine might be better :0  

b ) When God leads you into something, don't be taken out.  You can be led out, but don't let the enemy take you out :-) Quote from speaker these past few days.  Great advice!

Hope to post again when time allows.......until then....