Summer Days

I love summer!!!

The days are an unwritten story,

and

the only clock is

our hungry tummies

and our sleepy eyes.

Today we:

Slept in late

Put our swimming suits on right after our jammies came off

Slipped and Slided

Ate an all-orange lunch

Played "salon"

Went night-swimming, our favorite swimming time

Read

Watched a movie

Made sun-tea

Played in the garden

Had a sleepover in Maddie's room

It was a perfect summer day.

Faith

This last week has been a challenging one.  Blogging has taken a back seat to many other things.  One of those being, the death of a friend.  He died from bacterial meningitis. There are no words to say how much we grieve for Nick's family.( http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2010100622012 ) His wife and his unborn son have become loved ones we now pray for at dinner and before we sleep.  We have cried and prayed, visited and hugged, sighed and shaken our heads in bewilderment.  Silence has been the only answer to the burning question of "Why"? Patrick asked me how we explain God's decision to take Nick away to heaven to our children.  My response - "How do we explain it to ourselves?"  My choices are to walk in fear or walk in faith.  When it's light outside, my faith is strong and the fear stays away.  I try to go to sleep before the fear starts to take over. 

Life can change in an instant.  We've all had it happen.  A phone call, an impulse decision, a wrong turn.  Years ago, when drastic change was happening all around me, I had to force myself to read the Bible before I went to sleep to conquer the fearful thoughts.  I find myself running there these past days. My Bible open and near, a source of  comfort and peace.

We've had other stresses, not comparable to my friend Heather's loss, but places where our family has been stretched and poked.  These pokes are annoying, the stretching  has caused pain.  However,  I believe the pain will bring us to new levels of intimacy as a family, and will give us a place of rememberance that we "got through" it.  A touchstone of victory; a place where we had to rely on each other and our faith in God in order to succeed.  I have seen courage and wisdom in our older daughters, compassion and caring from our youngest ones.   They are all so innocent and demonstrate strength in tough situations that are put before them. 

Throughout these days of sadness and trials I have reminded the kids, Patrick and myself of the Lord's amazing love for us. He is faithful and strong, and He will never leave us.   For that, even though we don't have the answers we want, we are so thankful.

    

A night of nights

June 19th was the day of all days and night of all nights for our sweet Meredith.  Last summer, she was asked to be a flower girl in the wedding of 2 of our family's favorite people - Jason and Sarah, (now Mr. and Mrs. Sifrit).  That's a heckuva long time to wait for something when you are a little girl!!  The day finally arrived - today.  It was a busy, fun day for all of us.  We took 2 cars, the boy's car and the girl's car.  The girl's car had to be at the country club early, the boy's had to be there later (less hair to do!).  I was happy to be in charge of getting the girls to the wedding since I have been looking forward to this event almost as much as Meredith.  Marky and Maddie got to be apart of the "getting ready" scene, and every fun thing that happened was just delicious frosting on the "we're so happy to be here" cake.  We did hair, ate lunch, put on pretty makeup, ooohed and aaahed alot, and... waited for the big moment to arrive.   Miss Meredith did her thing like a pro, very focused on the task before her.  I'm not sure she even spoke one word to the sweet little ring bearer who waited so patiently for her as she meticulously (and slowly!) dropped her flower petals.  She sprinkled them very gracefully, and walked so daintily.  You would have thought she had done this before!  Her beautiful smile accompanied her beautiful dress, (which has been hanging in her closet calling to her for a couple of months).   I was very proud to be the mama to such a sweet little flower girl.  It was hard not to let my mind wander in speculation of future walks down the aisle that we will witness - sniff, sniff.  We wrapped up the festivities by eating yummy food, dancing up a crazy storm , and sending the bride and groom off while waving sparklers.  This day was one that we won't ever forget.  So much love and happiness surrounded us.   We love you Sarah and Jason!!  You mean so much to all of us!!!

Home

After 8 days of unpacking suitcases, opening mail, and re-stocking the fridge, we are starting to feel like life is back to normal.  I've recovered our photos, but sadly the camera said it's goodbye in Florida.   Our vacation was everything we wanted it to be and so much more.  It's great to be home now too!!!  Life is just good. 

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip.

I know it was a lot of pictures!!!!

Thanks for looking!!