Songs Around a Campfire

Two nights ago we went camping with a few friends. I had the best time out there in the woods. We built our fire and chopped up dead wood to keep it going. We cooked hot dogs and s'mores just like any seasoned campers would do.  I'll admit, I forgot utensils like a spatula and plates for the breakfast foods, but aluminum foil and plastic spoons did the trick. I only melted one spoon in the whole process. :)

We made up camp songs- mostly about the bugs we found (a significantly friendly and large millipede befriended us, and though we never gave him a name we did offer him a special log on which to reside and admired his smart looking mustache as well as his millions of tiny legs that seemed to do the wave when he walked).

Enjoy the pictures of our fun times!

Ebbs and Flows

I find that my life ebbs and flows on a continual basis and that my emotions follow the same pattern. I think maturity is being able to look past the feelings and circumstances; beholding the Great Truth regardless of how bumpy your day was or how miserably clumsy and unloving you feel- that's a mature saint.

Very often I look at myself and start to dissect. Here is something wrong, and there another. Why am I not this way yet? Look at this shortcoming. These things are most likely true, but generally I am looking at my life from the wrong perspective. This becomes the worst pitfall of all. Even beautiful flowering plants have dirty roots. I am a saint, beloved of the Most High. I am made perfect by His blood. He is working in and through me. Even when I cannot see this happening, He is working. There is not one wasted breath. I may trip and fall, but He does not expect me to be able to walk without Him.

In fact, I cling to Him because I know that I am nothing without Him. I cause death in my own power, but in Him is life, and life abundant. I am thankful for His consistency. I lean my weary frame on His steadfast one and find quiet rest. He is my first love, and Him I will not forsake.

The Last Beach Day

Here are some pictures from our last day at the beach!  David found an enormous crab that the kids enjoyed poking at and carrying around as their trophy in a net.

Though not documented by pictures, I feel the need to declare our (David and I) victory in Bocce in which we dominated two other teams.  The first game was a shut-out (chyess!!!), but the second was a lot closer.  We beat the Bocce Ball Champion Team of the family (Pop and Andy), so I guess that must make us the champs now?  I whole heartedly embraced this idea and sang the Queen song "We Are the Champions" for the rest of the day.

Unfortunately later that day we were literally destroyed in a game of Rook by Robbie and Melanie, but we don't need to dwell on that.

Alright, enough chatter, here are the pictures!

Chocolicious

This, people, is what happens when a few adults decide to make their kid's life 100x more enjoyable:

Bits and Pieces

The next few posts will be the last few pieces of our first summer vacation together!  It was such an amazing time and I will never forget it.

One thing Pop said on the way home stuck with me though.  He mentioned that we never really had a focus on the Lord the whole week.  It is hard to remain focused when your schedule is completely revised (or doesn't even exist), and 5 different family lives are put together.  I spent most of the week digressing into a pattern of selfishness, and when David and I had a long talk about it, he called us both right out into the light, confessing that he had been falling into the same pattern.  We spoke to the Lord together, confessing our lack, and asking Him to be our center again. I am so thankful that when we confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from ALL unrighteousness. I am so thankful for his love. I took a short walk on the beach one night, and after I got back I wrote this song.  It still needs a ton of work, but here is the very rough draft:

I looked at the ocean, the pale moonlight

Reflecting against foam and waves

In vast open spaces, lay great mysteries

From times long before I became

You listened as I talked and chattered aloud

Not another soul there made a sound

I asked you to help me somehow make you proud

Your breeze swayed gently still

I told you my secrets, I told you my shame

Then my words ended.

Your chorus silenced me.

"I love you as big as the ocean.

I love you bigger still

I love you much more than the number of stars

I love you further still.

My love goes further still"

Babysitting

I'm sitting here in the middle of a screaming 1 year old baby and a little 4 year old boy attempting to play super mario on his Wii game system.  It's confirmed for sure... I am definitely NOT ready for kids.  David and I drove from Myrtle Beach to his parents Friday night and then left Atlanta yesterday and got home after midnight. Fast-forward to this morning, and I'm in somebody else's house trying to do a good job watching their little kids.  This is just a little break from it all, and it will last about 5 minutes.

To all my mom friends (and I have a lot), I respect you, I appreciate you, and I hope I don't join you for just a little bit more time.

What?  Silence?  Maybe the sound of my clicking keys has proved to be an antidote to the madness.  Let's hope so.  Nothing else has worked so far.  Not food, not juice, not the Doodlebops... not anything.

Alright, time to clean up the mess and help with the Wii.

I miss the beach.

Bocce at the Beach!

Here are the Bocce Ball pictures as promised.  I started out on a hot streak, but as you can see by my facial expression in the following pictures, things did not turn out as nicely as they started.