Of frogs n dogs n a lost tooth…

Here are a string of photos that tell it all. Daddy and kids discovered a beautiful toad in the yard a week ago, Kassidy finally lost her first tooth (Jenna extracted it for her), and we had a fun overnight guest, a Houdinidog named Jasper.

Jasper was found on a Wednesday afternoon and scooped up by Mommy.

Pet owners note* have a chip placed in your dog, so he can be scanned at the vet’s and recovered.

Note for softhearted pet rescuers*…make all the neato posters up AFTER you take the dog to the vet’s to be scanned…

We absolutely LOVED having this dog, although he escaped from our grasp twice within the 24 hours we had him! Sweet natured and slick, something out of a Gordon Lightfoot song, this dog loves the Carefree Highway…I do not know if it is a good thing or bad thing that as he skips town, he keeps skirting the main road where all the traffic is.

In all other respects, he was a lovable, quiet, wonderful 24 hr. pet and we were grateful to have him.

Unless the Lord builds the house

its builders labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.

Psalm 127:1  is our first scripture verse of study for Good Morning Girls…see goodmorninggirls.org and join us, won’t you? Please allow me to share what I see in this verse and how I think about applying…thanks for your reading time :D.

What I see when I read this passage is two parties working simultaneously on a task; pretty straightforward.
Note there are two sets of  builders (ideally) in the act of building and two “watchers” watching a city~ Man and the Lord are doing the same thing.

To apply this passage, I consider the challenge of looking over, having given my life’s goals, hopes and treasure to Jesus at the age of 19~ I need to be looking over and consciously SEEING Him at work in the life I try to give my family.

This scripture verse reading on the outset first made me think of Benjamin Franklin, who quoted this passage to the Continental Congress during those hot, summer days of deliberation and birthing our nation, it gave me a pang of empathy for good governors who care about the cities and states over which they govern, and I apply these ideas to my goal of homeschooling our children so that they are free. Free enough to choose differently than me, free to know and go in the Way God has for them, equipped to sling new stones and fire arrows I never had at the enemies and contenders which my future’s eye can not see.

The encouragement, standing in a yard full of autumn leaves which cover the ground, hearing my own rake, and fighting off the boredom of getting the yard picked up and then to look over and see my son raking in the opposite corner, hear the pace of his strokes, a merciful relief and refueling fire can keep me from getting tired of doing good.

Jesus is there.May I hear His strokes. May you…

 Unless the Lord builds the homeschool, its builders labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the children, the watchmen stand guard in vain.

Amen, Come, Lord Jesus. Build.Stand guard.

Unless the Lord builds the house…

its builders labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.

This is our first scripture verse of study for Good Morning Girls…see goodmorninggirls.org and join us, won’t you? Please allow me to share what I see in this verse and how I think about applying…thanks for your reading time :D.

What I see when I read this passage is two parties working simultaneously on a task; pretty straightforward.

Note there are two sets of  builders (ideally) in the act of building and two “watchers” watching a city~ Man and the Lord are doing the same thing.

To apply this passage, I consider the challenge of looking over, having given my life’s goals, hopes and treasure to Jesus at the age of 19~ I need to be looking over and consciously SEEING Him at work in the life I try to give my family.

This scripture verse reading on the outset first made me think of Benjamin Franklin, who quoted this passage to the Continental Congress during those hot, summer days of deliberation and birthing our nation, it gave me a pang of empathy for good governors who care about the cities and states over which they govern, and I apply these ideas to my goal of homeschooling our children so that they are free. Free enough to choose differently than me, free to know and go in the Way God has for them, equipped to sling new stones and fire arrows I never had at the enemies and contenders which my future’s eye can not see.

The encouragement, standing in a yard full of autumn leaves which cover the ground, hearing my own rake, and fighting off the boredom of getting the yard picked up and then to look over and see my son raking in the opposite corner, hear the pace of his strokes, a merciful relief and refueling fire can keep me from getting tired of doing good.

Jesus is there.May I hear His strokes. May you…

 Unless the Lord builds the homeschool, its builders labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the children, the watchmen stand guard in vain.

Amen, Come, Lord Jesus. Build.Stand guard.

Michigan Grandchildren

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Photo Book

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Click here to view this photo book larger

what I did tonight to unwind

I watched Peggy Sue Got Married and missed my Grandma. Seriously, I missed her like I was grieving a loss I have not felt in 25 years. Catch the film on netflix like i did and you will see what I mean.

The concept of seeing that face and hearing that voice again. Being in their house, the patterns, fabrics, muted colors, close fragrant kitchen smells, and coffee. The world was alright when they were here.

The way I was safe and removed from the responsibilities I get every day, and all the stories wrapped up in the life she knew, and survived. I missed my Grandma tonight.

And I really need to give up on the eye makeup.

Rochester

” The new face, too, was like a new picture
introduced to the gallery of memory; and it was dissimilar to all
the others hanging there:  firstly, because it was masculine; and,
secondly, because it was dark, strong, and stern.  I had it still
before me when I entered Hay, and slipped the letter into the post-
office; I saw it as I walked fast down-hill all the way home.  When
I came to the stile, I stopped a minute, looked round and listened,
with an idea that a horse’s hoofs might ring on the causeway again,
and that a rider in a cloak, and a Gytrash-like Newfoundland dog,
might be again apparent:  I saw only the hedge and a pollard willow
before me, rising up still and straight to meet the moonbeams; I
heard only the faintest waft of wind roaming fitful among the trees
round Thornfield, a mile distant; and when I glanced down in the
direction of the murmur, my eye, traversing the hall-front, caught a
light kindling in a window:  it reminded me that I was late, and I
hurried on.”

A  new face, like a new picture hanging in the gallery of my memory…I loved that. How many faces have come before ours and forever changed a predisposition, a thought, a habit of mind, by their very uniqueness, that is, when they have been bold enough to keep their uniqueness.

Yeah. Great, really great writing. Go, Bronte.(We really should cheer on the writers like we do the sports teams).