First Swim of the Year!

The Beach House

This is the 6 bedroom beach house we stayed at in Perdido Key, Florida with the cousins and Gigi. It was SO much fun and I miss it. We had fun cooking and eating yummy meals. Ryan made French Toast and the best omelets with roasted peppers. Ryan and Derrick grilled chicken, pork tenderloin, burgers, and corn. Dana made chicken orzo, salad, and sauteed veggies. Mia made kettle corn, smoothies, and helped with other things. I made granola and the famous "Powell balls" (energy balls) several times. Well, Mia made the last batch, as she loved them. A lot of nights the kids were served ice cream or ice cream and berries for dessert. The ocean was amazing, of course. We had a couple of shark scares- one real and one that ended up being dolphins. I'll get to that in another post.

Our Trip to Florida

This is where it all began! We were on the road for Livi's birthday. We split the drive into 2 days. I think we may have been in Texas in the picture. We stopped in Louisiana and stayed at the Barksdale Air base. The commissary was closed but we managed to find some little donuts for Livi's birthday breakfast the next morning!

Two Temples

The Two Temples

A Builder builded a temple,
He wrought it with grace and skill;
Pilllars and groins and arches
All fashioned to work his will.
Men said, as they saw its beauty,
"It shall never know decay;
Great is thy skill, O Builder!
Thy fame shall endure for aye."

A Mother builded a temple
With loving and infinite care,
Planning each arch with patience,
Laying each stone with prayer.
None praised her unceasing efforts,
None knew of her wondrous plan,
For the temple the Mother builded
Was unseen by the eyes of man.

Gone is the Builders temple,
Crumpled into the dust;
Low lies each stately pillar,
Food for consuming rust,

But the temple the Mother builded
Will last while ages roll,
For that beautiful unseen temple

Was

a

child's

immortal

soul.

~Hattie Vose Hall

Fear God and Keep His Commandments

On Ecclesiastes- "Solomon's conclusion to 'fear God and keep His commandments' is more than the book's summary; it is the only hope of the good life and the only reasonable response of faith and obedience to sovereign God. He precisely works out all activities under the sun, each in its time according to His perfect plan, but also discloses only as much as his perfect wisdom dictates and holds all men accountable. Those who refuse to take God and His word seriously are doomed to lives of the severest vanity."
~The MacArthur Study Bible

Warrior Man

All the time I have to tell this boy to please leave my beloved trash can (that Derrick made for me) alone!

Cameron's Kisses

I don't mean the real kind! Cameron has always liked Kisses for potty treats. One was partially unwrapped so I unwrapped it all the way and handed it to him with a wrapped Kiss. He held up the unwrapped one and said, "This one doesn't have trash on it." Of course it was in a terribly cute voice. While it is true that it becomes trash after it is off the Kiss, it struck me as funny that he sees it as "trash" while it is still in the form of a wrapper. ;-)

Edith Schaeffer on Time

"I have a personal advantage in having lived for sixty years, having been married for forty years, having had four children and now four children's marriages and families to observe and be a part of, and twelve grandchildren. I can say positively that the years fly past like a mist in the night! Time disappears more quickly than smoke! It is not possible to go backwards. The "now" is important if there is ever to be any family life. Steve Turner, a young English poet, has lines in his poem "Ageing" which I would like to quote from the book Tonight We Will Fake Love: 'At some point in his life there came a shortage of future.'"

Do Pencils Have Wings?

Do they?! Because I will buy a whole ton of them and then they will mysteriously take flight. Where do they go? In a homeschooling family, this is a problem! I'm sorry. I'm just pondering this as we've been prepping for the Iowa test and need several #2 pencils and, oh yeah, with erasers that are not worn down on them. I had to make a run to the store for them. I wonder how long it will take before they scatter into the wind...