Slow down days...

Is this my cry or is it just what happens in the summer when the giant yellow sphere in the afternoon sky pushes the thermometer to an almost ungodly temperature and the birds fight for a drink from the old fountain, while neighbors hide indoors to stay cool?

It seems as though the long summer days have a way of changing the way things get done around here...do you find that to be true?

...less pressure to get started with our studies (we're doing Math on M,W,F and reading on Tu,Thurs)...

...it takes a lot less time to dry clothes on the line...(that's a good thing)!  I found a nastalgic book at the library:  "the Clothesline" .  You might pick it up if you're one who, like me, longs for simpler times and the history of one of my favorite ways to celebrate being a country girl in the city!~

...if I'm to walk, I have to be out of the house by 6:45 or the sun will break through the clouds and bring unnecessary torture to an already challenging task!  Morning temps are a cool 74 or so, maybe!


...the birdbaths have to be filled twice a day and the plants watered before the sun shines through to bake leaves and flowers.

...any errands HAVE TO BE DONE BEFORE NOON, if pos-sible, because the a/c is not working and won't be fixed on a car with over 211,000 mls.

...I always get the 'itch' to read something in preparation for the upcoming school year; a book to inspire me: but this year as I've collected my stack of 'must-reads', I'm reading intentionally to hear His voice, His direction...and there's no pressure!  Books like: "The Divine Conspiracy" by Dallas Willard; "The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education" by Grace Llewellyn; "Homeschooling the Teen Years";  "Redemption" by Mike Wilkerson, just to name a few...

As the summer season becomes official this month, may my days slow  to enjoy these moments with the boys, dig in the dry dirt and reflect on all His goodness to me as I hear Daddy's heart for His boys, Isaac and Caleb.

Speaking of them, they've had a sad event happen this week...one of their hens, Snowflake, died.  When I returned from my walk Monday, I went to water the Garden and found them in tears in the backyard, digging a hole to bury her...we held each other and I hurt with them for their loss.  She will be missed.                                        

I am confident that nothing is wasted in regard to Daddy teaching His sons how to know Him, love Him and live for Him, especially the loss of an animal they loved.                    

God, help me hear Your words for their hearts.

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The Girls...

There seems to be a drive in me lately to sit and chronicle  a visual history, if possible.

This pretty girl is Snowflake, so pure and white.  She was the first one Caleb picked up when we reached our destination, Blanco. 

Two years ago we sold our nine hens to another homeschool family in Blanco and since then this amazing family has bred, raised, sold eggs and shown their variety of chickens in shows!  They have almost two hundred chickens now!  Little did we or they know how this passion for poultry would take off!

It was a wonderful trip to the hill country and a short visit into Blanco to walk through the shops, meet a shop owner that lived on the street thirty years ago that we live on now~what a small world!  She is interested in my business and wants me to contact her when my inventory is ready!

We picked out five different kinds of hens and they tagged them for us.  When the coop is ready, we'll venture out, leave the city behind and climb the hills to adopt these amazing creatures.  I'm as excited as the boys to bring home a Leghorn, a Barred Rock, a Plymouth Rock, Road Island Red, and an Ameraucana, I believe...variety!  We'd get more, but SA has laws about how many one can have...*sigh*

We've only named the one, though.  It was a simple choice...we left snow behind, so it fit.
I'm not sure if the picture does her justice, but this one has a gorgeous iridescent color on her back.  My dad wants to name one of them, so perhaps this will be the one. 

There were about ninety little pair of feet running all over in just this one fenced area, so trying to pick just the right one was a challenge.  It was a blast to watch the boys chase them all over this huge pen and finally catch one to see if she 'fit'.

Saying goodbye was tough for the twins.  They were ready to plop them in their laps and drive home!  We have much to do to be ready.

Only as we drove from their property did we realize we were going to hit the end-of-day commute and we wanted to avoid traffic and lights, so we wound around  to Rt. 46 toward Boerne, one of my favorite little towns.   Along the way, we stopped for me to shoot the Blue Bonnets for my mother-in-law...I even picked a few from the roots to plant!

It always saddens me to head back into the city, but it's not time to move again.  I'll just enjoy these short trips and dream...

Family came for a delicious dinner my dad and sister cooked, I gave my nephew a haircut and now I am ready to hit the comfort of my bed, next to the love of my life. 

Life is grand, if only one stops long enough to revel in His beauty and take in His magnificence. 

How do you recharge? 

What rekindles your zeal? 

I'd like to hear. 

New Challenges and Adventures ahead!

My mom has been in the hospital since Sat. nite and the house just isn't the same with her gone.
She was complaining of hip pain that continued to intensify as the evening went along. I took her and dad over to the ER at about 9 pm and they finally admitted her at 4:30 am, Sunday morning.
When the Demoral didn't even touch the pain, they finally gave her something to sleep, so her bp would come down and she could actually rest.

The physician told her she could 'hold her liquor' when the meds wouldn't help....
She was much better, she told us, after we woke her Sunday at noontime.

She didn't even know she was in a regular room-that's how well the sleeping meds worked!

They could not get an IV in her arm and they tried about six different places (they could only use the right arm because of the fistula in her left). The doc finally tipped her upside down in bed and put it in her neck!

She has bruises all over her right arm.


They took an MRI Monday on her hip, but found nothing...today they took another one in different parts of her back because yesterday, when the doc touched parts of her back, she flinched.


(They can't seem to get a handle on the pain she's still experiencing.)

Her spirit is good in that she seems ok to still be in there.

She told me how they bring her a snack about 9 pm!

And she's directly across the hall from the nurse's station.
I was so impressed with her legs that I took a pix.

They've never been that skinny!

Not sure how happy she'd be with me for posting them.

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Monday evening, we met with a young couple for premarital counseling...that was so refreshing and yet I felt this weight the whole time because I just spent two days searching for the leader's guide. God knows where it is, but as yet, I can't seem to hear Him tell me where it is. We'll probably have to buy another one before Monday.

School began Monday, as well.

We read a book about Washington Irving on Monday, and then on Tuesday, Caleb found an old book, from 1868, about Christopher Columbus sitting on the bookshelf written by Irving ! I knew I had that book, but hadn't paid attention to the author. It is definitely a stretch for all of us to comprehend the language, but I firmly believe their vocabulary is being built and their comprehension is definitely developing. I know mine is!

Our family has made a decision that we're going to get hens again in March, but this time ones that are ready to lay! It's legal in San Antonio to have five hens and a rooster, I believe, but there won't be a rooster to contend with this time. The last one we had liked to get into fights with me and my yellow plastic bat. I always won!

Our friends that bought the coop and hens from the ranch we lived on two years ago have expanded their 'flock', so we're heading out to Blanco then and getting six hens from them. This means that the boys will have a spring project of building a new coop, on a smaller scale, and educating themselves on what these 'babie's' will need.

Oh, on Saturday, we went to the country and picked up bags of horse manure for my garden for FREE. Then, yesterday, I picked up some books on gardening in Texas at the library...I'm doing it right this time! This will be my project with dad this spring. Actually, we're gonna till pretty soon...

I planted bulbs Josh gave me for Christmas out front and some chive seeds in pots.

Then, wanting to see things come up nearby, I planted some crocuses in pots, too! They're already coming up.

Imagine...January...

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These are just some of the every day things going on amidst the spiritual challenges that we are facing and winning...

...relationally between Jef and me.

Sometimes I forget how easy it is to only focus on what I see...yet, when tempers flare, conflicts arise and offenses are taken, I remember really quickly who is attacking and whose side I'm on. Every once and a while I literally hear the enemy attacking me through words that are spoken to me about my submission to Jef and why I don't stand up for myself and argue back or do my own thing...he's so sly...but I catch him and laugh because I know then that I'm exactly where I need to be, serving Jesus by serving my husband and submitting to him...

Another note I forgot to mention...Josh has temporarily moved in with us, too...he is saving to either buy a house or rent one. So, that adds to the mix one more person with a different lifestyle and choices. I see how I'm constantly having to readjust my ideas of things, look to Jesus for grace and walk in love...

Wow. Life is good and full and this year is hitting me full speed ahead...I'm hangin' on to You, Lord Jesus.