The week in pictures - May 7th - 12th

A "mohawk" that is soon to be buzzed at the end of the school year. Until then it gets to grow crazily. Which it definitely is at this point. Crazy.

Spring storm coming.

Kittens can turn pages of your ibook. Who knew. 

Happy birthday to a dog that stole my heart. And loves me well. 

Dog picture outtake. 

They've come a long way since those first days when she was so scared of that fluffy dog. 

Kittens kittens everywhere. It's sweet to see the kids love on them and care for them.

First sno cones of the year. I will only eat the banana ones. 

I love it when the boys get tickled about something and can't stop laughing. Except the middle kid can stop on a dime to give me the "stop taking pictures" look. 

Really? Is this respectful? Or necessary? I think not.

Baby kid in the rain. "I love it outside when it rains. There are snails and worms everywhere"

Saturday morning puzzle time. 

Pictures of people's houses that are a mess make me feel better about my house that refuses to stay clean. Here's my offering. 

Saturday morning fun. Okay, not necessarily fun, but necessary. 

Celebrating a sweet friend's birthday. Strawberry cake for her, and...

...chocolate for us. 

Letter writing. 

Base ten blocks used for a race track. At least I'm getting my money's worth out of them. 

Mr. Cool

Friday night takeout from my favorite Italian restaurant. (And fed the kids and me for $12)

Nighttime runs are better than morning runs. Too bad they don't happen more often.

Hub's suit ready to go to the cleaners. Someone was missing him. 

This was literally what happened when I said, "Time to do math..." (I may or may not feel her pain)

The Week in Pictures - The First One

I love taking pictures. I'm no photographer by a long shot, but sometimes my brain does think in pictures. That probably makes no sense, but just last week someone texted me and asked me what I was doing and I responded in pictures. It's just easier. I love images. I love making things stick by taking pictures of them.

Usually I end up with 1,000 pictures on my phone before I just dump them to my computer. The kids will sit and look at pictures there, though. And when I used to scrapbook, they'd look at those books too. So I thought how nice it would be to have some order to all these pictures. If I have a "Week in Pictures" on this blog once a week, they can just click through and know what they did when.

I also am more aware than ever that these years are fleeting, no matter how long the days are. I am determined to capture what I can of them.

Plus, since people we love keep moving away, maybe this will help them feel like they are here, just a little.

These are all quick snap shots taken with my phone, but one day I really would love to learn to use a real camera. Just for fun. But for now, these are just my simple snapshots of our life. That's it.

from the rising to the setting of the sun, He is faithful. He shows me this over and over throughout my day

super moon

Cleaning his brother's shoes

truths I'm desperate to know

First book on the Kindle

I woke up after the baby kid one morning to find no kid, but this. So I knew he was awake, somewhere. (He was in the garage with the kittens) 

planning for and praying over next school year

(this is not my picture) it is a juniper tree. read 1 Kings 19 and then I'll let you know where to find one. I'll be underneath it.

impromptu date with the middle kid

popsicles for lunch 

keepsake nearly thrown away accidentally

these titles make him laugh

favorite dinner

my favorite early morning place to be

my kids need me to spend time with them in leisure

new coffee cup gift 

she promises to always love me and be my friend 

Gardenias

Gardenias are my favorite.

Actually I have several favorite flowers, just as I have several favorite children, and gardenias are definitely one of them.

I only tried to grow them once. And I failed miserably. As such, I am reduced to sniffing the neighbor's gardenias, and I do this unabashedly.

(They haven't called the police on me yet, so I'll continue...)

I hadn't noticed them blooming yet until one morning last week. They were blooming near the house on the corner of the block where I walk. I noticed them, and made no haste going over and burying my face in them.

I breathed deeply over and over again. Their scent fills me with such joy.

A friend used to have a ginormous bush in her yard, and she allowed me not only to sniff them, but to also cut branches to take home. I'd put them in my window sill in the kitchen, where I seem to spend most of my time, and smell them until they finally withered.

Then I would go get more.

I really love gardenias.

It was such a treat to find them for the first time this season. I wondered how long they had been there before I noticed them.

And then a strange thing happened.

Their scent is noticeable from the street. After pausing to plunge my face into their fragrance that morning, now each time I pass the yard, I can smell them. And I couldn't before. Now that I got re-acquainted with their smell, I can recognize it from a far. And even today, almost a week, later as I passed, I could smell them from where I walked on the street.

But I couldn't before.

The Spiritual truth was poignant.

I am currently obsessed with 1 Kings 19. It's become my favorite chapter in the Bible.

Okay, so I have several favorite chapters.  (I am sensing a theme here.) And this has become one of them.

1 Kings 19:11-12

So He said, "Go forth and stand on the mountain before the LORD." And behold, the LORD was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing.


...a gentle blowing...

God revealed Himself in the gentle blowing of the wind.

When is the last time I stopped to listen to the sound of a gentle blowing?

A wind that whips around the house, shaking it to the foundation?

Yes.

A gentle wind?

Not so much.

Yet I want to spend time with the Lord, breathing deeply of Him and His fragrance so that when the scent of Him floats across the wind, I will sense Him and respond.

Our pastor has said that "God does not reveal the intimate things of His heart to those who casually come and go." I want to visit Him in prayer and in His Word and in worship and linger there. I want to be quiet and still and hear loudly the gentle wind that He is.

Wrathful and holy and mighty and strong and fierce, yet gentle too...

My commentary paraphrases the Lord's message to Elijah by saying, "My still small voice brings the Word to the listening ear and heart. Yes, there's a time and place for the wind, the earthquake and the fire, but most of the time, I speak to people in tones of gentle love and quiet persuasion."

Am I still and quiet enough to hear?

What if I hadn't stopped by that gardenia bush that day? Would I enjoy smelling it each day as I run by? What would I have missed out on if I hadn't stopped?

What am I missing by rushing past the Lord to meet my own needs and wants?

What do I risk for a lost and dying world that so desperately needs Him?

Oh, 2 Corinthians 2:15:

For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing...


I am desperate to spend Him with Him so that His presence is all over me, inside and out, filling me so that it spills out of me and flows to a world that needs to see Him in me and hear His truth from my mouth.

As those flowers send their scent on the wind, I pray that He sends His out of me.

The Lord has shown me afresh that He is all I need. Spending time with Him, both in concentrated study and fellowship with Him in His Word and communing with him through prayer and worship, are the things what will nourish and sustain me.

And pour His scent over me.

And while I am obsessed with Elijah, I remembered the time he sat by his brook waiting on the Lord. Why? To ready him for what was to come.

I am glad to wait by my brook today. For however long He chooses.

To wait well.

And while waiting, what a joy to experience the fragrance of Him in the gentle wind.