The week in pictures - June 25th - July 1st

This picture just made me happy. 

Can you spot the kitten? The girl kid did this. 

Fresh new legal pads make me so happy. I can't wait to see what the Lord is going to show me as I scribble in these pages. 

The baby kid "camped out" on the futon in our room one night. I came in to find the girl kid loving on him. Given their relatively volatile relationship recently, this made me especially happy. 

Perhaps they'll end up friends in the end after all.

Or maybe not. These days, I'm not sure. 

Spent a long time on the porch with this sweet lady one night, taking about the Word and everything else too. 

We are pretending that her departure date isn't looming. 

Science center with friends. 

This just made me happy. 

My ocd wishes I had gotten the panes of the window exactly straight, but that's just silliness.

Or not...

The middle kid came flying in the house one morning excited and worried because a kitten was in the tree.

Despite my assurances that she would come down when she was ready, he tried to rescue her. 

She flatly refused to be rescued. 

(No, I do not see the life/spiritual lesson in this for me. Thank you for asking, though.)

And I'd like to point out that she came down when she was good and ready.

Okay, so maybe she fell out of the tree a little, and would have avoided a scary-ish fall had she accepted the help she was offered. 

I still do not see the connection between the cat in the tree and me. 

So there. 

Saturday morning game of Monopoly.

I don't play, by the way. Never have,  and I have no interest in starting.

My family thinks this is unusual.

I'm okay with that. 

Can I just say that the amount of work it takes to move out the country is mind boggling. 

And doing it by yourself is even more mind boggling. 

The good-bye tour continued with a Flip Burger picnic. 

And true to form, we laughed. 

A lot. 

Some of us are not so serious when we're saying good-bye. 

(It's hard to be serious when you're holding a bag of home grown tomatoes.) 

I'm not going to talk about this good-bye. 

I'm just documenting it. 

I just need a reminder that this lover of winter made it through this heat. 

Yep. 

Sisterly love. 

My goal was to send 66 cards overseas with my friend. I wanted initially to choose a favorite passage of Scripture from each book of the Bible, but the Lord had other plans.

I ended up going through my journal from the last year and a half and writing cards filled with things I've learned.

Or tried to learn.

That was humbling. 

The hubs took the girl kid across town to a spend the night party and came back home to get the boys and take them to a movie. 

There were a little excited. 

(They are sitting in the booster seats that had to go in Hub's car.)

If the shoe (er, glasses) fits... 

Last day at church. 

Tomorrow is the Departure Day.

That day is going to require an entire blog post of its own. 

The week in pictures - June 18th - June 24th

It's a little hard to do Bible study with this guy getting in the way. 

But seriously, how can you resist that face? She is such a sweet heart. 

Tuesday is movie with friends day. Caught this and it melted my heart. 

Spent some time with friends one day, and after we got lost going to (and coming from) their house, we had a great time playing in this amazing back yard. 

Lost the girls for a while and found them in the best seat in the house. 

The baby kid got this amazing utensil with some take out, and he literally walked around for hours saying, "It's a spoon. And a fork." He was truly amazed. He wouldn't let me throw it away for a good day after he discovered the joy of the spork. 

(My kids are not sheltered. Nope. Not a bit.) 

The Lord is teaching me great truths this summer. I can only hope I'm listening. 

And practicing. 

We got settled in to watch our favorite show, "Duck Dynasty," and the baby kid lay on me. 

Can't get close enough. 

The kids had back yard Bible club this week, and I when I looked for the girl kid, I found her safely hidden away getting some girl time. It was water day, and I think they got smart and got away from all the boys. 

Last picture of all five kittens. Three of them are going this week. 

There are going to be lots of tears. 

This guy is going first. 

Everyone was sad to see her go. The girl kid needed a little time with her before she left. 

He asked if maybe we could wait just a bit before we found this one a home.

It's sort of hard to say "no" to that face. (the boy one. the kitten one is pretty cute too.)

The middle kid decided he was ready to do the slide at the pool. 

The baby kid couldn't go down the slide like his brother until he passed the swim test, so he decided to knock that out. 

I was so proud. 

He passed!

Then he did the slide. 

Then he was the proud one. 

All three of them did the slide over and over again. 

I now have all big kids. 

Then we all celebrated with Sno Cones. 

Our sweet friend drove into town, finally, after being at training several states away for a couple of months. 

Playing Scrabble with the middle kid was one of the first things she did.

I'm blessed by the way my friends love my kids. 

Then we spent some girl time catching up. We talked, and laughed, for hours. 

She sleeps on the back of my chair. 

No, we are not keeping her.

We just aren't giving her away just yet...

My favorite. 

Had to be at church early this Sunday morning. No one goes to church this early.

 I really liked the drive this way.

Commissioning day. A hard, but good day. 

She got to spend some time with our pastor, sharing her heart and encouraging his too.

That was good for all of us.

During the third time we heard the sermon, we did a little exploring. (This is the JC Penny pose on the secret staircase.)

Did I mention it was a really long day?

(And I was blown away by how many people have a really long day each and every Sunday. I was reminded how many people work tirelessly to make sure that Sundays happen in our church. I gained a new appreciation for those who work so hard and have many new ways to pray for our church and those that serve the body so faithfully.)

She was really happy when it was all over. 

Sad and happy. 

I got in bed right after midnight. I lay there thinking of how faithful the Lord had been that day. It felt good to just rest in thankfulness at how He is always true to His promises. 

He is so faithful.