Heartburn, the first was good, wait until you see the sequel!

Days in the Life...

Monday Dad worked. I went to work. Chloe and Christian went to class. Mom and the littles had a movie marathon all afternoon and evening. Don't worry, no one was sick. Gabe did not have gym and the pool was still not done, so they decided watching three movies would be fun. I think the only time I ever maybe remember having a movie marathon as a child was while I was sick.

Mom and the littles did some productive stuff in the morning, then put together snacks and created a bunch of comfy spots to sit in the living room. After the first movie, "Follow Me Boys", they worked together to make pizza to go in the oven later for dinner.

Chloe and Christian arrived home and finished their work quickly to catch the next movie, "The Thrill of it All."

I got home and exercised and did laundry and cleaned and studied until I left to go babysit.

Kate's little sister has arrived and I got to hold her for over an hour while babysitting! Baby Blaire has already stolen my heart. I wondered how I would be able to love her as much as I love Kate, it's not hard.

The sunset was absolutely stunning! 

The others completely missed it because of their movie. 

When I got home there was some yummy pizza left for me and they were finishing up the last movie. I did more class work, then went to bed not too long after the others, although we all ended up having a late night.

Tuesday I was the first one up by a long shot. After the later-than-usual night, the others ended up sleeping in past 8:00! 

I spent pretty much the entire morning working on my class and Chloe and Christian left for their class as usual. 

In the afternoon I exercised and then left to go get coffee with one of the ladies in our church. 

We had a really good visit and then I stayed to write at least something in my neglected journal. Throw a new nanny job, college class, 5-day workout routine, and a load of stuff to process all at me at once and something's going to fall by the wayside, even if that thing ends up being something I love.

Writing, even just for 15 minutes, felt so good.

Back at home we worked on preparing for engagement group. This time it ended up just being us and one other family! We still had an encouraging time together and received reports from others so we could pray for them. 

Mia dressed up and requested a picture go on the blog. 

Wednesday all the usual things took place, except that Gabe was at the gym from 9:00 until 4:00 to make up for no class on Monday. Mia still had her class around lunchtime after she and Mom went to the library and Seven Mile Cafe. Ava stayed home. 

For the rest of us it was a normal day. 

In the evening we watched men's gymnastics and Gabe, who had spent 7 hours at the gym already and had come home exhausted, dropped down to do 52 good form pushups. 

After the competition was over, we spent some time in prayer for a family we know whose son was care-flighted after a terrible car accident. 

Thursday I went to work, Chloe and Christian went to class, Gabe had gym, and the wifi went out. 

The wifi went out in the morning and was still out when Chloe and I came home both needing to turn in projects for our classes. 

So, around 5:00, we gave up and headed to Starbucks to get our assignments submitted, because, of course, the deadlines were for that night. Thankfully we were able to get everything done pretty quickly and by the time we got home the wifi was back on. 

Because the first movie was so good...

*drum roll, please* 

Friday morning Mom and the littles went to the hospital to visit the family we are praying for. Then they met friends at Chick-fil-a for lunch and finished by going to Costco. 

I had coffee with a friend in the afternoon and Chloe met Gramma to work on a project. 

Saturday was very quiet for everyone as far as I know. 

We finally had work done on the pool again! Because it rained so much weeks and weeks ago the patio guys got super backed up. We kept getting pushed further down the list of jobs and so it was over a month between the last time we had anything done and when they arrived to get everything set to be poured. 

It was so hot for the men. When we cut a watermelon and set it on the porch for them they were so grateful. 

Ava and I left to go to church early. The worship and prayer service was wonderful, as was church afterwards. We all stayed pretty late after church to eat and visit, then to help clean up everything. 

Sunday everyone slept in (there was actually a lot of sleeping in that week) and then we worked on brunch and listened to the CD done by our favorite live singer in Maui. 

Pretty quick after the kitchen was cleaned up everyone except Mom and Chloe loaded up to go swim at Gramma's. 

Meanwhile Chloe got a roast in the oven for dinner and and Mom napped. Then they both read to their hearts' content. 

On our way home from swimming we stopped to see the progress on The Dream House. It is gorgeous!! 

Everyone showered and we ate dinner, then watched "Tammy and the Bachelor." 

As the movie finished, the fireworks began. 

The others went onto the porch and I went up to sit in my room in the dark. The fireworks were good; we could see at least 3 or 4 different groups setting them off in different areas, but the lightning was even more impressive to me. 

I sat for over an hour and eventually forgot about the fireworks. The lightning was going off on rapid-fire and was all across the sky. I could see bolt after bolt touching down on the horizon. God's creation is far more impressive than anything made with human hands. 

Dad's toe is lovely- ahem- a lovely shade of blue, black, and ouch. He can walk and drive fine now and the pressure is pretty much gone, but it would not be pleasant if it got bumped or stepped on. (Although if anyone steps on your toe, crushed or not, it still hurts.)


Also, at some point this week, a snake got in and ate our duck's beautiful nest of 14 or more soon-to-hatch eggs. Chloe wondered all week why eggs were slowly disappearing from the nest, but didn't know what was getting them. Well, she finally saw the snake (not until after it had gotten the last of the eggs, of course) and instead of running screaming for Christian to save her kill it, she marched over to the tack room herself to get the killing instrument shovel. But the snake got away. Chloe is now on the watch for revenge.


I've been Pondering...

I'm at 5 weeks of weightlifting and the calluses are beginning to form again. 

Sometimes the hard things that make us stronger also give us rough spots. 

I don't mind rough spots on my hands, but I would mind rough spots in my spirit. 

When God allows me to walk through something hard in order to make me stronger, I want to remain soft. 

It could almost be thought of as the opposite of forming calluses. Instead of those hard things working in my life to form rough spots in my spirit, they are working to soften me and rub away the calluses that want to make my spirit rough. 

Reverse callusing. 

Lord, please continue sending me the hard things so that as I lean on You, walking through them, I can be made stronger in You, and the rough spots can be smoothed over for Your glory.

That moment when...

You receive a Facebook message from a foreign man saying, "You Babe beauty, little rose."

You are trying doing a side plank and your braid falls off your shoulder completely knocking you off balance.

Three children are sitting in your lap at the same time, telling you you are "squishy," and pulling on the end of your braid to tickle their faces.


The Herd: Quoted 

"My hair comes like all the way to here." -Christian pulling his hair over his forehead after the girls were saying how far down their backs their hair falls.

"Oh, I think I remember this!" -Ava about a dish at dinner.

"Well, that would be interesting since I've never made it before." -Mom 
"Oh. Never mind!" -Ava

"We will have a paper to write about what we learned. I can say, 'Well obviously nothing from you!'" -Chloe joking as she told us about her online professor who has not responded to any emails or provided any lectures.