Flowers and Butterflies

I've worked 25 hours this week and will work 5 more tomorrow. Wohoo! Paycheck is coming!

I made buscuits and gravy the other morning, and I think I put too much flour in them. Lol. Live and learn. Andrew ate almost all of them. Love his little heart.

I made goulash for supper last night. I'm feeling like quite the little homemaker. ;)

Ok. Has anyone noticed the abundance of wild flowers in the tall grass along the roads? I certainly have. It reminds me of Ireland. I thought the grass and wildflowers were so pretty there, and lo and behold, I come back home and the wildflowers seem to pop up out of nowhere. I just had to stop and pick some; I even went out of my way. It made me very happy! I heard of a girl who used wildflowers in her wedding and I think I might just do that too!

Our family went to WV for a wedding and we stayed with our extended family. We have entirely too much fun together which is evidenced in these crazy pictures!

Ah...I love them! :)

Well...another day of work tomorrow. We're celebrating my coworker's 30th bday tomorrow which means O'Charley's for lunch! And then I think I'll go to LBA's kindergarten graduation. Each kindergarter will let a butterfly fly free in honor of one of their teachers, Mrs. Brown, who passed away two weeks ago. I'm sure I'll cry.

I miss all of my buddies. Let me know if you want to grab a coffee somewhere or walk in the park. :)

P.S. Tomorrow is Friday!

Late Night Thoughts

It's getting late, but wanted to share some thoughts.

A couple nights ago, I was listening to Alistair Begg on the radio on my way home. He was preaching about parenting and gave an acronym about teaching our kids to be respectful. I thought it was good:

R - Reverance to God and His truth
E - Enthusiastic about duties
S - Sympathetic to needs of others
P - Prompt in all aspects of life
E - Economical
C - Courageous for standing for what is right
T - Truthful in all aspects of life

This is definitely a place to start!

Today, I went to a funeral for one of the Kindergarten teachers at LBA who went to be with Jesus on Saturday. She had been battling with cancer for 8 years. She had over 100 chemo treatments, three surgeries...and I guess the last treatments were too much for her, or perhaps Jesus wanted to heal her completely. I know now she is in a place of perfect peace with the Giver of Peace. No more pain. No more cancer. No more disappointments. No more setbacks. She is now with Jesus. I tell you, heaven gets sweeter with each passing day.

The pastor asked us four questions in his message.
1) What am I here for?
2) Whom am I here for?
3) Have I done enough?
4) Will it last?

Oh and he added a last one:
5) What am I doing in my life right now that is preventing my answering the first four questions?

Good questions - I know I need some quiet time to mull over these questions. To think about things of eternal value, heavenly things. To make sure what I'm doing will last. And perhaps you'll do some reflecting yourself.

Blessings!

I actually have some time to post...

I'm sitting at home. It feels weird. Seems like I should be doing something other than being at home. I counted up last night that I haven't been home during the evening for over three weeks straight. I don't even want to list out everything that's been going on. I'm just glad that life should be slowing down soon.

I've been spending a lot of time at Eden Park recently. I wish it wasn't 30 miles from my house. Even though I usually just sit in my car at the overlook, it's become my little haven. I'm going to miss it this summer.

I've been spending WAY too much time on FB. I think I'm going to make a clean break - or just get on weekly. It's a bit annoying. I want real relationships: parties, barbecues, coffee shops, walks in the park, conversation, face-to-face, etc.

Life is truly bittersweet. I'll be attending a funeral on Friday and a wedding on Saturday. I'm realizing more and more how beautiful heaven is/will be.

I have so many things that I want to accomplish this summer. In two shorts years, life as I know it will drastically change. I need to get a lot of things in order before that happens.

This cloudy weather is making me especially melancholy. Or perhaps it's the fact that I've been chronically running short of sleep. Or because my room is a mess.

I think I need to pray and then tune up some Adventures and Odyssey and start tackling the room.

Soon...

With each passing day, the stress is subsiding and the excitement is rising. Soon, my academic responsibilities will be done for this semester, and the fun will start! I'm really looking forward to seeing my Grand Camanian friend and my Mexican amigo! It was so good to talk with both of them today!

Persevere for 2 more days!!!