Huts for the turtles

My mom loves turtles and has always had atleast one. Right now she has three and since the hot hot summer is on it's way we built a tiki hut for the little guys. It turned out pretty well.







Clearly we're posing...

--post from my iPhone

Nothing new to report

Another day, another dollar...another chance to make good decisions and choose to love. I'm working through a study that my friend shawn got me about love. It fit perfectly in with everything I've been thinking about. Today I am focusing on being kind...and patient. This should be fun.





Here's my thumbs up to teaching an old dog new tricks...now if only we could teach Gertie to stop pooping in the house. *sigh*
--post from my iPhone

sunny days

It is summer. Thus, we have stolen (muuuaa-ha-ha...) Mark and Lois's kayak and may never give it back. This is a joke...of course we will give it back...maybe. We like to take it to Patagonia Lake and spend the weekend days basking in the sun, fishing, bird watching, and generally just relaxing. Having the baby means I also, now, spend a good deal of my time just reading in the camping chair and that I have officially become the picture queen. This is good for me because it means less pictures of me in a swim suit...posterity doesn't really need any of that, to be sure.

beautiful skies!

This is mostly where Clair played until the million and one ants that covered the entire ground around the lake started to crawl on top of her.

Fun in the water...

That's right...we wore her out. She just passed out after playing for a few hours.

Oh, and it ended up raining. Not just a little rain, either. A complete downpour...I hid out in the car while the boys had to paddle back to shore in the kayak. It was crazy. They had to tie the kayak back on top of the 4-runner in the pouring rain and it was so cold they were shaking.

Anyways, we went a few weekends ago and I didn't post anything, but it really was a good time so I thought I would throw up a few pics.

on love...

So, I really believe that many of the struggles I have personally walked through over the last five years have led me to a place where I am able to understand a dimension of loving people that has always previously eluded me.

For the vast majority of my life, every decision was a black or white one. No grey, certainly no purple or blue decisions, only very clear, black or white, right or wrong.

The last 5 years I have experienced or been introduced to people, situations and scripture that have opened up a world of not just greys but, fortunately, many wonderfully colored decisions as well. With this larger perspective has come much introspection and in making, what are surely, incorrect decisions in the moment, I have been afforded the time and ability to contemplate outcomes and biblical truths. I have been watching people's reactions, and my own, in response to different decisions and it has allowed me to come to what I hope to be , if not right, yet, at least better conclusions in the end. It is interesting how poor, cold, or uninformed decisions can lead to softenings in the heart and a growing understanding of love. How God loves all people. How love covers, truly covers, a multitude of sins. How people with good intentions, hurt us. How we hurt others malitiously...in revenge...in good intent...with no knowlege...in a quest for our own justice. How Jesus really does call us to love others. To give to them of ourselves. How he calls us to seek His justice and how everyone needs a friend. And most interstingly of all...how hard all of this is because when someone annoys me or hurts me, I want people to know. I want the person to suffer. I talk about it until I have exhausted all words and thoughts and then, just for good measure, I talk about it some more.

Truly, people make gigantic mistakes. I make mistakes. I am the bearer of other people's mistakes and other people's bad intent or selfish ambition. One of the many things I have been contemplating is how crappy it is that I feel the need to talk about these things to other people. Of course, I think, I need to have an outlet for such things...they are my life, a biproduct of living with others and engaging in transactions at work or home with other people. They effect my ability to daily live and should therefore, be allowed to be a part of my conversations with, say, small group or friends at work. But, in these conversations, do I show love? Do I cover a multitude off sins? Do I give willingly without expecting anything in return or do I simply convey anger and hurt or poke fun at someone less fortunate than myself...that's right...I'm a jerk. I do the latter. And I have begun to realize that it is wrong. When I write it like this, it makes it sound so simple, like, of course I know that stuff is wrong. But, I have never embraced a model of pray first, talk second, or pray only, talk never....

and now I must feed the baby.

Baby Names

Kelly wanted everyone to post about baby names, so, I thought I would. And, despite all the things that Ricky and I don't plan, we did actually put thought and consideration into our baby's name.

We called her Clair, after my Grandma. This is partly because I love my Grandma and she has a wonderful story and mostly because I want all of our kids to have a strong sense of belonging to a family that will help shape who they become. Clair is actually the male version of the name, which means light in French--hats off to my 18 years of French study--, because my Grandma was named after her cousin, who was a guy. (I'm sure Clair will love this little tidbit when she's in the 3rd grade :D) I love that it means light and that we will be able to share with her, Jesus, who is the Light of the world. I hope that, because she is also a little light, that she will be able to share a special connection in her heart to this particular aspect of who Jesus is.

PS...she is rockin' the new swim suit for Daddy. We are going to the lake on Sunday so we got her some new duds and we took a little photo shoot to show them off to Daddy while he was working. I like to send him pictures.

Dinners for 50

Ok, so here's my challenge to myself... Can I make dinner for 3, five nights a week with healthy ingredients on $50 a week...we shall see. I might just share my findings.

I will call this Dinner on a Dime.

--post from my iPhone

Ahhhh...smiles

Ever had a sick kid? You know this is good to see after days of solid tears.



--post from my iPhone

catching up

It's been a while since I have posted so I feel like there is a lot to catch up on...

First, I am no longer sick. Sheesh, how long can I leave a picture of chicken soup up? Anyways, immediately after I got sick, Ricky got sick, then Clair got "sick". I think she's teething. She had a fever and was just generally whiny, which is very abnormal. So, needless to say, my big plans of working around the house and getting lots of stuff done sort of went by the wayside as I nurse-maided a bit and just tried to keep up with dinner. The crazy thing about baby's, though, is that they are wonderful even when they're upset because they're just so darn cute and slightly pathetic with their little tears.

**I would just like to side bar here on cooking dinner. First, the iphone has made my life much easier, in terms of organizing recipes. I would highly recommend an app called bigoven for any of you with iphones. Second, how do people do it with work and kids and cleaning AND cooking...it's ridiculous and I simply can't get it all done. Granted I clean for 8 people but I only cook for 3. I keep thinking it will get easier and it just doesn't. My hat is off to all you cooking moms. I don't know how you do it. It also goes off to my mom...who has been doing all my cleaning. **

We did manage to finish the studio almost on time. I about sent myself to the looney bin, but the new guy is in and he's nice and he likes the place, so mission accomplished. (He did immediately, after all of our hard work, go in there and smoke a few cigarettes. And I was so exhausted, I didn't even say anything to him. Now I've got it hanging over my head that he's in there smoking and we're going to have to rip it all out and do it again when he moves out. Must talk to him about that.) Here are my most recent photos. Ricky got better one's but I don't have them so these will have to do.

Last weekend, Ricky and Cody ran out of gas...I thought I would document it for posterity's sake.

Clair has decided she really likes to play the piano and has quite a knack for banging on the keys. It's great fun to sit and listen to her.

I saw these new additions to the baby's room today and enjoyed them so much I thought I'd take a picture.

I took some time last week, too, taking pictures of some of the things that make me smile in our new life. We spend so much time working on everything that I very rarely take time to just enjoy our life here. Last week I was in the backyard and the yellow flowers on the palo verdes were in full bloom and I realized how beautiful the moment was, all the flowers blooming under a bright blue sky. It reminded me how good our life is here and I took a few pictures of things in our home that just make me stop and smile inside...and sometimes out.

This is a hook that Shawn gave us that I am using as my inspiration for repainting the dining room and kitchen. My mom insists the kitchen will look better with a new coat of paint but I don't know if I'm buying it. Sometimes cheap cabinets just look cheap no matter how you dress them up. However, I am excited about the colors. Should be bright and go with the Americana feel of the house.

This is one of my Grandma's old quilts that I just inherited. It is going on our guest bed (after I fix it up a bit). I absolutely love it. The ladies at the New Troy Grace Brethren Church made it. Totally vintage. Love it.

I really enjoy Clair's room. It is the perfect mix of sweet and youthful, nicely uncluttered (unlike the rest of my house) and has a mix of my old stuff and her new stuff. Her Clair-bear is awesome.

And that's probably enough blogging for now. Tomorrow is Mother's Day. Happy, happy day to all my friends who are new moms and those who have been mom's for as long as I've been alive!

Hope everyone has a great day.