Amazement Square

Some photos of our visit to the Lynchburg Children's Museum.
This was a very cool glass room where the kids could paint the walls.

 

Charlie loved painting my face through the glass, I took this right before he painted me green:)

 

Thankful

God gave me a wake-up call today. Just some experiences that were eye openers into the beautiful world I call my own.

We have three healthy children that make us laugh many times a day.
I am physically able. The kids and I ran home from the lake today and it was invigorating.
I was born into a family who loves me. Then married into one who loves me too (at least they appear to:)).
My husband has a job that enables me to stay home with our children. He works his tushy off doing it, but he is great at it and it has not been severly affected by the economy. And I have no doubt how much we mean to him.

It is so easy to look inward at all that is 'wrong' in our lives. But God showed me glimpses today of people, children who have it so much worse. It has been a great reflective day, a day to remind me I am wasting time focusing on the 'why me' when I should be praying and reaching out to those who need it.

Jackson's Curls

To cut or not to cut...that is the question...

 

new project

I have taught myself to knit while staying at my parent's house. Here is the beginning of a scarf I am making for Avery. I have not advanced to knit AND purl, and it has taken me close to 1 week to get as far as I have. But now I feel like I get the hang of it (after pulling this scarf apart about 3 times:)). And I have learned to fix mistakes...pssst, don't turn the scarf over for a closer look!

 

Avery

She is growing up. This picture proves it. Stephen took this and when I went through our camera, this picture took my breath away. She looks more mature.


Still busy with her crafts, she has made a garden for our family. Each family member has a flower and an insect, the stem being a colored tongue depressor. She loves these (I broke down and bought some for her Tracy!)


And here is one from her butterfly collection. A butterfly for each family member.


I know she should be in school, playing with friends, doing all that kindergarten has for her, but since she can't be there right now, we are enjoying our time together.

And a funny: We were reading a book about poisonous frogs and she asked me where they live. So I told her South America and showed it to her on a map. I then told her Peru was part of South America, being that she has been listening to Paddington Bear lately and he is from Peru. She asked if we would ever go there and I told her she could go anywhere she wanted. Then I told her they speak spanish there and she looked at me and laughed. "No mommy, they don't speak spanish, the say ribbit!" We laughed hard about that one!

Charlie the snake charmer

 

 

 

Snake was dead when we found him. Looks like one of the hawks that circles the field picked him up and then dropped him. Today he is still out there and has turned from this awesome green to a bluish gray.

miss you already

What a great weekend! Side for the jalapeno poppers, it was up there as one of the best weekends we have had as a family. Lots of fishing, playing and laughing. Our soccer game last night is one of those moments that will stay with me forever.
So, we're counting the days until we see you again, 24? That is 34,000+ seconds (because Charlie asked!).

 

enjoying the weekend as a family

 

Stephen is here for the weekend and we are looking forward to four fun days.

background change

So, we've finished our lease at the moldy house - YAY!

I have changed the background of the blog to match my hopes, that we will have our white picket fence (ok, it is not picket, but it is white) with house included very soon.

We have heard that an appraiser has been sent out from the bank to appraise the value of the home. This is a great sign, means the bank has accepted the owners letter of distress and has approved it a short sale.

Now we wait to hear from the bank. Whether they accept our offer, want to counter or another possibility which I am not going to entertain. I have said over and over again, buying a short sale is not for the impatient person, yet here I am!

The cooler weather has brightened my mood and brought back hope that we are moving forward. Even though I haven't physically seen the house, I keep looking at the pictures imagining us there.



And I imagine this is going to be my favorite room. It is a formal living room at the front of the house. Since we are not formal people (so far from it!), we are going to make it a study/music room. Bookshelves, comfy reading chairs and a piano.
I see myself spending a lot of time in this room.

God the Artist

We visited the Mill Mountain Zoo today in Roanoke.
It was small, but a lot of fun. And the views from the top of the mountain were beautiful.
The kids loved the cage that we were able to enter, to visit with some birds.

Sometimes things in nature just take my breath away.

Lorikeet

 

A starling, found mostly in Africa

 

This bird wasn't listed on the chart, so I am calling him James Brown.