a Sunday full

Oh, visit the earth, ask her to join the dance!
     Deck her out in spring showers,
         fill the God-River with living water.

Paint the wheat fields golden.      
  Creation was made for this!
    Drench the plowed fields, soak the dirt clods
        With rainfall as harrow and rake bring her to blossom and fruit.

Snow-crown the peaks with splendor, scatter rose petals down your paths,
   All through the wild meadows, rose petals.

     Set the hills to dancing,

Dress the canyon walls with live sheep,
   a drape of flax across the valleys.

     Let them shout, and shout, and shout! Oh, oh, let them sing!

psalm 65:9-13 msg

256. Sara Overall all in red

Sara Overall read this verse at last night's benefit concert at the Nutty Brown Cafe.  It fit our day well.

257. purple, the favorite color of both man and i

258. Austin style graffiti

259. twisted, but ultimately reaching up - much like me

260. a boy who sticks to things, even to his mom a little more and more

261. rock climbers in the shade, all quiet, looking like father and son

262. river bed all in gray, waiting for the God-water that fills like no other

We set out to find water on this 95-100 degree afternoon, we found beauty, but no water. 

Our day began with sleeping in, well not really, our boys don't actually sleep in.  but we did have a leisurely start to the day; chess as the sun came over the fence:

Our backyard is sorta like a wasteland, but we have sunflowers. 

We have plans to beautify our yard this year; I got antsy and started early with some things I found at GoodWill.  Our plans include a hammock under a trellis, a permanent arena for playing marbles, native plants, gravel, and just a bit of grass. 

The final destination of our dayfull was the Nutty Brown Cafe; an outdoor concert venue with an excellent cafe menu of fresh, healthy, yummy food. 

Well, okay, granted the giant bowl of brownie with icecream and hot fudge sauce was not totally healthy, but the boys all got high points for speed of consumption.

WaterNow is the charity benefiting from last night's concert; a worthy organization digging wells and providing clean water in Kenya.  The lineup of musicians were all Christians, most were new to our ears.  Man and Boys thrilled me by surviving almost the whole concert, 4pm - 9:30pm.

The venue is great.  There were lots of kids, a play area, one boy with a soccer ball that inspired a game that lasted most of the evening. 

And the music...great variety, awesome sound, Ethan and I loved it.

Ethan dances, or rather, he moves to the music in a way that only he hears it.  I think he is awesome.

Sara Overall dedicated her last song to Ethan, titled Firefly.  I think he was a bit smitten with this slender woman crooning out vocals with a classic flair. 

EQ was not alone on the dance floor; there were lots of girls.

I hope you find time to make some memories today.   And count the gifts, keep counting. 

this last bit o' may

Here in TX the school year is wrapping up. 

Tom finished school on Friday, he "graduated" from 5th and will be in 6th next year, at middle school.  I don't get the "graduation" thing; have a class party, enjoy that last day, but a graduation ceremony, seriously?  mediocrity runneth over if you ask me.

Anyway, he's done for the year and we are happy about that.  Bis and Number One finish up next Thursday. 

In our homeschool we've been hanging out with the wild animals in Africa, Brazil, Minnesota - all over the world.  Check out the animal cams at
http://www.sportsmansparadiseonline.com/Live_Webcams.html

Our favorites thus far are the bears, the hummingbirds, the foxes, the Australia cam, and the Pete's Pond cam in Bostwana.   On the two Africa cams we've seen zebra, gazelle or some deer sorta beast, baboons, and lots of elephants!  We've heard lions, but not yet seen them.   I love the audio on the Australia cam, lots of bird chatter. 

254. technology that brings half way around the world to our dining room table in real time

255. lion growls and chuffing

We've been to 4 parks in 3 days.  Central TX has an awesome park system.  Washington State for all its beauty, stinks in the park department.

Note the snake at the water line?  It's a blotched water snake, non-venomous; EQ will tell you it's a deadly viper and it chased us.  He exaggerates. 

The above pics are from a new park in our little town; it's a small town, we have 4 parks.  They will soon be connected by a bike path.  This new park has a 10 acre pond stocked with catfish and bass; catch and release only.

This little guy was on Bis' head.  I was thinking it was a baby tarantula, but it's just a central TX jumping spider - sure is cute! 

This skate park is in the town just south and west of us; it's not far.  All five boys enjoy skating, and it's a great park; everyone is well mannered and the teenagers look out for the little guys.   Teenagers are adorable. 

what's your strong point?

For me it's my tongue, and probably the same for you.  hard to control, small in size but powerful in execution. 

The tongue has the power of life and death.  1Cor.12:10.  That's pretty strong!

Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Prov.16:24.  Again, strength.  But in words?  Really? 

My arms are not as strong as my tongue, nor my legs, nor my head.  With my tongue I can speak life and strength or death to my kids. 

That I would be better off with my tongue removed than to run off at the mouth and break my children, that is a truth that needs to mark my days. 

Sunflower lessons:

Be of a pleasant appearance when your man gets home at the end of the day.

Share.  Help others make "honey" and spread sweetness.

Take time to be alone.

Follow the Son.

248. getting caught in the rain
249. laughing in that same rain
250. kalamata olives in a Greek Salad from an Italian pizza joint tossed up by a Latino guy.  I love the diversity.
251. boys excited about new Bible devotionals

252. park day with my "girls"

253. moms who let their kids get dirty