Here are some pictures of my family from the past month or two.

Family...I love mine!

All of Us.

ZACH

Here we are after church. This is Zach being himself!

This picture was taken after we went fishing together. It was the most gorgeous sunset I've seen this summer!

LUKE

Luke took Sandy and me for a trip over Memorial Day weekend and here we are touring Washington D.C. 

Um...

One of Luke's many self portraits, with Kota in the background.

SANDY

I'm so proud of my nursing school grad!!!

San's glad to be back home to the farm.

Hiccups are pretty much annoying!

Sandy seems to have chronic hiccups. For some reason, hiccups really annoy me.  I don’t know if it’s the loud sound they make, or their persistence.  I know it's not her fault that she gets hiccups all the time, but still.  So last night we were at my grandparent’s home visiting and having dinner with them.  Well, as soon as dinner ended, Sandy’s hiccups began.  It seemed that everyone had a remedy to suggest that would cure her hiccups. Grandma told her to put her fingers in her ears, hold her breath, and count to thirty.  Dad suggested she hold a pencil sideways in her mouth, cross her eyes, and not breathe as long as she could.  Mom said to drink a glass of milk with a spoon in it.  Grandpa just smiled and nodded, because he is hard of hearing and I’m not sure he knew what was going on anyway.  I was not about to offer any suggestions with all of these other sure-to-work remedies already given. It turned out that Sandy tried Grandma’s remedy first and it worked.  I guess she has others to choose from when she begins to again hiccup in the near future.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. 

Before I left for work today, I decided to grab some of the Bible song cassettes I used to listen to when I was little to play for the kids in my classroom. I wanted to listen to some of the songs on my half hour drive into work, and both of the tapes began with songs of this verse: Proverbs 3:5-6. It made me think that God was trying to get a point across to me, especially because I hadn’t listened to these tapes for about ten years.  It’s one of my favorite passages of Scripture, but sometimes it is hard to follow; it was a good reminder of an important truth.  I love it when that type of thing happens!

A Perfect Day

After I got home from working with my three and four year olds this evening, Mom had a delicious dinner prepared of a summer favorite in my home: red potatoes, fresh snapped green beans, and fried bacon all cooked together. Sandy had made a delicious loaf of bread to accompany it. Topped off with brownies and ice cream it made for a really satisfying meal. Not wanting to allow this gorgeous weather to pass by, I convinced my Mom to go on a bike ride with me.  It is so beautiful right now. As the sun started to set in the west, huge puffy clouds spotted the sky overhead. I saw a young deer slowly cross the road ahead of us as we neared a local creek.  We stopped at the creek and I saw several frogs that made me think of when I was a kid and my greatest ambition each summer was to catch one of them.  I would spend hours down at the creek with my net and boots, just trying to catch one of those four-legged amphibians, and tonight they were out in abundance but my ambitions seem to have changed since then.  Mom pointed out to me many different kinds of birds; Mom loves watching birds.  She also told me about the various bird songs, and I practiced them but no birds called back to me. As we turned back and rode home I thanked God for my Mom and for allowing me to live in such a wonderful place: the country.  And yes, a Great Blue Heron flew overhead as we cruised down the final hill before arriving home.

It’s been a good day.