Be Still

Goodness, I have so much to share! 
God has been so faithful over the past few weeks and I want to get all my thoughts typed out -SO I REMEMBER!  It's funny how the mind can replay terrible things from 20 years ago, yet forget the wonderful moments of His daily grace.  So like the Israelites...I will write down and repeat to remember.  By remembering how faithful He was yesterday, gives me faith to trust Him with today.   

Let me start by saying, vacation started off rough! 

I just couldn't lay down all the "to-do's".  My mind constantly swirled with all the things that had to get done when we got home, so as the kids ran and played I sat there not fully able to embrace the moment.  On Wednesday, I was DONE and in God's perfect timing I received a text from my Pastor   "Their is no vacation when it comes to souls :) PRAY PRAY PRAY".  And though he may have been talking about all the souls at VBS the following week, God meant it for me.  I was praying, but my heart wasn't settled...no rest...and Psalm 46:10 came to my mind "Be still and know that I am God".

So that next morning I just stood outside and quieted my heart.  I listened to His creation sing. Saw the gift of a new day dawning and just. stood. quiet.

And it was then that He asked me..."Do you trust Me?"

A flood of emotion overcomes and the weight I had been carrying fell off and isn't that always the real question???  I once again raised my tear streaked face to Him and answered, YES.

There is no vacation for the soul.  But I praise you Lord!
You are always right there. A refuge and strength to all who believe in you!

...just a small daily docket

Man, my husband would bust by bootie if he knew I was posting these...but isn't he just SO CUTE?

We celebrated a very special birthday boy last week and I just had to share!!

This week...home from vacation (washing machine went out), playing catch up on LOTS of paperwork/dolls and a fun  full week of VBS!! 

Kids are inside playing and finishing up their 4H books, interviews are on Thursday morning and next week -FAIR!!

To the beach!

Warm sunshine and sand. Toes cool in the water. 
A warm breeze and lots of giggles and splashes from these four crazy kids!  Thank you, Lord!

So many things to be thankful for yet my heart feels heavy and pulled a hundred different directions.  Too much to do makes it hard for me to be completely "here".  So many things on my mind.  I can't stand it!

But the Lord is so good.  Philippians 4:8 keeps ringing in my ear today.  "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things"

My mind keeps getting cluttered and bunched up so I keep praising and murmuring this verse. 

Till I get it.

On our way!

My Mother-in-law collects Santa's.  She keeps her santa collection out year round and it's beautiful.  Last week my sister's husband asked me last week if we wanted to take along his plastic light-up Santa.  He was getting rid of some Christmas extra's, so after talking to Keith we decided to take it as a surprise for his Mom. 

Surprise it was...for us when we saw how big it was! 

It had to ride on the roof of the Suburban!  Santa had his friend snoopy come along as well...but he fit inside the vehicle.  =)  We stopped at our local fruit market and as I walked inside she smiled and said, "You know you have a Santa on your car?" 

It's Christmas in July!!  I'm sure we brought some smiles along our way...well, definately a lot of double-take looks and stares but hey, we laughed a lot!

When we arrived, Keith thought it would be funny to strap Santa to the front of the car and drive up the lane.  So that's exactly what he did!

We laughed, honked and waved!  (It doesn't take much to humor us!)

--and Keith's Mom thought we were crazy and LOVED IT!

Celebration of Life

Saturday we celebrated the life of my Grandparents.  Poppy, as we called him, died a couple of years ago and my Grandmother followed him home last month.  Oh how I loved them and their great adventures!  The gathering was beautiful.  Here is a couple of photo's of our kids.  I can't believe how big they are getting...

Let's back up.

(Please cover your ears)

AAAHHHHHHHHH! 

(Thank you.  You can uncover now)

I'm sitting in my jammies this morning with my feet propped up, laptop warm on my lap.  My babies are snuggled in blankets all around me and my husband, who is sitting in the chair across the room, just sent me an email.

From:  Keith Thompson 8:30 AM (9 minutes ago)
To: me

I would like to schedule an appointment for a trim today please. 

 
He smiles big at me.  It's his birthday.

We are on vacation but I just wanted to take a little bit of time to recap last week.  That scream still lingered inside...so thank you for giving me the freedom to let that out here.  =)

Let's back up to last Friday, which would have been June 29th.  A huge storm blew in with winds around 75 miles an hour.  It tore through the area leaving a huge mess and most of the entire state of Ohio without power.  We were one of the lucky ones not loosing electricity and only littered with a bunch of branches!  My husband Keith ended up at work for about 30 hours straight because of the power outage. 

Saturday morning, our 4H club volunteered to pass out water for the 5K run.  What a great group of kids.  They always have so much fun together!

That afternoon we gathered for the 4th at Grandpa and Grandma's.  The kids had a blast with water balloon,  squirt gun fights and lots of good family conversation! 

(Keith is now sitting beside me -we moved out to the porch- has emailed me again, "hi, you are cute" and is sounding off random duck calls on his phone.  I better hurry this post!  haha)

Later that afternoon we gathered back at our house to celebrate a very special ladies birthday!

Happy 83rd Birthday, Grandma Shopp!!

My sister in law (who makes the best desserts ever -YUM!) brought two cakes.  A Reese cup ice cream cake and a strawberry cake! 

The kids ran, smiled and giggled.  The adults smiled, laughed and giggled too!  What a wonderful time spent together in celebration!

That evening....FIREWORKS!

Sunday after Fellowship we went to a local roping clinic.  Natalie and Tristin LOVED it, Kolton & Lola there for support. I see some lasso's and calf dummies in our future!

Wednesday, Natalie had another horse show.  She got 5th in the Halter class and 5th out of nine in 4H Showmanship.  It was over 100 degrees that afternoon and Natalie got a little overheated but really did a terrific job!

The rest of the week was filled with cleaning, packing and lots of doll sorting, cutting and finishing! 

Keith just asked me if it was time for his hair cut so it's time to go for now!  =)

I'll be back with all of our vacation adventures!