The Month that Was: May

As pretty as the baskets are on the porch (the whole point of this picture), I can't stop seeing the limp, hanging screen in the top window.  It just happens that I just rescreened that window last year- after years of having a ripped screen in it.  Gah!  MOSES!!

Memorial Day brownie pizza- despite it's appearance, it isn't burnt to a crisp.  :-)

First bouquet of the season!  It was slim-pickings in the flower circle, but hopefully enough to brighten the spirit of one whose spirit needed brightening.

A Cousin Campout at the Lake: in which Littles swim incessantly and Mamas do a lot of yawning.  Still have not figured out the secret to actually SLEEPING at a campout.  Or how Little people can keep chugging along without it.

Beautiful Adele' came along to the campout even though she wasn't feeling super hot.  Here she is looking all lovely and cheerful despite the fact that she would be sicker than a dog just an hour later.

She went home to sleep (and puke) in the comfort of her own home.   I bet she slept better than I did.

A spent bouquet of lilacs, dying gracefully

sourdough Naan

(never thought to use the table that way...)

...still not writing...

We have Gary and Linda (Matt's parents) over for supper every Thursday night.  

We've nicknamed it GLupper Night (get it?!)... 

and this Glupper night we invited other family over for a secret birthday celebration for Gary.

Minus one grandchild 

Ineke is a poet and she didn't even know it.  ;-)

a birthday lunch date with my Mom and sister

Judah's most recent pen-pal envelope art made ME want to be his pen-pal.

Another apt title for this blogpost would be "The Way to this Woman's Heart"

or possibly,

"Let me introduce you to Corynn's Fella"

He was, after all, the man behind all those amazing hanging baskets smattered throughout this blog post.  He surprised me (blew my mind, really) with FOUR of the largest, most beautiful, extravagant hanging baskets for the porch on the day before Mother's Day.  As he brought them to the porch, the rocking chair area was positively swallowed up with blooms!

Didn't he know I already really liked him?!  ;-)  

Seriously though, it was such a thoughtful and sweet gesture... he would have won me over even if I had a heart of stone.

So that handsome guy attached to Corynn's hip is Kemuel and I suspect you'll be seeing more of him.

The day after Mother's Day was my birthday and Matt and the children made it so special for me.  Lots of beautiful lilac bouquets (my children know me well), a pint of my own ice cream, some wonderful presents- INCLUDING a DANCE PARTY LIGHT!!!! ('Cuz I'm down like that.)

And four, count 'em FOUR of the sweetest cards/notes in ONE DAY in the mail for me from sweet friends and family (you know who you are) who really cannot know how special they made me feel.  It has been ages since I received something noteworthy in the mail- and four at once blew my mind. (Bills, while they may come in fours, DEFINITELY do not count.)

All in all, May will be a hard month to beat!

And now that the month on the calendar coincides with the month on the blog, I hope I can manage to squeak out more than a single blog post each month.  

No promises... but lots of hope and plenty of intentions!

The Month that Was: April (and the Community Psalm Sing!)

homemade mozzerella

Millie doesn't just make good eggrolls!  She makes beautiful shirts to bless Littles with.  I only wish I had gotten a picture of Ineke and her other two Amigos, all matching!

Judah learns how to make stripes in the lawn.

While I did pretty well at everything else, I failed ENTIRELY at spending time writing each day...
didn't have a SINGLE checkmark on that line this month.  :-/

 As spring often has a way of doing, busyness abounds.  We are over here trying to get in the garden, trying to WATER what has been gotten in (on one of the DRIEST springs I can recall), trying to coordinate Biggles' jobs schedules, Middles' commitments outside of home, trying to finish up homeschooling for the year and trying to be available for the Littles.  There have already been camping overnights, parties and swim days.  These are the days when homeschooling seems like torture.

It's a delicate balance of trying to prioritize what MUST be done, what ought to be done, what would LIKE to be done, and what can be set aside for now.  Of course, everyone in our home has different sets of priorities within that framework and there are a lot of people who may not agree with how it plays out.  We may get it wrong at times but we are doing the best we can.

But even before spring officially sprung, April seemed to be particularly busy.   There was a birthday celebration for my Mom- (who is just as vibrant as ever, despite her dramatic year-long health trial), visiting with long distance, long-ago friends who feel a bit like parents (who you just soak up, you love them so), a birthday celebration for Andrew (a post for another time) and a longtime dream fulfilled... hosting a community psalm sing.

Our community has many different churches, many of whom have never experienced psalm-singing.  So it was my hope that we could bring them all together and sing to the Lord HIS songs.  (Unfamiliar with psalm-singing?  Read this!  Or this!)  So many things divide, but as Christians we are ONE church.  We can only have power to change the culture, to cause true Revival and Reformation, if we join together in repentance, obedience and loving what God loves.  And so we did!  I didn't know how large a group it would be but I was pleasantly surprised at the turnout.  I know of at least 7 churches being represented.  And everyone sounded wonderful!  It was just a beautiful experience.  The children and I baked dozens upon dozens of cookies and brownies for the event, bought two bouquets of flowers and split them up for the tables, roasted up SIX beef chuck roasts and an entire roaster oven of chicken and everyone brought dishes to pass.  I made up packets of Psalms for people to take home with them to practice.  

 I pray the Lord cause that tiny, beautiful ripple to create a tidal wave of Truth and JOY in the hearts of all who hear.