The Jackson Family Online

It’s been a great day…great because this morning my basement was a disaster that didn’t even have a clear trail through it anymore, and now after a long day of hard work…it’s clean, organized once again and the girls are already thoroughly enjoying it again, currently using their microphones and singing along with songs:). Everything just feels better for me when it’s clean…besides Mark’s parents are coming tomorrow and I have a couple of projects that I’m having Bob do for me…so I needed to make sure he could actually get to the tools:). He’s going to hang Lydia’s lantern and finish off the platform in her play log cabin…it’s coming together very nicely by the way:). I’m hoping that maybe we’ll get a chance to take them to the Botanical Gardens while they’re here this time…they’ve already been to the Magic House, CIty Museum, the Arch, and Zoo…and even Six Flags…so it would be something different and fun for everybody I think.

I forgot to mention this…but on the way home from Michigan, Lydia and I talked in depth and she has decided all on her own that she would like to be a nurse when she grows up and especially a nurse that works in the area of cancer…or maybe even hospice care. A lot can change between now age 10, and 25…but wow I could totally see her doing that…and I can totally see God making good come out of the bad in her life, what a beautiful thing. She’s excited…even told me she wants to dress up like a nurse for Halloween:). I’ll have to make sure down the road she gets some hands on experience in a hospital as a volunteer or something.

Both of the girls are becoming such good help around here…and I’m getting better about assigning them jobs…the more I realize they can do the more I realize hey…this is a win-win situation, good for me and good for them. And in the process we seem do a whole lot of laughing.

Anyway…it’s off to choir practice…and then I think we’re going to watch the third Bourne movie tonight…or maybe get into the hot tub, haven’t done that in awhile…our game for today is Yahtzee…quite the classic:).

Hope it was a good day for you!

Love,

Ruth

Today the girls and I got our passports done at our local post office. I told the girls…now we’re ready to travel the world…we can go anywhere:). They seem like they’re ready to roll on that one:). I’m so thankful that my sister Becky gave me the good advice when Mark died to get multiple copies of the death certificate, I can’t tell you how many times and places I’ve needed official proof of his death and today was again one of those days. Just a thought in case you are ever in the situation to give good counsel to someone who has had a spouse pass away…

The rest of the day was spent out at Raging Rivers where we ran into some friends from church and also from our dentist office and school. The girls had a wonderful time swimming and swimming and swimming…sometimes I think they could swim for days on end:)…and I had a great time alternating from sitting in a chair by the wave pool, to then sitting in the sun to then moving to the shade all while reading a good book. It was a beautiful summer day, and I find myself dreading that fact that summer is almost over and the crazy thing is, it’s not even August yet so my dread might be a little premature.

Tonight we watched the second Bourne movie…the “Bourne Supremacy”…lots of suspense and action…Mark would be proud that his girls are enjoying the series as these movies were right up his alley.

Tomorrow it’s a work day around here…need to get the basement under control…I’ve been typing that for a couple of months now and still have not done it…it’s supposed to rain tomorrow so that should help me to stay inside…although yesterday in the rain I was putting flowers in a couple of pots while Lydia just shook her head at me.

We’ve started a new thing around our house this week…we have about a bajillion different games that we’ve picked up over the years and they rarely get used so…we’ve decided to play a different game every day and then rate if we like it or not…we’ve actually got a running log going and we each have a symbol to mark our thumbs up or down:). It’s been fun so far and I think it will take us quite awhile to get through all of our games…I’m glad to see them getting some use…and we’re creating some great moments as a family at the same time. I also want to do something similar to that in the area of cooking this year…the girls are old enough to enjoy planning, purchasing and cooking a meal from time to time so I’m hoping that we can make that a regular practice this year.

Anyway, beyond that no deep thoughts for the night…leg is still sore…sometimes I sure am a complete moron.

Good night,

Ruth

Today after working in my yard…it’s been an errand day…needed to get groceries and various odds and ends, renew my drivers license etc….I didn’t realize it but I was up to take the written portion to get it renewed…I got 93% right…who knew that you were supposed to turn on your blinker 100 ft. away from your corner instead of 50 feet. oops…and the other question that I missed had to do with a school bus stop on a four lane road way, does the opposite traffic have to stop…it was a trick question as the one I answered was right…the only problem was the the other two answers were right too…it was one of those “all of the above” answers…oh well, at least I got to finally change my drivers license picture after eight years it definitely needed to be updated. The question came up about being an organ donor…in the past I’ve always said yes…that was before Mark’s death…and while I would still say yes and did eventually say yes I had it run through my mind this time how would my kids feel about it…I mean as far as I’m concerned once I’ve breathed my last no need to spend a lot of money on a casket, etc. but the truth is I realize that at this point all of that stuff and process is for those left behind…so I wavered, but it was going to take longer and I was going to have to fill out a form since previously I had said yes…so I actually said to the guy “No big deal…I’ll just stay on the organ donor thing…” then I looked up at him and realized I had just said no big deal to a major big deal…a bit of an awkward moment…

It’s raining nicely out my window at the moment…I had plenty of rain in Michigan so you would think I wouldn’t want it here but after moving some plants around the rain is the perfect thing for them so that hopefully I didn’t just kill them in the process of transplanting. I even put some flowers in my bike that I bought from New Orleans which is nice to see in my yard…I would post a picture but I’m gun shy about that at this point. I did talk to Todd today and he told me I have bandwidth issues…:). It seems that I tend to fill my bandwidth and so now have been upgraded to be able to put more here…who knew that I was reaching the limit…and I don’t even normally put pictures in…do I really write that much…o.k. don’t answer that one:).

I’ve had several people in various locations and times this summer ask me if I’m still working on writing a book or am I going to start one…I have to tell you…I’ve got a book in me possibly more than one, no doubt…but I’m trying to be content for now viewing life through the top priorities on my plate at this stage in my life. First and foremost I’m a mom…a single mom…who has 6-8 years left of kids at home time…I know in my mind and heart that has to be my top priority and everything else has to screen through that…next I’m a homemaker…I’ve got to keep my home up, make it be the place that feels like home…that’s why I fuss on and on about home projects, gardening, etc. A sense of home is incredibly important to me…After that I’m a teacher…I groan from time to time about school…probably make it sound like I hate my job or something…but I know it’s where I need to be for this season in my life…I have the skills, talents, time, etc. to do a half way decent job…and that whole deal takes a lot more out of me than I even realize…after that I guess I would say I’m a daughter, a sister, a neighbor, a friend, a church member, a granddaughter, an aunt, etc. and that encompasses all the stuff that goes along with those kind of relationships…rounding out my top five priorities in my life would be writing…it’s there…I can’t take it off the list, I think in words, I type in my mind even when I’m not by a typewriter, I long for a notebook at the wierdest times so I can write, I blog daily, and journaled long before blogging, I only asked Mark to write me love letters for special days that went by (skip the flowers)…I read voraciously (what a great word:)…and I am writing a book…it’s this blog…I fully sense at some point that I will go back through it all when my kids are away at college and find themes and events, stories, circumstances, God things that I want to write about in actual book fashion. Sometimes I make the effort now but the truth is I just can’t do it all and be true to the other four things I listed previously…so I wait:). Thank you for asking though for those of you who have…keeps me encouraged to know that at some point it will happen.

By the way…my mom and I extensively researched Israel while I was in Michigan:)…and we’ve decided to add on the extra three days and go to Egypt too:)…might as well…so we’ll be riding camels up Mt. Sinai and seeing the pyramids…who would have ever thought that we would be doing that?!? I told people around our trailor last week at camp that come next year…I’ll hang a bed sheet up…and we’ll sit around the camp fire and mom and I will give a detailed slide show of our trip:) for those interested…I was joking at the time but who knows…I can’t wait to snap the picture of my mom riding a camel!!

Tomorrow we’re going in to get our passports done…and then maybe a trip to Raging Rivers…trying to alternate work days with fun days…today was definitely a work day…and my shin is bearing the proof of that…I was trying to trim my tree with a “Ruth technique”…a normal thing would be to use a hand saw probably or even a chain saw…I decided I could just snap off the limbs I didn’t want that were to low to the ground…they were having a hard time coming off at least some of them so I decided I just needed to put more into it…that is my motto as you know by now…success or death…well today by golly I did get the tree limb off but I’m sure it was quite a view…because in using my body weight to get it off…it suddenly gave way and I crashed to the ground scraping my shin all up on my edging…I could very well have a scar from the whole experience for quite awhile…oh well…no pain no gain right?!?…o.k. maybe next time I should just make a trip to home depot and pick up a hand saw…that would be the easier way obviously…but not nearly as memorable let me assure you:).

Ok. I’m done…dinner is ready and I need to get the girls fed so we can watch the next movie in the “Bourne Identity” series…or the Old Superman Series…we’ll see. It seems so nice to lay on the furniture, relax in the air conditioning and watch a movie together.

Hope you had a great day…

Ruth

I don’t have a whole lot of time to write at the moment but I am so incredibly excited that my blog came up when I went to get on the internet…what a wonderful surprise after 20 days. Thank you Todd Linke…I have no idea what all had to occur to make it happen but again I am in your debt. One thing this all has taught me over the past three weeks is how much this blog is a part of my life…it helps me process life on a daily basis, gives me encouragement, helps me trace the hand of God, helps me see life as it really is and not as it appears on the surface, it keeps track of my history for my girls….I literally feel like crying I’m so excited to have it back. God has been doing so many wonderful things in my life, teaching me, guiding me, walking beside me, holding my hand, my heart is full…I’m not exactly where to start at the moment…but later I’ll come back and write more.

For right now I’m just really enjoying being at home, got home last night from MIchigan and proceeded to take care of flower beds and mow the lawn, all things I enjoy…I have a bad feeling that I might have got tangled up in some poison oak…but am hopeful that maybe I’m wrong. This morning I went back out already and sprayed round up, moved a few plants around to balance things out a little more and trimmed back my tree, even threw in a few more cucumber and green bean plants…I’m optimistic I admit it…but the package said they would be ready in 60 days…figured who knows maybe the warmth will stay consistent enough through August and September to give me some fall fresh vegetables…the ones I planted earlier in the spring aren’t doing much…being gone for 5-6 weeks throughout the summer doesn’t help a whole lot:). Oh well…at least most of my flowers survived.

This day just improved by about 100% by having this blog site come up…Hope you all have had a wonderful three weeks! School is on the horizon but I’m trying to get some stuff done before that comes and throw in a few more fun summer kind of things before we change schedules again…my kids are already itching to get school supplies…I’m holding them off a little longer:).

Love,

Ruth

No more pictures until I learn to do it right…that was why the blog crashed…oops:).

Lydia and I had a great time at Meet Me In St. Louis last night…neither of us had ever seen it and it was a really nice musical, lots of dancing, humor and fun. Even fireworks at the end…

After posting yesterday, I went in to clean up my mess, after shower number one and realized that if I took the plaster off the chimney that goes through her closet it had red brick underneath and that would look really cool in her “log cabin” play house…so as you can guess I started going at that…actually broke my kitchen hammer beyond repair (I kept the top of it as a souvenior:), moved to Mark’s big hammer and finished off the job, which then led into clean up number 2 or 3 and shower number 2…Lydia is going to work on scrubbing the bricks today, I worked for quite a while but that plaster stuff wants to stick to them…

Before going to the show last night we went and picked up some trim (I’m thinking I might be brave enough to try my hand at it…), a lantern to change out the light she had in her closet…and a mirror with a ledge to hopefully get the effect of a window in her “cabin”…we’ll see how it goes. My mind was whirring so much about it all that even when I laid down in bed last night I had a hard time stopping my brain and that was well past midnight. I have a nice layer of dust on everything in the house at this point…so that will be my job today after going to the dentist…ugh…I hate going to the dentist and I feel bad for lydia she has a mouth full of canker sores.

Anyway…thank you carole for telling me about how cold it is on pike’s peak…I have a feeling I would’ve underdressed for the occasion not giving it too much thought, I’ll take you up on borrowing a coat and my hotel is at 503 West Garden of the Gods Rd. and called “Hyatt Place Colorado Springs”…so I’ll wait there for you guys to pick me up on Wednesday…around 3:30pm. Looking forward to it:).

Here are some more pic’s, and by the way I just got done watering my flowers and my “Glads” have finally bloomed…what a great memory for me…my grandma Dennings was wonderful at growing flowers and “Glads” were her speciality:).

Here we are walking down the streets of Philadelphia…

Independance Hall is pretty cool…we took the tour and although it’s just a building, to know that you’re standing in the room where they signed the declaration of Independance is pretty awesome. We were all feeling pretty patriotic! Even watched the National Treasure Movie in preparation:).

Lauren at the Liberty Bell…I was surprised how moving this was for her…kind of expected for her to be thinking “what’s the big deal….it’s a bell”…but she got it, and was literally very sentimental about it and if asked about the highlights of her trip…this is one of the things she would mention…she could understand what this bell stands for, freedom for all people, no matter what race, religion, color, socioeconomic level, etc. and for a girl who often feels like she’s a misfit…well it was very meaningful on a number of levels.

As you know by now if you’ve read this blog very much…turtles have special significance for us…Mark is never far from our minds and we notice them everywhere…so this statue at the Aquarium was a must take a picture sight:). Look at those two beautiful girls…God is good.

 

At the Aquarium the girls got to touch sharks, sting rays and jelly fish…pretty cool…as you can tell Lydia is a bit hesitant, but she did touch them all by the end of our time there. It was a very nice Aquarium in Philadelphia…glad we went.

 

I love the way Lauren is touching this tank while watching the shark swim by…she was so fascinated by it all…if she could’ve she probaby would’ve put on a diving suit and jumped in. Lauren has really gotten to the point where she does well at museum kind of things…she loves to read each sign, soak in each detail…it’s as if I can see her brain taking in the information literally as we walk through a place…she reads the signs…I read her:).

Here are my girls riding the ferry across the Delaware River, the Aquarium was in Camden, New Jersey…with Philadelphia in the background. We loved this city…may go back some day, lots of family friendly things…history, clean, nice, easy to walk around in.

 

Anyway…time to wake up Lydia for our dentist appointment…have a great day!

Love,

Ruth

It’s been a crazy creative morning for me…maybe because I just finished a book about people living in Colorado back in the frontier days, or maybe because Lydia and I were up cooking from her American Girl cookbook last night at 9:30pm (was very good by the way:), or maybe I just haven’t done a spontaneous house project in awhile, no demo for me and maybe I get a little on edge…I’m not sure what it was…but this morning as I thought about putting Lydia’s clothes back away from the trying on episode from the other day…I started looking in one of her closets and had a brainstorm idea come to me. We live in an old house…plaster walls..and in LYdia’s room it’s not very big but does have two closets that are nice size…so…after seeing Lauren’s room remodeled and how nice it is to have shelves and double hanging rods in her closet…I realized we could do the same thing with one of Lydia’s closets…and then with the other closet…I could make her what I thought would be a clubhouse kind of thing…more like a loft since it’s not floor level…upon emptying out that closet I realized the plaster walls were beyond repair…not just a patch and go kind of deal. Lydia is my girl who loves history…loves reading about wars, settling the west, etc. So…as I pulled a few pieces of plaster off with my fingers…it was crumbling away anyway…I had a brainstorm hit me…under the plaster walls of couse our the Lath boards…and as I got taking a few more pieces off I realized it looked like an old cabin…so next thing you know in my p.j.’s and barefoot…I got my kitchen hammer…I never use a big one for some reason beyond understanding…(Amen from Mark inserted here:)…and I started going at it…I did one closet wall…liked the effect well enough that I decided why not do another one…and before you know it…well the whole closet is gutted…I found myself thinking through the whole process…how in the world did I get this project going and why am I doing this today…this can’t be what normal people do…I mean most people when they wake up sit down and drink a cup of coffee, watch Good Morning America or read a paper and relax…here I am…covered in plaster dust, with every finger nail broken, inhaling what could very well be bad for my lungs…and gutting a closet that I’m not exactly sure when I’ll actually be able to finish. Then I decided…even if it’s not normal…I’m ok. with that:). So…after eight construction size bags of plaster…and some serious shop vaking…where we actually set the fire detector off with so much dust in the air…I think it might just work out…and Lydia seems happy with the idea. It won’t get done this week…but at least it’s ready to build now…all demo is done:).

So…now I should actually do what I was going to do in the first place and get Lydia’s room back together:). Thankfully I didn’t step on any rusty nails in my barefeet:). Do you all do some crazy stuff from time to time too? I hope so…I hate to think that I”m the only nut! It just seems like when the idea hits I’m ready to go for it…and one thing about not being married anymore…it’s not like I have to even get anybody’s permission…o.k. not that I was very good about getting Mark’s permission when he was alive mind you…but I found myself realizing today…I won’t even have to explain myself to my husband tonight…Of course I also have to finish it off by myself too…(maybe I can get some grandpa visits in the next couple of months and get them to help me with a few odds and ends:). Or…I’m sure I can give Bruce another call:).

Here are some more pic’s from our vacation…

Here we are again on our ocean cruise…otherwise known as the ferry…we took advantage of the fact that we had lawn chairs in the car…the ferry ride lasted for 2 hours and 40 minutes so you can see…there was plenty of time to catch some sun, read a book, etc.

 

This is the beach at Hatteras where we stayed for a week. Our house was just to the right of this picture…a hop skip and jump from the beach. Doesn’t everything seem bluer when you’re at the ocean?

 

Lydia, Ben, Lauren and Bekah riding their boogie boards in the ocean…they could’ve done it all day long…this was before the first day sunburn…when I forgot to apply the second coat of sunscreen…oops:).

 

 

I love these kind of picture…goggles on the head, wet hair…genuine smile…can you tell Lydia was having a great day? If you look closely you can tell she’s starting to get red…oops again on the sunscreen…I’m terrible at remembering to put more on.

 

I also love these kind of pictures…the back sides of the girls sitting at the ocean…nothing posed, just a natural moment. Bekah is in the middle…

 

I have to include a picture of the infamous Ghost crabs…we still talk about them:). In fact someday for a practical joke I need to remember to get Lydia something with a crab on it…They were everywhere, big ones, small ones, so many we started making up stories about them and their family relationships:). One even crawled up Jim’s leg, at least from what I understand, I had already gone back to the house.

 

Ok. that’s it for today, hope you enjoy…I’ll probably post some more for the next two days and then give you a break:). Of course pretty soon I can post Colorado pic’s:).

Back to life at the ranch…

Ruth

Lauren’s all settled in at camp and hopefully having the time of her life:). She didn’t know anybody in her cabin but I think her counselor will be great for her…and she’ll make new friends, I was thankful she got the last bottom bunk:). For Lauren the anxiety of anticipation is what gets her everytime…doesn’t matter if it’s a wonderful thing like Six Flags, a scary thing like not knowing anybody at camp, the first day of school, etc. whatever it is that’s new, exciting, etc. she gets very nervous…physically sick actually so I’ve prayed and prayed with her the past couple of days. I could’ve let her off the hook…I could’ve said o.k. Lauren you don’t have to go…and if it was a sleepover with a friend I probably would’ve…but I know what summer camp is like…it’s prime time for God to speak clearly and for lifechanging decisions to be made…in my family out of six of us kids…four of us met our spouse at camp…and now my parents are the directors of camp up in Michigan so camping has a strong place in my life and heart…and I knew the best thing I could do for Lauren was to pray for her, over her, and trust God. She slept well last night and I sensed this morning that either God was giving her peace or she was just in the phase where she had accepted the inevitable:). Actually, I told her this morning that I’m excited to hear on Friday what God does in her life this week…I know she will be changed. Lydia and I keep praying for her and thinking of her hoping everything is going well. And if you think of it…pray for Lauren this week, that she would feel like she fits in…that her self image would be lifted…she struggles in that area as many of us do…for her counselor “Meg” and for cabin number 4 “Red Bud”…the tree lover in me enjoyed telling Lauren that was a good sign as I’ve planted a Redbud in my backyard that is doing wonderfully…o.k. it did nothing for her except gave her a moment to look at me like I’m crazy:).

Lydia and I then made our first stop…and we wasted no time…sense I had to go to Saturn anyway today and it’s by Krispy Kreme and we were already feeling hungry…well you can guess where we ended up…and it was very good!! Then we killed some more time by going to Border’s…that place sucks me in, so many good books, music, etc. Today Lydia found an American Girl cookbook so she’s thrilled about cooking food at home this week…(tonight we’re having corn oysters…Praise God no oysters are actually involved:), and she picked up a couple American Girl mystery books and a Lady Antebellum cd. I hadn’t listened to their music much before but it’s good. For Lauren I found a Watercolor book on the bargain table that I think she’ll love…and a book about a lot of famous pirates…we’ve been in a bit of a Pirate theme this summer, along with a James Bond Soundtrack…she’ll love that I know. For myself…I picked up a book about the HOly Land and especially about Jerusalem…figured even though it’s a summer away I better start actually doing a little research to understand where we’re actually going. I love books on travel, could’ve picked up several more but decided one was good for today…and then got the soundtrack for P.S. I Love you…I guess I was feeling in a sentimental mood or something.

Then off to Saturn…where I discovered it was time for a tire rotation so it took quite a bit longer…and then discovered the next time I go I need to get four new tires…ugh…don’t you hate spending money on tires, rates right up there with furnaces and water heaters in my book, necessary but oh so not fun. Oh well…good news though…I had synthetic oil put in and now I don’t have to go back for 6,000 miles I know the rest of the world has probably already converted to that but for me it was the first time…so that’s exciting as I seem to put a lot of miles on my car way too fast.

By the time that was done Lydia and I decided to go to Ruby Tuesday for lunch…I absolutely love their blackberry tea…if you get a chance try it:). And their chocolate cake and ice cream is to die for…ooolala. Lydia and I definitely had our chocolate fix today:).

We’ve rented a few movies for the week…since I did that for Lauren last week decided I would do the same for Lydia this week…SHe’ll probably watch a couple while I clean the basement tomorrow. I also need to go into my car insurance place tomorrow and see about replacing my front windshield…Saturn told me that the rock hit in the worst place possible and it’s obvious that’s true as the crack continues to creep across the front of my windshield more and more each day. So…I might as well get it taken care of.

Anyway…Lydia is looking forward to cooking dinner tonight…we’ll probably watch a movie and I need to get the piles of clothes taken care of…the ones she’s outgrown and the piles of clothes she’s grown into put on the shelves. Otherwise no big plans. Tomorrow night Lydia and I go to the Muny downtown to watch “Meet Me In St. Louis” so that should be fun…I’ve never seen it before but here that the song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is in it…so maybe it will be like Christmas in July or something:).

Hope your day was great…if I just gave too many details above…sorry…

Here are some more vacation pictures…

This was the front yard of the plantation we visited in New Orleans…wow is about all I can say, I mean can you imagine having those kind of trees in your front yard. The plantation is called “Oak Alley” and is absolutely beautiful, all I could imagine is laying out a blanket under a tree and reading a book or having a picnic and my kids would’ve loved to try climbing the trees…

This is us eating at a restaurant in the French Quarter in New ORleans…I included it so you could see the bike I talked about carrying around the city that day as my souvenir…it looks great in my yard by the way (has three areas to put flowers:) but I have to admit my arm was sore after carrying it for the length of time that I did:). This restaurant’s windows were open to the street so it was kind of like eating outside…just not as hot as being in the sun.

 O.k. so you kind of have to ignore the guy in the foreground…he looks bored out of his mind…but notice the girls on the back of the boat…here we are in Savannah Georgia out on a dolphin watching cruise which was awesome and definitely felt good on a really hot day. As you can tell Danielle and Lauren were completely relaxed and working on their tans:).

 

 

These were the kind of boats we saw while on our dolphin excursion…felt like a piece of “Finding Nemo”…

THis picture is from Broadway on the Beach at Myrtle Beach…which was a lot of fun…but I included this picture because here in Illinois we may get some nice sunsets but I’ve never seen anything like the sunsets that they get on the coast…the sky was beautiful, and obviously the picture only captures a small bit of that reality but hopefully you get the point…”The heavens declare the glory of God…”

O.k. I’m normally not one to post my picture on this blog…but this is one of the few that I actually like…Lydia took it while we were on our ferry ride to Hatteras Island, North Carolina, our unexpected ocean cruise:). I think she did pretty good for a moving vehicle and a windy day:).

I’ll post a few more tomorrow:), hope you enjoy or just delete…

Carole…I would love to ride to the top of Pike’s peak with you and Tim…what is your schedule like with the Sower’s? Can you get away to go up on Wednesday, July 15th? or would a different day work out better…my only stipulation is that I don’t want to have to drive…I had enough driving through mountains last summer to last me for a good long time:). But if you or Tim want to drive…I’ll hop in:).

Love,

Ruth

Today is Sunday so as usual we were at church this morning. Started a new Sunday school class which is basically an overview of Revelation. It’s not my normal interest area…but in looking at the choices decided to go for it. Was interesting to learn that it’s the only book that a blessing is promised if you read it and make an effort to try and understand it…so that’s worth trying:). I tend to be one of those people who believe that if you just live like you’re ready everyday for Jesus’ Return then you’re covered…no need to worry, plot or plan out what will happen in the end. I know how the story ends…I’m on about chapter 38 in my life story and figure that their will be a lot of twists and turns between this chapter and the last one…but I try not to figure it out too much or worry about it. However…when I mentioned to Lauren that I was going to this class she was excited…said “I wish my class would talk about Revelation”…she read through it when she was reading through the New Testament and it was definitely a bit overwhelming…she seems to have a natural curiousity about it…that definitely comes from her dad:).

Pastor Mark preached about Susanna Wesley today, wow what a woman she was…19 kids…a husband who was obviously somewhat of a jerk, two houses burn down, one child smothered accidentally by a maid, 8 die in infancy…and she turns out two of the greats, John and Charles…He used the verse about writing scripture on the doorposts, talking about it when you lie down, when you walk, etc. from Deuteronomy 6…I love those verses. I talked with my kids on the way home about how God is a part of everything we do, every breath, every conversation, every day…we talked about how true or untrue this seems to be in our home. Something to strive for that’s for sure.

I ended up taking a nap this afternoon…Lauren has been packing her stuff for camp, Praise God, she found out that another kid from our church is going…she doesn’t know her very well but still that seemed to ease the anxiety a little. Upon waking up Lydia and I have been going through her clothes…she has grown so much lately and had worn the same clothes for years it seems like…so getting ready for another year of school it was time to go through and weed out the small stuff. We’re taking it in shifts as she hates trying on clothes:).

Tomorrow is camp bright and early and then one on one time with Lydia for the rest of the week…we’re starting off on an exciting note…oil change time at Saturn…and I need to see about replacing my windshield, driving back from Peoria on Saturday I had a rock come up and crack it…never a dull moment:). Beyond that we will go through the clothes I’ve been storing from Lauren for Lydia to grow into tomorrow and hopefully have that job all done. Lydia isn’t quite as thrilled about hand me downs these days but tolerates it for the most part…I remember the feeling well as I was the youngest of three girls in my family. That’s life.

I’m going to post some of our vacation pictures everyday this week from June…I’ll do a few a day so that hopefully it won’t be too overwhelming…out of 600 pictures I’ve chosen about 29 to post. Hope you enjoy them.

For those interested…while in Colorado Springs…which I’m incredibly excited about visiting…my plan is to visit the Manitou Cliff Dwellings and walk around in Historic Manitou Springs on the first day, the next day go to the Garden of the gods and walk around old historic Colorado Springs ( I think I’m going to take the ride that takes you around the Garden…if I don’t have to drive I can enjoy the view more:), On Wednesday I’m going to hopefully take the cog railway up to Pike’s peak (still need to make the reservation) and walk around in Historic Colorado Springs. On THursday go to the Miramount Castle Museum and Flying W Ranch. and On Friday either take it easy, go back to someplace I wanted more time at, or possibly drive to the Seven Falls before going back to the airport. I’m finding their is so much to see and do in Colorado Springs, I think I could easily take the girls and spend a whole week or two there…maybe a future trip we’ll see. Of course all of those plans are subject to change:).

O.k. here are the pic’s for today…

 

Every place we went the girls had fun trying to act out what the statues were doing…of course we read the details about who they are and try to appreciate the history involved…but it’s always fun to try and pose like the statues…this is on the River walk in New Orleans.

 

 

 

This is one of the most famous cathedrals in New Orleans…had a ton of history involved with it, when we walked by a small band was playing out front…in fact most of the time in New Orleans there were musicians around playing music which added a lot of atmosphere. Lauren and Danielle are standing in front of it…

 

This is Lauren and Lydia in the park area across from the cathedral in the above picture…we just don’t grow trees like this in Illinois:)

 

 

This was a fun market to walk through and purchase a few souveniors in…a sundress for Lauren and this is where I got my “bike” for my yard…etc. It’s all open to the outside and reminded me a lot of the market in Charleston that I went to last summer. Lauren and Danielle are posing for me…and loving every moment I’m sure:)

 

 I’m not a big Mardi Gras person but…being in New Orleans it is definitely part of the scenery. This is in the Riverwalk mall which was fun to walk through and where we ate Haagen Daaz for breakfast:). Lydia is posing nicely for me:)

 

 

O.k. obviously this is not my family:)…but it just shows what I mean by having street musicians everywhere…and they were good, I mean I’ve heard the saxophone guy down at the Cardinals game here in St. Louis…but this is so much better. At one corner we saw a whole family, kids and all singing acapella music in harmony, it was incredible and the youngest was probably only 5 years old. Amazing…o.k. I’m a music person so I enjoyed it probably more than the normal person might.

Anyway…hope you enjoy the pictures…I’ll post a few more tomorrow.

Love,

Ruth

 

 

 

Had a nice visit to Peoria to see my sister, brother in law and their two year old, Kendra…she’s cute as pie:). It was like taking a step back in time watching them parent their two year old, reminded me of how far my kids have come…I was able to offer them encouragement:). They had scoped out the area a little and found a nice fireworks display so we all went to see that last night which was fun. Today we had planned to go to a waterpark but the weather changed our plans and we ended up at a nice mall instead…hard sacrifice to make but you know how it goes:). Lauren was thrilled to find a pair of green converse tennis shoes…and I do mean green…she’s says she feels lucky when she’s wearing them:). Lydia got a light jacket for her one thing as I didn’t pack any warm clothes and she was freezing…oops. And then we got Kendra a necessity…a princess purse, she was adorable walking through the mall with it, I can see where they get the phrase “Spring in their step” because she definitely had a bounce to her walk that was adorable to watch.

Last night Kurt, my brother in law, made the comment that he always felt in our family that he connected with Mark more than the rest…and I just had to smile, Mark had such a way of making people feel comfortable, he was easy to hang with and most anyone he did hang with tended to feel like they were his best friend, some people have that gift others don’t. I could say I was amazed…but truthfully, I hear those kind of comments often…and I’m just reminded how fortunate I was to know that he was my best friend. On the way home today we listened to our funeral songs that we chose with our pictures, at least Lydia’s and Mark’s…it was a special moment again for me to realize that Mark’s song “I’ll meet you there” by Whiteheart, is not a goodbye…but actually a see you later. Can I just tell you…if we had said goodbye and I knew I would never see him again…I would be devastated…I entertained the thought today just for a few moments and praised God that isn’t how it is. Watching Kurt interact with Kendra reminded me so much of how Mark interacted with our kids. Kendra holding his hand walking beside him, almost runninig to keep up with the pace, Kendra being swooped up into her daddy’s arms, she looked so safe, Kendra having to be taken out at lunch time because she was fussy, oh how well I remember the many times Mark did the same thing with our kids. I really enjoy the stage my kids are at now…it’s fairly easy for the most part…but I do remember those days when it seemed like your whole schedule revolved around nap time, and what your child’s needs were at the moment. O.k. to some degree they still revolve around my kids but not as much…I can see the apron strings loosening and it’s actually a good feeling…at least for me.

So…now we’re back in town, no big fourth plans…it’s raining, that must have messed up a lot of people’s plans for the day. But it was great for my flowers:).

Carol…I’m going to take your phone number with me on my trip. I’m flying into Colorado Springs on Monday, July 13, renting a car…staying at the Hyatt in Colorado Springs (got a great deal on Priceline…I’m addicted I admit it:)…I would love to come for a day to the Garden of the God’s and hook up with you…not sure what your schedule is like but I’ll give you a call. Thanks for the invitation.

Time to get Lauren packed up for camp…she goes this week…I almost hate to show my face out there on Monday:)…God has ways of keeping us humble doesn’t He!!

Happy Fourth of July to you and yours…

Ruth

Yesterday Lauren, David and I had a great time at Six Flags…we got there when the park opened and left basically when it closed so it was a 12 hour day. I rode my normal couple of rides and also had a chance to sit and relax and read a book while they rode the rides they wanted to ride…all was fine and dandy until about 9pm…when I decided to check my phone…I had it in my bag all day which was normally very close to me…but for whatever reason I never heard it ring…it is kind of noisy at Six Flags and it was buried in some beach towels…so maybe that’s why…but at 9pm I checked my voice mail and realized I had made a huge error as a parent…low and behold Lydia’s camp which I thought got out on Friday at 4pm…actually got out on Thursday at 4pm…so as you can imagine I had all kinds of voice mail messages, calls from the camp, her counselor, the director, calls from other parents…and immediately my relaxing day went out the window. I found myself running through it all again, the times were listed in an email and I had gotten two emails as Lauren is going to camp next week…and I guess I must have ready Lauren’s times…which are Monday through Friday instead of Lydia’s which were Monday-Thursday. So…my child had no parent show up, no parent to watch her end of the week program, no parent to tell everything to on the way home, in fact she didn’t get home last night until about midnight. That being said…I will be forever grateful to the Cox family and the Bruder family as they hung around and made sure Lydia was taken care of even when they couldn’t reach me. In the end Robin Cox took her home and Lydia spent the evening with Robin. Robin had to go to the airport in St. Louis to pick up her son so she just took Lydia along, provided her dinner and let her hang out at her house late…until I could reconnect with her in the church parking lot around midnight. I’m sure it was less than convenient for her but I am so grateful, grateful that she was there in my time of need and that she would care enough to step in and help.

I found myself trying to make sense of it all…but all I can come up with is…I was giving David Gines a day of play at Six Flags and truthfully had I known that I needed to pick up Lydia that would’ve never happened this week, Thursday was my only seemingly free day to take him and Lauren. For whatever reason I have this sense that it was what God wanted me to do…to step in and help take care of someone else’s child…even I guess to the neglect of my own and at the same time God lined it up for someone else to take care of my child. I ended up calling our pastor’s wife in the process of trying to locate Lydia…and I was expressing to her the fact that I couldn’t believe that I had left Lydia hanging…and she said “Ruth…it gave the Family of God a chance to step in and help you out.” Or something to that effect…and she’s right. Sometimes as a mom I want to be the one who is always there for my kids, at every event, always supporting them, always on top of every thing going on in their lives….reality tells me…that won’t always be the case…I had a choice I could beat myself up over it all…and that was tempting…or I could accept the fact that God had it covered the whole time. I’ve tried to remember the fact that nothing surprises God, not even a mom who has the wrong day in her mind and leaves her child stranded while chilling at Six Flags.

In the end…David, Lauren and I headed out of the Park about 9:45pm after the final parade went through…Lydia was in good hands and it was time for the parade anyway so I figured a few more minutes would probably not be life and death. I then dropped off David downtown in St. Louis at his dad’s work…and made the trip home to get Lydia. I found she still had plenty to talk about from camp…she sang all of her songs she had learned, talked about all of her activities, told how awesome the chapel speaker was…(to which I expressed Praise to God for:), and then we all finally collapsed in bed about midnight. This morning she came down to my bed and we laid there for a little while and she told me how she had made a decision for Christ this week….was so awesome to be able to talk to her about spiritual stuff going on, and what she heard from God this week. I love how they have the kids go off in their own space with a bible and a notebook to hear from God. They call it solo time….and God was faithful, everything she expressed God talking to her about were things that I could see. We talked about the highs of camp and how that feeling may fade at home, but how God is with her everyday, we talked about how the changes she wants to see in her life won’t come just by her trying harder, but only through the power of God at work in her life. I’m grateful that she had her camp experience and I can tell she’s come a long way, I don’t think she was ever homesick and she seemed to enjoy every moment…and I’m glad. And the amazing thing is she wasn’t stressed out about me not showing up, she knew my play was to go to Six Flags….she was more worried that I would be upset with myself for letting her down. Wow…she sure is maturing…I just had to buy her some new shorts as her body has grown quite a bit lately…but I can tell even more so, her spirit, her heart and mind are maturing.

So…it looks like today we’ll be able to get an earlier start to Peoria to meet up with my sister and family then I had originally thought since I don’t need to pick up a child from camp:). I’m sure next week when I take Lauren they’ll make sure i have the right time before I leave…Lydia’s counselor asked her if this was a normal occurence for her…you know how it is, some parents take advantage, or are oblivious and are always late to pick up their kids…to which Lydia responded…”This never happens”. I’m tempted to worry about my reputation….but reminded how often I tell lauren not to worry about what others think…so…I’m not going to, it was an honest mistake, and God took care of it all…and I so appreciated Robin’s attitude last night, she was happy to help, it was like seeing the face of God with skin in. I hope I’m able to be used like that in the future, that people could so easily see God in me as I take time to help, to be inconvienenced…

Have a great day!

Love,

Ruth