~ When Your Work Is More Than Just a Job

When you love what you do...
And you love the people you do it with...


When they are more than just co-workers...

When they are your family...

You are a blessed man.

Photos are from our annual staff picnic and Beth's lovely yard (and yummy food).

Between a Rock and Park Place

I heard the question and my heart sank.

"Mom, can we play Mononpoly?"

"Sure." (They have to ask because it takes forever and consumes our dinner table.)

And then he asked in his sweetest, softest voice, "Will you play, too?"

As soon as it was out of his mouth, the other little voices chimed in with their cheers and pleas and it wasn't quiet and sweet and soft anymore.

Some of you when faced with a question like that may get all giddy and excited at the prospect of spending the afternoon with your children teaching them about money matters and math and life. And there are others who love the challenge and the charge of buying properites, charging rent and making people go bankrupt.

Me? I hear the words, "Will you play monopoly with us?" But what registers in my brain is something like, "Will you forget about the laundry and the dishes and the dust and the dirty bathrooms and spend an entire day sitting in a hard chair making sure a two-year-old doesn't wreck the game or swallow something he's not supposed to while trying to figure out this newer version where we use million dollar bills instead of hundreds. " Not the greatest response, I know. What can I say? I'm not a game player.

But in the brief moment when the chattering little voices calmed to wait for my answer, I heard another voice call to me. This voice reeled off all the reasons it was a really a good idea. "Someday they won't want you to play their games. The dirt and dishes will always be here. Is there really anything more important. It's a chance to make a memory. You've said no enough. Say yes for a change."

So after the voices battled in my head and I had made an argument for a quick game of yahtzee instead (and lost), I gave in. The dirt and dishes waited, and we made a memory. I love my boys. They really are a fun bunch, but I am worried about my oldest one's lust for money and power!

~ I Can Do All Things (Through Him)

A Brief Interaction at our House

Ellis: Mom, can you pull this guy's head off? (referring to a lego man) It's too hard. It's hurting my thumb.

Mom: Sure, honey.

Ellis (after I flicked his head off): Was that easy?

Mom: Yep.

Ellis: Oh.

Several Hours Later

Ellis: Mom, can you get this flat piece of lego off? I just can't get it.

Mom: Sure

Ellis (after I flicked the piece off - looking rather bewildered): Was that easy?

Mom: Yep.

Ellis: Oh.

Ellis (overheard at the top of the stairs a moment later): Hey Aidan, Mom can do anything!

How my heart melted.

(He apparently forgot about all the times I've had to ask my 12-year-old to open a jar for me.)

Oh, how I wish it were true.

I only wish I could do all the things I want to do. I wish I could make myself stop doing the things I don't want to do.

Somehow, I am unable to conquer this nasty habit of yelling, not to mention staying up too late, spending too much money, giving in to that desire to just be a hermit, or going too long without sinking my roots deep and drinking from the Source of all strength.

Oh, how I wish I could do anything!

It's true, for a while, I can rely on skill and talent and smarts to get things done. But when it comes to the hard stuff, the life-changing, transformational, look-like-Him stuff, my abilities and attempts usually fall way short.

Like my eight-year-old, I find myself saying, "It's too hard; it hurts" or "I just can't get it."

That's when I usually cry out, "God, I can't do this on my own."

And that's usually when He reminds me, "I didn't ask you to."

For now, I think I'll just let Ellis believe I can do anything. He'll figure it out sooner or later.

~ Lost in Their World

I went along for the ride, just to enjoy some time with my family.

I'm not much of a fisherman. I don't do worms.

I had plans, though. Plans to lose myself in the pages of a good book. Instead, I got lost, all right, but I never made it past the first page in my book.

I got a bit engrossed in the sheer contentment they seemed to have just being near the water. (They take after their dad that way.)

I got a bit off course when I realized two years ago he wasn't even here...

...and now he acts like he's been fishing with us forever.

I found myself preoccupied with their squeals of delight and their eyes dancing with pleasure when they would reel in their prizes.

I was totally captivated by their little discoveries...

...their little gifts (and their little hands),

...and their insatiable curiosity.

On more than one occasion, I was distracted by this man (but that's a different story).

I found myself entranced by the way the light and the colors dazzled the water as the sun began its slow descent.

And when that first mosquito on my leg met an untimely daeth, I packed up my chair and decided it was time to go home. It had, however, been a lovely evening.

~ This Day at the Beach

Ocean breeze blowing,

feet kick and splash,

Ocean waves breaking, on rocks with a crash.

Boys finding seashells,

girls sifting sand,

Friends building castles, as high as they can.

I stretch my arms out, far as they'll reach

Oh, my what fun, on this day at the beach!

(author unknown)

Summer Favorites

Sleeping late

Quenching the heat with a yummy, sweet icy mocha frappe

Watching little hands steal strawberries straight from the garden when they think you are not looking

Snuggling with little bodies to the first season of Gilligan's Island way past bed time (begging for season 2)

Sinking into the coolness of cotton sheets as soft as silk after a long day in the heat

Cheering my favorite soccer team on to a perfect, undefeated season (They came in 1st place at tournament!)

Biting into an iced, cold wedge of watermelon as sweet as candy

Hearing the kids burst into their favorite song in the car and knowing all the words

Wandering the aisles at the library looking for the perfect book to whisk me away (perhaps to some "uncharted desert isle" - seems to be a theme this summer)

Losing track of time with friends on the patio and deciding to call for pizza

Watching the looks of satisfaction on little faces every time they get a hit

Hunkering down for reading time and relishing in the quieness that falls over the household (Summer reads: The Yearling, The Secret Garden, & Mr. Popper's Penguins)

And my most favorite thing....

Lingering at the beach 'til the light changes