It is too hot to work

so I'm taking a break and feeding my family ice cream cones. We are melting around here today. I'm not going to complain summer is all too short in these parts, and I hate the cold.

Michael shined a new pair of boots this morning, they look beautiful, you can even see your face in them. I had to ask him why. It not like its his high browns, which he only wears in Red Surge duty. These are his every day duty boots, you never know what you may be called on to do in these boot, stand in the rain, chase a bad guy through a bush or better yet a bog, or just every day wear and tear. Oh well for now you can see yourself in the toes. I also think he was trying to avoid cleaning out his work room.

Last night I watched Chocolat. What a really good movie. I love chocolate but wasn't really sure what to expect but it really was good.

Have a great day, and try to stay cool.

John Boxing

Yes I know the bedroom is a mess, but he was too cute to show off.

Week in Review

Week's Weather: Hot and we had quite a bite of rain due to tropical storm Chistobal, we needed the rain so it was a blessing

Sunday Sermon: We were visiting an inner city church and the point I took from it was .... confession is not the same as repentance. The pastor gave the example that he had been talking to a junkie that was crying and confessing his sin, saying that he needed Jesus but in the end didn't change his ways. I thought how we do that, confess "Lord, I'm sorry." and then find ourselves continually repeating it, and confessing it over again.

Life Lessons: when you do it in your own strength, you just stress yourself out, lean on Jesus do it in his strength.

Favorite Meal: BBQ ribs and trimmings

Treasured Moment: seeing John swim in a pool with a life jacket on by himself. He is usually attached to me and screeching.

Budget Saver: Michael being on duty during several dinner meals. The force pays when he is out of his home base. This saves on groceries.

Budget Buster: Going out for dinner after the church service in the city.

Things I read: Hurlbut's Story of the Bible. Amazingly good and very old.

Places we went: to the city for Church, friend Lorna's to swim, VBS

Accomplishments: starting to get my homeshooling in order.

Family Happenings:

Challenges: keeping the boys busy with out watching too much TV

Blessings: keeping Michael safe

My week in review

I came across this and thought if I did it each week you'd know a little more that is going on in my life.

Week's weather: Hot and muggy during the day and then cooling off in the evening
Sunday Sermon topic: Our pastor is doing a series on Marriage, it is wonderful.
Favorite Meal this week: Beer can chicken (we now use pop and it turned out just as good), roasted vegs and boiled potatoes cooled and dresses with a buttermilk dill dressing.
Things I read: A very hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (John's fav right now)
Place we went: Shakespeare by the Sea to see Cinderelly-A western
Budget Savers: Doubling up on trip/errands
Budget Busters: New Tires for the car
Blessings: A friend got the tires for us at a really good price and then put them on for free after the shop he works in closed for the day, saved us several hundred dollars
Challenges/prayer requests: Stressing over VBS next Monday-Wednesday
Accomplishments: Did a couple of errands for Michael that were out of my comfort zone.
Family Happenings: Getting ready and making plans for our trip home for my sister's wedding Aug. 23

Tuesday

It is another hot and humid day, but I'm not complaining because I hate the cold much more than I dislike the heat. Wallace and John are under the apple tree trying to beat the heat by reading in the shade.

We had a rather busy weekend, Michael worked Friday night which was not a normally scheduled shift. The guys on his unit had switched the day for another, they had all played in a Memorial Golf Tournament in memory of a local officer that was killed in the line of duty about 11 years ago. They have a trust fund for a scholarship for officer's kids who go on to university to study some form of law. You never know maybe one of boys would benefit from it some day. Although I'd never encourage a career in Policing for so many reasons.

On Saturday afternoon we went into the city with a couple of families form our church to go to a Mexican Restaurant and see a play called Cinderellie- A western take on the classic Cinderella. We had so much fun, the restaurant gave us a room off to the side which was probably a good thing as with 20 people, 7 adults and 13 children we made a lot of noise. The play was part of a festival called Shakespeare by the Sea, it was in a park right on the coast, it was a beautiful place for it. The actors were great and interacted with the kids who were all sitting on blankets at the front. All the kids except one, who is too little for school anyway, are homeschooled kids so we were joking that this was a class in art appreciation at summer school.

On Sunday we had church as usually and then I had a leaders meeting for VBS after the morning service, which went longer than I thought it would. VBS is next week and we are coming down to the crunch. We raced home so we could grab a bite to eat and then Michael and Wallace had to go to Wallace's golfing lesson. On the first day of golf Wallace met a little girl who when she discovered that we went to church, (It came up because Wallace said that he couldn't play a whole round after the lesson because he had to go to church.) she promptly invited herself by saying, "I've always wanted to go to church can I go with you?". She is going to come with us to VBS but on Sunday afternoon she showed up at our door ready to go with us. I wonder what God has in store for that little life, we sure are praying for her. We took her to church, and then afterward our pastor's family had a wiener roast at their home, so we didn't get home until after 10pm which is very late for my 4 year old.

Yesterday, we had to get up early and drive into the city by 8 a.m. to get the oil changed at the dealership . Originally Michael was going to go by himself and come home afterward but with the price of gas I didn't want to have to make any unnecessary trips, so the boys and I went with him. I am the craft leader for VBS this year, which I took on instead of teaching, I don't know what I was thinking, crafting is so not my strong suit. Thankfully the teachers book has all the ideas, I just had to find the materials needed. I had 6 or 7 ideas and so we went to 3 different stores twice first to see which crafts I could get everything I needed and then to go back an purchase the 3 that we would be doing. It was quite the chore and I am so thankful that Michael was with me. He kept my very distractable mind on track and kept the boys in line, although it was probably as much fun for them as it was for us.

Today I have to catch up on house work and laundry and do a sample of each of the crafts, wish me luck. I pray they all come together as I envision. Wallace also has a soccer game but thankfully it is right here in the village so we don't have to travel very far.