some pics from a wonderful week in
i thought for a while about how i could make a mountain just behind the sand dunes where we live… but unfortunately decided that it wouldn’t really work, especially since i don’t actually own any land on or connected to the beach.
friends
zoo
yum
thanks to brett and julie for this one. and, as they put it, if you're into groovy music, bad theology, and icky christianity... well, enjoy.
it’s day three of our little adventure - by adventure i mean that we’ve been stuck in our house for three days without really being able to leave. first because the wind and rain made it too dangerous, then because there was so much flooding that many of the roads were closed.
tropical storm fay came and sat on top of us for a good day and a half, dropping lots (btw 20 and 30 inches) of rain and wind, before deciding to make her way up the coast.
we did make our way out today, though, venturing out on our bikes to survey the flooding outside our immediate neighborhood.
the 8th tee at the golf course across the street (obviously there is not supposed to be any water here) - this guy's got the right idea! :
blowing off some steam when it finally stopped raining for a few minutes (again, that is still golf course behind, not a lake) :
despite the flooding in the area surrounding our neighborhood… our house is fine, with only our landscaping looking a little worse for the wear. we are so thankful!
p.s. we did have a little laugh in all of this. you know you're in a regularly weather-beaten state when amidst the 65 mph winds and driving rain, you hear a train go by.
the “fish” in their home … the makeshift fishbowl. she tends to forget them, though. luckily there are two sinks in her bathroom- we had a really surprised dinner guest the other night.
mug shots of the "fish"
the other night we got a bit sidetracked on iTunes looking for some new music to download onto our iPods. faith amused herself by dancing to each song snippet. every now and again she enlisted the ‘help’ of hugh in acting some of the songs out (ie: getting his foot tied up during 'peter and the wolf') and then later as a dancing partner…
no, folks, we weren’t hit by a hurricane. bertha came and went and gave us barely more than an afternoon of rain. waves were the best so far this year, but still not a whole lot to write home about. this is the result of a more spontaneous endeavor.
it started something like this:
hugh: “k, honey, i’m just going to go out and finish cutting the grass in the backyard. i don’t have a whole lot so i’ll be back in a little bit.”
i was working on something on the computer and chatting with my sister and, though i did notice the lack of loud noise coming from the backyard, didn’t think too much of it.
wow!! i literally just stood there staring for probably close to a minute!
turns out that hugh did start cutting the grass, but was overcome with irritation at the infestation of brazilian pepper trees that we have (a major nuisance around here! the county will actually cut them down for free because they take over everything so quickly) that he decided to launch the initial attack. this is definitely only the beginning- these guys are not easy to kill; it takes drilling, poisoning…
yes folks, those are bubbles coming out of the pasta. each and every time I try and boil water… bubbles. makes for very interesting dinner preparation.
explanation... one of faith’s chores is to wash the dishes (pots, pans, etc that have been used each weekend). it began as something she “loved!” and so asked for it to be added to her chore list- “it’s really so wonderful and fun. you should just think of it like you’re taking a bubble bath”. classic. this perspective didn’t last long, but unfortunately (for her) the chore is here for keeps.
one of the side effects, we have come to notice, is that she, without close supervision, uses a ridiculously large amount of soap. the result is clean dishes… but with a price.
this is a post asking for some prayer. almost 6 weeks ago a friend of the family, eric, was badly burned when he lost consciousness while showering. he suffered second and third-degree burns over much of his body as well as damage to his lungs, throat and kidneys. he’s in bad shape, but is fighting hard and winning small battles every day!
it really is an amazing story of God working and caring about the details of each of our lives.
this is a little late in coming, but oh well. my birthday last week was a beautiful day, full of friends. i am so thankful for each of them! my lovely husband started the day out so nicely, with breakfast and presents in bed and then even went to work late (and came home early) so that he could spend some extra time with me. the rest of the day was full of special hang-out time and phone calls and cards and i enjoyed it thoroughly. thanks everyone!
i’m also really lucky and get to share my birthday with my dad- what a wonderful gift! it makes everything so much more special and i love it. happy birthday dad!
here are some pics of the day…
kate and fin spent the afternoon with me
my candle-blowing helpers, ollie and madalyn
uh, sting ‘em scorps
(side note: hugh has made fun of baylor’s “sic ‘em bears” for years… but seriously, how is that any more strange than “sting ‘em scorps”… especially when you add the strange hand movement – that’s supposed to look like a scorpion stinging, I guess - that always goes along with it?!)
from a conversation yesterday…
Did you know that every time a girl has a crush on a boy, she loses an IQ point?
and do you know that we actually had a disagreement about the validity of the statement! – she didn’t believe me for a solid few minutes that it wasn’t really true! (yes, i'm sure that this could be debated...)
