BOOKS I FINISHED - JULY & AUGUST 2019

*****

Hope Was Here, written by Joan Bauer
Life hasn't been easy for Hope, but she has an aunt who loves her and a diner for the two of them to take over together. A sweet story that reminds us of the value of commitment, friendship, hard work, and integrity. This is a school book for the kids that I read on my own.

p. 113, "You know what I've found out about disappointments?" GT asked.

I sniffed. "No."

"I think that if we face them down, they can become our strengths."


*****

Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age, written by Sherry Turkle
This book is a clear declaration of the critical importance of face-to-face conversation, as well as the negative impact the overuse of screens is having on our culture. Turkle discusses fear of solitude, the demise of healthy communication in relationships (friends, family members, romantic partners) that ultimately leads to the end of the relationship itself, diminished productivity in both the workplace and classroom, and an overall lack of empathy that comes from never interacting with people face-to-face. She's definitely not anti-technology, but she makes a very strong case for putting thought into how and why we're using screens, as well as what the cost of that choice is, so that we can use our devices to enrich our lives, not sabotage them.


*****

Red Sails To Capri, written by Ann Weil
Three men, all in search of something different, sail to Capri to find what they're looking for. One boy, along with two friends and his parents, get caught up in their adventure. This is a school book I read with Tyler.

p. 93, "To look and see are two different things. Anyone with eyes can look. Few people really see."


*****

Strawberry Girl, written and illustrated by Lois Lensky
Tyler and I read this school book about two families living in Florida in the early 1900s. One family is happy and working their land to provide for themselves, another is unhappy and sabotaging the efforts of the other. This fictional story is filled with lessons about friendship, conflict resolution, hard work, forgiveness, and cooperation.


*****

Take Me With You, written by Catherine Ryan Hyde
A grieving father and two boys without parents to live with end up spending an entire summer together. Strangers at the start, the trip will prove to be healing and life-changing for all three.

p. 43, "But when nobody punishes you, you have to do it yourself, and there's no release date on that. We're always harder on ourselves than any governing body could ever get away with being."

p. 132, Maybe everybody wants a science lesson if they're sitting in the middle of one of the greatest geothermal wonders of the world. Maybe we've removed all the relevance from the information we teach kids so they have no idea why they should care. Maybe it's not the kids' fault. Maybe we made the first mistake.

p. 165, "In one way, we've all just got the time since we got up this morning. But I've seen a lot of people walk a lot of roads. Some not so happy. And it makes them what they are. So if you run around putting a pillow under people to cushion their fall ... well, I'm just not sure it's quite the favor we think it is."

p. 176, "Sometimes stuff just happens, you know? There's not always some simple thing to point to, like if you just don't do this, nothing can go wrong. Something can always go wrong. But we don't like to think that way, so we point a lot."


*****

When We Were Sisters, written by Emilie Richard
Two women's lives connected as foster sisters many years ago. Their love for and devotion to each other is strong as ever, but they lead very different lives now. Currently a married stay-at-home mom and a single celebrity, they'll join forces in the creation of a documentary about foster care. In the process, they'll each deal with some of their personal struggles head on and come to terms with the circumstances surrounding a home they lived in together as kids.

p. 187, "I just meant you're not biologically related."

"Joined at the hip and the heart," Robin said. "Best kind of biological."

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THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for the corn man. What's one thing you're thankful for? 

BLACKBERRY PICKING

Way back on the 7th, Tyler and I passed a bunch of blackberries while we were out on our run. We grabbed Devon and Naomi when we go home, then all headed out to pick as many as we could. 

  

All the low berries had been picked at one point, so Tyler started picking flowers instead. 

In addition to our berries, we ended up with this bucket of beauty.

All four foragers.

Final result? Six and a half pounds of berries! Tyler suggested we arrange the bowls like this for a picture. It's our summer snowman.

TIME WITH EXTENDED FAMILY

Two members of our extended family came into town earlier this month. Then two more came to see them. They all happened to come on the weekend we'd already planned Naomi's birthday party, an event three more came to. I was able to see ... 

 ... my sister ...

... my dad ...

... my nephew ...

... my sister-in-law ...

... my bonus mother-in-law and bonus sister-in-law. 

Plus a bonus niece, who is only in the group pictures from the party. So fun! 

Also fun? Heading to Dollar Tree with these two. So much laughter!

NAOMI'S BIRTHDAY - 2019

Naomi is now in her last pre-teen years! Her birthday was over two weeks ago, but I've been waiting for pictures from her birthday time with Tim. Found out they didn't take any, so I'm finally getting the other pictures up. 

Here's one of the birthday girl's pretty face after she and Tim spent a chunk of the day scoring birthday freebies together all over own.

She pulled a group together for a dodgeball party the day before her birthday and we took a group picture.

More kids showed up later, so we took another group shot.

And a silly face pose, in which the birthday girl hid behind the giant teddy bear she was just given.

Lots of dodgeball and candy with siblings, cousins, and friends made her pretty happy! We took a picture in the birthday outfit later in the week.

She'll probably fit into it perfectly next year!

SALMON FALLS PARK WITH THE BOYS

The boys and I went on a spontaneous trip out to Salmon Falls Park today. Silas has been wanting to cliff jump there, so he suggested we head out for a bit and offered to drive. Deal! We snapped a quick group picture upon arrival, then dispersed to do whatever we each wanted to do.

This is the view of the swimming hole and cliff from the rocky beach where we left all our stuff. Isn't it pretty?

 I took a few minutes at the start to just relax. Sunshine. Fresh air. Trees. Water. Bliss.

Silas, on the other hand, got straight down to business. He did a couple regular jumps, but his primary goal was to do a back flip and gainer. The gainer didn't happen because of logistics with space on the rock, but he did do a few back flips. This video is of his first one. Subsequent jumps happened quickly, but you can skip ahead to about 1:50 in this video to avoid the boring warm-up to the first jump.

Tyler found a crawdad and wanted to show me, but didn't want to actually pick it up. Devon to the rescue! Teamwork, right?

Silas had to come off his adrenaline rush after that first jump, so he headed back to shore for a bit with nothing but smiles.

Silas and Devon spent a bunch of time on the cliff, but Tyler and I had only been down in the lower part of the water and beach. So he and I headed up the path for a view from the top. Of course, I insisted on some brother shots once we were all up there. And, of course, they goofed off the whole time. Squashing Tyler's head.

All trying to get down to Tyler's level.

Picking Tyler up.

I asked them to move so Tyler would be in the middle, but then both Tyler and Devon moved, which was pointless. But funny. So there was a mirror image picture of the previous one.

I wanted a shot with the big boys holding Tyler up, but this is as close as I got. A bunch of laughter is a good substitute for the perfect picture, right?

I took one last shot of the swimming hole before we left, but this one was from the top of the cliff. There were several little pools of water up there. The first scenery shot was taken just outside of the top right corner of this one.

Super fun way to spend part of the day, especially since parenting has been a little less than awesome lately. I'm glad we went!

FRIEND REUNION

Last Friday a friend sent a message to a few gals asking if anyone could get together that day. Her family moved out of the area a couple years ago and were back in town for one last day after visiting relatives. My kids all had a previous commitment that lasted all day, but we managed to plan something for later in the evening. I kept it a surprise, though.

Naomi, who was beyond exhausted from a full week of church activities, started crying when I told her she'd have to leave again after being home only a few minutes. She just wanted to go to bed. Normally I wouldn't have scheduled anything for that evening, but it was the only chance she'd have to see her friend and I knew she'd feel like it was worthwhile.

But, still. She was crying from exhaustion. 

I asked if she wanted to know who was important enough to stay awake for. She wanted to know. I told her who it was and her eyes, rimmed with tears, lit up! She agreed it was totally worth it, but crawled into bed for a 30 minute power nap before we left. 

Then she and Ivana spent nearly two hours together at the park. Lots of playing, talking, smiling, and laughing. So fun!!

Plus I got a bunch of time to visit with Jessica and meet McKay, which was great.

Three more of her and my boys were also there, but I didn't get a picture of them. Oops. It was mostly all about the girls this time around anyway.

I'm so glad this quick friend reunion was able to happen and Naomi totally agreed it was worth staying up just a little bit longer for!

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for first responders. What's something that you're thankful for?

SUMMER HARVEST, JUNK FOOD, & A FREE CONCERT

We spent Monday at home, a mellow day of recuperating from a busy week. Tuesday, however, was a different story. It was non-stop all day long.

A friend asked if we wanted to pick plums from her tree, so Devon, Naomi, and Tyler took turns climbing the ladder to harvest from the highest branches. We brought home at least 30 pounds of plums for our family, as well as leaving behind about the same amount for our friend to use herself and give to other people. 

We're eating a whole bunch of them plain, but we're also using the stash to make some other things. I baked plum buckle this morning for our Wednesday night dessert and made plum freezer jam for the first time. There's no doubt loaves of plum bread are in order and the food dehydrator has been pulled out for drying some. We've never had homemade prunes, but I think dried bananas and apples are phenomenally better when made at home and anticipate plums will be the same.

We ran errands later in the afternoon, then stopped by Costco for a nutritious dinner of hot dogs and soda (my treat) and churros (Naomi's treat) on our way to drop Devon off at church.

We wrapped the day up with the final Music in the Park performance at the library. This is our eighth summer of enjoying weekly free concerts out on the grass in Library Square, but there were only three Ws at most shows this season. The big boys had to quit coming when youth group switched from Thursdays to Tuesdays last year, then Tim missed for various reasons this year. Naomi, Tyler, and I were loyal fans, though!

Busy day, but a good one!

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for the freebies we get on T-Mobile Tuesdays. What's one thing that you're thankful for?

HARVESTING KALE

A friend asked if we wanted to harvest kale from her garden last week, as she was leaving town and wouldn't have time to take care of it. Tyler and I stopped by on our way home from running some other errands and loaded up seven bags with kale leaves. We were able to give away a whole bunch, but I also chopped and froze tons for our family. 

Not only that, but she sent us home with a bag of cucumbers, a cabbage, and a container of blackberries.

Hooray for summer bounties, generous friends, and time in the sun with a little W!

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for friends who let me know I'm not alone in how I feel, encourage me with practical advice, give me a hug, and/or pray for me when I'm frustrated about one situation or another. What's something that you're thankful for?

THE FIREWOOD TEAM

I'm thankful for a husband who put in a long work day on Monday, then came home and split wood for four hours on a hot summer night. I'm also thankful for the ability to work with him - time together, productivity, and a chance to burn off some frustrations of the day. 

Tim's the wood splitting half of our team.

And I'm the wood stacking half.

A FUN AFTERNOON FOR TYLER

Isaac came over to hang out with Tyler for the afternoon last Tuesday. They danced (and I laughed) through Dumb Ways to Die, played Sorry, ran into some of our friends while watching Takohachi perform at the Woodburn Public Library, and just goofed off together. 

They had a good time!

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SONGS OF COMFORT

A friend recently mentioned seeing a positive change in my life. She's right. The last ten months have been a season of shifting priorities, making intentional choices, and taking better care of myself. I'm still far from where I want to be, really far, but it was encouraging for someone else to say they'd noticed some results of the effort I've been making.

Yet in the midst of the forward progress, there are still struggles. Life is often two steps forward, one step back. Like the picture above, it's the juxtaposition of death and life, ugliness and beauty that we all face as we move through our days.

Insecurity. Failure. Anxiety. Grief.

I wrestle with those things regularly, more now than I ever have before. It's discouraging and I hate the inappropriate ways I deal with them.

But God, in his goodness, created people who write beautiful music and pen lyrics that speak to the various things we feel in life. I have a playlist on Spotify I call "When Life Stinks" that's filled with songs I listen to when I'm down, ones that validate how I feel while pointing me out of whatever funk I'm in, but the following songs (or snippets of songs, as the case may be) are the ones that have come to mind a lot lately. They remind me that I'm fully known by God, even when I don't feel comfortable sharing my thoughts and feelings with anyone else; that he loves me in the middle of the mess my life can be; that the truth of who I am rests in who he is so I don't need to beat myself up over my shortcomings.


He Made Me, He Loves Me by Ben & Noelle Kilgore on A Resting Place
(Complete lyrics here and video here.)

He made me
He loves me
He knows all my story


He Knows My Name by Tommy Walker on Never Gonna Stop
(Complete lyrics here and video here.)

He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And he hears me when I call


Here's My Heart by Lauren Daigle on How Can It Be 
(Complete lyrics here and video here.)

Here's my heart, Lord
Here's my heart, Lord
Here's my heart, Lord
Speak what is true

I am found, I am yours
I am loved, I'm made pure
I have life, I can breathe
I am healed, I am free


I hope those words encourage some of you today!

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