Ordinary summer day?

Braden is our early bird, morning person, and his comment was, "Well, it's morning, the sun's up, open the curtains!" in his commanding tone of voice.

Yesterday, he wanted to go with his Daddy in the worst kind of way. He hung onto his leg from the living room to the kitchen. Merv played along with him and just kept walking while he hung on. He doesn't have much fat. Smile!

Then when Merv had one shoe on, he grabbed the other shoe and took it upstairs. He was so hyper and silly! You see, big brother got to go with his Daddy on more than one occasion of late because Merv had four jobs of replacing windows and wanted the company. Both of them had a piece of whole wheat toast as grabs for breakfast.

With Merv on the his way to work, I went to fix the bed and brush my teeth. I got out to the kitchen where this little 'schnicklefritz' was busy taking photos with the big Canon EOS 30D camera. That's a big and heavy gadget for this little pumpkin, but that's his thing of late.

He said, "Mom, I'm just taking some pictures!" .....

......of which he took over a dozen of meaningless shots. I deleted them all, but in writing this post, I should have kept one just for the remembrance. He'll be taking some more. I can hardly keep his and his brothers' hands off the camera.

Today I read this little poem from The Children's Book of Home and Family by William J. Bennett.

The Boy We Want

A boy who is truthful and honest

And faithful and willing to work;

But we have not a place that we care to disgrace

With a boy who is ready to shirk.

Wanted - a boy you can tie to,

A boy who is trusty and true,

A boy who is good to old people,

And kind to the little ones too.

A boy who is nice to the home folks,

And pleasant to sister and brother,

A boy who will try when things go awry

To be helpful to father and mother.

These are the boys we depend on-

Our hope for the future, and then

Grave problems of state and the world's work await

Such boys when they grow to be men.

That's my prayer for these boys. Braden wanted a turn with the camera and his only shot turned out great. No cropping involved. Will they have the love for photography?

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This morning I was busy with checking out our local grocery stores' fliers. What deals can I find this week? Are there some online coupons to print to match up with the sales prices? All these things take a bunch of time, but we see the end result when we view our grocery bill and savings, average of 50%.

Last night I saved $29 on a $14 purchase. I was quite pleased with the 70% savings.

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Merv's job: Installing windows is OK, but it's not like flooring. Indeed, we are thankful for the jobs, though small.

"Father, help me to be content with only having food and clothes. We are the richest people on earth if we have this. Why do I think I need more, when You have supplied our needs with more than enough? Forgive me for my ungratefulness. Help me Father to crucify my fleshly desires. I long to be more like you."

Your Love is Extravagant

Your love is extravagant

Your friendship, it is intimate

I feel I'm moving to the rhythm of Your grace

Your fragrance is intoxicating in the secret place

Cause Your love is extravagant

Chorus: Spread wide in the arms of Christ there's a love that covers sin

No greater love have I ever known; You considered me a friend

Capture my heart again

~ song by Casting Crowns ~

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Braden is in the habit of stuffing his pockets full with all kinds of treasures. I've been noticing that the same things go in every day, with a little variety here and there. He's been really good at emptying them before putting his pants in the hamper. I remember my cousin's children used to do that a lot. I guess now it's my turn.

And with the shoe rack in the back, you'd think it would be so easy to get in the habit of putting shoes on the shelf instead of on the rugs right inside both doors, the laundry and kitchen. The way our house is setting, it's a whole lot easier and faster to come into the kitchen. All of us, including me, need to keep developing the habit of entering in at the laundry. Maybe when Dad and Mom always practice this, the children will follow ***wink! I really don't mind if all of us use the kitchen door, but I do mind when shoes get parked right inside the door or when they are muddy and dirty. I need to keep training. Most times the children do well. But they slack off, when I slack off on the training.

Consistency. That's what I need to develop.

And I don't have it.

Discipline.

I need that, too.

I do know the One who will give these traits, if I remember to ask.

James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

I think of this verse a lot. Because I need wisdom. Especially in this one chance of training our precious family. One chance - that's all we get. Sobering.

All the little treasures.......The red paper is a photo sleeve for the picture of his friend. By now the scotch tape is dirty, but it's a neat little paper pocket to protect the photo. And it's handmade by Braden. The stickers are gone. I guess he liked the backing. And the Lego truck, well, they spends HOURS playing Legos. The coins were a gift from a friend, at least $.22 and the rest he found. The boys use rubber bands for anything, including toy trucks with broken trailer hitches.

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This morning Zach had asked his Daddy about filling up the tub as a swimming hole. That kept him busy with his surprise for his younger brothers. They followed him outside. They needed to wait to 'swim' till after they ate.

Having said lunch, Zach wanted to help, so he cooked the Hebrew National brand of beef hot dogs. I had never tried this brand before as normally one package of seven hot dogs costs $5.39. And it's less than a pound of meat, precisely 12 ounces. But I managed to pay $1.50 per package which is still a lot more than I probably should have paid - oh well, I had a coupon. Does that explain anything? They tasted good! And it was simple to fix.

The boys didn't give the tub of water a chance to warm up.

"This water is COLD!!!!!"

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The girls readied themselves to pick blackberries while I finished the grocery list and laundry. They donned some of their Daddy's jeans, grabbed handkerchiefs to cover their hair, and pulled out some long sleeved shirts to tackle the job of picking berries by the prickly briers. They managed to pick about four quarts!

Now we prefer black raspberries, but who wouldn't take another kind of berry if they're free and growing wild on your property?

I washed the berries, covered them with water. and turned the burner on med/high. A few minutes passed, I have no idea how many! All of a sudden, I heard this noise and I had this sinking feeling. A walk into the kitchen confirmed my fears. There was a good amount of juice all over the stove. I had totally forgotten that I was cooking the berries. That's what happens when you leave the kitchen with something on the stove.

You see, I am so used to hearing the kettle lids whistling when they boil, and this certain lid doesn't work right now. Whew! No harm done. Nothing was burnt. Just a little mess and about one cup of wasted juice.

Within a few minutes, everything was cleaned up, including the white dish rag which had turned a deep purple. Clorox does a fine job of keeping things clean. Never mind the chemicals. At least, not this time.

I added the sugar and clear gel, then the last step was to add a little raspberry jello for extra flavor. That's when Zach came to help. But he was a bit peeved when he thought he should be the only one in the photo.

Such selfish creatures we are. I guess Zach loves that undivided attention. We all do.

But we must learn to keep everyone else first. And that is hard. Only Christ gives you the strength to do that.

It's not easy to put others first when they've done something against you, or you feel like you've been treated unfairly. I know because I've been there. It takes God's love to help us get over that. And it is possible. Oh, such freedom to be able to look at people and not be angry! God puts a love within you that is indescribable. His love helps you love others and view them in a way you never saw before. LOVE - the second greatest commandment. "Thank you Lord, for working in my heart. Continue to purge me from wickedness."

When you put God first, your relationship with man follows.

Picture a cross - take care of the vertical and the horizontal will fall in place.

J-O-Y

Jesus first.

Others next.

Yourself last.

And that spells JOY.

The end results: hot, steamy, rich, seedy blackberry filling.

Tomorrow we'll make the pie. YUMMO!

This also is great sauce over vanilla ice cream.

Naptime followed a story.