This past weekend we went to NC to visit my mom, dad, sister and her family. Here are some shots from the weekend. My first one is because of Shutter Sisters' photo for today.
Lightening Clouds on Friday night at about 10pm or so....
(shot at a very high ISO so a little grainy but very cool none the less)
Our oldest son choosing to look sweet for the time being...
Our day at the park....everyone on the train but mom! "Hi mom!!"...
Dad and his girl...
Crazy boys...
Baby girl at Steak N Shake on the way home... Hope you all had a great Mother's Day!!!
We feed him, I swear we do! See?
But he's passed his 13 month older brother by 1/4 inch this spring and it doesn't look like it's stopping anytime soon!
I remember liking that song...don't ever remember who sang it. I'm horrible with all that who sang what stuff.
But today I've been thinking about God's call on our lives. What do we do when he begins to close doors in our comfortable little lives? Do we panic? Do we get worried over what's next? Sure we do. Our flesh panics doesn't it?
I wonder what God thinks about those doors He is indeed closing. I imagine a father patting a diapered bottom scooting me along to the next step, maybe away from danger, maybe toward something really yummy like "peaches". Oh yum, yum! Food! (I mean He knows I'm all about the food!)
God's never really happy with less than the best, you know? So when I settle comfortably in good but not best what does He do? Oh yea, you know! He moves me. My question is what is my (our) reaction?
"Oh yippee, Dad's moving again! You know it's always a great adventure with Him. He's got the best surprises!! AND He loves more than I could ever know so this is gotta be great!!!!" or
"What are you doing God? I like it here. Why do you want me to move from where I am? Do you know what's out there? I mean, I like my life. God? God? Do you hear me? I don't like change. Hello?"
Oh for me to come to Him with the eagerness my kids come to me with when I even hint at a trip. "Where are we going mom? What are we going to get? How long will it take? Will it be fun? Who else is going? Is there a playground? Hey, someone get the football and let's go!"
Oh Father turn my heart so towards you that I know the moment your thoughts shift towards me. Make me eager to follow you for you love me more than I can imagine. Protect me and my family and make us God Chasers!!!
Today is partly about confession. There is something we do as a family that I hesitate to tell people sometimes, especially homeschool moms because I know how tired we all are. With that said my confession is this....We have a housekeeper. Yep, an angel descends on our house once every two weeks and makes sure the toilets are scrubbed, the shower isn't growing things and that my boy's bedroom doesn't have 1/2 an inch of dust covering it or mold growing underneath the beds.
It works for us.
We've vacillated between having her once a month (when money is tighter) and then, just recently, went back to every two weeks. This helps us to feel less overwhelmed in all that we do as a family. It helps us keep balance in our lives. Oh, we still do plenty of scrubbing, vacuuming, and dusting in between but knowing that at least twice a month everything is clean at the same time even if it lasts only for an hour is very comforting.
Sometimes as homeschool moms (and as women) we believe we have to "do it all" and for the most part we do so much. Giving ourselves a break and letting someone else in to help really, well, helps!
So I encourage you to find something that will help you lighten your load today. (psst....it's okay, really!)
See more Works for me Wednesday (or today's Doesn't Work for me Wednesday) posts here.
This was a fun assignment (See the assignment here!) although I didn't have much time to complete it. I snapped this as the sun was setting in our neighborhood while I was supposed to be watching Dora with my 3 year old. I was sitting on the couch so you are looking out of my den windows.
Shutter Sisters asked us to try the "other end of the spectrum" by shooting with our F-stop high (narrow) instead of low (wide open). I admit, that like Sarah I love shooting with a 1.8 (lowest my camera lenses will take me) f-stop. But after admiring her photo at the link above I had to try this. 10 minutes later this is what I had.
This is what Sarah had to say about shooting at the narrow end of the aperture range (f-stop) "The narrower the aperture, the longer the exposure you can use, and that's how you get those lovely rays in the form of star-shaped flares"
Canon Xti
Aperture at 29
Shutter way down to 3.2
ISO 100
Manuel
God is unpredictable but consistent. You may not be able to tell what he is doing or why but you can always trust in WHO HE IS. He has your very best interests at heart. He is good. He is God.
Hope you all had a great Mother's Day!!!
