You just never know

"Whoever drinks of the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. "

--Jesus (John 4: 14)

I am many things to many people, but I am sure that the role in life I take most seriously is the role of Christian mom. If there is one thing in my life I want to get right, it's leading my children to the well containing the water that will satisfy them for a lifetime. I would gladly fail at a hundred other things if it could assure my success in this endeavor. But it cannot.

Because as we all know, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. In the case of my kids, I am left to pray that God would give them a powerful thirst for him. A thirst that I often can't see, and am not meant to see.

Don't get me wrong. My kids love Jesus. They have publicly professed their faith in him by choosing to be baptized. We tried to talk them out of it, but they persisted. We are thrilled that this is the case, but we long to see them know him as their treasure. (I know, I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again!) In all of life, with all its distractions, busy with activities which fuel their passions in both productive and unproductive ways, we want them to know that in the moments when all of that leaves them empty, Christ alone will always satisfy.

This summer, God was kind enough to give me a glimpse of himself at work in Bethany's life. It had nothing to do with me. But it was a beautiful answered prayer. I will tell you all about it soon, but one thing has struck me even more than ever:

You just never know how God will work.

Urban Delight

I'm such a suburban girl. This summer you saw me wide-eyed on the farm, and giddy over small town treasures. I was wild and wooly in the wilderness for a little while. You can thank me for not going tribal. But I had to complete my community sampler by heading downtown to the farmers market. Seriously, how could I never have visited the farmers market before? It was mouth-watering to say the least. Lee's office is blocks away, so I got him to play hooky from work and join me. AWESOME date!

The best part? Taking home everything that looked good to me for free. In my camera. And a gorgeous bouquet in my hands. I love my husband!

Whew!

Big news! My computer is up and running, my photos are uploaded AND backed up (along with the rest of my hard drive), and while I was away from my computer I was out having fun with my favorite guy and tech support. I'll see you after I get a bunch of editing done!

I'll be right back! (and an UPDATE)

I would like to announce that my computer is fixed!!

Except that it might not be. I mean, the last time I thought it was it really wasn't. So I'd hate to get your hopes up. Who am I kidding? I would hate to get MY hopes up!

I'll spare you the rest of those details. The important thing is that I really am posting this from my own computer. If the rebuilding goes well in the next couple of days, I will upload a month's worth of pics from my camera. Hooray! (But I won't post them ALL here. Hooray for YOU!)

And speaking of cameras...

You know that crazy photo contest? There were six categories. My photo that made the finals was the runner up in the People and Places category. BUT, the winning photo in that category (adorable smiling dolphin) ended up being the grand prize winner, so that means...(drumroll)......

My Autumn in the Northwoods photo moved up to category winner, and I really did win a camera! It's a Nikon Coolpix point and shoot that is not too different from what I have, but now I can put a camera in every pair of hands in my family, which is way exciting! Many thanks to those who voted!

Dear Fashion Designers,

Fall has hit us with a vengeance these past few days, and I've been sent scrambling to the mall to make sure we have enough clothes to keep us from freezing. I realize most people do their back to school shopping before the kids go back to school. Not me. I just hang onto every last moment of summer as long as I can. But this week I took my seasonal clothing budget to the store with the intention of spending it. Good for you, right? So I wanted to write you a letter and let you know what you got out of me.

I started with shopping for the guys. You scored with all the new screen prints. Lee really needed some new t-shirts, and I have to say the retro ad shirts had me laughing. I was tempted by the one with the picture of the Dough Boy that said "Poke Me", but opted for the polar bear drinking the ICEE that said "Mr. Cool". The t-shirts in the boys section were even long-sleeved, and I must admit that I thought you had been stalking Ben before you made those shirts. My favorite was the one with the two silly monkeys that said, "Annoying my sister: Just another service I provide." While it's true, I'm sure not gonna pay for him to advertise it. So you got $10 for one shirt for Lee. And I got a lot of free chuckles.

Next up was Bethany. I need to congratulate you on this year's fashions for young girls. With the creative release of the latest look in jeans now called "skinny jeans", you have stooped to a new all time low. Way to alienate every girl who isn't anorexic. Yet. And while we're alienating people, could you please explain to me WHAT is UP with all the BFF stuff?? Seriously! Whatever happened to having friends in the neighborhood and friends at school, friends on your team, and friends at church? Must we be inseparable from our one best friend, to the obvious exclusion of the others (or at least making sure they know they are second class)? Must we assume that if we don't have ONE best friend we are NOBODY? You can be sure you didn't make a dime on jeans or BFF stuff. I bought her a couple of cute shirts with normal butterflies, glitter, neon, smiles, and cupcakes. Make more of that stuff, will you? And normal jeans.

I only had a few minutes to look for myself, but really, that was all I needed. Because I really don't think "Rock Star" is my look. And the only alternative was "vintage frumpy". I didn't spend a penny. The look I'm after is more like "cute, hip, fun, yet modest mom". Could you please get to work on that?

Thanks!
Tracy P.

The Latest

You may think I haven't posted lately. That's not entirely true. I've composed several posts in the last week. In my head. Too bad you can't read my mind. Well, not really.

Here's the latest:

1. I came in second place in the zoo photo contest in my category. Which means I can't win a camera, but when it is time for me to have a new camera, I will get to choose the one I want! And pay for it. What I did win is a gift card to a camera store for $25. Not too shabby! Thanks to my wonderful voting friends!

2. Did I mention that my computer is down? Well, it still is, and I am still ditzy. I swear my real brain is on that thing. The awesome news is that our very techy friend rescued the data off the terminally ill hard drive, so my brain is intact. Just not functioning. Yet. First I have to send the hard drive back and wait for the new one.

3. Our kids don't start school until next week, but they are both very happy with their teachers and classes. Awesome open house last night. We are so very blessed with a great school.

4. Our kitchen plumbing is VERY weird. I'll spare you the details, but about twice a year we get some massive clog that is impossible to reach. It's that time again. Poor Lee has spent numerous hours working on it. He is asleep on the floor right now. Passed out playing with the kids. And for now at least, the water is running. Hooray for not taking the dishes downstairs to wash them in the laundry sink!

5. I have quite a few pictures just begging to be uploaded and turned into posts. Who knows whether I will actually catch up and make that happen? But here's a sneak preview, just because my kids are growing up too fast and I need to remember what they looked like a couple of weeks ago.


Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!