Summer Fun

I am way on behind with my blogging. I really need to update from our summer fall! We have had so much fun in the past couple months! So many fun things that I need to document! :)

First there was the eclipse, then I took the girls to a Secret Keeper Girl Live Event. Meanwhile the boys got to hunting and Jeremiah shot a 10 point buck. I took the boys to see Nicky Cruz at a local fundraiser and a friend took the girls and I to a Chris Tomlin Concert! (We had floor seats, it was AWESOME!)

I will start by sharing some of our pictures from the eclipse. Thanks to a friend, who wanted me to pick up glasses for her,I was prepared with eclipse glasses. (prior to her asking me to do that I had no idea we needed glasses). We invited our friends to join us in watching the eclipse.

We watched the eclipse  coverage live on NASA for hours. 

The kids noticed the strange leaf patterns! This was really cool.
It was rather cloudy so we did not get to fully enjoy the eclipse. But it was a neat experience. 

This was our viewing deck! 

I took the girls to a Secret Keeper Girl Live Event. We left the boys and Abi with friends. First we stopped at Sweet Frog and ate entirely to much sugar and junk. 

Despite the looks on their faces, they had a lot fun.

My two beautiful daughters! I am so thankful I get to be their mother. WE have all done so much growing in the last year. I love seeing them become young ladies who love Jesus. 

Cape Cod..

In Sept a dear friend of ours, blessed us with a week of vacation at their timeshare in Cape Cod. Many years ago, M and I had gone to Cape Cod for a vacation and it was one of m favorite vacation spots.

We had such a relaxing, delightful week. We stayed in a small resort right on the beach. We had a tiny cottage next door to the indoor pool and the playground. The beach was only a short walk from our cottage. We made some incredible memories...

Ask not what God can do for you, but what you can do for Him.

Something that a friend said to me.. and again came up in the books I was reading this week. Don't ask God to bless you, to give you what you want. Instead start each day by asking what you can do for God. So I have been mulling over this a lot lately. I am constantly asking God to help me, to provide for me, to fill in the gaps for me. I need Him in order to do what I do... He answers frequently with blessings beyond what I could ever imagine. Sometimes He says no. I have learned to trust. But now I am trying to start each day with asking God what I can do for Him. Instead of asking for my needs to be met, I am praying that I could do something for for Jesus. Which is mostly showing His love to my kids and the people I encounter in the day to day, it's nothing big or extravagant. It's small, little everyday things.

So then the question has been in my mind of, how then do I present my needs to my Father when my goal is to have a relationship where I am serving more than I am asking for my needs to be met. I have not come to a good conclusion.. but I had this little thing happen tonight that bolstered my faith and gave me confidence to continue on this road. So every 6 months we butcher a jersey steer that we raise. We ran out of hamburger 2 weeks ago. We eat approx 10 lbs of beef every week. So this is kinda a big deal. Today I was menu planning. I went down to see what I have in my freezers. I had a pile of freshly butchered ground sausage and scrapple(another God story for another day), some turkey sausage (yet another God story) and 2 pks of chicken, along with prepackaged burgers. Our next steer will butchered in about 4 weeks. So I said it once "God, I am sorta out of meat for dinner. Thanks for the ways You have provided before." I did not fret or worry. I was able to menu plan for the next week with what I have here. I also asked God how he would have me serve him, as my goal is to change my habitual prayers to praise and the desire to serve instead of just asking for my needs to be met. Several hours later, we were having a loud and chaotic dinner conversation when we heard someone knocking loudly on the door. It was a neighbor, I don't know them well. But they are always friendly and kind. They own a farmer's market stand. They had come bearing a bag of fresh meats!! Yummy meat from their meat stand. They had no idea that I was out of beef. They had no idea of the prayer I had breathed as I menu planned for dinner meats. They had no idea.. yet... they showed up with these blessings. Now sometimes it's hard for me to accept these gifts. Especially when I have no way of repaying them. This is not the first time they have brought meat with divine timing. I know it's just meat. But when you have four hungry preteens, it's sorta a big deal. So what I learned today is that we are to serve Jesus, to look for ways to do things He needs us to do. But He also wants to bless us. He cares about these things. He really does and if we are obedient He will give us good gifts. (Another God story) So these same neighbors... back in April on the day that would have been our 12th wedding anniversary, I had had a long day. (it's a day that is really only remembered by me, as it has little significance to anyone else.) At the end of the very long day, there was a knock on the door. I opened it to see this same neighbor family, they brought us meat and sub rolls. They had no idea, none that the significance of this day. But they had felt led, and they brought us this blessing. It felt like this little God hug..