What If Your Blessings Come Through Raindrops?

(This post was originally titled "So Much For Escaping the Weather" but was changed after I had a sudden realization. Just thought you might like to know.)

So after writing yesterday's post about our miserable weather, my parents and I decided that we just couldn't take it anymore so we packed up and headed to my grandparents' home. You see, they live in a part of the state that is notably drier than where I live. It seemed like a brilliant plan at the time.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm happy to be out of the house, it's just that it doesn't seem to matter where I go because it's still raining. But at least when I look longingly out of the rain-spattered window, I see a change of scenery. That's nice.

We did actually get out a bit earlier today despite the light drizzle. We visited a couple of nearby waterfalls and walked around. We had a good time, even with the rain.

(I'm testing out some watermarks. What are your thoughts?)

I realized something though: It's weather like this that makes my home such a lovely place to live. Without all of the rain we get, there wouldn't be so much beautiful green.

I also recall seeing a fire danger meter on our way. The fire danger was "low" because of the rain.

You've got to love the rain. It drives us crazy sometimes, but after a good downpour, everything is so fresh and clean. It smells wonderful, it feels light and refreshing, and I think to myself, that wasn't so bad.

It got me thinking: The Lord sends us rain whether we like it or not. We'll complain, we'll beg Him to make it stop, we'll try to escape it, but He knows that we are like plants; without water, we can't grow. He sends those downpours our way in order to help us grow and make us stronger.

Isn't that thought reassuring? It was for me.

And, of course, being the music nerd that I am, two songs popped into my head:









So as much as I would love to see some sunshine, I know that I am truly blessed to live in a place where it is frequently raining. It's summer, and a bit of rain can't change that. I'm going to make the most of it.

All the Things We've Seen and It's Only 7:19 in the Morning!

This morning I...

• Woke up at 6:07
• Ran around like a maniac in search of my camera
• Got dressed in record time
• Hopped in the car
• Took pictures of hot air balloons
• Followed the hot air balloons
• Helped take down a hot air balloon
• Took more pictures
• Went home for breakfast

 And it's only 7:19 in the morning!

I feel alive!

Pictures coming soon!

A Message From My Music-Teaching Mother

Keeping my Ducks in a Row                            May 31, 2011


One morning a week, I teach music to a class of 25 wiggly kindergarteners.  Many of them have summer birthdays, which means that even in May, quite a few are still five years old.  This is my true story.

“Hello, Kindergarten.  Today I have a new song to sing for you.  Here it is.”  I begin to sing: “When ducks….” Immediately, I lose one third of the class.  “Ducks!” say their little brains, “This song is about ducks!  What do we know about ducks?  They quack, they flap their wings, you can make a duck beak with your two hands in front of your mouth.”  They proceed to do so.

I continue the line of song: “….get up in the morning…”  There goes group two.  I must say, you’ve got to like group two.  Their eyes get big with surprise.  Ducks!  Getting up in the morning!  They had never thought about this before!  What would the ducks do? They immediately go into full pantomime mode.  They sleep, they wake up, they stretch their arms – wait!  They are ducks! They have wings to stretch, not arms!  What would that look like?  But wait again, the words said they get up – maybe they should stand up! They stand, stretch their wings some more, and begin to quack.

I finish the line: “….they always say ‘Good day’.”  Group three must be the ones who are already six years old.  They are good with the concept of Ducks. They have no problem imagining them getting up in the morning.  They are simply waiting for any directions to follow.  They decide that the directions are to always say “Good day”.  They turn to each other and begin to say “Good day.  Good day.  Good day.  Good day.”  As there are so few of them in this group, they quickly run out of people to say good day to, so they get up and go over to the Morning Ducks.  Here they meet a language barrier, because the Morning Ducks didn’t get that far in the song and so have no idea why the Good Day Ducks are saying good day, and the Good Day Ducks can’t figure out why the Morning Ducks just keep quacking.  Finally, the Good Day Ducks decide to go bilingual, and add some quacks in with their Good Days.  Aha, a breakthrough!  Now the Morning Ducks and the Good Day Ducks can communicate. “Quack, good day, good day, quack!”

Meanwhile, the group one Basic Ducks have finished exploring their concise understanding of “duckiness” and are now spinning and sliding around on the floor, trying to snap each other with their duck beak hands.  They have already forgotten that these hands represent a duck beak.  In fact, they have forgotten that we are doing anything about ducks, but they do know that this sure is a great game!

Snap, quack, good day!  And this all happened within the time it took me to sing, “When ducks get up in the morning, they always say good day.”

The End. (Quack!)

It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas

 Not the best picture, but here's our Christmas tree.

 This is an aerial view of our nativity set.

 Yes, this is a goldfish ornament, and yes, it is on our tree.

Why? Just cause we can!

 This bird nest sits on one of the sturdier, wider branches.

 This? Well to be honest, I don't actually know what to call it, but it looks neat...

 This here is a cluster of grapes. No way!

 In case you can't tell, this is a reindeer wind chime ornament, only there isn't any wind to blow it.

 Neat idea though.

 This is an ornament from my preschool.

 (excuse the arm in the photo- I haven't gotten around to editing these) When I pulled this fishing frog out of the box, I noticed that this fish ornament just happened to be attached to the end of the frog's pole. I kept it that way, just for kicks.

 This is an egg house. Kind of odd, but whatever!

The long one here is what we call the "Dr. Seuss ornament" and you see, we always put the same ornament right by it.

 It's Cindy Lou Who (Who was no more than two)!

 I found this kitty ornament our first Christmas with Tiger.

 This star is hung at teh top of the tree, right below the angel.

 We have a few of these Night before Christmas ornaments in different colors.

 I like this one because it's musical!

 Yep. A tomato.

 This is a mystery. I think it's a cucumber, but my mom says it is most definitely a pickle.

 Another music related one...

 This is a peacock that clips onto the branch.

 I like this one because there's a cat.

 This is our angel. Like the shadow on the wall?

 Close-up of the nativity set.

 The colored lights go in the family room.

 I figured out that if my camera is on the nighttime scene setting and I move it around, this is the end result.

 Neat, isn't it?

( I crack myself up!)

And last (but most certainly not least) this is the start of our light-up town. When finished, it will have puffy snow, glittery snow, and people.

What does your Christmas set-up look like?

My Latest Project

My mom's birthday was on Friday. On Thursday night I found a pattern for a crocheted gift bag, so I adapted the pattern for my mom's birthday gift. It turned out very well!

The pattern is from here, but remember, I didn't follow it exactly.

For this project I used Red Heart brand yarn and a size I hook. I crocheted both colors at the same time to make the ribbon.

I liked how easy it was to make the size I wanted. It should be easy to make it larger or smaller by altering the number of rounds, hook size, or yarn weight.


I'll definitely be making these again!

Presents

Alright Abby.

You know something? Charlotte and I were talking about something on Sunday night. And we didn't tell you.


Well here it is:


My parents gave me a very nice present...


Of a drivers manual.

Laugh all you want.