Grand kids and their play toy.......

Bigger kids were all doing school.  Older grandson was in trouble for tattling and had to come sit in my lap to stay safe.   That caused two others to want my lap.   Instead they settled for rocking on the foot stool  DIL took this picture of us. 

From there it sorta evolved.  I had shown grandson how to "scratch" the dog by driving cars on him.  Both were in heaven.  

 Since I had the camera someone needed his picture taken.   I suggested sitting on the pillow, instead of IN the lens of the camera.

 Back to the picture prop.   Dog was in HEAVEN!  

 Boys decided to put the pillow under his head.  

 Chair maybe?   Seemed to work well.

 If one could do it then the other had to follow!  

Dog finally got up when I went outside and all the little munchkins were hot on my heels.  Until then he just thought they were petting him.  

Fire Pictures from a LONG ways off...........

As many of you know large portions of Texas are on fire.   From where I am earlier today I could see smoke from two fires.  One is a big one.  As a crow flies it is 50 or so miles from me.  It is much closer to some friends who posted pictures on her blog here:  http://txjonesohana.blogspot.com/2011/04/fire.html

Then tonight I was working on the bobcat grubbing mesquite and had to stop and take these pictures of the same fire.   I haven't heard any updates on it, but judging from the smoke it isn't contained yet.  Prayer for those in harms way would be appreciated.  

They are beautiful sunsets!  Wish it was rain clouds instead of smoke.  If you want to check out the fires nation wide check this out.  http://classic.wunderground.com/wundermap/  Once you click on this then click the radar and weather stations un-clicking them.  Clicking the fire box.   Zoom out as far as you want.  This will show the fires that are showing on satellites.   It is a sobering look at how many fires there are in the US right now.  

This and That in Pictures............

Last week I made bread dough and turn T loose with it.  She came up with snails among other creative er decorative designs.

 Tetherball lessons for the younger crowd?   T was "instructing" them. 

 Today I started moving my plants outside.  Over all they wintered the winter inside well.  We have a couple of cool days ahead so I thought maybe it would be a good day to start getting them use to the heat and WIND. 

The ones above have really overgrown this winter.  I managed to get most of the coleus out without breaking to many limbs.

 This is my main jungle.  It has one plant that DH will have to help me.  My bougainvillea is HUGE about 6 ft tall and has a trellis supporting it.  I moved it in trellis and all. I am hoping I can move it out the same way.   I can't decide if I should trim it back or not.  Right now it is in full bloom. 

I need to add some blooming plants to my porch.  I have two begonias that should be blooming again after the shock.  They are blooming now.  I have a geranium that isn't blooming. It needed more light.  I have it in full sun now so it should be happy.   My porch is so shady most of the summer days it is hard to find plants that are low light hanging baskets.  For the most part they have to be hanging baskets.  Peafowl like flowers along with cats like planters for beds.  I like rose moss but not sure if I have a sunny enough hanging spot.

This weekend is flea market. There is also my favorite nursery up there.  I will do some serious plant shopping for stuff like tomatoes and peppers along with some flowers.  I am thinking about doing cherry tomatoes or those sweet 100s in hanging baskets on the porch.   They may produce better there as it will be cooler.  

Back to life around here!  Everyone be blessed!

Links to more sand pictures... er camping pictures...

http://txjonesohana.blogspot.com/

and

http://zeschs.blogspot.com/

Consequences

Seems we have had a rash of consequences, or should I say bad choices that lead mom to be creative or just "mean".  

Last week when swimming was over Mr. D9 wasn't done swimming.  He saw no need to get out when the other boys did.  He lost swimming for a week.   Maybe he learned since they went swimming this afternoon and he got out when told.  Or maybe he was just a floating ice chip.  It was 67 degrees, with a 20-30 mph wind blowing when they went swimming.   MJ was laying a fire for later this evening in the wood stove.   Since our lows tonight will be around 30.  

Then I had three, yes THREE that couldn't seem to get their school work done before we went camping.   So have school work will travel!  They didn't get to go play at all Friday evening when we got there.  They also were responsible for helping with camp chores like meals and dish washing since they didn't help get ready.  Then Sat. morning after breakfast they were sent into the camper to do school......with the blinds closed.   They managed to complete and pass school work that they couldn't do at home.   They then got to play, until time to start meals.  Then they could play after clean up. 

Today D11 wanted in on the consequence train.  He failed a history lesson.  I allowed him to redo.  He failed it again, but justified himself with the statement he made a "better" grade, a 60 something.  I looked at him and ask, "Did you READ your lesson?"  deer in the headlights!   Didn't need to answer his eyes said it all.  So since he doesn't want to read his lessons he is writing this one, and will be writing all his lessons that he misses from here on.    He justified himself when ask if he should have read it the second time by saying, , "I almost never read my lessons."   Yep that was just the thing to say!   It will be totally his choice if he reads them now, but the consequences of not passing the lessons just went up.  I remember doing this with T at one time too.

We are planning on going camping in May.  I wonder how many kids will be doing school.  I do wish my kids didn't make it hard on themselves with not doing what they need to have better lives.  We are talking a lot about that right now.   That they do school, not to learn, but because they don't like the consequence from mom.  They are some day going to be responsible for their own education then what?   They don't want to work at doing, but they want the good life that an education and hard work bring.  I have to do what God calls me to, which is train up a child(ren) in the way they should go.  From there it is between them and God what they do after they are grown. 

Seems like we have had some other consequences in the past week or so, but I can't seem to remember them.   Bottom line is Life is NEVER dull around here.  I can't imagin how dull and boring life would be without adoption.  I wish everyone could experience the joy and blessings that come from following God's path. 

Walking the Dunes.....

 This weekend I rose early to spend time with God.  I was up and out with a cup of coffee about 6:45.  Sun rise doesn't happen until closer to 7:30.  The first morning I had the bright idea of taking my crocs off to walk.  The outside temp was in the 50s.  Sand temp must have been 0!   I took about 3 steps and decided to deal with sand in the crocs instead of walking in the sand.  My feet where throbbing it was so cold.

This was what the sky looked like when I would start my walk.   Yet the ground was reflecting enough light that you could see to walk after your eyes adjusted quiet well.

Once I knew sunrise was close I found a place to just set and welcome the day.  I love my iPhone as I did my Bible while I watched the morning come to light.  I also finished off my cup of coffee and wished for a larger cup.

After day broke and I started back to camp I was praising God for the beauty and how amazing it was.  

I had a thought.  Isn't our life walk much like walking the dunes.  We love walking the tops of the dunes.  It really is easier to walk once you make it to the top of the dune.   But, getting there is a struggle.  The higher the dune, the harder the struggle.  The higher the dune the greater the reward in how far you could see.

Some times you can walk a dune ridge for a long ways, only to find it stops in a giant drop off.  This requires a choice, do you drop and slide, or look around for a different path.  Either way you have to go down, to go up.   We can't always walk the top of the dune.

We have to choose a path and again work to the top. Some times we make a miss step and end up back on bottom, or worse yet down in a pit.  There are some deep "pits" in the dunes that require LOTS of work to even get back up to the bottom of most of the dunes.  

Some times we think it will be easier to stay at the bottom, only to find we are slogging through the deep sand, and don't even have the view we would have if we were slogging through that deep sand as we climbed to the top.  Many times the "easy" path turns out to be very hard.   What seemed to be the hard path would take some hard work but in the end the easy walk across the top of the dune while looking for miles in all directions would be worth every ounce of effort it took to to get there. 

How often do we stick with our "easy" path and spend years sloshing through deep sand because we were fearful of climbing the dune.  We thought it would be to hard.  We never made the effort to discover the truth about how hard it really would be to walk the top of the dunes. 

We missed the gift of the view because we didn't obey the voice that called us to walk the top of the dune. We spend our life stuck in the deep sand of life when we were called to walk in power an authority.   We forget we are sons and daughters of the King because we are stuck in the sand instead of experiencing all God has planned for us.  Remember, Jeremiah 29:11 says, For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Are we walking in the prosperity that God called us to.  Are we walking the the hope He says we have?  Are we looking to our future in Jesus?  

Lets climb out of the valley of the dunes or worse yet the pit, and start climbing to the top where we have been called to be.  Lets stop saying, "I can't", or "It's to hard".  What happened to "I can do all things through Christ who strengthen me."  Phil 4:13.

What can you do today through Christ that He has called you to do?  What are you avoiding doing that you know Christ has ask of you?   Today start climbing.  I assure you the view from the top is worth the work it took to get there!

Weekend fun........

We spend the weekend as a church family in the Monahands Sandhills.   Total count was only 24!

 Life abounds in the sand...........

 Sunrise in the desert is glorious!

 Miles and Miles of sand........

 Desert Beauty......

 Buddies........

 Sand fun.....

 Big kids teaching little kids to slide........ (like they need "teaching").

 Even on boards!

 Setting up camp......