Rain, Rain, Please Let it Rain!

It's so dry around here, the sky looked hopeful last night, but parts north and east of us got the rain, not us.
Crops are dry, lawns are crunchy, my cistern is empty, the earth around here needs a huge drink!
Shower us with your mercy, Lord, and bring on the rain!

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday (yesterday) to my dear eldest child, who is quickly turning into a lovely young woman! I love you, honey!

Conflicted

Well, it happened. Mark got asked to be a table leader at this fall's Cursillo. Now I'm wondering if I really should have agreed to be an auxiliary. We simply cannot serve together on team the same weekend. It would prove to be a family disaster of almost Biblical proportions. Peter needs the stability of at least one parent around, and having both of us gone all day, three Saturdays in a row would be too much for him. We could find ways for him to be "entertained" with others, but he would still be off-kilter and we'd pay for it.
I'm wondering if it's too late for me to back out and let Mark serve. He has a lot to offer others, though he might not agree...
Sigh...

I do love the Baby Blues comic strip, here's a prime example of why...

Here's a little tale Mark lived I like to call "In an old house, nothing goes quite according to plan..."

I went home around noon, and was going to replace the outdoor water spigot because it leaks like a sieve, and the water goes right down our foundation into the basement. I had the parts ready from a couple days ago so was ready. I couldn't get the thing to budge! After much wrestling with my dad’s old (and big) pipe wrenches, it started to turn, but didn’t come off. I ended up accidentally pulling some of the pipe through the wall (no big deal because it was a hard plastic and was not anchored anywhere – which I discovered at the same time). So I started wrenching again, and realized it wasn’t going to work. I saw the iron fitting was sleeved into the plastic and held with a hose clamp so I went downstairs to get my screwdriver. When I entered the house, I heard it. A sickening sound of spraying water, not a little, but a LOT! With all my twisting outside I actually broke a fitting in the basement! It was spraying like a fire-hose!

I ran outside to get my vise-grip to turn the water off, and plunged into the deep. Of course the water sprayed all the way to the water shut-off in a straight line – the path I had to take. Figures. I got drenched with very cold water, but got the water shut off. Miriam was gone through all this, so I yelled for all the kids to come help me get the wet stuff out as quickly as possible and we did. Nothing was ruined, just wet rugs and a small piece of unattached carpet and boots. So, my punishment for leaving work early was a two hour plumbing job that should have taken a mere 15 minutes. I found it rather humorous once the water was shut off and I saw that nothing important was wet. There was a lot of water on the floor though! The kids thought it amazing at first, then funny. Then I asked them all if Mom needed to know about it, they said “naw”, but then I told them she’d probably find out anyway. Sure enough, when she drove home she saw the line of wet boots and the futon frame against the garage drying. She didn’t dare go downstairs for fear of how bad it was. But, we all got a good chuckle out my “superman” strength of breaking the pipe, then my “superman” speed in shutting the water off.

Pretty exciting huh?

Mom's note, I'm just glad he cleaned it all up!!!

Adding to the family...

Here's how we spent our 4th of July...(after pancakes in the park, of course!)
Leah's supervising daddy's building project with special interest...


Peter got into the building spirit as well...



What's all the fuss about???



It's Leah's new pet bunny, Bella!

Such deep sadness

Oh, what an ache this mommy feels, my baby is so sad and I can do nothing to help her!
It's been four years ago now that her best friend moved away, she sees her still occasionally, but last night her little heart was just breaking over it. I understood her completely, because this friends mom is also one of my dear friends whom I miss greatly as well. Leah's sobs just kept coming in waves, and all I could do was hold her. I encouraged her to pray, which she started, but then broke apart again saying "I just can't!" I got that part, too. So I was able to assure her again from scripture that God through the Holy Spirit hears our prayers that we can't even utter--Romans 8:26-28 (NIrV):

26 In the same way, the Holy Spirit helps us when we are weak. We don't know what we should pray for. But the Spirit himself prays for us. He prays with groans too deep for words. 27 God, who looks into our hearts, knows the mind of the Spirit. And the Spirit prays for God's people just as God wants him to pray. 28 We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him. He appointed them to be saved in keeping with his purpose.

So I went to bed with a heavy heart for my girl last night, and I left her writing another letter to her friend about wishing they could move back to town. And I'm afraid that even though I would also be delighted for that to happen, it will not, and sometime in the future I'll again be holding an inconsolable little girl who doesn't understand why God lets things like this happen to her.
What comfort the Bible has for me though, this passage was pointed out to me again recently:

3 If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.

Psalm 130, Praise God!