Some day, I'm gonna have a hammock

Giovanni Boldini

Today, I can barely keep my eyes open. About 6:30 this morning, Sarah came into my room to awaken me so that we could go to our Saturday morning coffee and then walk downtown, and I was sleeping like an exhausted baby.

We walked and the early morning heat threatened to shorten our walk--I am allergic to heat--it makes me grumpy. However, where we live in Colorado, we almost never have any real heat, so I enjoy hopping from shady spot to shady spot and hoping for breezes in between. Seems in the shady spots of Monument, which is my town, there is always a pleasant breeze. We do not have air conditioners where I live, but house size attic fans that bring the breezes all through our houses 24 hours a day, and keep the rhythmic hum going at nights so we don't hear outside noises. I love the lovely, summer, breezy nights for sleeping.

I think today would be a perfect day for a hammock--swinging under the shade in these breezes, care-free and lazy, something I aspire to some day--maybe a whole lazy day of reading and resting, with nary a dirty dish in my wake, or even perhaps a week of such rest, or maybe even a year. I can always dream.

And so, after walking, coming home and  making breakfast for Joel and helping him finalize a loan for a cute little red car, miraculously, everyone was gone from the house, and so I decided to behave like a leisurely woman of ease. Sipping coffee in my blue china mug and cozying up, sprawled on my overstuffed chair with a great book, (Bonhoeffer--his biography by EricMetaxas), and pondering a nap, I think I will make a lazy day a new goal, and some day, I'm gonna have a hammock.

The Mystery of Child Training: Where to begin?

"A wise woman builds her house, and a foolish woman with her own hands tears it down." Proverbs 14: 1 Cole Thomas: Home in the Woods

Often, in my conferences, I have said, "In order to build a house, you must have an architectural plan or the house will not stand. There are many ways to build a home and many kinds of homes."

"One can build a small shack or a grand estate, but all begins with a plan. It all depends on how big your vision for your plan is--you can build generations of legacy or a small sphere of influence because of having no imagination or Biblical plan in place. "

As I meet women all over the world who have broken hearts about the ways their children have left the Lord and walked away from their values, often times I find that they never had a plan--they just let their families happen. I have also so often heard, "I just followed what I was told or what I read and too late I realized that the formula I was following didn't work."

None of us is perfect and so we will never have a perfect plan, but we must have one in place and expand and build on it! There are several foundational principles that Clay and I followed.

1. God designed the family and children and he called them a blessing--so he must have something in mind. Starting out with scripture, reading Genesis 1, pondering how God Fathers us, observing how he influenced His disciples, --these principles giveus a starting place. God is relational and loving and provides and pursues and protects and wants to communicate.  And so I pattern my life after His. In order to build a Biblical home, and not just something built on the advice of contemporary or "Christian" dogma,  must determine to be women of the word and a student of Christ, who is the exact representation of God, according to Hebrews 1. I have gotten so much mileage in my life out of hours in the word observing His ways with his own disciples.

2. We are building generations--a legacy of messages, values, traditions, convictions. Parenting is not primarily focussed on behavioral goals, but on heart values and messages--those purposes that inspire, capture a child's imagination, give those in the family a sense of belonging and hope. (God has called the Clarksons to say, "In our lifetime, how can we love God and then pass on His kingdom messages to the world. I wonder how God is going to use your personality and gifts to touch many people in this world in ways that no one else will be able to do." Purpose and focus on heart messages is a part of the grid that I work from every day.

3. We must have in mind what it is we are building. Clay and I partnered together to come up with values, truths, habits that we wanted to become the very core of our children's direction book on how to live life well. The picture of the Holy Spirit comes to mind. Jesus said, "I will send you a helper and he will guide you into all truth." We are like that with our children and as Christ was with his disciples. We are a helper who will guide them into truth.

Our 24 Family Ways is a devotional that Clay wrote for our family that would be our discipleship tool for building a plan of how we wanted our children to live life--to train them what was true, what was expected and how to practice living within the guidelines of the Clarksons. We wanted our children to know how to honor us and God; to know how to practice loving others in word and deed; to know how to cultivate strong work habits and attitudes about all of these and many other things. We attached each "way" to scripture, gave our children memory verses, and went over our ways again and again over the years so that these truths would be deep in their hearts. (you can order 24 Ways by putting your curser on the picture or going here)

"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it." All day long the grid I worked from was through the lens of our ways. For instance,  when a toddler was about to hit another, I would pick them up, hold the hand and say very seriously, "We never, never use our hands to express hate or anger, remember our way, "We treat others with kindness, gentleness and respect."

If a child was older and mouthed off, I would say the same "way", and require them to apologize or write a note to the offended person, or write out the memory verse however many times I thought would be appropriate. Our ways became an objective grid for training and building expectations in our children's soul for Biblical ideals.

Training is constant instruction, interference with immature and inappropriate behavior, consequences of some sort, and modeling or requiring a correction of that behavior, with constant attention to the relationship. (An extravert needs time to talk and talk and to be active; and introvert needs time alone or time alone with you; a little wiggly boy needs to be understood as one who God gave testosterone to so that he could protect his family some day, a young teen girl needs grace with her hormones, --and so do boys, by the way) and so on. Love, serving, encouragement, and requiring honor in relationships was always the foundation for all child training--seeing that like the Holy Spirit in my own life, I was coming along side them, helping them, encouraging them in the path of righteousness in their own lives as one of my primary roles as a mom.

"No, not that way, but this is the true way." over and over and over again, gently, lovingly, firmly, consistently. Always be ready to praise for good choices and say, "You are growing so strong inside, and I see you making such wise choices."

Also, remember will training, Will training is what we see in Deuteronomy--"See that I have set before you life and prosperity or death and adversity, so choose yourselves today, what you will do."

We do not want to control our children because we are bigger and louder and can create havoc in their souls with our anger. Instead, we want to train them and motivate them, but to help them to understand early that they have the capacity to decide how to behave. If they respond to our wills and desires, with our encouragement, then they will be blessed. If they do not respond, then they are choosing to be disciplined in some way--they have a choice to make. This way, we honor their own ability to choose to be wise and we train them that choices have consequences. I cannot make you strong--only you can decide how strong and how excellent you want to become. But I believe God has created you to be a wise or strong or valiant (fill in the blank) person, and I can't wait to see His plan for you. So, I am hoping that you will choose to obey mommy, so that you can be blessed and happy."

Children who are controlled by anger or spanking may learn to obey when their parents are present, but they will rebel when their parents are not there.

Children who learn to use self-discipline and develop a sense of their own worth and strength and understand how to take ownership for their lives, will obey and be strong because they desire to build their own character.

Always more to be said, but these are some starters for building a plan and following the plan. I spoke these things even to my toddlers and babies when I was carrying them around my home, and talked and talked to all of my children about truth, God, love, our ways, all day long. Now they all joke about the mantras they remember me saying over and over again. They have all joked that whenever they are far away from me in another state, they still hear my voice in their heads.

Off to my day. Blessings!

If you want your child to love God, don't go by the rules!

I remember when I first took Sarah into my arms. I was literally shocked at how much love I felt for her. I kissed her over and over and wept and held her and sang to her and stroked her at every moment. I was not prepared for my heart to be filled with so much wonder, such depth of emotion. Maybe it was because I was in my 30's and had wanted to get married for so long, and now found myself starting a family, which was a miracle to me. A baby from my own body created a life in the love channels of my heart that is beyond explanation.

When a baby is welcomed into the world and cherished and embraced and prayed over, it begins a pattern in the baby's brain that literally communicates and establishes brain pattern expectations of life: I am loved, I feel good, it makes me happy, I belong. These very patterns cause that same baby to already have patterns of significant theological implications that will be responded to when this same child is confronted with the reality of God. He is love, He accepts me, I have a place to belong, I can feel good about responding back to God's love, as it is already familiar to my brain.

When babies begin growing, and the issues of child discipline and training come to the fore, I have observed that many often leave that relational, heart-felt attachment and begin to behave differently toward them. I have seen that many, many moms, because they do love their babies and want to get it right, begin at a very early age responding and initiating to these very babies as though they are a challenge to be overcome, a contestant to be rulled over. And since there are so many extra-biblical books of advice (suggestions--but not necessarily taking into account the full counsel of scripture), abound in Christian circles, the moms follow the rules and expectations of the voices they are reading and hearing. We all long for an easy formula to make parenting quick, predictable, and long lasting.

I do not see that in my own relationship with God as my Father. He works slowly in my life to train, love, test, teach and to conform me to the image of Christ. It is little by little, bit by bit, one lesson at a time.

However, in all relationships, (parenting, friendship, marriage, work), people are designed by God to respond from their heart. If their hearts are attached and served by the people relating to them, and their felt needs are met, people will tend to respond to the one who shows them the most love.

Let me give you an example. I Suppose my husband came to me at home and said, "Now, Sally, we are married and I am your husband and these are my standards of what I expect in our home. I want a clean house, a homemade dinner on the table, with my preferences for food, I expect you to rule over the children so that they will behave, memorize scripture, be read to, learn to play a musical instrument well, be mannerly, have godly character and learn a good work ethic. Since we are also a Christian home, I expect you to read a chapter of the Old Testament every day and a chapter of the New Testament and I want the kids to have 3 books of the Bible memorized by the time they are 10. I will be checking with you every day to correct anything you have done that is not up to my standards and I expect you to live up to these goals because you are my wife. We are a Christian family and if we keep all of these ideals, our children will turn out to be moral, spiritual, hard working adults, agreed?

What if, then,  every day when my husband would come to me, he would say, I noticed that someone left a sock on the den floor and you have not succeeded yet in training our children well. And I also did not appreciate that fast food dinner last night--it had 1000 grams of saturated fat and was filled with chemical additives and I think you are becoming a little bit lazy for not making me a homemade meal,  and I noticed that two of the kids misspelled a word on their thank you notes to the grandparents,and and and.................and you need to work harder, get up earlier, make a better schedule, as we are falling behind on our goals. And so goals given to me as a list by a husband who dictated what my behavior should be, without consideration of a relationship, would produce death, not life in my relationship to him.

This kind of  a relationship would demoralize me very quickly and defeat me and cause me to begin building up anger because the standards would be so far beyond what I could attain with me being a limited, sinful selfish human being and my children also being immature, and unable to keep up with these high standards. These standards would also become horrible to me--put me in an emotional prison and take away the joy from my life or from holding ideals at all.

All of these ideals are good as goals--they are filled with sound wisdom and can provide life and instruction, but these laws would kill my soul if they were not given through a relationship of mutual love and respect.

However, imagine if my husband invited me out to my favorite restaurant for dinner. When I got there, if he had a vase with a beautiful rose on the table, a tiny gift wrapped up with ribbon, a tiny ipod with a tiny speaker playing my favorite music, my heart would immediately be engaged. Now, if during the dinner we shared together, my husband communicated his love of me, his special commitment to me, his delight in me, I would have a heart ready to respond to ideals.

Then if he said, "I want you to know that I am so excited to build a family with you. I will be here to support you in all of your hard work. I will see that you don't become exhausted. I will be your partner in this and we will build a great legacy together. We will not be able to accomplish this all at once, but I want to spend a lifetime with you building our dreams and vision. Whenever you need me, I will be there because I love you so much."

Now, I am not writing this post to cause anyone to feel depressed because this is not their husband---there is no perfect husband and they all need grace like we do.

But, as one of my friends has said many times, "A woman will do so much for so little if a man will just learn how to woo, love and communicate appreciation." And so of course, when I feel cherished I am much more likely to give my all, especially if I have time and relationship to grow and develop and get rest along the way.

But God is that kind of lover. He is a provider (look at nature--the garden, color, food that he crafted for our pleasure.) He gave us ideals, as we see through scripture. He saw that we were lost and falling and ultimately, He came amongst us, giving up any comfort or honor that He held in heaven, served, washed feet, fed, laughed with, lived with, encouraged his own precious disciples. Similarly, our life with God is not measured  in the rules or goals or laws that he gives. But, as the author of these ideals, and bound up in His love and care for us, God uses truth to work on our hearts in a relationship as a servant, a husband for the bride of Christ, a friend of the common people with whom he broke bread.

But He comes as the servant king, the one who lays down His life, the one who is humble and meek.  As a good parent, God gives us wisdom and guidance so that our lives will be healthy, strong, protected.

So God becomes our pattern for parenting. He served and loved and sacrificed and gave of Himself, so that we would long to be holy out of our gratitude and reverence and love for Him, who provided us with everything. He called His disciples to serve, to love, to give and to be holy. He did instruct them and train them, but it is no wonder they wanted to follow them to their deaths. He gave them true life, beauty, love that filled their deepest needs and longings to live a purposeful life.

And so after 3 years of intense friendship, when he said, "Greater love has no one than this, that a man lays down his life for his friend," they had heard it, seen if modeled, felt the benefit of it, seen the integrity of it in their teacher, and so they willingly embraced this high ideal.

Consequently, it is not in getting the rules right or in defining all of the rules and theology that will make our children want to serve God. It is in laying down our life for them, serving them, listening to them, loving who God made them within the context of a call to holiness, that will secure in them a desire to love God with all of their hearts. By seeing our love, they will more easily understand and receive God's love, as it will already be familiar to their hearts and brains.

Something I have been pondering today.....

Sneaking away, a habit with a reward

Gurndwald

This morning, when it was still dark, I crept out of bed so as not to awaken anyone in the house. I have always had a child's delight in being alone in the early morning, like I was playing hide and seek with the bodies asleep in my home. I made a big mug of coffee (with a dash of vanilla!) and drove away from my home at 5:45 as the sun was peeking out behind the clouds.

I was in need of time with Him, my one true friend, my counselor, my comforter, my Father. Sometimes with all the bodies and voices swirling about in my home, I lose Him. And so, I have learned to leave and invest in the morning hours with Him always, always waiting to talk to me. The Sunday morning breakfast feast will be ready at 9:30 as usual, but I will be different by the time I get back home.

Birds seemed to chirp more loudly than usual, the sun sparkled as the gentle waves of the lake danced slowly, and I was awash in peace and quiet, alone with Him.

I read Psalm 25 many times this morning--Lead me, teach me your paths, Instruct me in your way---the words became my prayers. Always big issues of life weigh too heavy on my shoulders. But very quickly in His bigness, my needs become small.

I will wait on you, oh Lord.

And then He reminded me--David waited and waited and waited for God and sang and danced while he waited. He did not take the throne from Saul. He did not murder Saul when God delivered Saul into David's hands, he just humbly waited on God to make His move--for years and years He waited, in peace, and writing and praising all  along. Is this what it means for David to be a man after God's heart---looking to Him, waiting on Him, rejoicing in Him, in the midst of battles going on all around in his life?

Saul, however, though big, handsome and strong, was not considered worthy to remain as king. He took matters into his own hands. He exerted his will, his way, his wisdom in being king. He did not wait on God, as he thought he knew better--and so God rejected him from being king.

Oh, please Lord, do not reject me from being usable to you and your kingdom purposes. Help me to wait on you as David did.

God wants those who wait on Him, follow His lead, hear His voice. I have noticed in my own life that God is not in a hurry and rarely does things quickly, but in the process of His leading, He cares more about forming character, building holiness, stretching our trust, strengthening our muscles of faith--and through this process He builds in us a legacy of integrity.

And so, this morning, my soul is once again filled with joy, peace, worship and rest--I do not know the future, but I rest in the one who does. It all comes from a habit, a rhythm of making time to be with Him, to hear His voice, to follow His ways. Years and years and years of getting away--to Him.

May He guide you to His presence today.

And now the favorite of the verses I pondered today:

Make me to know your ways, O Lord; Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, For you are the God of my salvation.

For you I wait all the day. Good and upright is the Lord; Therefore He instructs sinners in the way.

He leads the humble in justice and He teaches the humble His way. All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth.

Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way He should go. Indeed, none of those who wait for you will be ashamed. Psalm 25

Today, I will sing, dance, laugh, love and be a child once again

Laughing Child by Frans Hals

"Come clean with a child heart Laugh as peaches in the summer wind Let rain on a house roof be a song Let the writing on your face be a smell of apple orchards on late June." Carl Sandburg Honey and Salt

Itakejoy was begun because I wanted to celebrate life every day--to intentionally see God's fingerprints, to find His joy, to feel His love in every moment, throughout the day. This world is the dark, broken place where Satan lurks and prowls like a lion to destroy, devastate, steal from the beauty our master craftsman displayed for our pleasure.

What better way to battle him and the darkness he spreads by choosing, this moment, to sing, dance, laugh, love and to cultivate a child heart.

Amidst piles of duties, burdens of tasks to be completed, one must fight to celebrate this joy and to glimpse His fleeting shadow all around us. Becoming like a child--taking time to wonder, to marvel at a rolling, hairy caterpillar, to really feel the hot sun on your face, to lie in the grass under the piercing light of a shooting star--all this requires a heart that is willing to celebrate and wants to praise and willing to stop in the moment to see.

"I tell you the truth, unless you become like a child, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Mt. 18:3

May you joy in this day, see through the eyes of your children and fill to fulness your child self in the arms of your heavenly Father. Take joy!

Have you ever been 9 1/2 months pregnant?

You know that feeling when you think you are going to pop--you can barely breathe? You waddle and your ankles are swollen and everything is an effort? I gained 50 pounds with each of my babies--it was just my way. I started out at 5'8" and 121 pounds and went up from there. Sarah came on her due date, though it did take 22 hours of labor and she had to go immediately to the emergency room for care.

Joel, in Vienna, was delivered an hour and 15 minutes after my water broke at 2 weeks early. Nathan was also 2 weeks early and came out in 45 minutes to an hour, (after false labor several times!)

So, when I was due with Joy, I knew, from my own experience, that I came on my due date or before. So when two weeks early passed, I became more impatient. Surely on her due date. Then her due date came and went. More pleading with God, even more about to burst. More waddling. I had been at bed rest since week 32 because they had thought I was going to come early.

Finally, I was resting in bed one evening and something black fell down from the ceiling--it was a scorpion and it stung me on the belly. What a funny sight it must have been to see me scream and lunge out of bed. It did sting badly and even with all the dancing around and jumping, Joy stayed in another week and finally came out almost a month after her due date! Speaking of popping--and I was just shy of 42!

This summer, I finally realized, that spiritually speaking, I, and  my family members have been 9 1/2 months pregnant---way overdue for some things to fall into place. Kids waiting on jobs, never hearing back from anyone. Kids applying for bank loans for cars---never hearing back and then hearing "no" because of college loans. Kids waiting for doors to open---not even a squeek--Clay and I waiting for his book to come out. Ministry waiting on some financial issues and waiting on things to get done---seemed that all we have been doing, day after day, after day, is waiting--to no avail.

Then, in the last 24 hours, two of my children have given birth--two jobs "suddenly" dropped into their laps that determine futures, stability, and ease of mind for me. I am so very thankful--now only 2 babies left to pop out.

I told one of my children that waiting seemed to be the thing I had done the most for most of my life.

So, some thoughts on waiting---

Trust in the LORD and do good; (right now in the midst of the waiting, do good--to someone or yourself or for a cause--it helps to be productive.) Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. (Live well, dwell, stay where you are--God is at work. Cultivating faithfulness suggests a picture of gardening--it must be planted, watered, have time to grow--faithfulness is indeed a worthy quality that cannot be developed any other way than by time invested with slow results over a long period of keeping at the cultivation and gardening of this quality.)

4 Delight yourself in the LORD; (Meanwhile, ponder sweet Jesus, be happy in Him, trust that He sees you; look for His fingerprints; cherish Him, by your will--a command--delight in the Lord--joy in Him, now, while you are waiting!) And He will give you the desires of your heart. (He cares deeply for who you are and who He made you to be. He will work--in time. You will not be pregnant with prayer and no delivery forever--an answer will eventually come and you will see that He cared for you and your desires and that He was working.)

5 Commit your way to the LORD, (Keep committing your way, your thoughts, your hopes, your desires, your requests to Him--dedicate your way--your path to Him and ask Him for wisdom as to what to do at each step.) Trust also in Him, and He will do it. (As an act of your will, trust Him, believe Him, believe that He is good--wait, wait, wait with choosing to hope in your heart.) He will do it--in His time and in His way--meanwhile conforming your heart and character to the Lord Jesus--and usually you are a lot more humble for having waited!)

6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday. (It will come suddenly, it will come indeed, He will be faithful, He is God--it is not a democracy with Him--He is leading and guiding and working--ours is to believe and wait!)

7 Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; (Learn, as an act of your will to rest in the moment--to be at peace, to cultivate a peaceful, patient heart---(ouch--so hard for me to do!) But trying to hurry God or doing a "taking your husband to your maid servant" sort of "I will help God out," only leads to trouble that you may well never get over. Wait patiently--don't have a cow!) Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, (This Psalm actually tells the waiting person 4 times not to fret--it leads only to evil doing. I am afraid I have been doing a little fretting lately, but have been correcting my soul's attitude--fret not! Fret not! Fret not today! Now!) Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.

And the last verse I will share:

But the humble will inherit the land And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity. (Oh, so that was one of God's goals--humble in heart--not demanding, or fidgeting, but trusting waiting patiently, being willing to go without--humble--Jesus said he was humble--to learn from Him--so that is one of the purposes in waiting--developing me into a humble person, not one who demands his own way or grumbles and complains when things do not work out--but humble!)

Now, I am so grateful at least some of my waiting is over and I will not ask to be further tested, knowing there will be more tests ahead.

But, even as it is a relief to have the baby out and the weight off, so today, I will bask in the knowledge that after all this time, two babies have been birthed and I will take joy in this moment.

Jesus is my center

Jesus' fingerprints amidst my day

Without faith, it is impossible to please God...........Hebrews 11:1

The measure of a great woman is not her strength, but her reliance on God. Today I read this in my quiet time:

Lord, you have always given bread for the coming day; And though I am poor, today I believe.

Lord you have always given strength for the coming day; and though I am weak, today I believe.

Lord you have always given peace for the coming day, and though of anxious heart, today I believe.

Lord you have always kept me safe in trials, and now, tried as I am, today I believe.

Lord, You have always marked the road for the coming day; and though it may be hidden, today I believe.

Lord, You have always lightened this darkness of mine; and though night is here, today I believe.

Lord, You have always spoken when time was ripe; and though you be silent now, today I believe.

(From my Celtic daily prayer book--prayers and readings from the Northumbria Community)

My mother's ways are speaking to my heart today

Mother's Day with all the kids preparing for me-- Today, my family is bustling around putting graces all around my home--flowers, fresh baked cookies, home made bread, candles, personal cards of welcome, ways that we hope will make my sweet friend, Sarah Mae, feel welcome. I am so very excited she is coming, as I love her and cherish her friendship.

When I would return home from college, where I was attending out of state, I would return home to hand written signs on my front door, "We love Sally. We are happy she is home." There would also be little post its with "I love you," and "So glad you are home, I missed you."

Candles always lit on the table every night, even if it was toast and cereal. My mom made coming home the best place to be and made me feel the most loved I ever felt. Home should bring life to all who enter. I miss being spoiled by her and I wish I could be with her every day as she moves more toward heaven daily.

And it is the way my sweet children have grown up--putting things in place whenever we have someone here--finding ways to say, "You are valued in this home."

And so, my mother's voice is in my ear and heart today. I miss her ways in my life. And now my voice and ways are in the heart of my children because we have practiced life and cultivating life in our home for so many years, it has become a part of their ways.

Now, I won't finish straightening all the piles or get everything cleaned and picked up before I have to pick Sarah Mae up at the airport in Denver--but I do hope she will know how very happy we are to have her with us to share some days of life and to make some lasting memories. I am blessed to have sweet friends.

Last year, Sarah Mae and me at Relevant--now we will take new pics and talk too much and stay up too late and share all we think,  and eat and drink coffee or tea as often as possible and it will all pass too quickly and then it will all seem like a dream.

Happy Fourth of July to everyone!

We live in a little town that has the most amazing parade of veterens, kids on decorated bikes and trikes and every assortment of a groups, clubs and  and floats imaginable. It is lots of fun and thousands upon thousands come from all around.

Then of course tonight, our family and friends, after grilling burgers and sausages with friends, will  gather with a whole community of others, at Palmer Lake nestled in the mountains near our home and watch the fire works in the sky and reflect in the water. A fun memory for many years---except that last year was rained out!

Now to share my favorite new desert this year. Three berry shortcake. We mash up fresh strawberries and raspberries with a little sugar thrown in and just a tiny bit of hot water. Then we sprinkle whole blue berries and toss them together. Pile it up on shortcake or angel food cake, top with whip cream and you have a fresh, and oh so tasty and healthy desert.

Hope you have a grand time with your friends and family!

Today, I am.........And another giveaway of Educating the Whole Hearted Child!

Going to early breakfast with Sarah and walking the flower covered, tree shaded, sidewalk friendly Vitcorian neighborhoods. Putting in beef ribs with homemade barbeque sauce to slowly cook in the oven and to be finished outside with grilled veggies, baked potatoes and a movie night at home.

Looking for a porch swing at 2 shops,  for the front porch, where we have been eating dinner every night, by the aspens and tall pines. More shade here than on our deck for cool, breezy evenings.

Making homemade bread and cinnamon rolls for sharing with a sweet friend coming for a visit next week.

Trying to figure out what is eating my rose bushes and finding a solution.

Taking Joel out for a date to discuss what he direction he should take for the near future as a young idealistic, aspiring composer.

Tea and fresh homemade chocolate chip cookies and curling up with a great book this afternoon---Sarah promised they would be ready for the tasting. And maybe a nap snuck in between the edges.

So very honored and encouraged by the wonderful review of Educating the Whole Hearted Child--you can read about it here! And take the opportunity to enter one more chance to get one of our Whole Hearted Child books: The Homeschool Village