'Tis the Season!

Cat fight? Barbed-wire incident? Over-zealous ex-foliating?

Nope. Just time for some good-ole blackberry picking!
(Yes, Tami, that is MY ARM! It looked fine when I was done picking. The fine scratches don't really show up until the next day... It doesn't hurt, though.)

My berry picking friend and I agreed that long, leather gloves with the finger tips cut out would be a great bit of gear for this job!

It was well worth it, though. I came home with a couple of gallons of gorgeous, juicy berries - easily my best haul of the season to date.

We made some jam. I say "we" because it was too much fun for anyone to miss.
(Jeanine ~ my jam recipe is on the back of the fruit pectin box: lots of sugar, crushed fruit, pectin. I do freezer jam, so there is no canning involved. Canning it is easy, though, if you don't have freezer space.)

The kids even enjoyed scraping the seedy pulp out of the food mill and eating it straight. No waste here!

My little jam boys needed a bath afterwards, but it was well worth the clean up to see their happy faces slurping up the healthy goodness!

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food." ~Genesis 1:29

Tired Family

We are having another great weekend of doing this:
And then we threw in some yard work for good measure this afternoon.


Now we are all feeling like this:
I really want to start blogging more often! Having swim meets six out of the last ten days has really wiped me out. We're headed into a swim team break, though, and this past Friday marked the end of summer swimming for the younger kids, so I'm hopeful that we are about to slow down a bit and find some kind of routine.

I'll let you know how that works out...


May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us-- yes, establish the work of our hands. ~Psalm 90:17

Fabric Give Away!

Free fabric being given away here:
http://ihavetosay.typepad.com/randi/2009/08/from-my-stash-to-yours.html

Enter to win some beautiful designer quilting remnants!

Interview with a Two-year-old

Terrific Twos!

This is such a great age! If you don't want to watch the whole thing, at least skip forward to around 50 seconds when he says "hunkleberries."



He keeps us smiling all day long!

Just for fun...

Remember when sleeping on the floor was fun?

I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. ~ Psalm 4:8

Too Much Cuteness

Seriously, y'all. Sometimes, it's more than I can handle.

Daniel built a fire in the pit the other night, and Anna lighted it, with lots of careful "supervision."


It made Andrew feel like this when it was time to roast marshmallows.

When we ran out of hot dogs, the kids turned to roasting carrots slathered with BBQ sauce. (Which tasted surprisingly good!)

Sometimes, this happens at the end of the day.

Which invariably leads to this.

Unless, of course, this happens.

But the very best ending of all is this one.
Sometimes, there's more cuteness around here than I can even handle.

Thank you, Lord!!

Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him. ~Psalm 127:3

Achy Breaky Heart

This is the kitchen table at the house where we lived in SE Washington. I took this picture so that I could show you how cool this table is. It's a bay window pop-out on the back of the house, right next to the kitchen. Really, it's more of a booth than a table, which was so much fun and such a great space saver. I fed the kiddos here at least twice a day, usually three times, as our entire family could actually fit around this table. The very formal dining room was rarely used.

I really, truly loved this table.

I know that because when I was looking for blog fodder today and I saw this picture, I was overwhelmed with emotion. My very cheerful mood was swept away by a wave of nausea and sadness.

Of course, it's not really the table that makes my heart ache. It's all that it represents: the agonizing death of a dream, the crushing disappointment of unfulfilled hopes, the wasting of such amazing potential.

Yeah, it's all still fresher than I'd like it to be. But, surely, in some way, the Lord is using it all for His glory and ultimately for my good. Even if it feels like my life is so upside down right now.

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." ~Romans 8:28