The Fire

We're safe.

The fires going on here in the Springs, are spreading. 

Please keep praying. 

300 homes have been lost.

My heart is breaking for those families.

Our inquisitive Siah noticed the smoke and heard a few things on the news that have brought a wee bit of fear into our boy. He's afraid of a lot of "what-if's." What if our house burns down? What if we have to leave our home? What if the fire keeps coming our way?

It's given us a great opportunity to talk with our boy about the things that matter. If we lost our home, it would most certainly be really sad. But no matter what happens, and what physical things are lost, the things that matter will still be here, family and our sweet Jesus in our hearts.  

Our home is quite some distance from the center of the fire. 

But we've been able to open our barn and allow some folks who had to pack up their homes to store their things here. If there is anyone who needs a place to go, our home is open. Please don't hesitate to call. 

Here's a picture from our front porch...

As we watch and wait to see where the fire might turn,  we are trying our best to do life as normal as possible... so today we put on our suits and turned on the crazy sprinklers. We caught moths with our bare hands, laughed at a giant bug that couldn't seem to stay on his feet, and had lunch out on the front porch...

Then the Mama got a little picture happy and took a million pictures of the the littlest gal on the farm...

She is seriously beautiful. :)

Thank you for praying. 

An Afternoon Chat With The Charmer

The Charmer and his many words....



How can you not love that cute-boy face???

Loving this little guy!

Adventurously Unexpected

It started out unexpectedly adventurous. 

The poor dancing girl stepped on a cactus and cried for a good hour while her Papa and I pulled out every last prickle.

Then the thunder storm rolled in.
The rain came.
The wind came.
The hail came.
The tent broke.

We piled the troops into the car and headed for town.

There must have been a lot of broken tents cuz the hotels were full. We finally found a good old Super 8 motel and paid a ridiculous amount of money for a plain room with two double beds for the six of us.

The next morning brought dreams of a lovely beach and a renewed hope that our drive to Nebraska was well worth it.

The beach was beautiful and not very crowded at all. The water felt fabulous and the kids just played ALL-DAY-LONG! :)

I was loving every minute of it.

Then the burb got stuck in the sand...
I mean, reeealy stuck.
Three trucks, a tractor and $60 later, and the burb got un-stuck.


It was HOT there.

But the kids still dug in the dirt and road their bikes, caught toads with their bare hands and went fishing in the little boat.

And the Mama? Well,  I drank a lot of ice water and sat in my chair for hours. It was lovely I tell ya. :)

On the way to the hotel The Dancing Girl said it from the back seat,

"Thank you Papa for always taking such good care of us, even in this scary storm." 

In the midst of the chaos, we had treasures with eyes wide open, able to see the blessings in the storm. I love that.

This trip was full of adventure, yes. But it was full of memories too. 

I started this year asking the Lord to give me ample opportunity to truly learn the art of acceptance with joy. And as the days pass and we pack the burb up right full and we take the treasures to far away lands, He's being faithful to teach me the very things things that my heart so deeply desires. 

This time around, He gave us adventure. 

And quite frankly,  I'm so thankful He did.