The Beauty of Simplicity

Yes, yes, I know, it's the title to a song too. A song I dearly love. Here are some of those lyrics:
It's the beauty of simplicity 
That brings me down to my knees
I'll Praise You for eternity
And Lord I love you because you, you first loved me
Because He first loved me....so simple and so beautiful!!
I have enjoyed many changes in the past few weeks: change of ministry, change of weather, change of family size (Little David, and a soon coming Granddaughter), change of "days" (we are back to homeschooling) all keeping me quite busy, and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. It is the life that GOD Himself has blessed me with. It's not always easy, and yes, sometimes I really want to pull out what little hair I have left, but when I get past the frustration of the moment, stand back and really look at the beauty of my life it's truly amazing. I think what I need to remember is there is a "simplicity" to life, and I often forget that. This simplicity of my life is: I am Wife, Mom, Friend, Sister, Daughter. I am a child of the Most High God, who I gladly relinquish control over to. I need do my best to serve Him, and to serve Him as a wife, mom, friend, sister and daughter, all through His strength. I need to not concern myself with the "little" things, the "waves" so to speak, and just enjoy the simplicity of life. I have no choice really, because if I am honest with myself, no worry, no frustration, no hair pulling is going to change anything. "It is what it is." That's what I tell my dear husband. So, if it is what it is, that what do I need to do about it? Nothing, absolutely, gloriously nothing. Because the Beauty of Simplicity, that brings me down to my knees, and causes me to praise Him for eternity is that "Lord I love You, BECAUSE You first loved me!!"
Just a few "simplicities" I love:

Have a wonderfully blessed day!

SO August: Ya, busy too :0)

Well, another busy month, but perhaps I should just call what I perceive as busy, really being "normal"...
We got to go visit some very good friends we haven't seen in a while...too much of a while. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera..grrrr  But we did get to make another trip to the creek and get some more stuff done. I am so blessed by my hard working husband and all the work he and friends, and the boys have all put into it. We still have a bit to go, but it is coming along quite nicely...

A little river time, a little croquet with Daddy, and leaves turning and berries ripening: all in all, it's pretty glorious up there at The Creek :0)

Have a wonderfully blessed day,

WHEW!!! Busy July....

So, JULY was INSANELY busy, but I am "back"... Just gonna show some pictures of how the trailer is going, and some pictures of my beautiful family while Big Brother Thomas was home on leave...

Have a wonderfully blessed day :-)

Welcome Grand Baby David!!

Just a quick post to show off our newest little grand baby!! He is truly ADORABLE!!!

My Birthday Surprise

There is a little peace of information one should know to truly understand the magnitude of this birthday treat: my husband and I are HORRIBLE about gifts...not gift giving, but gift "timing". We hardly ever (as a matter of fact, I can only think of one other time) keep it a secret what we are getting each other...not only do we not keep it a secret, we don't wait for the occasion to actually come upon us.

Ok, that is the "background". This birthday, I turned the big 40 and I couldn't be happier. I was "sickly" excited about turning 40, I really can't explain why.  That being said, there was only ONE thing I knew about my birthday this year: my husband was taking me out of town to an undisclosed location for three days. My neighbors watched our kids, I packed our bags, we climbed in the car and drove for I didn't know how long and didn't know where.  The "where" turned out to be the Mendocino Coast!! It was sooo beautiful!! Of course I am sharing some pictures of the beauty of it all, but OF COURSE, it does not do it justice...

Have a wonderfully blessed day....

For My Mom :0)

We were very busy with work at home this weekend, so although the menfolk DID make it up to the property this weekend, I did NOT, so , no pics from the property, but thought I would share a couple of fun pics anyway :0)

Pure silliness:

FUN FUN!! 

It has been six or seven months since I got to see my Mom last: it really stinks that we live sooooo far apart, but thank the Lord for modern technology and we can keep in touch nearly every day :0) I was going to show the pic with the three of us and she is wearing a tiara, but, I liked this one better. I really wish I could write more, but it is still unbelievably busy around here today...but:

I LOVE YOU MOM and I LOVE YOU SISTER!!!

Have a wonderfully blessed day!!

Laying the Line

Well, this weekend was a whole lot of hard work. It should have been easier, but as with any good project, there was a "snag" along the way. Roots to cut through, ditches to dig a bit deeper and angled a bit different, rock to dig "through" and a broken pipe or two to repair along the way. It made for hard work on the part of the menfolk, and a joyous result at the end of it all.

Because I didn't get a picture of the trailer gutted with the exception of the bathroom, I popped in to show the inside progress so far. It doesn't look like much I know, but it really is a lot, and this weekends work had NOTHING to do with the inside of the trailer.

Some of the menfolk digging deeper and cutting their way through to get down the hill...LOTS of roots and rocks along the way...

Insert broken pipe(s) here. One broken water pipe we had to repair, and one pipe for the electrical line broken. Knew exactly what to do for the water pipe, but took some "weighing of the options" to figure out what they wanted to do about the electrical piping. 

More menfolk hard at work on some of the pipes...these boys will never know how much we appreciate all the hard work they have put into this project with us, it would take us a million times longer to get things done without their help... 

Digging is done, and now pipe being laid... 

YAY....piping for the electrical line to live in....

                                     


They got it all in and I got a VERY enthusiastic phone call from my dear sweet husband when the electrical was all connected... To say he was excited about how much power we have down on our humble section of land would be the understatement of the year..

and just because I LOVE the beauty that God created for us to enjoy, I decided to add a couple more pics that has nothing to do with the work...

                                                     The Snowball Tree

                     A side view of the cabin, rusty tin roof and all, I love it...

 Hope you are enjoying the progress of it all, and have a wonderfully blessed day,

A Homeschooling Kind of Day

It has been such a beautiful day of sunshine and homeschooling, just thought I would share a couple pics of the schooling part :0)

OK, so the map at the end has really NOTHING to do with school...we just really love it, and ponder over it so often that I just had to share a picture of it.
This week marks the end of another learning period, and next week marks the start of the FINAL learning period of the year...I was kinda taken by surprise how quickly that snuck up on us. I remember so clearing at the beginning of the year how I wondered if we would ever be able to cover this mountain of schoolwork in the allotted time, and here we are closing in on it all. I am so thankful we have chosen this path with all its ups and downs and thankfully there are WAY more ups than downs. I am so thankful for this time with my children, teaching them and watching them grow. I am so thankful that the Lord has given us what we need to walk this journey together. We are looking forward to summer and all it has to offer, mainly Older Brother homecomings and lots of Redwood Creek time and somewhere in there the hope of visiting family and old friends. We shall see....
Have a wonderfully blessed day!!!