May all your weeds be wildflowers

Dear daughter and I went out to the neighbor's CRP last night, and look what we found still blooming at the end of September.

In a Perfect World

I would be reading these while leading my children through an Ancient Rome study. 

Back to School Fun

We had a little end-of-summer bash with some of the kids' friends.

 

 Are we ready for 2 middle schoolers?

Are we ready for 2 First graders?

And we have our anchor man, holding down center position.

I present to you the members of the Sandcherry Schoolhouse, the best students anyone could teach.

Here is the awkward dog shot.

The Library

We got it done!  A few years earlier than planned, even.  We have already used it as a spare bedroom, and hopefully it will be a quiet place for kids to study.  I am very excited to have emptied every box of books that was in the basement.

 This wall was already built in.

I copied a Pinterest idea to frame favorite books.  

 These file cabinets were given to me.  They now hold curriculum.

 Here is another free find and Pinterest idea:  a sliding closet door.  

There are 2 antique big story books on the wall, which I clipped on a board using tiny clothespins.

Happy Anniversary to Us

July 4th, 1999 was quite possibly the very best day of my life.

It had been a few years and our kids had been asking, so last night we sat down and watched our wedding home video.  You never know how you're going to feel, reliving such a highly-charged emotional day.  But, I loved every minute of it!  I was determined to have a wonderful wedding day, and after watching it all, it was wonderful, and I would go back and do it over again.

I do not think we made our wedding vows glibly.  I had wrestled through the "what ifs" before entering into that covenant.  I felt like I was going into marriage with eyes wide open.  But still, at age 22 1/2, we had no way of knowing what it would be like to actually live out those promises.  Right now, I'm sure any of you who have been married for decades are smiling knowingly, thinking that at only 14 years we have no idea.  I agree.  Nevertheless, each year that passes adds more layers of the "for betters," and the "for worses."  And already we smile back on our younger selves, knowingly.

Yet, there are things to learn from those 22 1/2 year olds, too.  We had energy (daughter said, "Mom, I've never seen you so hyper.")  We had soft and tender hearts toward God.  We sought help from our mentors and teachers.  We were content to have little but each other.

May we go on in God's grace.

 

Homemade subway art

Here is what we love about summer in our family.  At first potato bugs were on there, but the kids vetoed it.  I created this as a Word document, and so far I cannot find a way to attach it to blogger
without losing the format.  Advice is appreciated!  Meanwhile, enjoy the ideas, though they are not arranged the way I designed them.

S’mores

THUNDERSTORMS bare feet   VBS peaches & berries     CAMPFIRE    mom time SWIMMING    BASEBALL

reading for fun                    waterfight

hammock

Clothesline  garden

grilling weeds

 BLOOMING FLOWERS

TWILIGHT HOURS    sprinkler      Bible Camp

Honeybees   4^th of July Fireworks   kittens

CLIMBING TREES         SAND BOX

ice cream camping trips

lemonade lazy afternoon

WATERMELON

Don't Worry; Bee Happy

Here's J in his shiny new bee veil 

We installed 2 "nucs" last week in our back yard.  We were thankful to find them this time of year, but there is a little risk because we didn't know much about the supplier.  

The man who sold them to us had a Duck Dynasty look about him, but I could tell he was a real beekeeper because he constantly scratched his forearms.  Even though he pronounced it "nooks."

A. is very helpful, and the cat wants in on the action, too.

I saw the queen!