Embrace the Grace

I'm back.  Don't get too excited...I'm not sure how long the next gap will be.

I've been busy learning some life lessons.  Like how to embrace the grace.  Ya see, I've been overwhelmed.  Overwhelmed with just the busyness of life. Something I mention often when I blog.  But it got to me.  My mind was overloaded trying to sort through the next couple weeks, the next couple months.  Too much was in there that I was trying to juggle and I wasn't doing such a great job with it all.

So God is using it to teach me lessons.  Doesn't He always?  If we let Him?

I am learning that His grace is sufficient for today.  His grace no longer exists in the past so don't dwell there.  It is not in the future so don't dwell there either.  Yes, we can plan.  But if we are constantly thinking about ways it's all gonna work together or how we're going to survive it, it brings us down.  Or it brings me down.  My future life doesn't look to be slowing down till....January.  But that isn't the whole truth.  It's how it looks in my head but God knows better than me about all of it. 

I need to trust Him.  Embrace the grace for today.  Live in the now.  Not worry about the future.  His grace will be there when I get there.  I cannot dwell in a place where there is no grace.  (BTW I spoke on this very thing at our last women's breakfast this past Saturday hence all the rhyming)

So, in light of the fact that I am, in fact, embracing the grace, I won't beat myself up that I haven't shared since the 2nd of July. And that I missed sharing stories about the 4th of July parade,

Kale getting 3 stitches after cutting his head on a ceiling fan that hung over a bunkbed he was climbing on (no he is not 9ft tall...),

Kate learning how to put rubberbands in her hair all by herself.  I think this is the record so far. 7!

 The kids and I playing at the Children's Museum while Mishka got groomed for the first time since we've had him.  This blowing machine was their favorite by far!

 I won't dwell on the fact that I haven't shared all the stories I'd like to.  Instead I'm taking this extra moment that I have while Mark is in CA at school for a week (he's starting a 2 yr Master's program) to embrace God's grace for me today, blog for a few minutes and share yet another thing I found on Pinterest (oh goodness help me!) [And Kristin, I have actually made and done many things on Pinterest -- thanks for inspiring me to join :)]

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day to everyone. I love the 4th of July. There's just something about it that makes you so proud to live in America. I love the small town parade, the patriotic songs, the BBQs, the fun. It's just so great to be a part of it all.

Kids are "napping" so I am blogging! I know there are better things for me to be doing but I don't feel like doing anything else but sit here...

We got up this morning and headed out to Bayfield for their parade. Apparently this parade is over 100 years old. Very fun. They have a little bit of everything going on there. Horses, cars, color guard, fire trucks, candy, water, saloon girls, Shriners, dogs, farm equipment, vendors, bouncy houses, bands, etc... It's a small town patriotic celebration.

We met up with our good friends, the Blegers, who got there a bit earlier and saved good seats in the shade - Hallelujah! We had to wait about an hour and a half before the parade started but I was glad we were there early. It filled up quick and I cannot imagine maneuvering our three cherubs through the crazy crowd. We tried later and it was stressful!

Jerome and Tiff (daughter Violet is with the balloon)

Once the parade started, Kale and Kate were uber interested in finding as much candy as possible. Almost every "float" passed candy out. They had to scramble for it to beat out other kids but they made off with quite a bit. It was Jack's naptime so his experience wasn't that great. I think next year will be better. Hopefully Jack will be at an age where he'll enjoy everything. This year Mark and I traded off watching the older two and taking pictures with monitoring Jack. Jack wanted to crawl {not much room to do that} or eat {didn't care if it came up off the pavement}. He was a full-time job :)












We thought about hanging out after the parade and going to see the vendors and
fun kid stuff but Jack was done and the kids were hot and tired. So we packed up and headed to A&W {what's more American than that?!} and brought food home to enjoy in the quiet comfort of our own home. Plus we still have lots of packing to do. I don't think we'll be going out anywhere tonight. Being out late on a Saturday night is too much. Sundays are already a lot for our kids. Don't need to add to the stress by keeping them up late! So maybe we'll watch some patriotic show from Washington and see fireworks on TV. Definitely not the same but it'll do. It's only for a season!

Hope you are enjoying your Independence Day as well. Thank you to all the awesome military and their families. It's because of you that I can live here, worship here, go to a parade, watch fireworks, enjoy my friends and family and enjoy my freedom. Thank you!


This was a good one...