Love Covers a Multitude of Sins...

Our first days of Summer Vacation were idyllic! Sweet hearted boys playing peacefully, contentedly, joyfully together (just read the last couple of blog entries...) And then something arose so great from within them that all the pedals on my sweet pea bouquet dried in an instant and fell to the counter top! The boys began to fight! And when I say fight, I don't simply mean flying fists and heated arguments (there were those too,) I mean whining, crying, flailing, irrational tears and grumpy hearts that can't manage to honor one another or me, their Mother. And it's been CONSTANT this week!

"Love Covers a Multitude of Sins... Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart... Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good... in our weakness He is made strong..." So many good verses have flooded my mind as I've separated the mutineers and sent them to time-out in various rooms this week. But even with all this wonderful, Biblical counsel welling up from deep within my heart, I've felt MAD. It is so difficult for me to not take their childishness personally sometimes.

So I asked God for His love, His Patience and Kindness and Goodness towards this renegade band of brothers He saw fit to give me as Sons. And wouldn't you know it?!?! Miraculously I have loved them well these past few days. We went places and did things, played, then came home, read books, watched shows, and they've dressed up as the scalawags they've been acting like!

I remember going to see a therapist in my young adult life who asked me to bring in some pictures from my growing up years (trying to pinpoint who was to blame for any issues I'd collected during my life!) Often times as I take pictures of our current family with these three little guys, I wonder what a therapist might have to say. Tonight I looked back over the pictures I've taken of them and I see happy boys, loved boys, forgiven boys, boys who have a mother who taps into her Generous Heavenly Father's Love when her's has all been spent... For Love Covers a Multitude of Sons... I mean Sins.

easy

Summertime, and the living is...

Splash parks, Nature hikes, Strawberries, Baseball Playoffs, swimming in the kiddie pool, and pancake picnics in the backyard at 10 am in their PJs. Life is sweet... especially when dripping with maple syrup.

(Put me in the game, Coach!)

Summer's in bloom...

We always know Summer is here when our backyard Strawberry Patch is brimming with red, juicy berries and the sweet peas are as tall as I am. Well today I saw my first luscious, red Herald of Summer's Arrival! And the sweet peas are shoulder height. These pictures, however, were taken a couple of weeks ago at a local Strawberry Farm in Carlsbad.

The boys ate so many berries they barely had room for dinner that night!

Here are a couple of pictures of what's in bloom in my little (very little) garden...

Of course loads of Summer fun is always in full bloom around here!

Chubaka taking a swim

As Brody looked down into the water I positioned my camera to take a sentimental picture of my boy deep in thought. Just as I was about to snap the photo he looked up and cried "I see Chubaka swimming in the Ocean!" This picture if of that very moment! As it turns out, what Brody saw was a large, brown clump of seaweed floating below the Oceanside pier.

Brody had so many questions for each fisherman on the pier that day... "did you catch any fish, where are they? Can I touch their eyeballs? That one's small, can I feed him to the pelican?... This particular fisherman let Brody squish his little fish' eyeball and then toss him to the large pelican staring at us from the railing.

Jedi Training

We began our Summer Vacation with a trip to Disneyland. The Highlight for our big guys was being chosen for Jedi Training. The force, indeed, is strong with these younglings. Asher went into hysterics when he wasn't chosen, crying out, "I want to be a Padawan! I want to be a Padawan!!!" Of course he changed his tune when Darth Mal came out to battle the Young Jedi Warriors. He leapt into His Daddy's Arms faster than you can say "Death Star!"

Almost done with 1st grade

Caleb's school year is almost over.

He'll be a second grader before we blink twice.

I've heard it said that with little ones underfoot the days are long but the years fly by. I agree. Each of our days this year seemed long and full and loud and busy and messy with my two young ones at home, but Caleb's year in first grade flew by. He enjoyed wonderful friends and an amazing teacher, and learned so much I nearly fell over some days.

Now with only 6 more days of school left until Summer break I am growing increasingly sentimental. And rightly so! For the next time my boys head back to school not only will Caleb be in 2nd grade, but Brody will be starting Kindergarten and Asher Preschool! Oh, those two little ones are beside themselves with excitement. And that makes me so happy.

But first we have a Summer to fill with popsicles and sprinklers, trips to the lake and days at the beach, home made ice cream, strawberries picked straight from the backyard, and sun kissed little boy skin.

creative at the lake house

This is all a little too Lord of the Flies for me... actually the whole raising boys thing baffles and exhausts me most every day. On this particular day I was enjoying a few quiet moments when I suddenly realized, something must be wrong. I went outside to find the boys thusly outfitted.

Try to guess who started this game?

That's right... Brody... which perfectly segues me into another highlight of our time at the lake house. For a couple of months now Brody has been asking his Nana in Texas to make him a Mummy costume. The day after Easter a package arrived for him.