Summery Delight

      Happy Independence Day from the Northlands! It's been hot and thoroughly summery around here. Last night a storm blew through town and did some damage. We went for a drive and one block was really hit hard, and the surrounding area was virtually untouched. Luke thinks it may have been a tornado. Other than the power going out in the middle of the night, all is fine at our place, thankfully.
     We've been keeping busy lately what with Luke working on the siding, me painting the kitchen cabinets, a nice little family vacation, it's been good.
       No siding has gone up yet, but Luke is plugging away at all the little(or not so little) pre-projects. He used a jackhammer to get rid of one section of cement in the front of the house, and then he brought in the bobcat to remove the random section of sidewalk leading back to the laundry room.

The slabs of concrete just popped up with the bobcat's help!

 Tight squeeze.

Now Luke is working on digging a trench around the house in order to get insulation down to the foundation. We are hoping for a much better insulated house this winter!

(Photo credits to my sister Ema)

Last week we got to take a nice vacation. We first headed to my grandparents for a couple of days. Both sets of my grandparents live in the same small town, so we got to see them as well as several of my aunts and uncles. 

Hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma Shearer

Buirlen quite enjoyed the booth around the kitchen table, nothing like relaxed dining!

Naps on Great Grandma's couch 

Helping Great Grandpa with some tree trimming. 

I spent a lot of time playing with those same toys when I was little. 

After visiting grandparents, we headed over to the BPW(Blanshan, Petersen, Williamson) family reunion. Luke's grandparents were close friends with 2 other families and over the years a 3 family reunion formed. This is the 3rd one I've gotten to attend and it's a lot of fun. We are the P family (Luke's mom's maiden name) and the B family just happens to be the family of one of my dear friends, Polly...so that works out quite nicely!

Polly and I taking Buirlen and Ruthie for a swim...It was SO HOT!

He thought the pool was great!

Buirlen thought that Ruthie was a nice little buddy

It just so happened that the reunion met at a camp ground 5 miles from my parents house, so we also got to see them and then I went into town and had a nice visit with some of my closest friends growing up, Amanda and Emily. I sure do wish we didn't live so far apart. 

Going for a walk

Checking out Uncle Jesse's new puppy. 

On our way home we stopped for giant donuts. Yum. 

Ahhhhh! nothing like the sweet sleep of home. 

And, my garden is growing nicely. My sunflower forest is going to be lovely!

zinnias, marigolds, and cosmos....Oh my!

My kitchen cabinets are still in progress. The cabinets themselves are done, but I've still got the doors and drawers to finish. As I was slapping on paint, certain spots took coat after coat to cover some of the water stains on the old wooden cabinets. As I was working on that, I thought about how great God's grace is. Because, unlike the paint, His grace needs only one application. He takes our sins and makes us white as snow and we don't have to keep layering on coats because one is enough. The stain of our sin is no match for His grace, when He covers something, it's completely taken care of. 

...Anyway, may your day be filled with summery goodness, joy, and confidence in God's amazing grace!

"Every summer has it's own story."~Unknown

The Hand of Grace

     So, in the past we have had a mouse problem, which never makes me real happy. But for a good long stretch we seemed to be in the clear. Well that streak is over because for the past couple of weeks we've had a little visitor, and he seems to be immune to traps and the intense ill will I keep thinking towards him. In previous mouse problems, I have been more likely to see the signs of the invader rather than actually seeing the mouse itself. Not so in this case. I haven't seen a single sign, but the awful little thing likes to run by me, in close proximity in BROAD DAYLIGHT.
    Well last night, Luke and I were watching a movie, Buirlen was sleeping in my arms, all in all we were simply minding our own business in our own living room when the invader decided to show himself. Luke then went into hunter mode and waited for the invader to show himself again and then hurled a boot at it from the recliner. In the meantime, I had managed to stand up on the couch with Buirlen because there is no way my toes are going to be on the floor during this epic battle between man and mouse. The boot missed but Luke was ready for action now and told me to watch one corner of the couch while he got ready for the next shot. This went on for awhile throughout a couple rooms in the house. I therefore stood on multiple pieces of furniture as the lookout. Unfortunately the little critter evaded us at every turn and we gave up the battle for the night, but this is not over. I will win.

Don't worry, the ax is not intended for use on rodent invaders. A friend of Luke's has this old rusty ax head that he asked Luke to clean up for him. Luke discovered a pretty cool old tool under the rust and refinished a handle for it as well. 

     Anyway...Buirlen is becoming quite the little boy. The other day he was sitting on Luke's lap at the dinner table, and Luke had his hand around Buirlen to support him. Buirlen was not keen on being restrained and kept pushing Luke's hand away. Pretty soon Luke just had a grip on the waistband of Buirlen's pants to stable him, because the little goofball was so intent on being independent.
     This got me thinking, how often in this life do we push our Heavenly Father's hand away. It's there to stable us and guide us, but we want to be independent and do it ourselves. So like my goofy baby, we push at the hand that is keeping us from toppling over. Perhaps we just want to do it our own way or maybe we think we know what's truth but in reality we are believing a lie, but regardless of the reason we are pushing at the hand of safety, we are still pushing. But thankfully, just like Luke didn't let go of Buirlen, God doesn't let go of us. He holds on to the waistband of our pants. That is grace and The One who extends it to us is awe inspiring!

My intrepid adventurer. 

And sweet snuggler. 

And chocolate lover.

And blooming artist. 

He's fun. 

Hebrews 13:5

"Keep yourself from the love of money, and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you and never will I forsake you."

Grow in Grace

      For the past couple of years, I have chosen a verse. Something that fits with what my goals for the year are, something that I am striving to grow in or learn(2017). This year, I have chosen,

2 Peter 3:18 "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen."

     One of my goals for this year is to truly learn to live forward in grace. All to often, I find myself stuck. What I mean by this is that I look back to decisions I've made, mistakes, sins etc. and obsess over them. I Play the "What if" game, thinking about what I should have done instead, beating myself up over it. And this isn't good. In our discussions on this, my husband has often told me that I need to live forward in grace. Meaning, strive to be my best, to do what's right, to change what needs to be changed, but to leave the past. To allow the grace of The One who loves us enough to die to be enough, and to live forward.
     And so, the other day, as I was reading my Bible, 2 Peter 3:18 popped out at my, specifically the words, "Grow in grace." That is exactly what I want to do this year. To keep growing towards Jesus, to have a deeper understanding of grace, to rest in the arms of The One who gives me life.

    As for the daily adventures of life...

I think he's a monkey at heart. 

Keeping the house warm. 

This weekend was Mr. Ephraim's birthday. He got a sword...Fun times. 

Burieln thought this whole sword business was interesting as well. 

A valiant knight and his mighty steed. 

The birthday boy shared his party with Uncle Luke who's birthday is coming up.

These are some pretty awesome cousins. 

My sister Lydia was also in town this weekend. 

It's always nice when you find someone willing to share chocolate with you. 

Delicious!

 We've decided to hop on board the Kefir bandwagon around here. It' been fun and tasty. 

Well folks it's Monday and a whole new week awaits. Find something wonderful in it!

"God answers the mess of life with one word, 'Grace,'"~Max Lucado 

John 1:16

"For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace."