Grovin'

Have you gone to the woods to pray out loud?
Far from the noise of the deafening crowd?
Deep in a place where you speak your mind?
Were you a little unsure what you might find?

As you knelt and asked did you have a thought?
Of what kind of a man you are and are not?
Did you shrink from your maker with man-made fear?
Did you feel self-doubt thinking he would not hear?

Did peace ever come to that green canopy?
Did you look up in wonder? What did you see?
Was it dark just a little and did you then see a light?
Was it "peace be still" and did you feel power and might?

When you told your Father you'd re-do his will?
Did you pledge to endure? And did your heart thrill?
Did you sense any whispering breeze in the air?
Did his message get through to your heart? Was it there?

Was a glow in your heart as you recommitted?
Could you feel the pure joy of all sins remitted?
Did you pause to thank God for hearing you through?
Did you stop to think that he is grateful for you?

I was reminded this morning of a coversation that happened last week. Totally unprompted while we were driving to school, it went something like this:

Nathan: How far is New York?
Robyn: Pretty Far
Nathan: When is Adeline going to move back?
Robyn: In a couple years
Nathan: I miss her. . . .
Robyn: Me too
Nathan: Will she be the same size?
Robyn: When they move back Addie will be almost as big as you are now!
Nathan: . . . . that'll be weird.

We miss you guys, hope you are having fun with the new family of four. Take some good pictures of the blessing this weekend! Nathan and Jacob say hi to Addline.

I LOVE THIS BAG!

All thanks to Brooke for helping make this bag! (and thanks for the flower Courtney) I love when things turn out as good as they look in the picture.

Esos ojos.

The eyes are the window to the soul and here are two beautiful blue eyes staring me right in the camera lense. I see a little bit of me in these beautiful little eyes and I am wearing a yellow shirt! What a thrill it was when I first laid my own eyes on this little one back in 2001. I took her into her bedroom and held her and told her how much her grandmother and I loved her and how hard we would try to be sweet and loving to her. I told her that she was #1 and would always be because she was the first of many to join this wonderful family. Now we have nine other grandchildren...each one our favorite and each one beloved and cherished. Look at the blue!

I love a parade. You have your horses, your clowns, and your politicians.
All running for office of one sort or another in this election year.
The horses prance and strut, having manes combed and tails braided.
They need to look just right, you know.
After all, this is an election year and they are competing with clowns.
And with politicians.

But my love of parades is a little different than theirs.
I only want to capture a photo or two. A pose here or there.
A split second in time where everything stands still to my view.
And right behind this moment is a clown, a horse or a politician.
Running for something in an election year.
And I cannot any longer tell them apart.

Here are some photos of St. Johns, WP. WP, of course, is warped perspective. This is entitled "waiting for the BBQ". I have to say that the real BBQ was served by the Anderson boys on that Saturday afternoon. Hoo-boy, I thought I was in Carolina and the only thing that would have made it better and more authentic is if Bob, Steve and Tom had stripped to the essentials and sweat into the sauce like they do down south. Whatever you put into it, it was mighty tasty. We had people show up to eat that were not even relatives. Now that is some kind of BBQ.

BTW, still waiting for the good recipe on that vinegar sauce that was so tangy and good.

Good Kids

We tried to teach the boys about some pioneer games a few weeks back for FHE. I came across this picture and I thought it captured both Nathan and Jabob perfectly.

Olivia Loves Poppy!

St. Johns Part 2

I got only a few pics from St. Johns...they are all of the same boys, but they are cute! In that last picture, Landon was so excited he decided to take a chunk out of little Nathan's shoulder. Don't dog, we are working on it.