Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday! to my wonderful husband, the father of our three girls

and 'Poppy' to our 7 grandchildren!

Out-Takes

Mine was the back up camera in the photo shoot of our family this past weekend so I will post some out-takes, silly or otherwise less than perfect pictures that nevertheless tell part of the story of our family.

You can probably tell who the life of the party around here is.

{Probably due to the fact that they don't have to try to get 4 children to at least look pleasant at the same moment.}

To become a grandparent is tho enjoy one of the few pleasures for which the consequences have already been paid.

~ Robert Brault~

Heart Breaker Eyes

5 year old Leif was given the task of pounding flat a bunch of staples so this board could be re-hung in a fixing project. He was so happy to be given a real job and so cute in the knowledge that he was being a helper to Uncle Ben. (Well, this child would be cute doing anything, right? Those heart breaker eyes!)

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”

~Benjamin Franklin~

The Little Things are the Big Things

"The art of contentment is the recognition that the most satisfying and the most dependably refreshing experiences of life lie not in great things but in little. The rarity of happiness among those who achieved much is evidence that achievement is not in itself the assurance of a happy life. The great, like the humble, may have to find their satisfaction in the same plain things."

Edgar A. Collard, 1974

Domestic Divas

Ilex and her best friend Adalaine are house/dog sitting for Ben and Shannon this week. When they came over here yesterday, (decked out in two of Shan's many darling aprons), to borrow an ingredient for a salad they were making, I decided that a photo shoot was definitely in order! I think they are having a blast being "on their own" keeping house in the little "cottage".

Domestic Divas

Well, not too serious after all.

Back to back

They faced each other...

Nature is only the Image

Nature is mortal; we shall out-live her. When all the suns and nebulae have passed away, each one of you will still be alive. Nature is only the image, the symbol; but it is the symbol Scripture invites me to use. We are summoned to pass in through Nature, beyond her into that splendour which she fitfully reflects.
And in there, in beyond Nature, we shall eat of the tree of life. At present, if we are reborn in Christ, the spirit receives life from Him at a thousand removes--
The faint, far-off results of those energies which God's creative rapture implanted in matter when He made the worlds are what we now call Physical pleasures;and even thus filtered, they are too much for our present management. What would it be to taste at the fountainhead that stream of which even these lower reaches prove so intoxicating? The whole man is to drink joy from the fountain of joy.

C. S. Lewis in "The Weight of Glory"

Squirrels

This is the prize winner of the contest sponsored by Power Line blog to illustrate the debt issue our country is facing. I think it's worth watching and passing along. Watching squirrels somehow makes the topic easier to visualize. Justin, the producer of this short video, has done a great job and been chosen as number 1 from over 200 entries. More of the top entries can be seen here.

They asked Justin to share his thoughts on the contest and his video:

"When I first heard of the contest, I found it hard to believe that anyone would put up such a great prize to offer creatives a chance to dramatize the debt crisis. Most people don’t want to think about debt or the dangers it holds. Wars and environmentalism have attracted most of the attention of creative people in our culture–and not usually for a good result. But when you consider what debt can do and has done to nations throughout history, we’d be fools to not recognize our country’s solvency as the single greatest issue we face today. In my piece, I wanted to not just show how bad the problem is- which is in itself a noble effort since 15 trillion is hard for most to comprehend–but I sought to convey how we got to this point, and our choices moving forward."