i laughed hard.
miriam was preferring to stay on shore and catch frogs.
we are currently spending a long weekend in western/central illinois, house-sitting and dog-sitting with our neighbors at a rural 30 acre property. yesterday we did some historical sight-seeing in a nearby town, mark twain's boyhood home. we toured a cave which twain references in his tom sawyer story. it was cool... except for the BATS! (note to self: caves=bats.) i saw a couple flitting above us when we first entered, and our tour guide was like, "oh, don't worry, they know where they're going... they keep to themselves... they don't like light and noise." then later, after one flew directly at my face, he added, "oh yeah, they like to dive-bomb us sometimes." thanks for that! 
not sure how much i will be able to blog over the next few days, so thought i'd leave you with some quality entertainment in the meantime. this is taken from a "French Idol" audition, and i think it's awesome. my personal favorite part is when he throws in a little Usher (any other Usher fans out there...willing to admit it, that is?) perhaps if you enjoy this one, i'll share a flute beat-boxer next week. (or you can look up his rendition of "Super Mario Brothers" on YouTube.) :)
this summer we celebrated our second annual levi and miriam days. since all of our kids have winter birthdays, when it is harder to come up with special things to do, we decided last year to begin a new tradition of each of the kids having a special day with daddy sometime during the summer. they talk about it and look forward to it all year long. the constants for the past two years have included an overnight campout in the backyard and a trip to craig's cruisers to ride the go-carts. we also try to include something special according to what each of them love. if you know us or have been reading this blog for long, you know that miriam's passion is animals (esp. dogs and horses) and levi's is cars and trucks. a friend of a friend hooked us up with some horseback riding for miriam, and levi got to attend a huge car show. but i think their favorite thing about their special days is the one-on-one time with their dad.
a few weeks ago, grandma & grandpa D were up visiting for a couple of days. now that i think about it, i am finding it a bit odd that i have no pictures of them, yet i have a picture of this heron taken while they were here. hmmm... it was nice, though, to have them give me a bit of a break from the kiddos, and i know the kids loved having them here. one afternoon, i got out alone with my camera and saw this guy flying over zeeland, so i followed him. low and behold, he made his landing right in the pond behind matt's work, and i was able to sneak up on him and get a quick photo.
God has really been working at accessing my heart more deeply this week, especially in relation to my role at home as a mother. one piece of what He has been speaking to me came from this excerpt from my devotional a couple mornings ago. it brings tears to my eyes. yesterday, the kids and i happened upon this field of clover and i thought the photo accompanied the poem quite well.
I longed to fight the battles of my King,
Lift high His standards in the thickest strife;
But my great Captain had me wait and sing
Songs of His conquests in my quiet life.
I longed to leave the hard and difficult sphere,
Where all alone I seemed to stand and wait,
To feel I had some human helper near,
But Jesus had me guard one lonely gate.
I longed to leave the common daily toil,
Where no one seemed to understand or care;
But Jesus said, "I choose for you this soil,
That you might raise for Me some blossoms rare."
And now I have no longing but to do
At home, or far away, His blessed will,
To work amid the many or the few;
Thus, "choosing not to choose," my heart is still.
(originally taken from Pilgrim's Progress)
speaking of favorites... blueberries received their very own day of honor in our household one friday in july. i decided to brave the blueberry patch with three kids in tow, one of which was on my back. on the way there, we stopped at the library and read Blueberries for Sal, a classic children's story about a little girl and a little bear cub who both go out with their mothers picking (& eating!) blueberries. it was a great day for picking, and somehow we ended up with 10 1/2 pounds of the delicious little fruits! and as for sawyer on my back, as long as i kept his berry supply steady, he did great. later that day, we made several batches of blueberry muffins and brought most of them around to our neighbors. mmmm!!
two photos today -- male and female of one of my favorite birds, the red-winged blackbird. we see them all over the place here, especially around the wetlands area where we often take walks. i love the male's coloring, i love their calls, and they make me laugh the way they get all uptight whenever you get anywhere near their nests. i thought they looked cute gazing at each other like this. :)
one sunday night this summer, one of the families from our church group hosted "summer olympics". the kids loved it, the dads competed for the best time in the obstacle course, and the moms were content as spectators for the most part. we finished the night off with an awards ceremony and popsicles. here are the group's littlest ones sporting their medals. from left to right: miriam, levi, sam, ani, lydia, elinore, leif, sawyer, & sophie.
miriam and levi attended Bible school the last week in july and they both loved it. it was fun for me, too, because it was the same one i went to when i was young. mrs. hemmeke is still "maestro" twenty-some years later. :) anyway, each day was a different dress-up theme, and this was "arabian knights" day.... i really had no idea how to dress them, but we thought a turban would suffice.
