Left overs from July 4th

Yes we had some left over sparklers from July 4th ...
kids had some fun with them tonight:

GUS GUS



"O"



Z-MAN


PRINCESS being just like her big brothers

*Please note no children were harmed during the filming of this fire play ... and each child was advised that this kind of behavior is ONLY allowed in the presence and company of parental units and a hose with running water.*

Date Night!!!

I won tickets to a dinner and mini concert being hosted by a local radio station, in honor of the release of Dara Maclean's debut album. I won them on a day that I really needed something to be happy about. It was great to tell Allen when he got home from work that I figured out a way to have a date night for FREE! And this mini concert happened to be just days before our 18th wedding anniversary ... pretty cool! We really enjoyed hearing her sing in person and are just in love with her album!







The concert was held at Northwestern College in St Paul,MN They have a beautiful campus. We enjoyed walking around just the two of us for a while after the concert.

Suitcases

My Gus-Gus will be gone for the week with our church youth group on a service mission trip with TeenServe. I love the group he is going with and I know all will be fine ... but my mommy heart is saddened by each good-bye. I know how precious each moment together is and I don't want to waste any of the moments I have. Living through loss has taught me to treasure each moment ... because we never know when there will be no more moments.

But, the good Lord blessed me by what was played on the radio while we drove to church this morning:






I definitely have "baggage" I need to let go of and set down ... some of it from this journey of loss and some of it from long before I ever lost a baby. Its a work in progress, this learning how to let go ... how to move on. Actually I am a work in progress.

Stream of Consiousness Tuesday ???? Why Not?

Stream of Consciousness Sunday is hosted by Fadra at her blog all.things.fadra. The idea being 5 minutes of free writing ... no proof reading, no editing just write. If you want to join in take 5 minutes, start typing and just empty your brain. Then head over to all.things.fadra. and link up!



Last week I wrote about my sweet eldest daughter and how hard it was to get up early and say goodbye to her for a whole week. I'm happy to say she is now home and full of wonderful memories and stories of her week long mission trip. I love having her back home!

But today I dropped her brother off at the same church with the same youth pastor and this time a group of middle schoolers heading out on a service minded mission trip. His is only 5 days , but we will miss him and the fun he brings into daily life in our zoo - ummm - I mean our house.

Our Gus-Gus has a great sense of humor and works very hard at the things that he loves. I'm hoping he will love whatever jobs they give him this week. This is his first year going on a mission trip and I can't wait to hear what he thinks and his stories from this week at CampServe







The middle school mission trip (8 kids going from our church) is much smaller than the high school one was (28 kids went from our church). I think the smaller size will be nice for this group and I'm sure our youth pastor feels less stress with 8 kids vs. the 26 kids he was with last week.



Pictured here are the middle school boys going on the trip:



And then I had to insist on one last hug ... he cooperated pretty well:

I survived the 4th of July

Just just a quick note and picture to say that I survived the weekend and the 4th of July celebrations. Things actually went smoother and a bit easier than I expected ... I had a few tearful moments, but thankfully those were only in the presence of my wonderful kind and caring hubby. He takes such great care of me! Some days (most days) its hard to control if/when/where I will burst into tears. So going to events where I will need to be around lots of people makes me nervous. "What if I have a melt down moment?" goes through my mind. I try to imagine how I will escape all the people or how I'll explain, but that usually just makes me more nervous. I'm glad that in the end I didn't have to worry about it this time. I'm glad my kids had fun with their cousins and grandparents. I'm glad my dad had a good birthday party.