Wordless Wednesday: Liam's 2nd Lost Tooth

An Introduction

In all my tardiness, I haven't mentioned that we have a new nephew.

Hudson was born July 22.
Isn't he cute?
And he makes me need another one. A baby, that is.
But I'm not the one feeding him at 3am.

Apparently,

all I need to do to get rain to fall from the sky in August is to complain how rare it is to see rain fall from the sky in August.

It is pouring down right now. On August 18th!

And it's supposed to rain off and on from now through Wednesday.

Amazing. Thank you, Lord!

Now, we're off to play in the rain.

Friday Funny

Liam wrote his first sentence yesterday.

"Liam ack mat sat mos poop"

Translation: Liam and Matt sat in moose poop.

I don't know who Matt is, but notice that he did spell poop correctly. We do train them well in the CupRunnethOver home!

Photographic Proof of Rain...in Texas...in August!

I don't know about you, but I can't seem to catch up with life in general these days. This post should have been written two weeks ago, but I'm just now getting to it. Please forgive me for my tardiness.

In our part of the world, rain is unheard of this time of year. Almost two weeks ago, I thought I was dreaming when I heard thunder rolling as I opened my eyes for the day. In fact, I doubted my ears enough that I set out on my morning run. But I only made it two blocks down the road before I heard more thunder and saw lightning.

My mama always told me to stay inside during thunderstorms, so I raced home and turned on the weather.

Within an hour, the rain began falling, and I have never been so happy to see rain in all my life. I raced to the boys' bedrooms to get them up for some rain puddle play.

"BOYS! Get up! It's raining. Let's go play in the rain." (The thunder and lightning had passed by this time. I did listen to my mama...most of the time.)

But my boys weren't interested in my reindeer games. They insisted on breakfast first. And they weren't talking about cold cereal. They wanted eggs and bacon. The nerve!

I obliged, and by the time all was said and done, the rain had slowed to a drizzle. With full bellies, we headed outside to play in the puddles.

What my boys enjoy doing is putting leaves in the street and chasing them down the curb to the sewer. They pretend the leaves are boats and the sewer is a waterfall.

"Wee," says Garrett.

And no rain storm is complete without a boat race between the three brothers.

I'm thinking Liam might jump in the next time. I'll have to watch him like a hawk.

By mid-day, the rain passed and the sun came out. But by evening, it rained again and left us with this beautiful rainbow.

Fast forward to today, and it's hot and dry, as August should be in Texas. What I would give to wake up to another rain shower tomorrow morning!

Please join me for tomorrow's Friday Funny. Mr. Linky will be up and running for you to share your funny with us.

Wordless Wednesday: Sprinkler Fun

This Hits Home

Yesterday's devotion (Jon Courson's A Day's Journey) struck a chord with me.

Courson takes a short verse to drive home a very important point:

For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles... Ephesians 3:1

Paul more than likely wrote Ephesians from prison. Instead of writing, "Whoa is me! I'm in prison. Life stinks. Why did God allow me to be locked up here in this God-forbidden place?"

Which is definitely what I would have written. And it would have gone down in Biblical history that I am a complainer. Yes, I am. Admitting it is half the problem, right?

But not Paul. He saw his prison sentence as an opportunity to witness to others around him. In Philippians 4:22, we see his prison guards were saved and then went to Caesar's palace as "born again believers". (Courson, p. 285)

And without his prison term, we would miss some valuable scripture, such as Ephesians.

Courson continues, and I'm just going to quote him, because he's so good at doing what he does.

Why do I point this out? Because I think happy will be the one who realizes that wherever he is has been ordained by the Lord to bring about good things if he will ave eyes to see and patience to wait. Whenever I complain about my circumstances or situation, I am really complaining about my Father, for it is He who sets my course and determines my days.

Paul never lost his perspective. That is why he could say, 'I'm a prisoner of Jesus Christ, for it is He who has captivated my heart and brought me to this place.

(The italics are mine. Just trying to drill this point into my thick skull.)

Gulp.

I don't know about you, but I'm not a prisoner by any means. I'm typing on my Mac from the comfort of my couch with my boys all resting in their comfy beds and my hard-working husband expected to arrive home for dinner in a few hours. And yet I still manage to find something to complain about.

If I am a prisoner, it is only because I have put myself there emotionally.

Because God has ordained my life, when I complain, I am complaining about His plan.

Gulp. Again.

I think this is another lesson in making lemonade out of lemons.

Father, please forgive me for complaining. I realize that I am called to live my life without complaining or arguing. (Philippians 2:14) Please drive this point to my heart: You have ordained my life, and I need to watch patiently for the way You plan to use every circumstance to glorify You.