Creative Gravel

Rock Man (Notice: the mohawk and yes, those are teeth)

The Rock Man Creators with Suzy too! (She's taking the picture)

Wilderness VBS

Joshua and Rachel have been attending a once-a-week Wilderness VBS (Vacation Bible School) for the month of July. Every Tuesday these two are up and ready by 8:50 a.m. to be picked up by our wonderful neighbor, J, who drives them and his own two kiddos to the E-Free church in town. This past Tuesday was a photo scavenger hunt and hike. Afterwards, a bible story was read, Q & A, verse recitation and then an ice cream dessert. How fun!

The following pictures are what Joshua took with our camera on the scavenger hike. These are a fraction of what he took (I think he took close to 75+ pictures!), but it's fun to see what is interesting to him. It's also fun to see what a blooming photographer he is becoming!

This building is on the property who hosted the hike and dessert.

Beaver work

Wild Irises

Dragonfly

This paper birch log went across a creek. Nice angle shot, Joshua!

Sky pic. Love it.

I'm told it's a fish bone.

Pictures of Summer Delight

Swimming!:

I love my chubby toddler baby!

You can chuckle. I do every time. 

At Como Zoo on the Carousel!:

I'm supporting Hudson who is in the yellow shirt,
Rachel is wearing the orange hat on the right side
And our new friend Tomay is in the middle with the brown curly hair.

Just a fun picture of the carousel. All the kids loved it. Well, except for Hudson
who insisted on wearing his "inquisitive, stoic" face the whole time.

Rainy Days!:

A road system from the 1950's!

Playing with cornmeal. Two hours of constant entertainment. Yes!

That's the form of a funnel. Cool.

Beach time!:

The lake was gorgeous that night.

See the moon?

Camping! (Just Daddy and Madelynn this time!):

My favorite joke right now:

Joshua: "Knock, Knock"

Rachel: "Who's there?"

Joshua: "Interrupting Cow"

Rachel: "Interr-"

Joshua: "Moo!"

Silent is Safe

I am a silent griever. For over four years I hid my grief from those on the outside. I pretended everything was ok. "How are you?" "I am good/fine/well." Inwardly, I was far from fine. I was a mess of emotions, confused and depressed.

Now, I am learning to come out, to be honest, to be open. I am learning to speak out Emily's story, to acknowledge her existence.

"I have FIVE children" has been one of the hardest things for me to say. To say I have four is an outright lie, yet I can silently grieve and no one knows my story. But when I say FIVE, people give me looks of confusion, sadness and pity. Sometimes they ask questions, sometimes they don't.

I cannot understand the outspokenness of so many bereaved moms on their correct number of children. I only look upon their openness with jealousy as I continue to hit a wall when opportunities of honesty arrive. Why is it so hard to be honest about how many kids I have? People see four, so they expect to hear "4". Does my fear of man run that deep in my heart that I cower before any questioning stranger? Where is the boldness I need?

Far too long I have mistrusted strangers and even friends with anything close to my heart.

Emily is close to my heart.
        Her entire story is close to my heart.
               To share Emily, even her number in the family line, is to expose my heart.

It is a trust issue.
Far too many times my heart has been trampled on and I have closed it off, but to a select few.

It looks like that might need to change.
I need to be willing to trust a stranger to see a glimpse of my beautiful Emily. And trust that her beauty and God's love will in turn open up that stranger's heart also.