Aventures in backyardland...

...along with a trip to the park, Jiffy Lube, Subway and our high school track.

Did I mention that I am ambitious?

Or that I believe I, as a decided mother, should be able to do all of these things and more with my children along? It's an amazing dead tired accomplished feeling! I love it because I am relying on the Lord's strength, not my husband's, sitter's or Memaw's. Not to say that I never have days and/or outings alone; we as mothers ALL need those periodically!

On this particular day, the air was gloriously warm! Over 70 degrees here in the northwest, with hardly a breath of wind. Gorgeous. I believe we have been bombarded with strong winds for only about the last 2 months, daily, and it felt like it had been forever since we had been able to enjoy a nice leisurely run, minus leaning into the wind barely moving-a play time at our local park, without the hazard of blowing debris(or histamines) or to enjoyably work in our flower gardens while my kids gleefully play in the backyard.

Today was a good, good day.


I was snap happy today with my camera so bear with me as I attempt to post ALL some of the photos I shot today. I adore my kids! Watching them, teaching them, listening to them, playing with them and taking pictures of them. All of which was done today.


We had a few boo boos, apologies, mommy raising her voice to a level ever slightly too high, spats here and there, misunderstandings, sunburns(ahem-on mommy-ahem) and such and so on-but far and above it all, we had loads and loads of smiles, laughs, exercise, giggles, adventures, hugs, accomplishments, tear-jerking bright sunshine, kisses, loves, words of encouragement and joy.

So we're quite content.


I'll let some of the photos tell the{rest of the}story.

And that's some of what we did on this beautiful spring day in May.

Let's say

while doing laundry


you came across


an awesome creative surprise

like this one

on my second in command's soccer shirt...


Wouldn't you smile big, too?

Head first

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again, because there is no effort with out error and shortcomings, but who knows the greatest enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory or defeat."

-President Theodore Roosevelt

Which is better: to try and fail or to have not tried at all?

We can't look back at situations we felt called to jump into, but that ended in complete failure and say, "I must have been wrong." "I heard wrong." It was a miss-step." Although, maybe it was, the Lord works during those times of confusion to draw us even closer to Him, to bring wisdom and recognition to areas in need of refining in our lives. He grabs hold of us in the darkness, firmly locks our groping hands with His, leads our hearts back into His all-knowing light and brings us back to a place of total rest and reliance on Him as He makes clear what it is He wants us to learn from moments such as those. Maybe it didn't go as you expected, but rather how God predestined!

If you sense a calling, a feeling, an inclination to start on a mighty trek of conquering achievement for His name sake, sometimes fear tries to delay us, physical roadblocks get in our way, the enemy strives to bring us to a mind staggering halt, but if we never step out in faith, we will never be met with the blessed awe of our great God meeting us there in the midst of the unknown at just the right moment, drawing our gaze up to be met with the beautiful light of His glory and grace; taking our eyes off of what we can see and back onto His wonderful face. How beautiful our unity with Him to do great things... and how sweet the everlasting reminder of God's sovereignty in every area of our lives as we look back at those traveled roads of our lives and with amazement remember how He was there every step of the way as we dared to step out in total trust in Him. He was there, refining. Holding up. Leading. Protecting. Loving us.

If we never make mistakes, stumble or question our placement, we must not be doing anything, so jump I say! Head first and heart right. With everything that is in you. Your God is right there, holding your hand, jumping right along side you, in fact doing the jumping for you. And in the end, you can hold your head high, praising the Lord, whether in gloriously failing or amazingly accomplishing, because you put your complete trust in Him and though you may or may not have triumphed in yours or others' opinion, you certainly obeyed, your heart was in the right place, you grew in your relationship with Him, and gave it everything that was in you... and that counts for something, right!?

I believe it does.

"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying,"This is the way, walk in it." Isaiah 30:21

Submit to God and be at peace with Him;

in this way prosperity will come to you.

Accept instruction from His mouth;

and lay up His words in your heart.

-

My feet have closely followed His steps;

I have kept to His way without turning aside.

I have not departed from the command of His lips;

I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread.

-Job

-

I just did it

Just because.

I wanted to try something new.

On my own.

Experiment.

Am I alone in my impromptu endeavors?

Having a moment of inspiration and running with it, pronto...

That's what I do best.

I took pillows from our old couch,

along with fabric I've had for years,

and sewed some pillow covers, without a pattern, without so much as one sewing lesson... ever or even a sewing machine... (okay, I borrowed one)

I've done this before. Sewn. On my own. Not exactly knowing what I was doing. But doing it nonetheless to the best of my ability.

Haven't you done that? Seen fabric you crave, found an amazing piece of furniture you love, pass by the perfect eye-candy painting, and buy it in hopes of thinking up some use for it...

Haven't you jumped into something new with excitement and determination... er, blindly?

Being self taught must take a whole lot of gumption, faith, ability, dedication and ingenuity... and dare I say, pride.

I have my share of them all.

Maybe a pillow with some nice grey/blue sheen about it would complete the look?

Splendidly sewn or slightly crooked, well thought out and planned or spur of the moment,

whether perfect or flawed, I just did it.

And I dare say, that's the most exciting way to learn.