Our Fourth

Part of the reason I blog is to share the joy in my life... writing things down helps me highlight the joy, choose it and really see it amidst the hard work and steady plodding of every day life.

 (Blossom3's cookie pizza, with her "helper", Blossom4)

Every other year, we host our families for a Fourth of July celebration.  It's always a blast... well, except for that year that Pappy let little almost toddler Blossom3 have an entire can of Pepsi and I was up all night with a wired baby child.  Maybe that wasn't so great.  Over the years, the prep work was carefully finagled around nap times, nursing times and the general wrangling of smallish children.  Party prep can be a long process that is sometimes just plain hard in the greatest first world sense.

After spending Tuesday supervising Blossom1 and her sewing project, we shifted into party prep mode.  That means our "all hands on deck" policy went into effect.  Come to think of it, I'm not sure if there's a time when it's not in effect.  All the girlies gathered in the kitchen to work on brownies, cookie pizza and salad components.  (We really don't just eat dessert on the Fourth, I promise.)

(Blossom2's Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle.  Again, Blossom4 always manages to be nearby... probably as tasting staff)

The next morning, after choring, the Blossoms congregated in the kitchen again, laughing and taking instructions as we finished out the menu with many hands making work light.  Blossom4 is our go-fer, as in go-fer-this, go-fer that, so she ran about the house, finding this and grabbing that, in between swiping tastes of goodies and peeling and chopping cucumbers.  By 10 am, I sat down to check over my list and was astonished to find that all the food was ready... and we had been having fun...  Yes, FUN.  The Blossoms went out and decorated the porch with various and sundry "pretties" and helped to tie up all sorts of loose ends.

Blossom4 introduces Puffin to "the Gang."

"This is one way children really are a blessing," I thought.

What used to be hard and long and tricky was pleasant and fun and much quicker, but it came after years of making them do little things faithfully.

I'm thankful for the little glimmers of the harvest 

that we get sometimes.  

(Blossom4 is walking back up to the house with my sister and nephews.  Sometimes the Littles get tired before the big kids do.  Or maybe they just want more dessert before the big kids eat it all.  

Also, I'm ever so thankful for friendly neighbor friends who let hot children cool off in their creek.)

Our Fourth party was a success.  We managed to finish our picnic meal before the rain came.  The downpour was so heavy that we all trooped inside, only to lose power for a while.  Everyone lounged about on the porch or in the house, chatting and fellowshipping.  Eventually, the power came back on, our party resumed its normal July cadence and we spent the afternoon soaking in our time together.

Meet Puffin

Blossom3 has experience with male lionhead bunnies.  We adopted two, named Peanut and Gizmo, from my cousins in Wisconsin.  It was a long trip for them via Grandma's vehicle, but I was delighted to surprise the Blossoms with those bunnies.  Peanut and Gizmo have been wonderful little rabbits for the younger Blossoms, receiving loads of attention and love.  Because of her sweet relationship with Peanut and Gizmo, Blossom3 decided that she really wanted a female lionhead bunny.  So, she started praying.... about six months ago.  

The Rugged Mountain Man and I discussed it and decided that we'd okay it.  We looked at shows and kept coming up empty.  No female lionhead bunnies.

But Blossom3 just kept praying.  She had faith, so much so that she decided to name her new bunny "Hope" once she had it.  She talked about Hope.  She wrote stories about Hope's adventures.  

Last week, an email was forwarded to me through two friends, letting me know that a young couple needed to find a loving home for their bunny, so they could move to another country to do mission work.  I opened the email doubtfully, because folks often try to unload unwanted rabbits on micro-farmers.  My jaw dropped when I saw that it was a well-loved, young female lionhead being given to a caring home.  

We eventually connected with this neat young couple and Puffin came to live here today, 

after hours of Blossoms looking out the window, waiting by the window and wailing, 

"When is she gonna be here????"  

"How much longer?????"  

She now touts a slightly fancier name.

The amazing God we serve answered a little girl's prayer.

Welcome, Puffin!

What I'm Reading... Lately

I love hearing what folks are reading.  It helps me to understand what they are thinking about.  It helps me see what they are interested in.  It opens my eyes to what is important to them.  Sharing about what you're reading is the meat of a good conversation.  Here's a little peek in to what I've been reading lately:

- A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron
It's a novel about a dog's lives and his purpose.  My neighbor friend recommended this book to me.  It's her favorite.  It was an enjoyable read, mainly because I love my dogs and I think that it seemed to give insight into a dog's point of view on humans.  I've still never seen the movie, but I suspect, as it goes with most good books, that the movie doesn't do it justice. 

- Praying Circles Around Your Children by Mark Batterson
This was an excellent quick read that reinforced the importance of praying for your kids.  There was no condemnation in this book, just encouragement to pray regularly for them.  My favorite quote went something like this, "You will never be a perfect parent, but you CAN be a praying parent." 

- George Muller on Faith, compiled and edited by Lance Wubbels
I love these bite size nuggets of encouragement on faith.  When the Holy Spirit shined His light on my heart, illuminating bits of fear that had taken up residence there, I felt it was time to dig into faith more deeply.  This little book has been so good for me. 

- Hidden Currents by Christy Barritt
This is a squeaky clean mystery set in Lantern Beach, North Carolina.  I really do love my fiction squeaky clean and this fit the bill as a modern mystery with some good sarcasm and humor thrown in the mix.  The main character is hiding from a gang, under the cover as the local ice cream truck lady.  Book 1 didn't wrap up the plot though, so I guess I'll have to read book 2 now...

- II Chronicles, book of the Bible
I especially loved II Chronicles 13:14, where it talks about how the army of Judah was being attacked from the front and the rear.  When they realized this, they cried out to the Lord for help.  Then, they fought!  I love the lesson in that.  When you realize things are bad, cry out to God right away... but then fight!  And then God did a miracle.  Yep, that's the God I serve!

-The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gaines
My sister-in-law lent me this book, mentioning that she thought I'd really like it.  She was right!  I enjoyed Chip & Jo's down-home point of view and sharing of their story.  I also really appreciated how they shared the workings of their marriage - learning to play off each other's strengths, recognizing the nuances in each other's personalities and appreciating each other's differences.

- Just Open the Door by Jen Schmidt
This is a book about hospitality, but really, in a much deeper way, this is a book about community.  Community is central to the living and sharing the Gospel.  Hospitality is modeled throughout Scripture.  I was encouraged to keep opening the door to my home and let Jesus use me in any way He can. 

Next time we chat, I'd love to hear what you're reading...

Dominique

To the Dentist

Happy summer day, friends!

One of my favorite topics that I've written about here is being well put together.  I still believe that dressing with excellence is a way to show respect for yourself, but more importantly, it demonstrates respect for your Creator.  You're a masterpiece, friend, why would you treat yourself like a cast-off? 

I recently had some technical trouble with those posts and enjoyed perusing them again as I repaired them.  I thought you might like to take a gander at the Well Put Together section. 

We also trekked to the dentist office on this chilly morning, so I broke out a pair of denim capris, a brown structured cargo jacket and some jewelry with pizzazz to do my mama duties. 

Dressing well helps me forget about what I'm wearing and focus on the task at hand.  Hope you enjoy a stroll down DominiqueSpeaks memory lane.  

Oh, and the Fourth of July is coming up... perhaps you'll find some patriotic inspiration here too.

Dominique

A Field Trip

This spring, after finishing up our study of the Civil War, I convinced the Rugged Mountain Man that we should trek to Gettysburg for the day.  He would have preferred to go on a pleasant summer day, but my lobbying for a "field trip now!!!" won out.

Alas, it didn't turn out to be a warm spring day, but we began at the visitors' center with the film and a tour of the cyclorama.  Perhaps, the temperature will rise to sweatshirt weather while we admire the masterpiece that the cyclorama is!

After a tasty lunch in the van, we set off on our battlefield tour.  As you can see, the weather never warmed up, so we just bundled up!

The CD audio tour we followed was superb.  I can't recommend it enough!  We sat in our warm van, listening to segments told to us in story-like format and then, we ventured out to explore each stop.  

The audio tour helped to hold the Blossoms' attention.  Well, that and the fact that the Rugged Mountain Man is a bit of a history buff.  He helped us out whenever things got a little confusing.  

We were super pleased with how Blossom4 did in Gettysburg.  

She seemed genuinely tickled to explore new places in her typical mountain goat fashion.  

Little Roundtop was a favorite with all of us.  

Blossom2 particularly loved the rocks.  

Mama loved the views.

It was definitely a good idea to visit while we were studying this time period.  There were so many names and details that were still fresh in our minds.  

And, we could marvel at actually seeing history... like this hole, left from the original cannon ball.

There were poignant moments and wholesome family time.

Even if it snowed the entire spring day, we were glad to have tread on that hallowed ground, 

soaking up the history, reliving those days in our imaginations and cementing the history in our minds.