Look around you!

If you live here in the Ozarks, you no doubt love this time of year. This is what I see as I drive into town every day! The colors all around us are simply amazing. This year I have been very aware of the beauty. I thinks it's because I must be getting older and learning to appreciate it when things are good, because so often times things may not be so good. I just had to go around and take pictures this year - I've got some great ones for that HSBC photo contest! And yes, I can enter because I'm not judging.

So I just have to share this thought for you, a little more on the serious side...

Why did God make the trees turn color?

There is a scientific process that occurs, I know, but I am asking why did He do that? God could have simplified things a bit and just made the leaves go from bright, summer green to all dried up and falling off the trees. I don't really have THE answer, and I think there may be many. But this year, for me, it's just beauty. God creates beauty. Look at us, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. No, we're not perfect now due to sin, but he restores us and creates that beauty again and again, just like those leaves. So, look around you and remember who you are, who God is, and what we're here for. Heavy, but that's what's in my head this week.


We're going camping tonight in the rain, 7 kids, possibly 3 dogs, and 2 campers (not tents). I'll let you know how that goes...

Rockbridge Adventure

I call this an adventure, because we were charting new territory. New to us, that is...
I think the kids will always remember the day we spent in the car when they were really hoping to go camping in the wilderness somewhere far away from a toilet.
Instead, we drove down through Ava, MO, but not quite to Gainesville, where I once played basketball. Glendale against Gainsville?? What were they thinking?? We shut them out, with the final score being something like 60 - 2. We also yelled, "Go, Go, Goat-ropers!" in the huddle to start the game. Now that's high class for ya. I digress...

Rockbridge, MO is a beautiful place with an old grist mill and a restaurant, and a humidor??? Oh well, here are a few thoughts about our day:


*Don't tell the kids you might camp there, simply nothing less will do.

*NEVER skip rocks with an eager Lab by your side. Poor thing just couldn't stay out of the water. At one point, Nathan hurled a crabapple into the river to see how far he could throw it, when out of nowhere - there goes Duke, flying over the bank and into 5 ft? deep water after that "ball." He finally gave up and tried to swim back to the edge, only to find he could not climb up the steep bank at that spot. Emma cried and we all got a little nervous, but he made it on down the river. I think he's still looking for that crabapple.

*Make RESERVATIONS at the restaurant. We didn't, but I hear it's amazing...

*35 mm camera's actually take film...

*Beware of large dogs with behemoth heads from the movie, "SandLot." 

Birthday Tribute

I miss my Sister so much my stomach hurts. She is so far away, seemingly happy and content with her little and not so little ones all around her. Her friend, Tami, lives with them and I check her blog daily for small glimpses of her life. It may just be that big Sis thing where I think she can do no wrong. But seriously, there's not much wrong she can do. She is smart, funny, devoted to her family, godly, and she can preach better than anyone I know (no offence to my pastor!), but she would never take the pulpit, unless it was totally appropriate. Best of all, she's really, really fun. She knows every song ever written. Back in Junior High, she created a list of song titles with actual names in the title for a KTTS radio contest - she came up with hundreds!. My sister loves to dance, and even tried to teach me the Texas 2 step in our backyard because she was preparing for a barn dance. She is an amazing cook, and even willing to take up snow skiing at age 41 ( although she's as bad as I am). She is raising 7 incredible kids and loves her husband dearly. She is strong willed, though, and Mom has always said she had to spank her alot. Somehow, that makes me feel better. But strong she is, now and always. I still look up to her, my wonderful sister.

Happy Birthday, Sa.

[OK, she may be great and all, but I can probably kick her tail in basketball. And there was that time when I was about 5 yrs old, my sister and my cousin, Gina, and their 2 dogs got "stuck" in the tree and sent me running for help through fields and mountains, over rocks and streams, tears streaming down my face because I thought she and my cousin were gonna die??!! Yeah, when my Dad got to them, they really thought they were gonna die. Guess I still haven't got over that one.]