Back to Reality

My family and I enjoyed a week at Edisto last week - this past Monday was my return to reality (and work, of course).  As much as I was looking forward to this beach trip, I think I must have forgotten how much I don't really enjoy being hot, sticky and covered in sand. I was definitely ready to come home. Once I uploaded all my pics, I realized we spent a lot of time in the beach house and not so much time on the beach.  The kids were down there more than anyone, but too often a camera wasn't on the beach with them. So you get very few beach photos. :)

It doesn't look real, does it? This is why I love Edisto.  It isn't so crowded you can't move - no, we had the majority of the space to ourselves until mid-morning. It was so nice, so beautiful. 

That speck is my older sweet niece - AH. 

All of us are pretty pasty white, so burning like a crispy critter is always a concern.  Even with tons of spf 50 sun screen, we seem to sizzle up nicely.  So we considered it a success that only two of seven ended up with burn.  The rest was much needed... but I'm used to having only one person in the house with me... so having seven made it a bit tough sometimes.

We came home on Saturday and celebrated Macy's third birthday with just the family on Sunday.  Her larger party will be tomorrow. Just brace yourself for a lot of photos, ok? Because here goes nothing. :)

Macy really wanted a Hello Kitty birthday party, but we are all set for a rainbow party... so I ran to the dollar store and created a quick Hello Kitty theme for her actual birthday (this past Sunday).  Even exhausted (why is it that vacation exhausts you??) we all enjoyed celebrating with her.

 Poster board Hello Kitty heads decorated everything - thankfully she's pretty easy to draw. 

Mom and her HK hat

 The birthday girl and her HK hat. 

 Blowing out the three candles - she got them all first try!

 Even PawPaw got into the festivities! :)

 Macy's daddy and his HK hat!

 Macy's mommy (my sister) and her HK hat

 And me with my sweet niece and HK hat that got chopped off in the pic. haha!

 Macy's gift from her parents was a play house and she is LOVING IT. 

LOVE LOVE LOVEs the house just for her. Is totally fascinated with the mailbox. 

I am going to make little notes that will fit in it for her to find. 

 She does have to duck down to go inside, but that's ok. 

She's yelling at Pawpaw to get out of the truck and come see her.  

Unfortunately, Dad is having some knee issues that are really giving him a fit, so he wasn't walking across the uneven ground. He drove up under a tree and watched from the truck. 

So there are a few pics for you.  You know there will be more once this party tomorrow is wrapped up.  With the south being smothered in extremely high heat temps, we have moved the party from outside to a local church in order to protect the kids.  This heat is nothing to play around with, that's for sure! Hopefully it will break next week.  Sheesh. 

Ya'll have a great weekend.  More pics will come soon! :)

REST

So last post life was a Merry-go-round and there was no getting off. Then what does my devotion bring to me? Rest in God is a powerful tool to prepare you for the ways He will use you in His work. Rest. Not just sleeping in, but spending quiet reflective time in His word. I hope I've been doing that this week. I've filled up my journal with prayers and reflections  this week and spend leisurely time just soaking God into my heart. It's good.

Right this second I'm listening to birds outside my window and I have baby sweet niece hogging a king sized bed. How someone so little can push me over to the very edge is just baffling. Earlier she karate chopped my throat then gave me an uppercut punch! It was time to shove her over. ;) 

The girls are enjoying summer like they should - by devouring deliciously grilled corn on the cob. Both those girls can put a hurtin' on some corn, let me tell you. 

Did I show you this pic already? She was learning about sun and shade, so we stopped for a rest in the shade as we walked back to her house from Mom's. So cute. So so so cute!

We had one more heck of a storm here last night. Lightning was a little in the strong side - flicked the power a few good times. Just enough to send the clocks flashing all through the house. 

I hope y'all are having a beautiful week and enjoying the summer weather before the heat really cranks up. :)

Friday *whew*

For whatever reason, life has felt like a out-of-control merry-go-round. Not necessarily in a bad way, just a busy way!  But it's good, at least I'm not bored hahaha :)

I had a very brief but interesting conversation with an  aquaintence at work this week. He was speaking of why he left the church and doesn't follow Christianity any longer (he's looking at other religions, which means he feels a loss that needs to be filled).  His issue was the church he was in - served in a leadership position - didn't handle the finances as he would have preferred. It caused issues and he left with a disheartening view of the religion of Christianity. 

Honestly, I think we've all heard similar stories from someone in our life. The preacher had an affair with the secretary, the Sunday school teacher had child porn on his computer, the choir director was a secret alcoholic. In my personal life: I've had a Sunday School teacher leave his wife after an affair and he became a wild man and another left his wife and went through a crazy mid-life crisis. Yep. It does happen. Another flat out lied to my face - an adult to adult here - and it really disappointed me. Very much so. 

But here's the deal (and what I told him):  all churches and all religions are filled with imperfect people, with sinners who are going to make mistakes and disappoint. But that's not the religion of Christianity. Christianity is built on the almighty and perfect God, the Father, His son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. On the understanding that the Lord sent His only Son here, to us, to live a perfect life and die an unjust death, and doing so fulfilled God's promise to give us a way to come to Him. To be with Him for all eternity. 

Don't let the imperfections of people pull you away from the only thing that can save you. I'm not telling you your life will become instantly easy - it doesn't work like that. But you will have God with you through every step of your life (and beyond!) and a new hope. 

Ok so there is my soap box for today. 

One of the bits of recent excitement: my friend, Donna, turned 40!  Very exciting! We enjoyed a trip to Asheville, NC, to BILTMORE! It was beautiful. 

A drive by shot - but seriously, this house is crazy. I enjoyed the booklet that walked you through the house. It really helped you see the details. 

Of course the views were amazing! So beautiful. Can't imagine living in that environment, waking up and see this out of your window. Wowzers. 

School is out! And sweet nieces are happy! Teen niece is happy to be out of school and baby niece is happy to have teen niece home :) so sweet. So so so sweet! 

Ok enough of this. I took today off to clean house and wash clothes. I suppose I should turn off Let's Make a Deal and get to it. Y'all have a great weekend!