Summertime!

"Summertime and the livin' is easy.  Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high..."

Today is the first official day of summer vacation for many kids as the school year ended on Friday!  Often parents don't plan ahead and many kids waste away their summers...sleeping in, sitting in front of the TV, playing video games and as every teacher dreads...backsliding in their learning.

A friend of mine texted me the other day that her and her sweet family were coming up with a "Summer Bucket List".  I thought, "What a cool idea!"

 

My plan is to not only have a family "Summer Bucket List", but also my own personal "Summer Bucket List" of what I personally hope to accomplish this summer. 

Michaela and I made our bucket list poster and tonight we are going to sit down as a family and we are going to make our own "Summer 2012 Bucket List".  We want to have a plan and a focus for our summer! We can't wait to make it and start checking them off the list!

 

5 Years

Today Dave and I celebrated 5 years of marriage! 

Thanks to my wonderful parents we were able to go out for dinner tonight just the two of us and reflect on the past five years as well as discuss what we anticipate in the next five years.

We have been through a lot these last five years.

In the last five years we have...

Bought a home...

Had a beautiful baby girl...

Experienced a few years of little or no work...

Had a beautiful baby boy...

Experienced the loss of a child...

Had another beautiful baby boy...

Totaled not one but two vehicles...

and the list goes on...

I loved sitting tonight looking back at how the Lord has blessed us in so many ways these last five years and looking forward to seeing how he blesses us in the next five years! :)

GOD IS GOOD!

Kindness

 Yesterday, Michaela and I started our character traits.  This week we are talking about kindness!  We started our morning learning the definition:  Kindness is:

THOUGHTFULNESS

ARISING from

 LOVE

 

We talked about different scenarios of where we could be kind, and we read a great example of kindness:  The Good Samaritan.  We have started memorizing the scripture passage that goes with it:  Ephesians 4:32 "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you!"

We talked about how kindness is not just the things we do but in the words we say and in the thoughts we think.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of practicing living out kindness.  On my way to my parents where both Michaela and Aidan were at, I was involved in a car accident.  As I proceeded through the green light another lady ran the red light and hit my door and the door where normally Aidan is sitting flinging my vehicle around and then hitting the front of my car.  She immediately got out of her car and started yelling at me that I ran a red light and that her light was green.  I noticed she had children in her car and I asked if she was okay and if her children in the vehicle were okay.  I was so thankful that the Lord prompted me to stop and stay calm making sure they were okay.  I think my normal response would have been to defend myself and start yelling back.  There were several witnesses that stopped but I was especially thankful for an elderly woman who came to me to make sure I was okay and comforted me.  She showed true kindness in her words and actions and assured me that I did nothing wrong.

The Lord knew that we needed to be focusing on kindness this week!!  

Michaela and I are looking forward to more ways that we can practice kindness and see where others are practicing kindness as well.