Wordless Wednesday

I hate to paint

This last week here in Jersey, we have had these wonderful thunder storms for days.  As we haven't had enough rain lately, we are all thankful for every drop that came down.

And since we were kind of "stuck" inside, I decided it was time to paint the hallway going up to the kids' bedrooms.

Its been white this whole time, and as my culture demands,  it was driving me CRAZY.

So I painted the bottom part a color that won't show the dirt that comes with having kids.

 Then I realized I didn't want to put a border on because they are a pain to take off, and I didn't want to do the wood thing because, well, I just didn't, and so I told the kids an idea I had, gave them paint, and told them to have at it. 

This is the result.

I have to say, its cuter then I thought it was going to be.  And its fun.  And colorful.  And the kids are so proud of themselves.  Well, at least Chloe & Samuel.  Lance didn't participate, he was working.  And when John called me to ask something, then asked what we were all doing, he was a bit concerned when I told him all the colors we were using.  He couldn't wrap his head around 6 different colors.  He was almost afraid to come home.

He likes it too!!

And so, as much as I hate to paint, and I REALLY HATE TO PAINT, I am always glad with the final results. 

So tomorrow I am going to paint the landing. 

Ugh.

story people

When my sister first moved back to the east coast from California, we went out to her new house, and after spending the whole day unpacking and trying to organize (we were not done, just done for the day) we decided to go out to the mall. 

Well, her mall is not just any mall, its the King of Prussia mall, which means that sometimes, we have to get in the car to go to the other side of the mall because its WAY too big.  Let me just interject myself and add that this mall is all but 5 MINUTES from her house. 

There is a point to this story.

Other then the fact that we went to the mall.

Because if that was the only point to the story, I need to get a life.

I may need to get a life anyway, but thats another story.

Okay, back to the original point to this story.

There was the cutest little store there, that I ended up staying in for a  l-o-n-g time, for I discovered something that I had never seen before. I discovered that artwork of Brian Andreas.

I instantly feel in love with it, for it was unusual, and intriguing, and thought provoking, and you couldn't leave it until you saw every print and read every word.  At least twice.  And I picked the one I was going to buy when I had the extra $30 to buy one.

But....

And then I forgot about him.  

Until we went on vacation 11 years later.

For we went into the cutest little shop in Hyannis, and they had a Brian Andreas corner!! Instantly, I ran to it, and went through all of his prints again.

At least twice.  

And shared my favorites with Chloe.

Here is a pictures of one that we all agreed was a great one.

So I thought I would share.  For all of you who have never heard of him.   And maybe you, too, will enjoy his complex simplicity, his unusual outlook, but his thought provoking comments.

Back to Life

Its been so lovely-ish not having any "responsibilities".  I mean other then laundry, cooking cleaning, gardening & grocery shopping.  You know, the basic mom stuff.

But now, its back to work.  Today, I start getting the plan mapped out and organized for next school year.  4th grade is my absolute FAVORITE!!!!  And I am so blessed to be doing it again.

And back to getting those 13 MORE documents for the adoption.  Just when we thought we were done.  HAHA .  Nope.   But its all good, and all worth it.  We keep getting these children for us to look at, but not able to pick yet because we are not doing with everything.  How frustrating is that? VERY.  I am not rightly sure why they send us these pictures, but we do get to pray for those babies and their future families.

And of course, back to vet appointments, orthodontist, dentist, doctors,  the summer painting projects, house projects, and well, life.

But its good! 

And I am thankful.

So, how exhausting is vacation??  LOL.  But totally worth it.

We rented a house in Hyannis, and it was in just the right spot.It was a house down and cross the street to the bay & shore.

The water was ridiculously warm, but we are not complaining.

Hoops in the bay, JKF memorial beach behind him.

John & Samuel building ....something.

Of course we had to go see the Hyannis METS!!  Both Chloe & Samuel wore all their Mets stuff.  And we had great seats.  For $2.  Its was a great game, and I can't wait a few years to see some of these guys in the Majors.

Taking a train ride to see all of Cape Cod.  I think if we rode our bikes we would have done it faster, but it was fun, none the less.

Chloe & I sent the guys deep sea fishing for the day, so we could go shopping. 

Here is Hoops, with one of his contributions to dinner.

JFK museum

Back to deep sea fishing, though the picture is a set-up, I think its hilarious!!

On the ferry to Martha's Vineyard.  I could move there tomorrow.

It was wicked windy.

PS we passed the Hannah Boyden, which is the sister boat the Andrea Gail.  If you have read the book or have seen the movie "The Perfect Storm" you know what I mean.

We rented mopeds to scoot around Martha's Vineyard.  Way cool!!

Hoops has Samuel, if you look behind them, you can see Josiah and Chloe bringing up the back.

You may not know, but Oaks Bluff in MV is a Methodist Campground.  

And look at the sermon schedule!!!! Indeed....... What Would Jesus Buy?????

When the Methodist first got there for the tent revivals, they set up tents for living in, then they built gingerbread houses.  Very cute.
  

The sign to the campground and the gingerbread houses.

The lighthouse at Edgartown.  I love Edgartown, its just what you imagine a New England little town to be, breath taking, charming with its lovely homes and narrow streets.

Jumping off the bridge.  Which unlike NJ, was not illegal.  Right to left, Josiah, Chloe, Hoops, John who eventually jumped, but not without panicking just slightly, and if you look on the bottom of the bridge, Samuel, who jumped a split second after the gang.  As you can see, I took the picture.  I am no fool.  In fact, so as not to be encouraged onto the bridge ( as if that would work) I didn't even have a bathing suit on.  

Looking for shrimp .

Clamming on the bay.

Finding clams.

This is the pathway we had to take to get from our house to the shore.  It was so cool. This is the last time we took it because we were on our way home the next day.

We are back home, and thankful to have gone, and thankful to be back.

We went to this little Baptist church while we were there.  I think there were about 25 people including the 6 of us, but it was one of the bets sermons I have heard.  One I needed to hear.  Basically, his message was,  If you want to be like Jesus, get your face on the ground, for the Glory of God is found when you are on the ground, not lifted up.  Which is why Jesus washed the feet. Okay, so he said it much better, but it has stayed with me.  So, off to get on the ground.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!

All I can say is, its good to be here in this great nation!!!

So, its rainy here in beautiful New Jersey.  Meaning, fireworks may not be in store for us tonight.  

But I think that is God's way of letting me get more the 4 hours of sleep.   Last night, I hit the pillow at 2:39am.  I thought, tomorrow, I will get up at 9 at the earliest.  

Well, at 6:30 this morning, our dear daughter ran into our room all panicked.  Someone had broken the window of John's brand new van, and stole his GPS system.  So, off to clean up the glass from ALL OVER, both inside and outside the van.  The rock that was used was HUGE!  Who knows where they got it from.   

:::::sigh:::::

But all his tools are still there so we are so very thankful to Jesus for that.

So much for getting some sleep.

But tomorrow we are off to Cape Cod!

So, we pray for safety for all.

And may your weeks be blessed by HIS goodness.

over done

Are you done?

You may not even be sure what it is you are done with, but you are done.  You have had it.

I'm done.

I think I am done with not getting enough sleep.  But don't quote me.  

I am thinking of going to bed at 8pm tonight.  

But I have a feeling thats not going to happen.  Yesterday John called me and asked me if it was okay to go out on a date tonight.  How could I say no??!!?!?!  The kids are not going to be home, no one to make sure there is a healthy meal for......and alone time with my love??!!

So, we are pulling out the tandem bike, riding downtown, and eating at one of those hispanic, hole-in-the-wall restaurants that are amazing, because the people came from their country LAST WEEK (okay, maybe not last week, but they sure cook like it) and then to work off the meal, we will ride around the lake and come home.

I don;t think we will be back before 8, seeing as how John doesn't get home from work until around 7.

.......And let not forget the lists I have to complete before we go on vacation including....... getting everything ready for vacation.......

  

Have I mentioned I'm done?

Well, maybe its something else I am done with.  I'll keep looking.