Meanwhile...

...despite the mental gymnastics that I go through at least once a day (usually right before I go to sleep at night) to convince myself that everything's OK and to remind myself of God's fundamental goodness and power that can't be taken away from Him, life does go on.

~ Peach jam gets made.

~ Homemade salsa gets canned (by Jeff on his day off).
~ Plastic firemen hats get temporarily discarded by little boys on the kitchen bench.
~ Weight gets recorded (147 pounds this morning...I'm basically holding steady, but am obviously going to have to be more serious about this if I'm going to lose those last 7 pounds to reach my goal).

~ A Tree Is Nice gets read by Josiah.

~ Four new chickens get added to our flock (these are actually supposed to lay eggs, something our other hen hasn't managed to accomplish yet).

~ Toys get chewed by Tobin.

~ Laundry gets hung out on the line.

~ The little metal characters from Cars get raced around the room by David.

~ Friends meet at a coffee shop--without kids (thanks, Amy!).

~ The song, "Be Thou Near to Me" by Selah (at the top of my playlist to the left), runs repeatedly through my head and is a source of great comfort.

~ And an award is given, this one from Mamajil to me (my first blog award!)--a bright spot in this "stretching" week!

I thoroughly enjoy reading Mamajil's blog. As a mother of ten children, she always has lots of stories to tell and pictures to share. Most of all, her positive attitude, abundant patience, and overflowing love are a joy to witness!

Here are the rules of this award (did you know awards come with rules?)... :)
1. The winner can put the logo on their blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you’ve nominated.

My nominations:

Margie at But Be Like the Sun

Lisa at Destination: Photography

Morning at Morning Has Broken

These women truly inspire me by sharing pieces of their lives...and they all take some pretty incredible photographs, too!

I'm going to stop at three, not because there aren't more blogs that I would be glad to give the award to, but because I'm dragging and have more things to do before I fall into bed tonight.

The last thing I want to include are some snippets of conversation from the boys recently. This is the stuff that I would never in a million years remember, if not for this blog.

Last night, since I was out with my friend Amy, I wasn't here to see the clean-up process after supper; but I knew my mother was certainly involved. Today when Josiah and I were talking about what they did last night, I asked if Grandma had stayed late; and he answered, "About 9:00."

"Grandma's such a good..." I started to say, when Josiah cut me off and said, "helper!" Exactly.

Then Josiah asked, "Do you know why she stayed so late?"

"Why?" I replied.

"There was no man or woman to push her down the hill!" was his explanation. The mental picture of a "man or woman" pushing her down the hill to her house made me laugh, although really, I try to do that with my words sometimes when I convince her that she's done quite enough and should go home and go to bed. :)

Another recent Grandma-inspired conversation happened between David and I. He had gone to the bathroom, and then loudly sang out his customary, "Wipe me!" When I entered the bathroom to do the honors, he said forcefully, "I want Grandma to wipe me!" When I asked him why, he answered in the most dramatic voice he could muster up, "Because I wwwuuuvvv her!" Oh, yes, my boy, you may love her; but that doesn't mean she has to wipe you. ;)

One more from David...I have a shirt that, for some reason, always reminds David of his Aunt Lori; and whenever I wear it, he always comments on that fact. On this particular day, we continued talking about the various members of their family; and then David asked, "What's Aunt Lori's grow-up boy?"

"Uncle David?" I replied.

"Ah, yes, Uncle David!" he said.

As if he could ever forget the uncle who shares his name... ;)