All 10 Popes

It has been a long while hasn't it dear friends? A forced sabbatical of sorts. More like me not really knowing how to manage time properly. Or perhaps it is the sheer thought of putting pen to paper or typing out what is really going on that is just so very overwhelming that really, the thought of it all gives me writers block.  Where to start? What to say? And does anyone really care. Thing is, I don't really know. Seriously, I don't know an answer to any of those questions. And maybe there are just parts of our life that I want to keep off of this blogosphere...or maybe not. Again, I just don't know. I keep thinking that it is going to come to me. That I will know exactly what to write and how to explain why in the world we would take in three foster children while having four of our own. My sister teases me by saying that I will turn out to be the old woman who lived in a shoe. If I believed in modern prophecy, I would call her a prophetess. No, I don't live ...

I steal a few moments away by myself.  Alone.  Just me. So I drive down to the weekly farmer's market to buy some peaches and romaine lettuce. Yes, my mother would be proud.       The seagulls are screeching. The lake is glistening against the sun's radiance. I smile and stumble along, almost feeling out of place with out the 7 tag-a-longs. (I said almost )     Just me, thinking about how special this place is. And how Good the Lord is. How faithful He is to provide. And how really, I love it here.        

It's been too long. Me sitting down to plunk away. I did twice last week, I mean. And now that I sit down for a time, while the house is quiet at the same time, I can't find what I wrote. I did save them, both of them I promise that I did, but now they're gone. Poof! Forever, they are in computer land, or wherever they go when you loose something via the Internet. And now? I got nothing.... So, instead of writing, I think I will share some of the last few weeks in pictures for you to enjoy. There is just so much to say...I just don't know where to begin. Remember, as always, God is good, faithful, kind and long suffering. There is always something to be thankful for.... Like the water table...        and the baby who LOVES it.       A boat ride with our sweet Grandmommy...       that helped me see this place we call home...from a different angle. Love that!  ...

Often when I peek through my camera lens I am looking, searching for the beauty. Often times, it seems that for that kind of beauty, I have to look beyond what is right in front of my eyes...beyond what I am tempted to focus on. And sometimes that beauty is just a glimpse.   And right in front of my eyes. All at the same time.    And sometimes it's walking right in front of me: water bottle in hand, camera slung over her shoulder. Chatting with my girl. And if you don't get catch it, right then...you miss it. This beauty, she came and washed dishes, hugged grand kids, did 35 loads of laundry (at least), brought me coffee in the mornings, told my kids they are special, loved the ones that are called fostered like they were her own, let me borrow her husband for a couple of projects around the house, laughed hard and long, told me what I needed to hear and said, "you are doing well" as I wept before she left. For this beauty and for these I...

I was watching this video on YouTube today as I was sampling one of Amanda Bennett's Download-N-Go Unit Studies. My kids love them. I love them. And I love that here is actually one thing in this world at we all love (ok maybe there is more like 3 things but that may be pushing it a little) b/c they are actually learning something that they love. So we are all feelin' the love so much  that we might pick out a couple in our spring-like summer up here in the UP to do together. And as I sat down to plunk away, still I was thinking about this video and how much like this wispy life feels like it is flying by....flying by just like what you see here (cept in the UP, well it would be confusing b/c half the video would be covered in wintry snow) And it is isn't it? That our lives are but a vaper and I am constantly trying to grab hold of something that I can't take hold of. Time keeps going and I keep grasping. I always thoug...

Today was that day. You know the one. The one where if there was a grading scale for parenting you would give yourself an F in mothering (or life in general.) And for those of you that are hollering at your computer, "Oh, Kari you're always too hard on yourself!" well, today that is just not true. Today, it just is the plain, ugly truth. And these days? We all have them don't we? There were many a time where I thought, "you know they are not going to be here forever...." and then just went on being an F parent. And here is the thing that I have found to be most true when this happens. My focus is myself. My focus is my circumstances. My focus is on what others are doing or not doing. My focus is on what others may think of me. My focus certainly is not Christ. And the brutal, honest truth is that today...this very day... I didn't want it to be. There must be a reason that many times, I find in the Word, (as I told my daughter today...again) that fa...

Sometimes all you can do is open your hands, receive the gift....and say thank you. Sometimes thank you is all you have to give...and not even in the form of a card. Just a hug, a meagre smile and a thank you. A thank you to the friend that showed up weeks before the move. Told you what to organise where and when. And then showed up those weeks and packed like a maniac. And unloaded and unpacked and positioned couches and worked it all out lovely in her mind. Oh, and she's teaching you to garden. Oh, and she's homeschooling one...and teaching art too. But there she is helping you...still. She is called mother. And all you have is thank you. A thank you to the dear one who brought you meals the two days it took you to move in. And enough to eat later for left overs. She has been on her knees and prayed for you. She took your fire and ice boy for a night and kept the littlest one too though she had 3 at home too. She teaches with her life and ...