so the lazy days begin...

gotta love the A Beautiful Mess app for iPhone.

After a long day of bike riding through the paths, nooks and crannies of Fort Wayne, we spent some time chilling and goofing off.

Just one of the little stops along the way...

This was Sunday morning at the Display Gardens on the campus of IPFW. Such a cool campus with trails and cool places like this.

scarfing the Panda Express leftovers.

Display Garden love

Having our tank emptied. ewww.

Molly loving her little Jack Bear. (the bear that we got with his casket)

I don't know if these are the lazy days or not...they don't feel too lazy to me.

In the summer months, ya feel like ya wanna make the most of your daylight hours, and there are a lot of 'em, yes? from sun up to sun down and beyond...we are going going going.....

Will, Ethan and Mel spent last weekend (a yearly event now) in Danville, IL with their Aunt Nat, Uncle Nick, Ryan and Sophie. David just happened to have our camper up in Ft. Wayne again, like he did last year, so the four of us made the trek up there for Sat-Mon. I will admit, it's nice to just be the four of us but it does lend some strange feelings and a sense of helplessness because I realize just how much the 3 big kids ROCK and help out. and encourage...and keep me going and hold me accountable. Molly and Levi, if left to their own devices, bicker and bug the tar out of each other...

We had a wonderful time...though poor David's allergies were beating him up pretty badly...as well as some things he has on his plate with work and the Bricklayer's Union. (don't get me started on that one)
We ate at Panda Express every evening because you can get a totally Trim Healthy Mama kinda meal...meat and steamed veggies....and those chow mein noodles are scrum-diddly-umptious. (though David and I left more of those for the young'uns.) We asked the littles every night what they'd like to eat and they never ever seemed to mind our suggestion to eat at the Panda again. good kids.

Monday, upon our return, we had a fun li'l gathering here at Young Manor...my parents, my bro Tom, my sis Beck and her family, John and Sherry, Christie Kitchen and her 3 kids, and the kids' friend, Mati, all descended on our place for some grilled tasties, famous Mac n Cheese of Beck's, root beer floats and other summertime delights.

The kids will be doing their school throughout the summer for many reasons but a few of the main ones are as follows:

~we like to keep it fresh and stay at it all year long.
~we never really  have caught up from having Molly in 2007, ya know?
~then you add Jack's death and heck, I may never recover fully from that...to be honest.
~the pursuit of knowledge is never ending. ha ha.

We have birds trying to make nests in our upstairs porch and why that bugs me? I dunno...I appreciate the concept of birds but in reality, they poop all over my porch and chirp at us incessantly if we try to enjoy our porch...we were here first, dumb birds. I've decided I only like birds in stamps or on cards or in decoration...not in real life. (I type this right now because as I sit here, I can here them chirping, which means they are bringing more loot to make nests but watch out....I'm coming!!)

My goals for this summer:
~make a slew of cards for JOY ministries...to keep up with events and encouragement of loved ones and young moms.
~lose weight.
~get really good at being a homemaker. It's not wrong to have that goal after almost 20 year of marriage, is it??
~learn to be more like Jesus...the things of and in this world pale in comparison to a life completely devoted to him...the world offers NOTHING. nada. zip. To be merciful and loving, compassionate and strong like Him. Pleased to say that I have been consistently spending time in prayer and in His Word every morning (mostly) and if I miss, I don't go to bed till I spend this valuable time. It really is the best way to find out how to be more like Him.
~make sure I cry every day (and I do) because tears soften my stony heart. 2 years ago, I cried but for selfish reasons. Now I cry because, sometimes I am selfish, but mostly because I want to see the world and the people around me with Christ-like eyes. I thank Jack for this change. and if you see me hesitating, it's only because I'm praying or crying...

On that note, I'm outta here...I have a curtain to make for my lower level door. (I love that my sissy sews!!)

Peace and JOY!