Chronicling A Day--My Rambling Train of Thought

I haven't done as good of a job as I intended of chronicling our daily lives so I thought that would be a good post for today. It was a beautiful day--low 80's, blue cloudless sky--the kind of day for which Michigan summers are famous. Nobody in Michigan goes on vacation outside of the state in the summer. They go "up north". Many people go to Florida for vacation, especially in the winter and spring. But in the summer? People head to the Great Lakes, the sand dunes, the U.P., camping, BBQing, tubing, boating, fishing, etc. I love the summers here!

Anyways, back to my day . . . Cameron was on-call and was gone before I even woke up. After a breakfast of oatmeal pancakes, made by Anna, we all headed over to my parent's house. Most of the children opted to stay with my dad, while Anna, Katria and Truman stayed with me, my mom joining us, to drive up to the hospital where Cameron works so that we could sign an offer on a house! Yes, we are in the process of buying a house here in Michigan. It has been a long journey, but we are ready to be settled here. More on that later, especially if everything goes well and we get this house . . .

After we left Cameron, we stopped at a produce market. I bought some white peaches (they are SO sweet and juicy!) and some Mackinac Island Fudge whole bean coffee. Have you ever tried Mackinac Island fudge? Or Mackinac Island Fudge-flavored ice cream? I wonder if they have it outside of Michigan. Anyways, I was excited to try this coffee and had a difficult time deciding between this flavor and Traverse City cherry whole bean coffee. That's another thing Michigan is famous for--cherries! Man, are they good!

After we left the produce market (where the girls and I snacked on some really good free samples of cantaloupe and watermelon--our home town is famous for cantaloupes! Yes, it's true--we have a melon festival every year and it's coming up this month!) we hit a garage sale. That's another interesting thing--garage sales in Michigan start on Thursdays and run through Sunday! Sometimes, they even start on Wednesdays! Not so in North Carolina. It was Saturdays from 8-12. By noon, the sale was done. Very limited window. Not here! These garage sales run for DAYS! I am not kidding. Also, they last all day. None of this closing at noon stuff. Oh no. They go til 4 or 5 at night. Is it this way everywhere? So . . . we hit this garage sale and I found a pair of flip-flops for Anna, because boy can this girl wear out a pair of flip-flops!, and I also found Jonas' English curriculum for next year for $5!! Yes, it was the teacher's manual, student book, and the workbook of Rod and Staff 4th grade. I was going to have to order it, but God provided!

We got back to my parent's to find that the rest of the children were swimming in my parent's pond and had not had lunch, but had all had an ice cream! LOL! We ate lunch, my dad left for work, the children went back to swimming, Truman went down for a nap, and my mom and I talked theology for awhile. It was nice.

Around 5, Tru woke up, we ate dinner--my mom had made Minestrone soup and hot spaghetti and we let the children choose which one they wanted--and then Jonas and I went on a run. That's another thing I forget to mention--This boy can run! Jonas has been joining me on some of my runs and he is a natural. I wouldn't be surprised if he starts to run some races. My dad was a runner in high school--a sprinter, really good; I was a runner in high school, also a sprinter, and now Jonas is running. I don't know how fast he is, but he has endurance and the makings of a great long-distance runner. I really didn't expect him to be my runner since he has struggled with asthma and has more of Cameron's build with a longer torso. I expected my long-legged children--Anna and Elyse--to be my runners. We'll see. For now, I am glad to have a running-buddy accompany me occasionally. Truman was taking another nap at this point. He slept a lot today. After we got back from running, and after a quick cold shower, I waited for him to wake up so that I could feed him before we headed home. While I waited, I read the latest edition of Above Rubies magazine and the other children ran around outside playing. If you haven't read Above Rubies you should check it out. It is a free Christian publication that seeks to encourage mothers. I was very encouraged today, especially by the article by the woman who is 77 and had 16 children and now has 83 grandchildren and great-grandchildren! What an amazing legacy! She said in her article, "Was it all worth it? Yes! Every cry, every diaper, every sleep lost, every evening-out missed and every tear. I would do it all over again. What did I miss? Nothing. What did I gain? Everything--an exciting and fulfilled life, very interesting people who love me and a happy and peaceful home that is always filled with laughter." Amen, I say. I pray for a heart that will also rejoice at the end of my life that it was all worth it. But, more importantly, I pray for a heart that can rejoice even NOW as I go through these child-bearing years! May my heart say, "It was worth it," because it is!

The children are now all asleep, Cameron is working and we won't see him until tomorrow, and I am getting ready to go to bed and regretting that last cup of coffee I had at my parent's house because I am not feeling tired.

That was my day. It was relaxing and full. Hope you enjoyed reading my rambling train of thought! Tomorrow we will worship together as a family and I am looking forward to it. :)

In Christ, Laura