Timber...

Last Sunday afternoon it was business as usual around here. Well, actually it wasn't. Chris and I had repainted the living room (same color, just fixing a couple of issues) and rearranged some furniture the night before and we were having Oasis group at our house in 4 hours...so I was rushing around to get things put back together. Macy hadn't been outside to go to the bathroom for a while, so I sent Alyssa out with her to make sure that she went. There was a chance of a storm, but no signs of it, so I really didn't think anything about it when I sent her out. 5-10 minutes later she came in and had had success with Macy. I praised both her and the dog. I then went back to straightening. About a minute later I went out to the garage to get something from my car. When I was out there I heard this huge gust of wind followed by a crash that could only have been one thing...a tree. I went inside to find Chris looking out the kitchen window at this:

My first thought was literally "Thank you Jesus, Alyssa had just been out there!" That perspective made a ruined patio set seem like nothing.

Our Oasis group came that evening and helped us get it cleaned up and out to the curb for large trash day which was the next day. While we were out there cleaning it up, I asked Chris if he would chop down the remainder of the tree. He went in the garage and grabbed his ax and went to chopping...in his flip-flops...

All of the sudden he disappeared and no one knew where he went. He came back outside many minutes later looking a little pale. Apparently there had been a little mishap with the ax...

Behold, Chris' broken, badly cut big toe. Poor guy was in a lot of pain...especially when Alyssa jumped on it. He dropped to the ground and it took quite a bit to convince Alyssa she hadn't hurt his toe. Chris has been such a good sport about this. He is in a post-op shoe for 5 weeks while the toe heals, and is having weekly appointments right now watching for infection since it was a "dirty cut."

We had a good chuckle last night as I was reading through a devotional. It was about taking risks, and the following three scriptures were sighted...

"When you work in a quarry, stones might fall and crush you! When you chop wood, there is danger with each stroke of your ax! Such are the risks of life."

Ecclesiastes 10:9

"The wise are cautious and avoid danger; fools plunge ahead with great confidence."

Proverbs 14:16

"A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."

Psalm 91:5

Thank goodness God and Chris have a sense of humor!

(Love you sweetheart.)

May/June Recap

Wow! May was a long time ago. Sorry inter-peeps for the delay. I would have sworn to you that nothing note worthy happened in May, but as I looked through the photos...there were some pretty good things happening!

Alyssa finished up her first session of gymnastics. She loves it, and is really getting quite good. She practices new moves all the time and is always excited for an audience she can show "something really cool" to.

Andrew graduated, Kate finished student teaching and they got engaged!! They came over and hung out with us one last time before Andrew moved to Texas. Fun times.

We miss you Uncle Andrew and soon to be Aunt Kate!

For Mother's day I really wanted a bird feeder. I figured Chris deserved a year off from extravagant gifts after last years ring upgrade! You are looking at the first bird to visit my feeder. It's that little yellow dot on top of the shepherds hook. Turns out it takes them a while to find the feeder, so after weeks of waiting, I was super excited to take this picture.

This is Alyssa on the last day of 3's preschool. What a great year she had.

..and we can't forget Macy. Here she is on our way home from picking her up. We chose her based on her behavior around Evan. She was the only one not jumping up on the little guy, so she was our girl!

Perhaps June was the slower of the two months.

Alyssa finished session two of gymnastics. This time she got a "gold medal". Very exciting.

We hit up the local beach one spontaneous afternoon. Chris came home for lunch and just didn't go back that day...it was fun.

This...is just cute. I love this little guy.

...a little frog hunting at Chippewa Nature Center. Bless Alyssa's heart...she will hate that I put this on here someday, but it is so her.

We visited Baby Acres, a local farm with friends from church. It's always fun petting and feeding the animals. Or if you're Evan, learning to milk a cow.

Each year our street has a block party. This year they were having a bike parade so Alyssa and I went and picked out decorations for her tricycle and decorated it. She then refused to ride in the parade, so I had the privilege of escorting Evan. Doesn't he look good with pink streamers?!

Alyssa has had going to the circus as a must accomplish sooner rather than later on her bucket list. So when we learned the circus was coming to town we hit it up. It was on one of the hottest days of the summer...but she has now been to the circus...moving on to the next item...going to Brazil to see monkeys!? (yes, that is a request of hers.)

My sweet husband must really love me because I do know how to come up with projects! I had the great idea to remove the steps from our kitchen door and install a larger landing with the steps so that I could manage the dirt on the kids and dog outside instead of in the kitchen. Well, he turned my vision into a mini deck off of the kitchen. I love it! He and his Dad worked so hard and it looks so great...sorry I don't have a pic of the finished product.

...and now you are caught up to July.

Hello again!

So after multiple requests from many people, I'm back. I have to admit having the break has been nice and allowed me to really think about why I want or don't want to continue blogging. My final decision to continue came after Chris said that he really enjoyed looking back through the months and remembering things that had happened in our life. I had struggled with "keeping up with the Jones' " I guess...not feeling like everyday life was worth blogging about. Turns out in hindsight, everyday life looks pretty good. So my goal is once a week updates about life. I can't promise every week will be jam packed with fabulous outings and projects, but I can promise cute kiddos, a puppy, and a mom and dad who really do love this little life we've been given. Stay tuned, I'm working on a May and June recap.