A glimpse into our crazy life

While we’ve accumulated numerous scrapes and bruises during this backyard makeover, luckily the only serious injury we’ve caused thus far was to this hammer.

It’s official.  Emily and I started demolition on our unwanted back porch two weekends ago to make room for a new patio!  Unfortunately, it’s all taking place in the middle of the fall season amongst travel, both of us teaching, oh yeah, and our normal work!  Oy.
Nonetheless, we forge ahead because winter isn’t getting any further away and it must be done.  Below are some before and after picts from the past couple weeks.  They’ve been quite productive and resulted in a hot tub sized burden being lifted off our shoulders when we sold it this past weekend!  However, in our jubilation, we would like to recognize the noble efforts of a wonderful hammer whos functionality and purpose was lost in the process.  It is irreplaceable (although we did) and will be missed.

I’ve always been interested in reading one of Max Lucado’s books since his are always at the top of the Christian bookseller lists, so I took advantage of the chance to review his brand new book “Fearless” when the opportunity arose. This book is certainly covering a timely topic since fear is rather high in this country. Each chapter covers a different common fear, including fear of disappointing God, of not mattering, and of what’s next. Lucado discusses the source of each type of fear and how to deal with it from a Biblical perspective. I found his writing style very enjoyable and easy to read; he effortlessly combines accounts of real-life experiences with theology and Biblical examples. While his points about fear and how to deal with it aren’t new ideas, they’re concepts you often need to hear more than once. I’d recommend giving this book a try, especially if you’re feeling filled with fear these days. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

The master bedroom in our house came with a built-in vanity area. We haven’t really had any use for it, other than emptying our pockets onto its counter. But over the past month, Mya has claimed it as her den. I’ve been waking up every morning for the past few weeks to her peeking out of little home- just too cute. One of these days I hope to make her a bed for in there.

We initially decided not to plant any flowers this year since we just wanted to see what plants already exist in the yard. But, I’ve always loved the look of meadows of wildflowers so in May I ordered a packet of region-appropriate seeds to scatter in the side yard (which desperately needed some pep!). I’ve loved seeing what new things are blooming every few days and my mini-meadow makes me smile every time I drive home. Plus, they are about as low maintenance as you can possibly get- scatter seeds, water regularly until they germinate, enjoy for months and then just mow them down once in the fall. Some of the plants only bloom in their second year so it may look completely different next summer!