Going Camping, please help!

Okay, so we are going camping this weekend. I have to be honest, I do not like camping. I do not like being dirty, not showering,sleeping in a tent, wearing a hat for 3 days. I do not like the endless mess and laundry I will have to deal with when I get home. However, I love my husband ,kiddos, and smores. I can give up my shower, cozy bed, and hair dryer for them (but only for a weekend).
I am an inexperienced camper. What would you say I absolutely must take?

Change

My heart is consumed for a friend. This friend's son is graduating from highschool tonight. Next week he is off to boot camp as he has joined the Marines. He is a fine young man.
It makes me think of how it goes too fast. Honestly, there are times I think this is never going to end, but the reality is I never want it to. I selfishly want to keep them here and mine forever. But even more, I want them to fly, to dream, to change, to grow, to live.

Fertile for the changes

From Donald Millers book "Through Painted Deserts"

I could not have known then that everybody, every person has to leave, has to change like seasons; they have to or they die.
The seasons remind me that I must keep changing, and I want to change because it is Gods way. All my life I have been changing. I changed from a baby to a child, from soft toys to a dagger, a teenager to drive a car, into a worker to spend money. I will change into a husband to love a woman, into a father to love a child, change houses, friends, keep changing with my wife, getting our love so it dies and gets born again and again.
Everybody has to change or they expire. Everybody has to leave, leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons. I want to keep my soul fertile for the changes, so things keep getting born in me, so things keep dying when it is time for things to die. I want to keep walking away from the person I was a moment ago. Only a good story has a character different at the end than it was in the beginning.
And so my prayer is that your story will have involved some leaving and some coming home. My hope is that your story will be about changing, about getting something beautiful born inside of you.
It might be time for you to go, time to change, to shine out.
Leave, it is a beautiful word, isn't it? So strong and forceful, the way you have always wanted to be. And you will not be alone. You have never been alone. Don't worry. Everything will still be here when you get back. It is you who will have changed.

Bass Lake

Enjoyed a weekend at the in-laws casa in Bass Lake with some old friends.
(Btw-how old does the relationship have to be, to be considered old friends? 23 years!)



Here are our top 10 favorite things to do at Bass Lake
#1. Be overwhelmed by the beauty of the Lake
#2. Watch the kids play (all 10, with one on the way) building on the sand, playing at the island,legos, canoeing...
#3. Fudge Buckets at Millers Landing
#4. Soak up some sun
#5. Farkle
#6. Air Soft Guns and Horseshoes (the guys)
#7. Good food and margaritas
#8. Girl talk
#9. Take in God's goodness in blessing you with "old friends" (like the Cannedys and the Gages)
#10. More of #'s 3,4,&7




This weekend Emilie and I are off to Mother/Daughter Camp! I expect there will be nail polish involved!
Yeehaw! It's a western theme. Perfect for this girl from the "Cowboy Capital of the World."

What Happens in Cambria, Stays in Cambria

This last weekend I went to Cambria with some gals.

It was my first time to Cambria, and definitely not my last! Oh, it is so beautiful!
Beautiful beaches, quaint shops, trolley, and a yummy grill (much like the terribly missed Sierra City Grill for you Oakhurstians).


I have never beach combed on this type of beach. I brought home pocket's full of rocks, each one so unique. As I combed I found I was more surprised by each one, and at the hand of God at work making them. By tumbling through the sand, they become polished, the edges become smooth. They are beautiful. I consider how my Maker takes time to shape, and make these little treasures. Surely He puts more into me.

I think what made this weekend so over the top, was the women I was with. They are each so unique (like the rocks). Being shaped and molded by God's hand. It was wonderful to hear of their experiences, challenges, growth (of their tumbling) and to see how faithful God has been to each one.

I came to realize I am beautiful. Seeing pieces of myself in each women. Seeing the beauty in them, made me welcome it, accept it for me.

Happy Birthday to Noah!

Noah is 9,Nine,NINE!!!
It goes too fast.

Here is a conversation Michael and I had the other evening-
Me, "why does it have to go so fast?" (tears)
Michael, "I don't know."
Me, "why can't we keep them forever." (more tears)
Michael, "because we want them to have what we have."

Hmmm, I want them (the kiddos) to have what we have. We have 3 fabulous, terrific, beautiful, amazing, loving, tender, kind, knock the socks off your feet- kids!
I suppose I can let them go, and grow for that (and so much more).

We have a tradition in our house that on your birthday we share our favorite things from the past year about you.
Noah is- kind, handsome, a great brother, and great to cuddle with. We are impressed by his ability to arm fart "Jesus Loves Me." We love that he loves to read (Noah just won a California Reads Award for reading 393 books- really 60 books, but they take an average of pages per book). We love his thoughtfulness, and that he is intentional. A favorite moment from this past year was when he turned on our song "How Sweet It Is" and said, "Mommy you know you want to dance," and then he twirled me around. We love watching him grow more confident and adventurous. He is such a blessing. We still cannot believe that God gave him to us, and we are thankful.