A Maturing Moment

Yesterday on the way to Cub Scouts, I told the kids that we wouldn't be going to the Demolition Derby this Saturday night. They were disappointed (loudly) but when they asked why I told them it was because two people (children) were hurt in gun fire in the same neighborhood last weekend and I wasn't willing to risk my family just to see smashing cars. They understood. Tom was quiet for a bit and then said that he used to think people getting killed was cool. He didn't really care, unless it were someone close to him, like when great-grandma died. But lately, he was concerned about it. It was sad when anyone died. He is especially disgusted by how many different ways people can die. My baby has discovered his mortality. It made me tear up a bit, but in a way it is better than the alternative. He could continue to not care about. I think that would worry me a lot more.

Both by baby boys are growing up so fast. I miss their toddler games and chatter. But they are turning into such wonderful men, just like their Dad and it makes me proud.

New Book New Day

Today has been a pretty awesome day. After getting both the boys baseball practice schedules, I realized that we have something to do right at our usual dinner time every night of the week until June. Wow! So today we tried a new dinner time, 2pm. Crazy. But it worked out nicely. Dishes are done. We're almost ready for Cub Scouts.

I got my new book in the mail today too. "Cooking with Food Storage Made Easy" by Debbie G. Harman. It is a beautiful book and has lots of recipes and ideas. I'm very excited. So now, I'm going to try canning chicken!

I know, not a very exciting post but that what is actually going on around here.

An Afternoon in Joshua Tree National Park

We spent the afternoon climbing rocks last week at Hemingway Buttress. The boys did quite a bit more climbing than I did. I spent about thirty minutes just laying on a rock and taking pictures. The sky was so beautiful. White puffy clouds zoomed by in with high winds. We were sheltered by the rocks so the wind wasn't bad for us. It was also very warm in the sun but where we were it was cool and damp.

We watched a couple guys climbing the rock faces and were amazed at their skill. There was a pair of hawks being harassed by a raven up on top of the rocks. Tom brought up the trees and bushes growing the cracks of the rocks. It was a first hand experience with the parable of Jesus about the farmer and the seed. I'm still high from the wonderful and relaxing couple hours!

Treading Water

Do you ever feel like you are treading water? It's as if I'm just keeping my head above the water and the river is rushing along and taking me with it. I'm not getting anywhere but where the world is taking me and I'm not liking the feeling.