Kyra

(Kyra and her Beautiful Family)

My friend, Kyra, is such an inspiration to me. When I get the chance to see her living out life, I am always put into a place where I just want to know and enjoy the Lord more.

Just the other day, I was enjoying a book study of Susan Hunt's The True Woman, with some of the wonderful women in my life. In this book, Hunt references J.I. Packer defining Doxology as "the passion to turn everything into worship and so to glorify God by all one's words and deeds."

I, immediately, thought of Kyra Goffeney. She does this, and I want to be JUST LIKE HER!

I loved her blog post about contentedness and focus on Jesus. It's always so interesting to me to hear her talk about her life as "chaotic". I don't know why...I mean OF COURSE it's chaotic! She has 2 and a half-year-old (almost) triplets, for Pete's Sake!!! And yet, every time I'm with her, I feel at rest.

Family Fun Day

I've been a little jealous when I've read about my friends visiting their near-by farms and berry-picking or veggie-picking. I thought, "I WANT TO GO!!"

So, last week, my husband took our family and it was SO wonderful. The farm was an hour away and we didn't pick any vegetables...and I'm pretty sure you almost can't grow berries in HOT Tucson, but we spent most of the time in the pumpkin patch and had a BLAST! It felt so good to be outside and alone, with each other!

Our little grump (a.k.a. Gwendolyn) complained the whole way there, instead of resting, but she enjoyed being carried by us (her favorite thing) and actually passed out on the way home (VERY rarely happens).

Oh, and the ERGO...BEST purchase EVER!!! Very comfortable and easy to use...even with little chunky ones.










YEAH for the Lord's creation...and for the leisure time to enjoy it!

Oh MY!

The saddest thing just happened...

I was doing dishes (dreaded of all responsibilities) and I was about to wash a particular glass that had been sitting with the remains of a Green Smoothie for a couple of days. I picked up the glass and realized that it had a crack in it.

I kid you not, the very first thought I had was, "Oh, good! Now I don't have to clean it!"

My Sister (in-law)

Okay, so, seriously, every time I throw a party or talk to a friend or deal with my one-year old, I am immediately trying to think - "What would Stephanie do?"

Stephanie is my Sister-in-law. She is married to my big brother. My big brother, Tim, is gorgeous and brilliant. He's the kind of guy who men want to be like and women want to be with ;). His goal was (and IS, currently) to succeed in ALL areas of life.


The FIRST area in which he succeeded was to find a wife who was not only BEAUTIFUL (exotic, sexy) but also TOUGH (fiery) and CRAZY-AWESOME (more FUN than you can ever know what to do with).

This Girl is STEPHANIE. She is beautiful...but that's not even what I'm here to talk about. She IS crazy...the good kind of crazy that every woman wants to be like...not only for her man, but also for herself. But, again, that's not what this post is about.

The thing that impresses me most about her is that she has the kind of home that I want. When you walk into her home you just feel RIGHT. Not only do you feel comfortable sitting on her couch, but you ALSO feel comfortable enough to make her couch YOUR OWN.

Not only are you comfortable in her kitchen...but you also easily come to believe that her kitchen IS YOUR OWN.

You feel neither stifled nor nervous. You feel relaxed and like you could be a better person just by being a part of her family.

If you think it's because her home is PERFECT, you are wrong. At Any given time of day, you can witness a two year old hurling his spaghetti-o's at you and a four-month old growling with the intensity of a toddler.

When you walk in the door to their home you don't think, "WOW. It's perfect. I better be take my shoes off and be really careful about what I help myself to."

You think, "WOW...I hope I can get them to let me stay for the evening!"

Don't get me wrong...they DO have a really nice, big home with many beautiful things...but, honestly, that's not what you notice. You just feel comfortable.

I know my brother will be embarrassed by this...but I remember a time when he yelled from the other side of the bathroom door, while I was trying to pee, and said, "Jenn, is there toilet paper and soap in there???"

As I let out an assuring "Yup", I couldn't help but smile. That's the thing...EVERYONE runs out of toilet paper and soap and just hopes it's not when someone is noticing. The difference is in how you react to this phenomenon. I mean, someone like me feels nervous about that possibility and hopes that people don't soon find out that it's possible for me to run out of these things.

Someone like Stephanie says, "Dude, get the girl some toilet paper and soap!" and goes about her business of running a home that represents the equivalent of one big breath of fresh air!

Friends

It's good to have friends! A couple of weeks ago, our friends, the Kelleys, had to come to Tucson for the funeral of a dear cousin. We enjoyed spending time with them, though, and feel so blessed that we got to have them at our home, even in such sad circumstances.

The Williams Family, also our wonderful friends, were able to join us for dinner and a fun night of conversation about homemade bread, where to find vegetables without pesticides, and how none of it really matters unless we are enjoying our families and glorifying the Lord in our caring for them! Well, that's what the mommies talked about...I have No idea what the guys were discussing...but it couldn't have been as interesting as that!!

Jean and Aaron have a beautiful baby girl named Therese (Reese)! It's really Jean
who got all the good pictures while they were here...but here are a couple of mine.

Clair Williams was HILARIOUS and she and Gwen really have a special friendship (I just think they genuinely LIKE each other). Little Therese just slept the whole time!

It's really Jean who got all the good pictures while they were here...but here are a couple of mine.

Kelley Family

Cara and Clair (baby #2 on the way!)

Clair amused us with her cookie-eating

The girls played together the whole time

Gwendolyn was shocked by the dinner conversation

Thank you for coming to our home!