My Ebenezer

In the summer when I was 11 years old, my mom would go to work and I would ride my bike 1.4 miles (I just looked up the exact distance. Thanks, Google Maps!) to the house of my bff, Holly. Her mom would be at work too, and so we would spend the entire day swinging on her rope swing, building forts, drawing blueprint plans of our dream houses, watching an occasional episode of Lamb Chop's Play Along ("we've got a lot of good stuff for you and you and you...yeah, and especially you!"), making a blue box of mac'n'cheese for lunch, playing Clue, and riding our bikes to the convenience store for pints of Rocky Road. Summers were endless, it seemed, and so were the freedoms. During longer car rides as a family currently, we have been listening to Henry Huggins , by Beverly Cleary. Funny book! Very good for boys. It was written in the 1950s, and surprisingly the detail that dates it the most in my mind is this: back then the kids just ran free in the neighborhoo...

I don't know about you, but my hobbies have to take turns. There simply isn't enough time for reading, art, blogging, cleaning (yes, that's a hobby!), gardening, etc all at the same time. So I find my free time rotates. Right now I seem to be on a blogging streak, but for the last few weeks I've been reading. Next will probably be art, and then eventually I should probably clean something. *wink* If you have not read Unbroken, you NEED to.  It was next to impossible to put down, and so inspiring. In the week or so since I finished reading it, I have thought about Louis Zamperini countless times, and have been encouraged by his life. (There has been a movie made which is based on this book, but I will not be watching it, as I know it would be too intense for me.) God's hand is evident in Louie's life throughout the book, and I have a neat story about how I came to own it too: Unbroken was on my list of books I wanted to read, and I had tried to get a cop...

We enjoyed an uncharacteristically empty Saturday this past week. Where we are normally shuffling between two soccer games at two different fields, and occasionally also juggling a church work day or a tenant emergency, this past Saturday was blank, and gloriously so. Seth asked on Friday night if we could build a tree house, and Josh was able to say, "Yes!" Thank the Lord for a blank Saturday, funds for a tree house, and a husband who is very handy!

The artist in me and the mom in me frequently do battle, and I must admit it is usually the mom side of me that wins. I value No Messes at the cost of Artistic Expression almost every time. Good thing I didn't know Seth was getting out paints and paintbrushes, because in the midst of my dinner-prepping, I would have said no to painting right then for sure. But look what we would have missed out on!

Josh and I took the kids to Legoland for two days earlier this month. Let me relive some of the highlights here, and I'll be sure to do it in list format because, well, it makes me happy. 1. The Timing. This trip couldn't have been at a better time.  For the last couple of months, Josh and I had both been eyeing the exit to normal responsibilities. School got ya down? Tenants and projects galore? Time for a short vacay! We would love to get away in an RV, but we don't actually own one, so that makes it a challenge.  Renting an RV is as expensive as a hotel and way more hassle (because you have to bring your own e.ver.y.thing), so might as well stay in a hotel. We saw an online ad for 2 days at Legoland with lodging at Legoland's Beach Retreat (no actual beach though!) for a very reasonable price (kids were free!), and decided to go for it. 2. The Distance.  Legoland is south of Orlando, so by van it took us a little over 3 hours. Just long enough where we fel...