Ready, set, read!

So, poor Aidan's baseball post keeps getting pushed back, but I couldn't wait to share this news!

Sarah has made several attempts over the past few months at reading but I could tell each time that she just wasn't ready. She didn't have that determination and perseverance to work at it. I've also figured it could still be a while before she grasps reading because she doesn't always recognize all her lower case letters and writes quite a few of them backwards.

Today we were getting ready to leave the house and she brought a book to me while I was doing my hair and said, "I want to read this." It wasn't really an "easy" reader but I didn't discourage her. Before I knew it she has sounded out the first line of words. She tried a few more words which were a bit challenging, and she didn't get frustrated, but decided to look for something easier. This afternoon we pulled out a "Read with Dick and Jane" book, which we borrowed from Grma Peggy's house in March. She read through 22 pages of it, with several lines on each page.

So, we have another reader in our house before starting Kindergarten! Go Sarah!

A Legacy

I have been thinking about my dad a lot lately--today marks one year since my dad flew blissfully into the arms of Jesus. How I would love to be worshipping with him at this moment!

I know I said I'd be posting about Aidan's baseball today, but I can't let this day pass without sharing my dad's legacy with you.

My dad was a very passionate man and he was passionate about many things: Airplanes, his Corvette, playing basketball, his wife, his children, to name a few. But, the one thing he was most passionate about was ministering to the hurting, broken, down-trodden and sick.

In any given situation-church, work, social gatherings, a walk in the park-he was constantly looking for that one person who needed a personal touch. He didn't care if the person was someone he knew well or a complete stranger. He would do whatever he could to meet that person's need, whether it be financial, physical, emotional or spiritual. He wore his heart on his sleeve and there was never any doubt how deeply he was moved by those in need. His deepest desire was show the love of God, and His compassion and mercy to anyone and everyone who crossed his path. The stories are too numerous to recount, or even count, of his outreach to the world, but I will share one with you.

I remember one Mother’s Day when I was around six years old, we saw a man in a wheel chair selling flowers on a street corner. My dad pulled the car over and went to buy flowers for my mom. As the man leaned over to get the flowers he fell out of his wheel chair. My dad gently and lovingly helped him back in to his chair and then came back to the car with tears literally streaming down his face. His compassion and pain for the man in the wheelchair is my earliest recollection of his heart for the hurting and is an image that shall never leave my mind. I knew on that day my dad was someone very special.

He lived much of his adult life bothered that he'd never fulfilled his calling to be a full-time missionary and he searched for ways to make it happen even up until a year before he died. What he may have never realized while on earth is that he was a missionary in the truest since of the word and I have no doubt he heard those words we all long for when he entered heaven, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

My heart's desire is to be a woman after God's own heart, but also a woman after my dad's heart. That I would carry on the legacy he has set before me of reaching out to those who are "the least of these" in the world. I can think of no greater honor than to be told, "You remind me of your dad."

Lookout Mountain

Yesterday the kids and I decided to take a half day trip up to Lookout Mountain, which is about 45 minutes from our house. I was only slightly nervous making my first trip into the mountains with all four kids but without Jeremy. My main concern was keeping track of them while trying to take pictures at the same time. They all did amazingly well and were very cooperative and there was No whining or fussing on the entire trip! (I usually get "I'm bored" a lot in the car from Katie and "I'm tired of walking" from any of the youngest three.) Only Jonah seemed to be out of energy by the end. For the last five minutes as we were walking up the trail toward the car he said over and over, "I need my car." "Where's my car?"

Here are some of the highlights in pictures.

Our first stop at a scenic overlook was one of our favorites on the trip. There we saw literally hundreds of ladybugs in large groupings on one of the trails. It was interesting to note that many adults went past us on the trail totally oblivious to the huge population of ladybugs but because I had little people with me and the ladybugs were all at their eye level we got immense enjoyment out of them. The largest grouping were on poison ivy bushes so I refrained from trying to get a close up of those but here is a small sampling of them. How many ladybugs can you "spot"? Aidan and I each counted several times and came up with the same number. I will reveal the answer tomorrow. (You might want to save the picture to your computer and enlarge it.)

Our picnic lunch:

Aidan said his favorite part was all the flowers. He has an amazing appreciation for the different varieties of wildflowers and how they look grouped together with varying colors of brush and leafy plants. So, here are a few of the flowers we saw along the way. He was totally wild about the orange flowers with puffy red centers in the first picture. I'm not sure what all of the flowers are but I do know that the red flowers are poppies and the blue are columbines.


At the top of Lookout Mountain is the historic Boettcher Mansion where Jeremy and I almost got married--we'd put a deposit down and then realized it wouldn't hold the number of people that would attend. So it was a bit nostalgic for me. I love the stone architecture of this gazebo, which matches the stone of the mansion (I failed to get a picture of the outside of the mansion.) Aidan loved that the inside also has stone walls and felt like a castle.


This mushroom was enormous-the top was at least the size of my spread out hand.
It was a very happy trip and we will be returning very soon--hopefully with Jeremy!

I have lots of "catch-up" blogs to post and think I will have time over the next several days to do one a day so stay tuned! Next up: Aidan's Baseball Season