A River Runs Through It...

Little Mr. Sure Shot...

How do you know your little boy is growing up WAY too fast?

Give him a gun (and the proper instruction)Jack got a BB gun last month and Papa and Jody have been teaching him how to shoot...How to load it, how to carry it, how to sight it in...All the stuff that keeps you from putting your eye (and the eye of others) out...It's a Red Rider and every mother that's ever watched "A Christmas Story" can relate...So how did he do? Pretty good...hit a small coffee can from 25 ft ...11 times. I am so proud of how mature and responsible Jack was.

What a good boy God gave me...Have a blessed day!

If Walls Could Talk...

My favorite kids story is Virginia Lee Burton's "The Little House". It's about a house, with human feelings, telling what she's seen in her lifetime. My favorite things to take pictures of are old houses, rundown and abandoned preferably. See, the creative writer in me imagines who lived in them, what was their life like...things like that. Imagine if these walls could talk...what would they say they've seen?

Looking Back...

Dog...Gone

Very sad around here today. Lots of tears and lots of me trying to figure out how to make the kids, particulary Jack feel a little better. He's taking this very hard. After 3 years, we finally had to give our dog Tucker away. Never was there a better dog. Jackson and Tucker have been like two peas in a pod since day one and I knew when this day would come it would be rough. I know he feels like he's lost his best friend. He went with Jody last nite to hand him over to a wonderful elderly woman who was needing a good watch dog as well as a companion. She has lots of room for him to run , a grandson who just lost his dog , and he wont' have to stay penned up like he did here in our neighborhood. This does not console us, however. Jody said that last nite was the roughest, hardest thing he's ever been through. Jack said his goodbyes, which was good, but Jody said it took everything in him not to tell the lady we'd changed our mind. But we know, we hope, Tucker will be better off. Gosh, this is a dog and it shouldn't be this hard. Jack wanted to know if when he got grown if he could go back and get him...boy this is rough. He has spent the morning on the couch crying and looking at a picture of him and Tucker, saying how he'll never see him again. I hate to see him hurt like this. My heart is heavy this morning. I know it may sound strange to pray about this but I have prayed that God will ease this pain...yes, I think God cares even about our dog troubles.
I'm reminded that loss is as much a part of life as gain and that loving something (especially for a kid) is important even if the loss of that loved thing brings us pain. Hard life lesson...

Olivia's BDAY

Tyler...Plain and Simple.

Friday...