Reflections on the summer...

September 17, 2016

I have been so long between updates. I hope I have not duplicated pictures but I may have. It seems like time goes a bit slower these days. And each day is still hard without my dad. He was in our lives every day, so it is strange not to see him. I know he has passed beyond our realm of time and space and is with Jesus in glory and I am happy for him. When I think of his situation now, I smile. But I/we miss him so very much. Today is his birthday. Here are some photos of the summer...

As I look at the posts, it looks like we are always having fun and so happy! Well, that is how these things (facebook, instagram etc..) go. We are happy and have joy. Much of that comes from a steadfastness with the Lord. For my mom and I this has been a very difficult season. Yes, we find joy but there is also a deep sense of loss. Today I was at church and we were singing the final song. It was beautiful. And my mind took me to my dad. He loved to sing to the Lord. Music was very important to him. And I could imagine him with the Lord, singing and singing and smiling and so happy, in the presence of Christ. And the music being more than I can imagine. My heart was so full and I felt like in the midst of the beautiful singing around me it was grey on a color scale compared to my dads. And I cried; joy and grief. 

Alex drove out to California with 2 good friends. They took a month and had preplanned each stop, reserving places to stay along the way. They saw so many cities and parks and the USA! 

Alex was always looking for a good climb!

At the end of August, before school began, we decided to leave Dodge and go to the mountains. The place we found was so beautiful and what we needed. Quiet. Very peaceful.

The view from the deck seemed to change by the hour. And it was always spectacular.

Atley was at VBS this summer. And Omi was working with the kids in the craft room all week.

Addison was either a camp participant or a councelor and we rarely had him around...

And on Independance Day we went downtown and wandered around...

Date night with Rick!

Our little chickens have grown! They still follow Atley and love her! And now they are laying!

 Atley and I volunteered in the kitchen one day a week at a camp. We cut many, many watermelons.

And our lake closer to home...

 After being seperated on the drive to the mountains, we ended up randomly finding Rick at a gas station. He had gotten lost and we all met up!

This place had 5 kayaks, a rowboat, paddleboat and a canoe! We found waterfalls, rope swings and peace and quiet! Hardly anyone on this lake!

 Omi reading the journal my grandfathers brother  kept.

Rick brought the E bikes! Adventures!

Very hard to get a family photo...

Going into town one day, Atley found this dog. :)

View from lower deck...

Mountain bow down and the seas will roar at the sound of Your name!

1 Corinthians 15:50-54New International Version (NIV)

50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the deadwill be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”[a]