My Dad

 













Here we all are.  His family.
  

My dad is a tireless worker.  He always has a project going on. Lazy or procrastinator could never be used to describe him. He doesn't complain, just keeps working. 


Sometimes he has help. 



 

He works in his garden, fortifying it to preserve the produce from varmints.  He grows enough beans and tomatoes to can for the coming fall, winter and spring.

He loves his grandchildren.  And wears their birthday crowns.

 
And holds them when they ask.  They love to see their Poppop.

 








My dad is a man of character.  He can fix practically anything.  He can be quite animated.  I look up to him.  He is an example for me to follow. 

He's my dad.  Happy Birthday.  I love you.

My House Feelings

I was thinking today of my previous posts about our house.  And thinking that one might just get the impression we do not like it and in fact regret buying it. 

In actuality, I am more upset with the sellers and the state in which they left the house.  And I feel cheated and lied to by them because of the condition of the house and items they left. 

It isn't the house's fault the sellers didn't take care of it. 

I do really like our house and enjoy living here.

The Seventh Word (Hebrew numbering, since it was written first in Hebrew.)

"Thou shalt not commit adultery."  Although the ancient Hebrews restricted understanding of adultery was rather limited, we Christians have a much broader sense of the word.  And before reading this post, I hadn't thought to relate it to parenting.

In the post, the author says that adultery "is about breaking covenant and giving someone else a place that doesn't belong to them."  How often have I chosen to ignore the needs of my children to please a stranger or even an a acquaintance, not wanting to offend them?  What about my own children?  They are indeed a higher priority.

And even though it is more the spirit of the commandment than actual commandment, I am reminded to be committed to my children, after my husband and before all others.

Lilly

Here I am again.  My life has been somewhat chaotic since we signed those papers.  Those darn papers. (I don't have it in me to type "damn" there.)

Those papers that made this house our problem.  But yet, don't get me wrong.  I am liking our house more and more.  Once all our junk is put away or sold away or given away or thrown away, and we fix or replace or decide to just put up with the broken appliances, it will feel like a pretty nifty home, not just the place we get our mail.

And with people like these living here . . .

. . . who couldn't love these faces!

Lilly is our new puppy dog.  She is about 5 years old.  And if you can't tell, she's a Saint Bernard (yes, AL we decided to get one anyway.)  Josh and Ellie adore her.  They want to take her for walks, play with her, give her treats, brush her, feed and water her.  Ellie will even wipe her mouth after she drinks.  (It can get a little messy otherwise.)  But they draw the line at picking up poop.

She is a great dog.  She is calm, hardly barks, doesn't jump (we have to lift her into the car, which isn't easy with a 96 pound dog.  She'll put her front legs up and then wait to be hoisted.)  She absolutely LOVES belly rubs.  Though she spends most of her time on the floor snoring, she does like a walk around the block.  But don't make it too long she says, or she'll start slowing down.

Today we went to the groomers.  She came home all pretty and with a bow on her ear.  When I took her, I had to pull her in, while a vet tech pushed. She remembered being there yesterday for her vet visit.  Yesterday she walked in the door, then thought better of it once it was time to go on the scale.  And again when time to go into the exam room.  She hunkered down and wouldn't budge.  The floor is nice and slidey, so we kind of pulled/pushed/dragged her.  She eventually realized she was going and got up and walked.  And once it was time to go, she held nothing back.  So, once back at the same place as yesterday, she put on the brakes at the front stoop.  She wouldn't even go in the door. 

It's going to be great fun trying to get her in to have her nails clipped more often.  They were neglected, so the quick is too long and have to be trimmed more often to get it to recede.