My Faith and Joy… and Boys!

Even though Jimmy insists he wanted a cat instead of a dog (if it couldn’t be a St. Bernard, lol), I often find him cuddling up to sweet Summer.  He’s very good with her.

Here he is (trying to avoid my camera):

And speaking of avoiding the camera, Becky has found that Summer herself is a useful shield!

Guess it serves me right for trying to take pictures of kids early in the morning!

Taking the dog out for a walk requires serious layering on these blistering cold days.  Glad it’s not me!

P.S. – Aunt Mary, if you’re reading this, these face shields you got the boys for Christmas a few years ago get worn ALL THE TIME around here.  They’re fantastic!

The Lego challenges continue to dominate our home!  Here are the kids’ latest builds.  The theme was they had to create a store.

Danny’s store even came with a walkway with social-distance spacing markers! (Sorry I cant’ figure out how to re-orient this picture!):

Jimmy made an auto parts store:

Becky ‘s store had a dressing room:

And Susie’s was a double-decker!

Don’t you think Summer is wondering why she can’t just eat the legos already?!?

I came across this hymn for the first time yesterday and found it so encouraging.  Whether I’m dealing with a difficult parenting day or grappling with the darkening world around us, I’m so thankful our God is constant and unchanging.  “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (James 1:18).

Here a few excerpts from the hymn by Francis R. Havergal:

He who hath led will lead
All through the wilderness;
He who hath fed will feed;
He who hath blessed will bless;
He who hath heard thy cry,
Will never close His ear;
He who hath marked thy faintest sigh,
Will not forget thy tear.

He who hath made thee nigh
Will draw thee nearer still;
He who hath given the first supply
Will satisfy and fill.
He who hath given thee grace
Yet more and more will send;
He who hath set thee in the race
Will speed thee to the end.

Then trust Him for to-day
As thine unfailing Friend,
And let Him lead thee all the way,
Who loveth to the end.
And let the morrow rest
In His belovèd hand;
His good is better than our best,
As we shall understand,—
If, trusting Him who faileth never,
We rest on Him, today, for ever !

Every year I dread being stuck inside during the long winter evenings, but every year the kids have a way to liven things up!  Lately, they’ve been doing nonstop “LEGO challenges,” where they compete to create some sort of themed lego creation in a set time period.  Because the challenges usually take at least a half an hour, and then each kid gets to present their creation, followed by a judging ceremony, it ends up filling the evening beautifully!

I even got to participate in a challenge the other day.  It was much harder than it looked!  As I struggled to put a few pieces together to make walls (the theme was to create a bedroom), Becky sighed happily across the table from me, and exclaimed, “I could do this every day!”  I looked over and she had created an elaborate, professional-looking bedroom!  She possesses the necessary combination of imagination, artistic skills, and lego prowess, and truly blows us all away!  All the big kids really do amazing jobs – the themes range from creating obstacle courses, to land vehicles, to book/movie scenes, to restaurants.  I can’t wait to see what they dream up next!