Where you come from

My great-great grandparents settled into a small south Georgia town in the early 1900s. My family would live there until 1981, when my parents moved us to north Georgia (and for many reasons, I'm so glad that they did). Now, none of the family lives there, although my grandmother is buried there, and my grandfather will be buried there, too.

Recently, we went camping nearby, so we drove over so that I could show Mike what I remembered from childhood.

And, we drove past this beauty. I have no actual memories of this house, only stories passed along. It was the McDowell house, built by those great-great grandparents. My second son is named McDowell, specifically to honor the great-grandmother who grew up here.

I was struck by both the beauty and size of the house, but also the realization that in the end, stuff is just stuff. What gets passed along to the next generation sometimes involves stuff (but for my family, it didn't include the house--someone else owns it now), but more importantly? It involves family legacies. It involves the feelings and memories of our childhoods. The values and priorities that were and are important. The importance of a relationship with Jesus. These are the things that stick after 30 or 40 or more years.

These are the things I want to pass along. So, when I look at this beautiful picture of an old house, I hope that I'm reminded to concentrate on the things that will last. To pour into the hearts of three little boys and make them as full as I can. Cause that's the legacy that will stand the test of time.

I recently read Danny Silk's Loving our Kids on Purpose. It was just what I needed to remind me of the high calling that God has given me when he blessed me with these little hearts. I highly recommend it.

No matter what your intentions or goals are as a parent, the fact is that you are cultivating a loving or fearful spiritual environment in your home, and that is what is really influencing your children.--Danny Silk

Cheap Fun

Our town hosted a wonderful event, Touch a Truck, this spring. For my little boys (and I think my husband, too), this was 2 hours of straight heaven.

We got to sit in the front seat of fire trucks.

Try to operate these cool little mini-dump trucks that empty the trash around the center of the town.

And hold on to the sides of the trash truck like our beloved Tuesday morning visitors.

There were street sweepers, this neat truck with a giant vacuum to clean out the water drains, police motorcycles, ambulances, and more. It was a great morning, and my boys have talked about it ever since. I couldn't ask for more!

Family Photos

Many, many thanks to Lesley at Sweet Peas and Sprouts Photography for patiently capturing our family recently. We love the way the pictures turned out!

And here's the backstory. These are our very first family pictures. My oldest went through a terrible (awful, very bad!) stage of running away in public from about 11 months old to age 3 or so. And, really, running away just makes it sound cute. It was more like "bolt from your arms, not use any sense, and run as fast as you can". Almost every picture I have of him from those ages is in his high chair or in the stroller. We didn't think that would make for great formal pictures. Just sayin'.

And, then number 2 came along. From a very, very early age, if a stranger so much as looked at him, he cried. And, again, that's a cute way to say "he hid his head and sobbed gut-wrenching, horrid cries until you picked him up and hid him under your skirt". Yeah. Fun times.

But, then, happy Sir Squishy was born. He is the grace that tells me I might not be doing everything wrong after all. He is definitely one that pulls us together and let me know we could handle family pictures. I'm so glad! I love the way they turned out. I can't wait to do it again.

Wedding Date Night

This date night was several weeks ago, but I somehow forgot to post it. What do you know? Life gets in the way!

When the royal wedding was televised, I knew it'd make a perfect date night. My husband will indulge me by watching pretty much anything on television, but I knew that he has a sweet spot for BBC. When I found out that PBS was televising the BBC feed about the wedding, I knew I had him. It was fun to see the coverage straight from Britain, without the American spin on things.

And what to eat while watching a wedding? Why, wedding food, of course!

We're from Georgia. In the last ten years or so, things have gotten fancier, but the weddings of my childhood memories all take place in the afternoon, with reception to follow in the fellowship hall of the church. No drinking, no dancing. No big meals, just heavy hors d'oeuvres. So, that's the sort of meal I went with. So good!

Every wedding starts with punch, right? I served two kinds. Strawberry vanilla on the left, and for my sweet husband, redneck punch. Aka Mountain Dew. I forgive him. He was a good sport about the wedding!

We had a veggie plate, chips, open-faced chicken salad finger sandwiches, and some meats and cheeses.

And, since, well, there has to be something fried at any good wedding, and well, I didn't want to do the frying, I opted for samosas. You know. Multi-ethnic surprises and all. I justified this because I know that Indian food and curry houses are crazy popular in England.

More veggies. One of my favorite parts of any party food.

And, because it was a wedding after all.... Dessert!! We shared three different kinds from our local bakery.

Many, many thanks to my sweet husband for indulging my wedding love on this Saturday night. I think he enjoyed it, too. What's not to love about a true-life love story?