My Not That Exciting but Perfectly Fine Life

Is it just me or did the month of August fly by? Family reunion was fun although it was blazing hot. We were "camping" if you can call it camping. We borrowed a camper and thankfully it had air conditioning. It was great to spend time with everyone. It's kind of weird though because all my cousins are grown up and are having their own kids which is fun but puts a different dynamic on the reunion from when I was younger. But life is just different as a grown up, isn't it? My Mom and Aunt Nancy are pictured left and to the right is Andy practicing for our Sunday morning church service we had outdoors.

I still don't have internet at home but am getting my rear in gear and am going to do something about that within the next couple of weeks hopefully.

I just finished reading "The Rest of God" by Mark Buchanan...it was excellent! He talks in depth about Sabbath keeping. I really appreciated his approach to the subject. It was convicting, yet freeing all at the same time. There's no pressure to get up and just do it because that's what you're supposed to do. He takes a whole chapter to address legalism even. Instead he lays it all out there for you to see why rest is so important and challenges you to think about what activities in your life are life giving so you can focus on doing those things to be restored. This is a book I'll want to read again...and there aren't too many of those. I came away desiring to make Sabbath happen in my own life and really take a hard look at how that might look. It's easy to get sidetracked and trapped in the crazy cycle of life in this chaotic world where the typical answer to "How are you doing?" is "Oh fine...I've been really busy." I cringe inside whenever I hear that…and please know I’m guilty of saying those very words. Although I must say I’ve become more sensitive to this now and hope and pray a lifestyle change happens as a result. I desire to be refreshed and renewed as I’m sure most everyone does and that’s not going to happen by keeping the pace of this world. I’m going to have to go against the grain… which is a typical action when following Christ so I’m learning. I’m thankful I don’t have to do it all in my own strength because I would certainly fail if I did.

Onto a lighter topic…last night I went raspberry picking with Rachael and three of her kids, Ethan, Raven, and Xavier. I came home with about 2.5 lbs of raspberries at $2.50 per pound. They are delicious and I wish I could share them with my Mom because I know she absolutely loves raspberries. If I could send them in the mail I would. Rachael and I decided the cause of the price hike for berries in the grocery stores is because of all the mosquitoes you have to fight when picking them! There were swarms of them around us the entire time….biting through our clothes and the whole nine yards. Oh what fun…and what memories. But dog gone it…we’ve got raspberries to show for it!