Summer Happenings

Happy summer! I love this time of year when the flowers are in full bloom–those that didn’t bloom in Spring–and all the wild animals come out to play. Well…the few that we see, which is more than we enjoyed where we used to live.

On our walk tonight, I told my husband how thankful I am to live in this place. We’ve always lived in more crowded suburbs, so to live in a rural area is both refreshing and relaxing. And something we never expected in our lifetime. Yet God surprised us and quickly! It’s hard to believe that at the end of 2021 we were planning to move and within two months we did! Proof that God is able to do impossible things and improbable things in a short time frame.

To catch you up on recent happenings, I thought I’d share a few. We just completed two contests, the scavenger hunt being the last one, and all of the books are in the mail. Thank you to all who participated! I hope you had fun finding the clues. Winners have all been notified.

I’m almost halfway through my first draft of Mary Magdalene’s story, which is good. I hope to complete it by mid-July, but edits for The Ark and the Dove are expected to arrive in my inbox by the end of this month. Last year I attempted to write and edit at the same time, and I intend to do so again this year. It’s easier to stay on track that way. I’m looking forward to those edits…and hoping there isn’t TOO much to change…and looking forward even more to completing this first draft. First drafts are not my favorite part of writing, as I’m sure I’ve said before.

Hubby is making progress on finishing our basement, though it is one of those projects that just takes time. He does have help on occasion on Saturdays, but I suspect it will still take a year until we’re finished enough to put some things back to where they belong. Right now, the middle of the basement is a maze of boxes. Please don’t ask us to find anything specific!

We’ve found a small town nearby that we enjoy frequenting. It has some great businesses and it’s a fun getaway, especially if you’re in the mood for a smoothie or an ice cream cone. They also happen to have my favorite shoe store there, which is a big plus!

Travel this summer isn’t high on our bucket list. We’ve got one small trip planned closer to the end of summer, but I suspect we will spend most of the time around here. Hubby loves to work outside in the garden, which looks SO much better than it did when we moved in. I love sitting on the back patio to write and listen to the birds yell at me for disrupting them from reaching our bird feeder.

As an aside, I’ve taken up a new hobby! I’ve wanted to learn Hebrew for the longest time and decided that better now than never, right? So I found a couple of online sites, one on my computer called Duolingo and the other an app on my phone. The other night we were watching The Chosen on TV and in one scene, Jesus says to his mother Mary, Layla Tov. I pointed to the screen, where we had closed caption turned on to catch every word, and said, “I know that word! It means ‘good night’!” So I’m learning. Slowly. But it’s fun, so there’s that.

We’ve also discovered three bunnies that love to chase each other at the top of the hill and visit our bird feeder in the evening. I’m not great with naming animals, so our chipmunks are “Chip” and “Dale” and our bunnies are “Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail.” We’ve yet to meet Peter Rabbit.

I’m soaking my feet as I write this – something I should do more often! I made the mistake of walking all day in new sandals and my feet said, “pamper me”. So that’s what I’m doing.

I hope this week is a blessing to each of you. As we enter the lazy days of summer, let’s never forget that God is never lazy. He doesn’t ever forget us. He knows where we live and how we’re feeling and what we’re thinking. He loves us. He cares more deeply for us than we could ever imagine. If you are in a difficult place in life right now or have walked away from Him because you think He doesn’t see you, please know that He does. He’ll never stop loving you. Forgiveness and wholeness are only a prayer away.

~Selah