God's Handiwork...

Some pics Kristie and me took on our day trip to Crooked Bush and Battleford Western Development Museum...

Presently reading Angels & Demons by Dan Brown and this quote caught my attention:

"Science tells me God must exist. My mind tells me I will never understand God. And my heart tells me I am not meant to."

If you can't stand the heat...go home!

Which we did. Came home yesterday. Let me tell you - tenting in 30+ weather is not that enjoyable. BUT - we did have a great holiday.

Starting with the girls going to teen camp and Murray/me camping at Candle Lake. We canoed down Fisher Creek and saw Pelicans, mama duck and her 2 babies, Canada Goose and her doz babies. Nice and relaxing.

Then off to Manitoba with a stop at Good Spirit Lake..

Us girls canoed over to a more private beach and Murray windsurfed over. Then Sarah got some lessons in windsurfer while Kristie and myself read.

Next we stopped in to visit with some friends in Portage La Prairie where Sarah drove a tractor and they all went river floating one night.

Then off to Gull Harbour campground on Hecla Island in Lake Winnipeg. Really nice area but that's when we hit the 30+ weather. So we took a tour of Hecla Village, and a walk out to the Lighthouse.

I am thankful for great campsites, good weather, playing cards with my children, chillaxing on the beach, time to spend admiring the handiwork of God, chance meetings with my sister's good friend, friends that welcome us into their homes, cool breezes, for a co-worker that leant us a 2 room tent that was a life saver on the evenings I could not stand the bugs one more minute, a nifty light fixture that my sister in law leant us that enabled me to read in the tent, wonderful children that made me laugh, and a husband that put up with me on the days I couldn't handle the bugs one more minute.

Patience...

I confess - I don't have a lot of patiences somedays. Came across this comment the other day and thought - whoa - I need to read this quote more often...

"...impatience stems almost solely from our exaggerated notions of what is due us. If we could but lower our estimation of the importance of our time, our plans and our feelings, we would find ourselves almost automatically more patient.

Patience is a more positive trait. It is the ability to bear affliction, delay and interruption with calmness, perseverance and confience in the goodness of God. It is inward peace as well as outward control. It is the sumission of our schedules, our viewpoints, our dreams to the greater plan of God, with the conviction that he has a good reason for every delay he allows to come our way." (italics mine)

Holidays are about to begin...

...just one more working day left :-)

...things are starting to get packed, need to pack the girls stuff separate from ours...
"A lot of parents pack up their troubles and send them off to summer camp."
— Raymond Duncan
Yep that's us!

...weather is beautiful
...coworker may lend us his 2 room tent
...one more working day left

...pile of books ready for reading
"Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting." Edmund Burke

...last loads of laundry tonight
...one more soccer game tonight too
...still need to buy a few camping items
...one more working day left

...canoe repairs done (note - don't forget to take the oars this time)
"On vacations: We hit the sunny beaches where we occupy ourselves keeping the sun off our skin, the saltwater off our bodies, and the sand out of our belongings." - Erma Bombeck

...just one more working day left (have I mentioned that already?)

A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken."
— James Dent

Baths and Mother in laws:

I’m feeling quite the coward this evening as I think I have finally realized why I seem to be having problems dealing with my mother in law. She has been staying with us this weekend. She was involved in a car accident 2 weeks ago and has been staying at her daughters, this weekend with us to give her daughter some respite.

When I was talking to some friends last night the sentence “I’ve gone through this with my mom I don’t want (or can’t) do it again.”, slipped out of my mouth. I didn’t even realize I felt that way but after soaking in a hot tub and thinking about it, I really do think that is how I feel. I think I’m struggling with investing anymore in her because I don’t want to be reminded of my mom, or go through those same emotions and struggles as I did before. And I’m feeling like a coward because I don’t want to face it again but aren’t we suppose to be able to do all things through Christ? And where the H E double hockey stick is my compassion and empathy for my mother in law?

And yet sitting here listening to her go on and on and on about her car, how she thinks she probably has a broken rib, her doctors, not always making sense and being totally resistant to everything my husband is saying to her, is driving me crazy, all my anxiety feelings are rising up and I just want to go to bed and pull the covers over my head…

I feel like such a bad daughter in law...