Timmy's and Danny's Baptism

Today Timmy and Danny confessed their faith in Christ through baptism. It was a very special day for us parents as our youngest two boys took this special step, joining their five siblings who have already been baptized.

We had hoped that our pastor could officiate, but it didn't work out. The boys wanted to be baptized before the weather turned cold, so we asked Bro. Ward French if he would be willing to officiate, and he was willing. A little after 3 p.m. today, family and friends headed down to our pasture pond where the boys had decided they were okay with being baptized in a muddy pond.

Their daddy welcomes family and friends.

and turns it over to brother-in-law Craig Bradford who leads the music.

We found two baptismal hymns which we made copies of.

One was to the tune of "Morning Has Broken," and the other was "Come, Holy Spirit, Dove Divine."

 I appreciated how readily and anointedly Craig led the music.

Quite a number of friends showed up.

Our boys' Grandpa and Grandma Lucas were here for the occasion.

Us two sisters sharing music and enjoying singing parts together.

Bro. Ward leading the way to the water. Cane and all, he was willing to officiate.

But not before quietly asking the boys if there was anything in his life that was a stumbling block or hindrance to them. He wanted to make sure that he was "in good standing" with the boys and was worthy to baptize them.

This touched me to tears as I listened and caught a little of it. 

Usually the preacher makes sure the baptismal candidate is worthy to be baptized, not the other way around. Ward's tenderness and humility with the boys was very touching to me.

Timmy and Danny sharing their testimonies in clear, strong voices. I was proud of them. 

Jonathan and I had talked to them ahead of time, making sure they understood this step they were taking and encouraging them to "confess with [their]mouth the Lord Jesus."

Timmy went first, being the older.

Danny was next.

I got a kick out of how Danny dunked himself before the minister had to try to lean him back and then help him out of the water. Boy, was that easy on the minister!

Carrie handed the boys towels.

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Craig and Joella's family of six children sang a Happiness Medley, and one about Jesus' blood and redemption.

Our boys' grandfather prayed the benediction prayer.

So thankful for how the boys' Uncle Craig greeted and hugged and encouraged the boys.

Then the boys had prearranged to race back to the house!!!! :)

Hannah and Laura in hot pursuit!

I loved how often the two girls went around hand in hand!

Labor Day Breakfast at Jonathan's Parents

On Labor Day morning after watching the Hot Air Balloons rise into the blue Colorado skies,

we had been invited for breakfast at Jonathan's parents.

When we arrived, this hanging basket of flowers was heavy with water droplets! Beautiful!

The beautiful bird bath a couple of Jonathan's siblings had bought for Grandma a few years ago.

It was such a delight to enjoy breakfast outside in the sunshine beside the fountain near their back patio.

The children helped bring out chairs and set the table. Grandma had made a delicious sausage and egg casserole, zucchini muffins, and sliced fresh peaches.

The sunrise that morning.

When Scarecrows Soar and Big Hearts Deflate

 It's not every day that you see scarecrows soaring in the sky!

This enormous scarecrow hot air balloon was our favorite of the hot air balloon festival held early Labor Day morning in town on our way to have breakfast with Jonathan's parents. We'd never seen any balloon quite like it. 

Here is part of the family hurrying to Memorial Park while Sam has to drive several blocks away to find a parking space. 

There were all sorts of rather common and ordinary hot air balloons, if a hot air balloon can be considered common and ordinary.

The balloons were sorta like people--mostly common and ordinary, like us,

but with a few that stood out--like the scarecrow and a sky blue one with storks and babies which we were quite sure was a balloon "For Life." Sorry I couldn't get a good picture of it, but I liked that one, too.

And then there were always weird ones.

The balloons had to take turns being blown up and going up in the sky.

I couldn't help thinking that even a scarecrow can soar! It's not just the typical balloons that went up, but also the atypical, the out-of-the-ordinary, and the uncommon.
Like a Lion King.

Scarecrows usually sit in a field somewhere, flapping their ragged sleeves and banging their dangling aluminum foil pans, doing little besides trying to scare black birds away from the corn or the beans. 

But this one decided to live a different sort of life--one that was beyond the norm and over the horizon.

This one had a dream that was bigger than life.

And nothing could prevent it from rising and shining and fulfilling that dream!

There were lots of balloons that went up on Labor Day.

Up with the frog and the dragon and the alien from Mars.

All except the big heart. This guy sat there looking bigger than life, with hot air puffing up inside and making his fingers twiddle.

Unfortunately that is all that he did. This balloon had a big heart, but all he did was sit there twiddling his fingers, doing nothing at all.

Every last balloon rose up and away, but the guy with the big heart never did go anywhere.
He just sat there, and as we began to leave, he began to deflate.

Learning to soar isn't really about how big or tender a heart you have.

It's about actually getting up and doing something.

We can sit around feeling sorry for the people whose homes and lives were destroyed by the hurricane in the Bahamas--but do nothing.

We can sigh about the persecuted Christians, but merely sigh and then forget.

We can fuss about the way our country is heading--but merely twiddle our thumbs.

It takes more than a big heart to accomplish a goal and a dream and to make a difference.

It takes courage and resolve and ingenuity.

It takes getting off your seat and rising above ground level and actually getting up and doing something.

Yes, even scarecrows can soar!

Real Life After Silver Anniversaries

There are those special moments when you dress up in a beautiful gown and enjoy the sunflowers by a little back yard bridge. 

And then there are the other moments.

Like when you must clean the extra fridge in the garage where meat marinade overflowed and dried up in the bottom of the fridge under the produce bin drawers. You have to take out almost all the shelves to clean up the mess, and let the bottom of the fridge soak overnight before you can get that stuff to clean up.

And then there are the times the dog drags a carton of frozen broth you had thawing 

and brings it somehow into the livingroom during the night where the broth continues to thaw 

and leaves a couple dark, smelly spots on your pristine, 18-year-old carpet.

You scrub over and over, with white vinegar, soda, carpet spray, etc., and after about seven tries, the spots are still not totally gone.

And you wash the curtains and rehang them--only to have your daughter's poodle get frantic sometime while we were all gone and claw up the curtain in its efforts to get out the glass door.

And then there is school to start the last week of August.

There is ironing to do.

Piles of it.

Sheets to wash.

There are husband's and son's lunches to help a daughter figure out food for, and try to pack some of them the night ahead.

There are beans to soak for taco salad or baked beans.

There's homemade laundry soap to make...

out of shredded laundry bar soap from Mexico, borax and washing soda. I wash darks with homemade soap and I use laundry soap from the store for whites.

There are cupboards to organize and cookbooks to find a place for and recipes that need to be recopied because they are so worn and used.

That's why we revel in the blissful moments when for just a few minutes we can celebrate 25 busy but fulfilling, challenging but happy years of marriage.

Revel in the moments when your husband finds a bargain on mums and buys you four of them for your porch.

And when a niece comes to stay a few more weeks to try to get help with recovering from her Lymes,

we rejoice together in the beautiful bouquet Amaris picks while in her wheel chair out by Rose's flower garden by the little garden of corn and squash.

Just because of the many long hours of never-ending work, we celebrate the joys mixed in,

just like the small moments when God hands you a promise or a comfort or a sense of His presence, and it's too beautiful for words.