Box Socks

Packing for camp today meant that I needed to match up a week's worth of socks for Jubal and Jim. (The rest of us prefer bare feet. I like this because it's easier on the laundry load.) I can't remember the last time I dumped out the lot and matched any but when Atira tipped the basket onto the table, the mass of socks stayed in a solid square. I think it had been a while.




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The "Sebago" Crowd

The Buxton Crowd temporarily relocated to Greg and Annah's vacation spot on Little Sebago Lake Thursday night. By the time we arrived, the lake was already filled with the happy squeals and splashes of all the kids, with Todd Pendleton treading water as safety manager. I cannot say whether a happy squeal escaped Todd's lips or not.....let's say one did.











Atira (with Kayla Raymond) went tubing for the first time...




Greg also took his little Timmy and Julia Pendleton out on the tube for the first time. They were both reported to have had a death grip on the handles and were not fans of bouncing through the wake of the boat but despite that, enjoyed the experience. Heather took a photo of them arriving back to the dock together and I noted how cute it would look in the video at their wedding, which 5 year-old Timmy already has plans for.

Andrew Pendleton (with Dyvan Raymond) took time for some fishing off the dock and sure enough, reeled one right in...









It was a gorgeous summer evening and we were treated to a beautiful rainbow display, a gorgeous sunset and lots of fun with friends.








The only black mark on the evening was when my phone and Jubal's went swimming within 10 minutes of each other. At the moment, I'm using Jim's old iPhone while mine sits in a bag of rice. All I can say is iCloud backup is wonderful!

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Practice Makes Pretty Good

I always appreciate my friend Sandy's musical leadership at church but never more than in the summers which can leave our music team pretty sparse at times. With the Foremans and Browns gone last week, Greg and myself were the leads. Greg learned guitar not long ago and with his diligent practice and the AWANA kids as guinea pigs for a couple years his playing has significantly improved. (It could also be that I've learned to follow his playing very well....) We are used to leading at AWANA and the occasional youth event but leading the whole congregation was uncharted waters. We made sure to choose the songs that we had chosen for Adventure Camp and had been practicing for months. When Sunday arrived, thankfully Nicole, Sammy and Duane were able to follow our less than perfect way of doing things and I think it went well.

This coming Sunday's group of songs required two practices, one of which Don decided to crash....always an encouragement to whatever I happen to be doing....ahem.








Greg picked one of the songs, Shout To The Lord, because both he and Jen really like it and it has been known to bring her to tears. I hope if that happens this Sunday, Jen's tears will be because of the lyrics and not our poor attempt at leading worship!

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Life Lessons From A Daylily

I love to have gardens and plants in the yard but I am horrible at maintaining them so the hardier the specimen, the better. That is why daylilies and I are great friends. The clump in my garden had become too big, so last fall I divided some out. Instead of carefully replanting them elsewhere I lazily tossed the plant near the edge of the woods and said, "If it grows, it grows..."
Sure enough, that tough plant took root and blossomed beautifully. I've heard the saying, "Bloom where you're planted." many times but sometimes this sinful world is not kind, we're not always carefully planted and nurtured by others and conditions are rarely ideal so, maybe, the example of my daylily would be better. "Bloom where you're tossed."




Philippians 4:11-13 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

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Today and Tomorrow

Today I decided to procrastinate no longer on a couple of unfinished paint projects. I love to paint but there were always things higher on the To Do list. The first project tackled was Jubal's wall, which for the past year has said "MO". What it should have said is "MOXIE", and now it finally does.





Jubal's room also doubles as a guest room when we have company and I think this is just the right touch for a Maine bedroom. I know Aaron Hutchins and Mike Morrill would agree. Feel free to kick Jubal out of his room and visit anytime!

The second project brought to completion was the painting of my "Family Tree". The bottom portion, as high as I can reach, (no need to snicker) has been done for about a year. Now I finally have my top branches.





The tree still needs many more frames and family member photos.....look for that next year.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Early Sunday morning I found out that our friend James Pray had been in an ATV accident. On that summer Saturday afternoon, his plan for "tomorrow" had been to go skydiving. Instead he was lying in ICU at Maine Med. I'm so thankful that God has answered all the prayers for James' recovery in the affirmative and tonight he is out of ICU and will probably go home in the next couple of days. It'll take awhile to get there but what a blessing that he still has a "tomorrow" to go skydiving.


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Water Splashes

The house is quiet except for the blessed hum of the air conditioner. Everyone else has gone to bed as I wait for Nolan to be dropped off from his day at Funtown/Splashtown with Ryan Morrill.
Atira, Tell and I participated in a much less expensive way to cool off last night. The event actually began as a civilized VBS Appreciation cookout.









     

Thanks to some pictured below, however, it soon deteriorated into an all out water fight. I'm quite certain that the first splash originated from the styrofoam cup in Greg's hand.

 I will admit that things may have escalated after Peg and I stood behind James Pray and casually poured the water from our cups down his neck.






And then to the delight of the kids, the Hodgdon hose was wielded.

By far, the funniest sight to me was Tell chasing after Big James to soak him with his little cup.
This was after James had drenched Tell's head under the water cooler.




Generally kind-hearted, in matters of combat James shows no mercy. Tell learned this when his wet clothes became muddy clothes as James rolled him in the dirt.


























Eventually we traded water for fire and settled down for some S'mores around the blaze.



























Of course, the perfect ending of the day for Atira was a pink sunset which she captured going over the Kennebec on the car ride home.


















And perfectly timed, Nolan has walked through the door as I finish the last of my post and I can now hit the sack.

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Red-White-Blue

Unfortunately my Independence Day began with some red. They were the shards of plastic from my van taillight after I backed into Jim's truck in our driveway this morning.



Thankfully, the day only improved. We missed the Foreman's company at the parade but still appreciated the use of their driveway for easy parking.


The family and Aunt Suci waited at the courthouse corner watching for Nolan to appear in his white gi with the other students from Five Elements Mountain dojo.



The parade finished, Jim and the kids headed over to the Morrill's. Suci and I picked up Nolan and back at the house, loaded our working lawnmower onto the truck to bring to Dad. Wanting to rest in a cool house, Suci stayed behind while Nolan and I made our delivery before driving to Bowdoinham. Don was the lone Fisher representative and carried out his responsibility of annoyance perfectly.



The bickering between Don and I is always at least slightly amusing and Mike frequently comments that he is pulling up a chair and grabbing the popcorn. Today was no exception and Mike was heard to say, "Wait, can you hear that?, it's the sound of my truck delivering my movie theatre popcorn!" What we did hear near the end of the day was the rumbling of distant thunder. Luckily, the blue water of the pool had already refreshed everyone on this hot July 4th.







Even I got a splash of water and was able to capture Jubal's guilty face afterward.






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