Random Wednesday….

/ Sara Vincent / Leave a comment

….when I write about whatever pops into my head and throw in some pictures just for kicks.  Here we go….

Coco's First Parade

Lined up and ready for a parade!

  • I have a definite limit on how many days in a row I can leave my house and still function well.  I think I determined last week that that number is six.  If you ask me to leave for the seventh day in a row, a meltdown is likely to ensue.  Followed by gross schedule changes and hermit-like tendencies for a minimum of 24 to 48 hours.  I’m better now.

Ellie & Her Flag

An ironic encounter - skinny, hairless, too long legs meets fat, furry, too short legs.

  • Birthdays cause a whirlwind of energy in our home.  Of course, so does someone ringing the doorbell, the UPS man delivering a package, the phone ringing, the dog barking…  I live in a whirlwind of energy.  For a low-key, practically only-child, it’s exhausting.  This is why I drink so much coffee.

A firecracker in her own right

Standing for the Star Spangled Banner

  • I’m embellishing this post with pictures from July 4th because I haven’t posted them yet.  It’s my blog.  I can do that.  Even if it is August now.  🙂

Why would you do this to your dog?

Classic Americana

  • It’s been an amazingly hot summer.  I’m a hot weather girl, but even I am about ready to admit that I’m ready for some cooler weather.  I’m not admitting that yet, but I’m getting close.  Multiple days of temps at or near 100 with heat indices of 105-115 tests even the most avid warm-weather-lover.  It was actually hotter here yesterday than in Phoenix.  I’m holding fast to my view that this is still preferable to February weather, but I concede that it.is.hot.

Not only do I know him - I'm related to him. Yikes.

Nothing says "Americana" like the Ranchero with a blow-up Uncle Sam in back!

  • I’m not even sure why I buy grapes and apples in the summer.  Those “ordinary” fruits just can’t compete with the cantaloupe, blueberries, cherries, peaches, watermelon, and pineapple that reside in the fridge during the warmer months.  I feel kind of bad for them, especially when they rot and I watch myself throw all that money away.

Some American greatness

Our attempt at fireworks on a very WET July 4th evening.

Have a great Wednesday, friends!

Ten

/ Sara Vincent / 1 Comment

She’s ten.  I don’t know how it happened, but she’s ten.  I look at my youngest and still feel a bit like I’m playing house, but I look at the oldest one and realize this is not pretending.  This is real life and she is growing up too fast.

The first born is always “born old” I believe.  She’s always been more mature, more responsible, a little more serious.  She’s a funny combination of her father and me.  She has my desire for order, organization, and neatness.  She has her father’s propensity for teasing, his natural ability to be responsible with money, and, of course, his hair.  She is one hundred percent girl, yet loves the outdoors and bugs and, of course, the environment.  Ahem.  😉  She is smart and funny and strong.  She is a rock in so many ways, just like her dad.  And I love that about her.  She makes my job surpassingly simpler as I  know that I can count on her to do whatever I ask, even though it may not always be done cheerfully.  She leads her sisters well and they all look up to her.

She is ten.  I look back on the first ten years and the moments that I thought would be the death of me and I look out over the next ten and realize that the potential for greater trials lays still ahead.  Hormones and boys and alcohol and drugs and dangers that I haven’t even considered yet.  She and I are going away later this month to begin deeper conversations that should have likely started long ago, but I figure it is better to start it now, even if I’m a little late, than to continue to sweep it under the rug.

Grace, I love you.  I daily feel unworthy to be your mother, but am endlessly thankful for the privilege.  You challenge me, encourage me, make me laugh, and sometimes, you drive me crazy.  I pray that the next ten years will be even better than this first ten  I pray you will continue to honestly seek the Lord and make wise choices.  I know much will change in the next ten years and there will be tears mixed with the laughter, but I pray that ten years from now as we prepare to celebrate your twentieth birthday we will see a young woman who has learned to view her life in the light of God’s grace and who is continuing to learn to live for His glory.

Happy Birthday, my beautiful first-born daughter.  You have forever changed my life for the better.

Love, Your Mama


Why

/ Sara Vincent / 5 Comments

I stare at the screen.  The words won’t come.  Thoughts fill my head, but nothing comes out right.

I chop fruit and set out bowls for hungry children on a warm Sunday night.

I pray and ask for words.  I wonder why I write.

I write because it is therapy.  I write to resurrect a long dormant love for words.  I write to sort out the thoughts in my head.  I write to remember…

To remember the struggles and the tears that bring me to my knees and closer to those I love.  To remember the victories and triumphs that deserve to be celebrated.  To remember the burdens and the blessings that lead me to His throne.

And to count the gifts….

0713.  birthday parties

0714.  feverish girl

0715.  first day of school

0716.  new books, paper, pencils

0717.  twenty-four adults-only hours

0718.  time with friends

0719.  Trash Mountain Project

0720.  Sunday

0721.  words that finally come out right

May your week be filled with gifts remembered.

~Sara

Week in Review – Catching Up Once Again

/ Sara Vincent / Leave a comment

July 17 – 30

In the past couple of weeks…

we’ve celebrated eleven years of marriage,

had a fairly successful yard sale,

and purged our home of some unnecessary stuff.

We found out our light fixture was fairly valuable,

played miniature golf,

and swam and swam and swam some more.

We started school,

and finished our first week  – hooray!!!

Hoping your past couple of weeks have been filled with good times, great memories, and growing in grace.  Have a fantastic weekend, friends!

Twenty Minutes to Saving a Lot of Cash

/ Sara Vincent / Leave a comment

I get a lot of requests for this recipe, so I am sharing it here for anyone who is interested….

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap – Front or Top Load Machine

This is reported to be Michelle Duggar’s recipe….not positive on that one, but it works for our family of six! It only costs a few cents/load and literally only takes fifteen to twenty minutes of effort.

4 cups hot tap water

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar

1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

½ cup Borax

Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water.

Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

(Personal Note:  wash your pan and grater by hand; I threw them in the dishwasher the first time I did this and had a soapy film on all of my dishes and ended up having to wash everything in my dishwasher by hand!)

Fill a 5-gallon bucket half full of hot tap water.

Add melted soap, washing soda, and Borax.

Stir well until all powder is dissolved.

Fill bucket to top with more hot water.

Stir, cover, and let sit overnight to thicken.

~Optional – add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons after soap has cooled.

Suggestions include:  lavendar, rosemary, tea tree, etc.

Yield = 5 gallons

You may either scoop your soap directly from your 5-gallon bucket, or I purchased a one-gallon juice pitcher at WalMart and fill it regularly from the bucket and keep it by my washing machine.

Top Load Machines:  5/8 cup per load (approximately 180 loads)

Front Load Machines:  ¼ cup per load (approximately 640 loads)

Thankful for You

/ Sara Vincent / Leave a comment

Thanks to all of you who take the time to comment on my posts either here or on Facebook.  I appreciate your encouragement and just knowing you’re out there.  Now that we are back in school, my computer time is limited, so please accept my apologies if I do not respond in a timely manner (or, perhaps, at all).  I read everything you say and am so grateful to you for taking the time to stop by!

For His Glory ~

~Sara

Preparing Your Daughter – My Take Away

/ Sara Vincent / 4 Comments

I recently finished part one of Preparing Your Daughter for Every Woman’s Battle by Shannon Ethridge.  While I don’t have a lengthy list of bullet points to share – in fact, I don’t think I underlined a single thing in the book – I *highly* recommend it to anyone with daughters.  I spent the first part of the book with my mouth gaping open at the statistics she shared about the knowledge many of our girls already possess.  It was shocking.  Truly.  Or maybe I live in a bubble.  That’s possible, too.

I stopped at the end of part one, as part two is designed to be worked through together with your daughter.  I am planning to start this soon with Grace.

The book covers a wide variety of topics including modesty, guarding our media intake, body image, and of course, boys.  It opened my eyes to the need to be willing to answer my girls’ questions more directly.  I’ve always been willing to answer but, in what I believe has been in an effort to protect their innocence, I would often abbreviate the answer as much as possible and I confess that I’ve used the “you’re not ready for that” answer for too long with a couple of them.  There are still things I want to protect them from, but when homosexuality, pornography, and abortion are being discussed plainly from the pulpit on Sunday’s, it’s hard to avoid it forever at home.  That, and when the oldest reads Genesis 19 in the NIV.

What about you?  Are you having these conversations with your kids?  How are you preparing them for puberty and beyond?

Monday

/ Sara Vincent / 2 Comments

Thank you all for your grace last week.  I had a yard sale last week and you know how that goes….between the prep for that and daily life, there wasn’t room for everything.  And when the choice is between neglecting the blog or neglecting the kids…well, sorry blogosphere.  😉

Today I write, not with any great eloquence or depth, but in an effort to resume the habit.  Because I’ve learned that, at least for me, writing brings more writing.  So, even though I don’t necessarily feel like writing tonight, I will.  And I will count the blessings of the past couple of weeks.

And this is a no-photo post, as the camera hasn’t left the shelf in over a week.  😛  But I suppose it’s not about the pictures….it’s about remembering the blessings that have come from His hand…..

0674.  Monday at home

0675.  all day pajamas

0676.  re-arranging furniture

0677.  friends who are good at that

0678.  brother-in-law’s strong back

0679.  dinner with a really great couple

0680.  being flat out exhausted

0681.  vegging on the couch

0682.  new-to-us furniture

0683.  Grammy

0684.  bedtime prayers with children

0685.  Daddy’s silly songs

0686.  twelve years since our first date

0687.  friends at the swim beach

0688.  a real conversation

0689.  dinner with another great couple

0690.  unexpected friendship

0691.  eight hours of swimming

0692.  girls that sleep hard

0693.  pedicures

0694.  Barnes & Noble sales associate

0695.  eleven years of marriage

0696.  speaking each other’s love languages

0697.  Sabbath rest at home

0698.  running on a Monday

0699.  Camp Enosh

0700.  guitar lessons

0701.  internet repairs and faster connections!

0702.  new book case

0703.  husband’s help assembling it

0704.  school books stacked and shelved neatly

0705.  the promise of a new school year

0706.  profitable yard sale

0707.  the freedom of less stuff

0708.  mother-in-law taking the youngest two

0709.  mother cleaning my house for guests

0710.  gathering with friends

0711.  pool to ourselves

0712.  long Sunday afternoon nap

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ~ I Thessalonians 5:18

What are you thankful for today?