Let's go boating . . or maybe not.

We have a boat. I don't know that I ever really wanted the responsibility of a boat, but it seems to be a sign of success for me. I always thought that if I could ever afford a boat, I would have "made it". I question the silliness of it.

In MN, we have about 8 months of winter, or at least times that the water is too cold to water-ski in/on. Now, if we were fishermen, they do that all year long. Ice fishing is the rage here. I don't quite get that either - proof of not growing up in MN. The boy went on his first fishing expedition with his grandfather this summer and caught his first fish. That is a whole other post.

So, we finally had some time and the weather was cooperating. We like to go in the early morning or at about 6-7 pm when the water is calmer. We make it to the lake, get the boat in the water and the motor starts. Sometimes that is questionable on the first time out. I was sitting enjoying the breeze when we stop to see if weeds have gotten stuck on the propeller.

You guessed it, the motor would not go up. This is not a good sign. We could have played for awhile, but the sun was quickly going down and we had to get the boat out of the water and this is almost impossible without tearing off the propeller in the process.

Did we have any tools? No. If we did, would we know what to do? No. Did we have the manual with us? Of course, no. We attached the boat and tried to see how much clearance we had at the boat landing - not enough. Some great guys tried to help, but didn't know much since they fish in a canoe.

What happened? I stayed with the kids and the boat in the water by the dock. The husband ran home to get some tools and a different hitch that was lower and would hopefully raise the boat just enough. This did work, barely. The neighbors were great and let us park our boat in their flat driveway opposed to our steep one.

My husband read the manual and figured out how to manually raise the motor - this would have been nice to know earlier - and got the boat in our driveway. Turns out that a relay switch, no bigger than a square inch, had failed which only allowed us to move the engine down and not up.

$100 later we made it back out onto the lake. The cost of "success". Why do we have a boat anyway?

blessings

Sonshine and what I learned

We just returned from Sonshine this weekend. It was an amazing time of music and worship. This is a great family adventure. We prepared for rain everyday and God blessed us with sunny skies and mild temperatures – mid 80’s compared to mid 90’s.

Charity invited a friend this year, mostly because the parents are “boring” to hang out with on such an occasion. Her friend seemed to have a good time also. We each got to see one of our favorite groups. Roger got to see Third Day, Charity got to see Hawk Nelson and Toby Mac, Eli waited until the last day to see his all time favorite, Newsboys. My favorite varies by day, but I enjoyed seeing Barlow Girl and the David Crowder Band. Crowder never disappoints!

We do a lot of sitting in lawn chairs as the bands do sound checks, etc. My behind got slightly sore, but luckily during my favorite bands I was up and waving my hands, praising God. I did my best to embarrass the daughter – not on purpose, just an interesting side effect of worshipping at Sonshine.

I brought my non-fiction book with me to read, When the Game is Over it All Goes Back in the Box by John Ortberg. I like his writing style. Many of these books teach the same thing with a different metaphor. Ortberg uses the monopoly game to represent this earthly life. You may have lots of hotels on your properties, but in the end all the money, properties and hotels go back in the box.

I am not done with the book, only on chapter 8 out of 21. Chapter 4 called “Master the Inner Game” has been rolling around in my head since Sonshine. Ortberg uses 2 Cor 4:16 as his springboard.

“We do not lose heart.
Though outwardly we are wasting away,
yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”

I really enjoyed some of the quotes from this chapter so I will leave them with you and let you ponder them as I have.

*”Experts tell us that if you exercise regularly, you will add two years to your life. But the bad news is that you will spend those two years exercising.”

*”Be grateful for the outer you. . .But remember, it's wasting away. . .The inner you is capable of a glory that right now you cannot even imagine. Make your biggest investment in the you that will last."

And my favorite of the chapter

*"The hardest thing to bear as we get older is the feeling that we remain young inside"

This hit home, because as I get closer to the big 4-0, I don't feel any older in my heart, but my body keeps breaking on me and aching in places I never knew I had. It is hopeful to know that my "inner me" is being renewed.

This post is long enough. Blessings.

Passion Parties?

I was invited to a “Passion Party” with the baseball moms.

I seriously did not know what to say. I really don’t know these women at all – I just see them at practice once a week. This kind of party seems rather intimate compared to a pampered chef party.

I graciously declined. I was not comfortable attending this kind of party – even with good friends. Did I miss out on an opportunity to be a light for Christ? Or by saying no did this mean something?

Roger suggested that I go, make some friends, because honestly I am lacking in that area. My whole world is my family. I just don’t know if this is how I want to start out.

I tried to explain to my husband what kind of products are sold at these kind of parties. The hostess gave me a catalog to look at in case I wanted to order something. Just glancing through the catalog felt like porn. Maybe porn for women. The promise of romance if you get this candle or these oils. Women are wired differently for sex then men. We want connection and intimacy and not always sexual satisfaction. If you are blessed, both might happen. Men have more of a physical desire – no romance needed.

I guess that I just needed to write a post about this. This seems to be accepted in “the world.” Where do I stand? I am not a prude, yet where is the line between what is a godly discussion about sex and what is a worldly discussion? I think that one that discusses the relationship between husband and wife is good, but just taking about being “satisfied” boarders on perversion.

Thoughts?

Summer Daze

It is not convenient for me to blog much in the summer. We have dial-up and the girl is often online downloading music or using myspace. We do have wireless, but it isn't very useful with dial-up since only one person can really be using it at one time. Who needs to be on the computer anyway when we can finally be outside!

What have I been doing? I think that the answer is a lot and a little all at the same time. I am still on the mend from surgery the end of June. Progress is slow and sitting is still a challenge - that might be part of my reason for not blogging. It is a challenge to type laying down or propped up. I can walk and sleep okay. I am just hoping that over time it was the best choice.

Eli finished up his baseball games the beginning of July. He has a great community ed team and the coaches are wonderful. They challenge the kids to play their best as well as other skills like respect, etc. He had this same set of coaches last year and we are hoping that he can continue with this coach for 3rd grade. My son is not the best player on the team - but he does love the sport. His team was took first place with an undefeated record! Way to go Eli! We also took him to a Twins home game. I thought he might get bored, but he really did a good job and luckily they won the game. It is always great when the home team wins.

What else has been consuming our "summer off"? For teachers, this is the only time that we get anything done!

We are doing a minor (major?) remodeling project. Charity's closet is mighty small for a teenage girl - not that I want to encourage her, but it was the smallest closet in the house with the smallest bedroom. The kids closets are back to back - Eli has the original Master bedroom which had a larger closet. Soooo, we knocked down the wall between them - which was the "easy" part - and had to add a closet space to Eli's room. I think that it will be nice when it is all finished. The wall and sheetrock is done. Need to tape, mud, fix the carpet, move some electrical and put in closet doors. So, we might be half through.

We have also embarked on a new stage in the teens life - she is applying for her driving permit. There are quite a few hoops to jump through - 30 hours of classroom time, written test, behind the wheel. Finding the best driving school is a challenge - based on location, times of classes and cost - plus if her friends are doing it? She is growing up, this is a good thing so that by next year I will need to chauffeur less for her swimming.

Otherwise, just spending some time in the yard/garden - mowing, etc. We had a fun time at a friends for July 4th, so I will end with this picture of Eli. Blessings!