Have you ever heard someone significantly younger than you talk about the stage of life they are in as if they have reached a secure and unmoving pinnacle of knowledge and experience?

I have.

I can only smile and think back to my own past claims of enlightenment, and wonder how I ever survived on what I knew then.

I am confident that I will read this in 10 years and find it completely ridiculous.

Oh pretty young Isabelle Pearl,
With your twinkles and smiles and curls.
Would you please give some thought,
to the beaus you have caught?
You've left none for the other dear girls.

It's another intensely warmish day in Tennessee. I am facing the heat with very little courage and keeping myself indoors. Owen is unswayed by it and has been outside as much as possible. Ivan would be there with him, were it not for nap time. He is still in much need of rest each day. Though Owen would deny that he ever needs it, yesterday he was definitely a more agreeable person after taking a nap.

My back is continuing to heal and slowly but surely I am taking back the territory lost by my pain. The kitchen floor has been long overdue for an attack from the mop and I have seen signs of a takeover by ants. I must delay no longer in wielding my weapon and conquering this tiny foe with many brethren. I will not surrender.

Until I can sit down and elaborate on these photos, feel free to come up with your own captions.

Okay...I definitely enjoyed Kevin's comments.

Here is what's really going on though...

This was taken the day we went to the pedestrian bridge. We were on our way home and decided to stop at a store where a friend of ours is manager. A couple of the boys had fallen asleep so I opted to stay in the van while Kris went in to say a quick hello. Right when we pulled in we put the zoom lens on the camera because the Goodyear blimp was flying over and then right after Kris left I saw these little birds attacking this hawk. I just thought it was cool. I imagine they were trying to keep him/her away from a nest or something.

This picture is from early this month also and Christy nailed it. It was after dinner one night and the boys wanted a few pretzels to snack on. Somehow the conversation turned to math and Kris was explaining multiplication to them. I love that he does that with the boys. He is a teacher personality and has the ability to communicate more complicated things to them. He is also expectant of them to learn. He and I both feel that young kids are not given enough credit when it comes to their ability to understand and comprehend things. Of course there are things that are over their head but each time they hear something it gets them closer to a point of understanding.

Father's day was last weekend and I have to say I am very proud of my husband and his patience and consistency with our boys. He will have three young men who he will enjoy later in life because of the time he gives them now.

I got a few pictures of a new woodpecker that's been visiting the back yard. This little guy is a bit smaller than our Pileated Woodpecker but, in my opinion, much prettier. I love the markings on his back and the beautiful red feathers on his head are so complimentary. I believe he is a Red Bellied Woodpecker.

I don't know if this picture really reflects the image that was present at the time. For me it is marked in my memory as lovely and I can see it no other way. For you...it may just look like a tree and that's fine. I get up early most mornings and spend my first 1/2 hour to an hour on the back porch depending on how early the boys get up and crash my quiet. These beautiful summer mornings are always delightful in that though the sun has risen enough to bring light to the area I am often able to see it make an actual appearance over the hills and trees that block it's direct light when I first awake. I don't see the actual sun, but I see it's rays coming through every crack the trees and corners allow it to penetrate. As it makes it's way over the house tops around us it fills the back porch with a more golden light and changes everything.

It strikes me each day as a revelation of grace. How no matter who I am, no matter what I look like, no matter what I'm thinking about, I am allowed to enjoy such a thing as a sunrise just because I chose to get up and see it. This photo with the deep golden light filtering through the leaves just makes me happy.

This is a picture of my boys in pajamas waiting for me to pay more attention to them. They will often sit like this...united in their desire to get me to put away my journal and Bible so that I will listen to them, hold them, feed them and otherwise give myself to their whims.

We all went to the park on Sunday night a week ago. I don't know what made Ivan make this face but every time I look at it I laugh. Why not share.

Monday after my chiropractic appointment (things are certainly improving in my back by the way) we went to the zoo (Dr. Doug said sitting is bad walking is good, heat is bad, ice is good). This time I got smart and invited the young girls who have been watching the boys for me. They were excited to go and that way each of the boys had a responsible buddy to attend to them. I was still the only adult, but it made the whole trip much more fun. This photo is of Owen with his buddy Leslie. Can you tell he likes her?

This is also at the zoo. The meerkat exhibit has an area where kids can crawl up into this little glassed in lookout and feel like a meerkat popping out of a hole. In this photo my nephew Landis (who joined us about halfway through the day) and Meagan were enjoying the view.

Monday after returning from the zoo we got rain. It was a heavy burst of rain that didn't last nearly long enough. It filled the gutters and poured over onto our deck rail with violent gushes and made Owen and Landis act a little crazy.

As the rain died down Owen was trying to stick his toes out into the mist that was still coming down and found himself in this position.

The rain was part of a pretty strong storm system that moved through just west of us. the thunder was constant but we didn't see lightning and the wind was not severe at our house. Still I was glad that in Ivan's exhaustion he slept through the storm. His skinned knees from a fall at the zoo and his sweet little face made me want to preserve a little of his peacefulness. He fell asleep in the van on the way home and the transfer from van to the chaise in the living room didn't faze him a bit. He curled himself up and stayed in this little spot for about 2 hours.

Kris' office was in the middle of that storm and there were tree limbs down all over the complex where he was working. On the southern edge of his office complex interstate 40 marks the boundary. You can see the traffic from the floor where he is working and on this particular day and through the wrath of the storm there were cars backed up for miles.

On our way back from the zoo we saw traffic on our side of the freeway slow down but were glad to see that it was just to get a view of what was happening on the other side of the road in the west bound lanes. My fascination with seeing the hold up was quickly changed to real sorrow for those who were affected by it. A tractor trailer carrying a very large something or other had run into a bridge because his load was too tall. the police, TDOT trucks and at least two huge wreckers were on the scene blocking the entire roadway. The miles and miles of multiple lanes of traffic were stretched from the accident (I think it was Elm Hill Pike for you locals) beyond our line of sight. People were out of their cars walking around trying not to lose their cool. It was too hot to be stuck like that and then for them to have sat through a storm as well. I really felt bad for them, I guess my 5 years of road-life gave me some empathy. I mean...I wished I could have trucked a port-a-john and a tanker of ice water, and maybe some dinner down there or something. It happened around 1:00 and they didn't think it would be cleared until after 9:00. Much Yuck.

I put another item in my Etsy shop. Feel free to go check it out. Let me know if you think it's ugly. I tried something a little new to me and it's sometimes hard for me to see past my effort to what it really looks like. I have no problem removing it. I don't want to detract from the things that I do like. I am slowly but surely getting things on my cyber shelves over there at Etsy. I don't feel the need to hurry, and I am not too disappointed in the action. I know that I haven't put enough effort into getting people to come and look around. Mostly because I don't feel there is enough to look at yet. So I am patiently working to produce something for people to look at before I really make a push for marketing things. I am enjoying what I've done so far and the ideas...oh the ideas that swirl about in my brain. If I could produce them as fast as I think of them I would need to expand my square footage.

A young couple called Sally and Fred
are a match made in heaven it's said
She is soft when he's loud
He is real when she's proud
Praise the one and the other turns red

Don't you love Sally and Fred? I do.

I went to the Chiropractor today and got to see another x-ray of myself. I love to look at my inside pictures. I'm quite crooked, twisted and apparently there is junk in my trunk. Dr. Doug said it's been a long time since he's seen someone as twisted as I am and had some raised eye brows when he said, "well, I can see why you're in pain."

I am going back on Monday and probably pretty frequently for the next month or two. It's very inconvenient to need adjusting and correction, but I am hoping that through this, I can get some relief and build some strength up to counter the forces that would have me walking like great-aunt Lizzy. She was bent over at nearly 90 degrees at the waist and waddled when she moved from one room to the next...which wasn't very often.

I did go to Leadership dinner last night while Amber kept the boys for me. It was so nice to be there with my hands free. I wouldn't have made it out of there without tears I am sure if I had had to collect them all from the nursery afterward.

Kris is home. I'm so glad. I am trying to make this update quick so that I can go spend some time with him. Aron is playing with him now and his giggles are making me jealous.

I had to back out of our white water rafting trip this weekend because of my back.

Yesterday I took the boys to another free movie at Providence and just as I lifted Aron to his seat I felt a spasm in my lower back that nearly floored me. It's so weird when it happens because I can't move for a few seconds and it feels like someone is reaching inside my skin and grabbing my spine violently. I have no control for a moment and then it's a question of which way to get off my legs. Thankfully I was near the seat and could plop down quickly and not disturb anyone. The hardest part was getting out of the theater, taking Ivan to the bathroom and then getting all three of them to the van which was across two crosswalks from the theater. I felt a little vulnerable with three young boys walking through crowds and traffic and no way to retrieve them if they got a wild hair. They did not take off or anything, but they whined all the way to the van. The threat of rain had prompted me to bring the umbrella into the theater which made a nice cane on the way out.

It was a very painful and frustrating day yesterday but we made it, and today has been redeeming. The pain is still very present but not as intense. My expectations of myself are significantly lowered so the frustration level is lessened a lot.

I've made a chiropractic appointment for tomorrow morning and Amber (bless her little pea pickin' heart) is coming tonight to feed and care for my boys. I am still planning to attend leadership dinner but will leave early if the drive over causes things to get worse or if the uncomfortable seats are just too much to take. Amber is also picking up some bread from the grocery store for me so that I don't have to go to the store with the boys. She's a life-saver.

Did I mention Kris is out of town? Pretty crazy.

I'm so thankful...that I am able to handle pain pretty well and that I have understanding and gracious friends. Even those of you who can't be in my living room helping are kind enough to pray and I love that. What I'd really like is to conquer this issue once and for all. It's going to take some changing in my life though and that's what makes it difficult. I suppose that's where I need prayer...overcoming the habits that are dragging me down and developing the habits that will build me up. There are obstacles that I need to get past, excuses I need to overcome and discipline I need to delight in. That's a lot of stuff.