*SNOWBIRDS*

Perfect weather for an airshow: clear blue skies and 25 degrees with a beach side breeze. **sigh** The great Canadian Snowbirds put on quiet the show for us, and the rest of Sarnia. I have never seen our public beach so FULL! Even on a hot summers' day, our beaches can be fairly quiet and empty, I love living in a 'quiet' city.

Sammy was SO cute through the show. He was giggling uncontrollably, and do you know why? I think the nervous-excited flutters in his chest were new to him, and it tickled him, i'm sure of it! He laughed all through the show... and yes, some of the laughter was because we found it so funny, and he was putting on a show for us. :)

Mercy perked up for the show, ate normal food and enjoyed herself. But she is still suffering from fevers and headaches - please keep her in your prayers.

Our family piled onto our bike-train, and my oh my, am i thankful for that! The cars were lined up from one end of the park to the other, with absolutely zero movement on the road!! we just cruised by, hearing comments from the many open car windows or passersby, "that was a good idea", "who needs a minivan anyway", etc . It was lovely to miss the traffic at the end of a beautiful evening out!







thoughts for today:

what am I reading, in the Bible?

genesis chap. 47, the story of Joseph in the land of Egypt. "and they said, 'you have saved our lives, may it please my lord, we will be servants of pharaoh"(vs. 25)

what am I reading in a book?

"When Helping Hurts" by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. quote: "Poverty Alleviation is the ministry of reconciliation: moving people closer to glorifying God by living in right relationship with God, with self, with others, and with the rest of creation." -page 78-
"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: be reconciled to God." (2 corinthians 5:18-20)

My Sister's Big Day: 1john4:16,17,19

Nine years ago -today- we were busy preparing for my sister's wedding. Alongside friends and family members, the hustle and bustle of nervous excitement. The FIRST wedding in our little Hillson family, the FIRST new son-in-law, the FIRST rehearsal, decoration planning, dress buying...you know the feelings. Thrilled by beautiful combinations of color and style, laughter over memories, stress over details undone. I was only "involved" by seeing pictures and hearing plans via snail mail, since i was overseas when the main plans were forming. My highly organized, thoughtful sister made sure i was in the loop in her letters that i received at "mail call".

Dave was a part of the day as well. He woke up early to assemble snack trays for the girls applying makeup and doing hair in our home. There was an assortment of crackers, cheese, and fruit - to make sure we had no fainting beauties at the big ceremony!

The church and the reception hall looked beautiful: Sarah is creative, artistic, determined - everything was hand done ( that i recall) and much of that by her own slender hands!!

Sarah: tall, elegant, stunning. Her towering curls, sparkling headpiece, frothy white gown. *sigh*

By her side, tall, dark and handsome- Nu came to sweep her away.

A combination of two different cultures, lifestyles, and histories; with the common ground of God's never stopping, unchanging love and their own promise of unconditional love for each other. Wanting to grow old together.

There is so much that could be said, and so many pictures i would have to transfer to digital somehow... maybe one day, right now there is no time. But the party they threw was like NONE other. :) And since that day... nine years ago, they have been given a beautiful family, built up friendships, ministries and set goals and dreams...

SARAH AND NU, happy anniversary!!!!! God bless you, as you continue to seek Him in everything you do!! :)

((((hug))))

**God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us... we love because he first loved us." 1 john 4:16,17,19**

(The verse on the ceremony bulletin from your big day sis)

not flashy, just real

I cannot please the eye with beautiful photos that are perfect in texture and composition, no, I can enjoy the art of others but i cannot give that to you here. :) But i will share that which i have: the simple life that we live. (*disclaimer: I do not say this to pass judgement on the beautiful blogs, i love LOVE them and how they inspire creativity, and a longing for something more beautiful than this world will ever offer.*)



I am enjoying a late morning coffee, listening to the chirping of neighboring birds, and the occasional drip of last nights' rain from our trees. My lovely children are savoring moments with their Oma, and I relish the break from my parenting. Time to focus on the goal again, the goal of God being glorified in all i do: laundry, dishes, organization of the home, managing my children's hearts, loving my Dave, being a good neighbor and friend, where i spend my time, how I use my words, where i put my thoughts, all of it matters.

So how do we spend our first moments alone with no children to care for? Savoring food, good God-given food, because He did provide it for us after all. Dave and I love to enjoy bbq to the glory of God. (to borrow a "Mark Driscollism". )

Then we worked together to steam clean our couch and some carpets. I've found it to be the best way to make a nearly 15 year old hand-me-down couch live a little longer.

Brightly colored strawberries filled my morning, as i needed to preserve them before they became over-ripe. Mmmmm. And now, well, John Piper preached at me that to have a lasting faith one must be in the Word, and hear the Word preached daily. So that is what I will do now, read my Bible and go through my prayer journal. *Sigh* a day off. i Will enjoy this, to the glory of God. And when my children return, i will enjoy them to the glory of God as well.

In all things, give thanks.

Berry Happy .

To the farm again! This time with daddy!! How lovely to have Dave with us this time. He loves family events, especially those involving fresh fruit. :)

The picking was exceptional! We were in a "first year" field, so the berries were HUGE. I believe that for every berry i picked on this second trip, it was equal to every three berries i picked on the first trip!! Needless to say, we only needed 30 minutes and 20 feet of a strawberry row to fill two flats!! :) wowzers.

yum. Our pie consumption has increased this season! :) yum.

Berries:HopefortheNations:Niece

Summer Kick-Off

Sleepover: treasure hunt, ice cream cones, puddle jumping fun. Strawberry picking with friends, what a great place to live, what a wonderful season! In two hours we picked quite a few berries... considering the number of times i had to walk from the field to the store for children's bathroom breaks...I accounted for that though. :) Julia and her friend picked a lot of berries, i was impressed! Julia has been picking berries every year of her life... except the first maybe, when she was just 2 months old. I think we were in BC visiting family that year. I wonder if she can put that on a resume one day? "berry picker for 16 years". :)



The happy pickers. If you are one to examine photos you may find this one stumps you. Some children are wearing what we consider summer attire, and then there is Sammy in a turtle neck and sweat pants. yes. Sammy loves to dress in long sleeves and long pants, even though it was perfect weather (24 degrees and sunny). I'm not sure if this is due to a lack of acceptance to change, such as, "I just wore winter clothing for 6 months, and now you expect me to wear something that shows skin, no way, that feels weird!" Or perhaps he just likes his long sleeved shirts and sweat pants because they are comfy. :)



Sweet friends are such a joy to our hearts.

Last week we were blessed to see a good friend who is often far and away. She came with a new friend for us to meet. She came and ate, spoke, asked, listened, and I cherished the moments of learning from her stories. No matter how long a gap we leave between meetings, she is always dear once we are together again. As though no time has passed at all. We all have people in our lives who remain close no matter the distance life drives between us. I am thankful for these steadfast souls. I feel as though I have been blessed with many of them, which is good, since I have had to leave Kindred spirits here and there around the globe. My heart yearns for them at times, not because the friends nearby are not sweet and dear, but because they have a special place in my heart that hurts when we are not together.



Perhaps one day we or our kids will have the joy of working in missions along side this dear friend. If not with her, definitely with her wisdom and knowledge on the work of the LORD, she is an excellent teacher on that subject!




I had the pleasure of babysitting this cutie the other night... isn't she sweeeeeet??? M and K have such a blessing in this bundle of joy and life and excitement. I look forward to watching her grow, change and develop her personality. I think she'll have no shortage of PERSONALITY, and it will have nothing to do with cheese whizz... but more so a combination of her creative mommy and gentle daddy. :)