Beauty in the Mess ~ Edition 07.09.13

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these posts! We’ve been busy adjusting to our new life in North Carolina, celebrating the 4th of July, taking short day trips, and most of my free time has been spent writing posts for my new blog series about legalism and grace.

But in the mean time, God keeps blessing us with little every day blessings, little bits of beauty!

Like cuddles with Daddy after an evening swim:

And free homeschool materials:

(we won’t talk about the cost of ink and laminating sheets…)

The absolutely most perfect Paleo chocolate chip cookie recipe, ever!

My new favorite salad dressing!

I simply don’t buy anything else and make special monthly trips to Whole Foods just to get it!

A handsome little boy ready for church!

Speaking of church, we made the decision to join the church we have been visiting for the last few months and have started the membership process. We have to go through a special new member’s class and do a few other things before we are officially members, everything should be finalized early in the fall!

There is beauty in a trip to the zoo…

…and Chick-Fil-A afterwards!

There is beauty in a little boy being so sweet to his daddy for Father’s Day. We had talked to him ahead of time about what Fathers’s Day was. Then, the Friday before, I told Ezra that we were going to go shopping for a present for Daddy, and what did he want to get for Daddy for Father’s Day. He said, “A happy birthday cake!”

So we went to the Dollar Store – I was hoping he might pick up a little trinket for Russ. As we were getting out of the car, again I asked him what he wanted to get Daddy. He said, “A red present!” So we got some red wrapping paper and a bow that Ezra picked out himself, as well as a balloon that he picked out. Then we went to the grocery store and got Russ one slice of a cake (which Ezra also picked out.) We came home and I put Ezra down for a nap while I wrapped the present. When I went in to get Ezra up for his nap, I said “Ezra, guess what Mommy did?” His response: “Mommy! Did you wrap Daddy’s present!?!?!”

We hid the balloon and the cake in Ezra’s closet, and as soon as Russ got home Ezra dragged him by the hand to the closet to show him the balloon and the happy birthday cake!

There is beauty in couch cuddles:

And friends from church who have us over for dinner and chocolate ice cream:

Lots of afternoon torrential-but-only-lasting-a-few-minutes thunderstorms

and watching them from the porch:

Ezra, sleeping on a pillow for the first time:

Going to re-pot my dead porch plants only to find this in the plant:

The baby birds stayed with us for a few weeks – 3 of them hatched, got feathers, and flew away yesterday!

There is beauty in letting Ezra “drive” to the pool:

…and in my husband’s persistence and dedication in teaching himself to play the banjo:

There is beauty in family pictures on the porch:

…trying on hats at Sears:

…and  Ezra wearing Mommy’s favorite-on-him outfit:

There is beauty in helpful books for this recovering-people-pleaser, especially when I find them at the discount store:

…and having my MIL over to help me attach the cushions to my porch rocker.

And entertain the kiddo while she was at it:

There is beauty in finding your son asleep on the floor, with the light still on:

Pandora, bananas, red shorts, and anger-birds slippers at 0630.

And taking pictures until he says, “STOP DOING DAT!!!!”

_____

And now, for the story of Ezra’s black eye:

It was a Monday and we had just eaten lunch. I went into Ezra’s room to get him out a diaper and turn his CD on for nap time. Ezra tried to run into the room behind me, but tripped over the computer cord and fell into the magazine rack, cutting his eyebrow.

I didn’t think too much of the crying until I noticed the blood dripping all over the place. I rushed for the bandaids and immediately called my MIL because I wanted her opinion on if it needed stitches. Thankfully, she thought that the cut was small enough that it didn’t need a trip to the hospital. (Thank goodness!)

Ezra, waiting for Grandma to come over:

Grandma suggested ChickFilA and ice cream, her treat – which made everything all better!

When we pulled into ChickFilA, this is what he said:

“It’s Chicken and Fries! I’m happy! I not cryin anymore! Hi Mommy and Gramma! You save me!!!”

And, the cow just happened to come by while we were there!

“Hi Cow! I love you!”

It really looks a lot worse than he seems to feel. I took this picture to save the black eye for all of posterity:

Now that I have caught up on all of my family-related and holiday posts, I will resume my current blog series and get a few more posts posted by the end of this week. Thank you for your patience!