7 Quick Takes Friday - Volume 10

We have our first edible fruit!  That's always so exciting to me!  There are lots more on their way, too!  It's been a rough summer - lots of high, high heat and little rain.  Some days we've had to water the plants twice a day!  But it looks as if the work is paying off!

And, we have a baby watermelon!!

A few weeks ago we went swimming at a lake.  When I grew up, I lived in New Hampshire, where no one had a pool - if we wanted to go swimming, we either hiked through the woods to find a swimming hole, or swam at a few nearby lakes or quarries.  It was so much fun, and most of my fondest teenage memories center around those times.  Where we live now, though, most swimming is done in concrete pits with chlorine! So it was nice to leave suburbia with the kids and take them swimming in something natural!

Despite the concrete chlorine pits, I actually love where I live.  We're in an older subdivision, so we have a decent-sized yard, and we're on a cul-de-sac, so it's nice and quiet.  However, everything I need is soooo close.  Dentist?  3 minutes.  Pediatrician? 2 minutes.  Any and all types of shopping?  Within 15 minutes or so.  And, we recently found out that there's a proposal to put a small grocery store on the main road at the top of our subdivision.  We're going and voting YES! to that - I think it's awesome!  I could actually *walk* to the store!  How quaint! ;-)

I know lots of people dream of country life, and while I do believe in it's benefits, I think I love being a suburbanite!

I mentioned in my scheduling post that Michael is the one in charge of going over the big kids' work in the evenings.  He uses those nifty assignment sheets I posted about a while ago (they're working out great, by the way).  One night, after he had finished with the boys, I went to tidy up, and this is what I came across:

Click to see the writing around the border a little better!

Is there more proof needed that he's smitten?  It reminded me of a love-struck kid!  I love how much he loves her.

In order to try to carve out more time for eachother in our busy lives, Michael and I have agreed to have three nights a week with NO technology on once the kids go to bed.  No computer, no iPhone, no movies...  It has been

WONDERFUL!!!!

I am seriously loving it.  We're able to catch up with eachother, spend some time in the Word and in prayer, play a game or two, and connect in... other ways...  all things that are really beneficial to our relationship.  They're like having mini-date nights right at home!  It is one of the best things we've done for our relationship, and I am so glad we agreed to give it a try.

Judah continues to be my music-lover.  One day I was putting him into his carseat, and he said "I love this song!  It's my favorite!".  I hadn't turned on the car yet, so I was confused about what he was talking about.  I asked him "What song?" and he said "The bird's song!"

It melted my heart!

This upcoming week is a bittersweet one for us, as we say goodbye to some of our closest friends.  God is taking them on a journey of which they can't see the outcome, but their faith through it all has been such an inspiration and a blessing!  We're excited to see where He's leading them, but a little sad for ourselves, too, because we'll miss them so much!  Good friends are such a gift!

Nathan and their girls