Summer 2015: June Edition

June is almost over and one of my many summer plans was to blog more, but I am a slow learner when it comes to life and time with a toddler!

Our precious mess has been on the go.  We have had some really tough challenges in this stage and a whole lot of fun.  It's like I always say:  parenting is just intense.  It's intense highs and intense lows - it's everything, intensified. Because you're dealing with a person! 

Per usual, my photo situation is hard to access because of computer overload issues.  I'll include what I can get to.

We've had a magical Boerne summer so far.  We've hit up Longhorn, Jonah danced till he dropped at the German band concert, we ate gourmet popcorn and watched The Lego Movie in the park, we've been to the pool every day we've been here and it's open (and not storming), we've ruined and fixed one car in the heavy rains we've had, are group swim class drop outs and semi-private lesson victors, said goodbye to dear friends, we've been to McKenna Children's Museum, the La Cantera playground, Chik Fil A, and lots of Library days, we've read, read, read,  blown 1.4 million bubbles, patted 19 dogs, counted 17 windmills (and watched the DVD about them an equal number of times), thrown 72.5 two-year-old size tantrums, discovered the joy of a flashlight, eaten frozen yogurt, had an absolute blast visiting the "beesh" with Oma and Opa, (I) listened to a great audio book from the library, made plans to write a book about how life is (probably) still worth living without wood floors, and, lest you have been living under a rock and think teachers don't do anything in the summer, done some school work.

Favorite Things: Books Edition

Here are a few of my favorite books right now:

Seeing as how it took me a full school year to get through one book (Elizabeth the Queen), I am having a thrill ride gobbling up as many books as I can.  

Here was the first chow down, and it rivals Lewis.  Need I say more?

Then I landed on a delightful rendition of a Scottish myth by my favorite, Alexander McCall Smith.  Thank goodness for the toddler I naively brought with me to the second, quiet, studious floor of the library (who discovered if you push books they fall out the other side of the shelf), or I might never have decided to grab it (or have worked up a sweat in the library).

The book above on the right, Jesus Outside the Lines, is my current read, recommended by a pastor friend, and it is nothing short of fantastic.  It is challenging and apt.  I love when someone is gifted with truly shedding light on a facet of our culture and our selves, and Sauls does that here beautifully and not in the tiring way often used to critique our world, but in the very manner he proposes: that of truly loving the recipient of his message and first understanding and empathizing with where he or she is coming from.

Next on my favorite reads right now is this gem - another refreshing call to clear thinking.  I like to keep a book on my Kindle phone app for unexpected waiting times, but apparently lines around Boerne have been quick (or I've been too busy shielding all the M&Ms in the checkout lanes from aforementioned toddler) because this screen shot from my phone says my reading speed is 1%.

And for Jonah, we have loved what seems to be a bigger selection of board books from our library recently.  He's been excited for new books, which has been fun for us (I know - two teacher parents happy for reading enthusiasm.  It's shocking, I realize).  That's really just our cover, though.  The truth is, Netflix is a huge flop right now so that's why I'm all about reading.  Aside from the four episode delight I found called "The Brian Boitano Project" about a home restoration in Italy, it's all mere distraction. 

(No, home restoration stories are not mere distraction.  They are true stories, and mirror our own spiritual journey of alone to claimed, of empty to inhabited.  They are redemptive and inspiring.)

(Yes, I just justified watching HGTV with biblical concepts. I would do it again.  I can do the same for any meaningless purchase - just call me.)

Yet in all seriousness, perhaps there is a time and place to slow down on reading and start to focus on some other skills.

Really, I can only assume I've been using a mouse the wrong way all these years.  Happy summer!