A Funny Thing Happened Last Saturday

Last Saturday, we went to one of my favorite places on earth, Riven Rock; and as a bonus, we got to go with some friends.

 The kids--13 total, I believe--had a blast playing in the river and climbing on the rocks...

 ...and the adults had a blast sitting back, relaxing, and watching them.  A win-win situation.  :)

 I didn't take many pictures, just a few quick snaps with my cell phone; but that's enough to document in blurry pixels, for example, that Shav (wearing the green shirt below) was brave enough to climb up on this tall rock he's never been on before.  :)

In the middle of the fun, exciting, hey-mom-look-at-me moments came an occurrence that cracked me up big time.  Moriah needed to go to the bathroom, so I took her to the outhouse there in the park.  That particular outhouse is never particularly pleasant, but it was particularly UNpleasant on this day, so I was hurrying Moriah along--NOT a particularly easy task, by the way, for a girl in a wet swimming suit who has to struggle to get it down and then up and put arms in the right holes and so forth.  Guys have it so much easier.  ;-)

As we were finally ready to make our hasty exit from the outhouse, Moriah was chattering away, and I was only half listening...until she remarked about the automatic flusher.

Indeed, it did sound like the sound of running water; but everyone knows there's no flush mechanism--automatic or not--in an outhouse.

What Moriah didn't realize--but I did, much to my amusement--is that the thin walls of the outhouse, although sufficient to prevent sight, did nothing to diminish hearing; and the "automatic flusher" that she heard was actually a gentleman relieving himself in the men's part of the outhouse, directly adjacent to the women's part!!!

Oh, dear me, I could barely control myself as I fought the urge to just hoot and holler about her mistaken impression of the refinements of that bathroom.  Automatic flusher indeed!!!  :)

What They Want for Christmas :)

These boys already know what they want for Christmas.

Two front teeth, that's what!!  :)

Wordless Wednesday {Project of the Day: Front Flowerbed}

I Wince

As Benjamin's first birthday draws nearer, the clock keeps ticking, and my plans to finish his monthly updates are being forced higher and higher in the priority list.  And so tonight, even though I was half brain-dead and almost entirely out of energy, I sat down at the computer to work on the next one in the series of 12: his 7th month update.  

When I opened the picture folder to choose some pictures for the post, I gasped.  There was Benjamin, his eyes as blue and beautiful as ever, his smile beaming brightly and lighting up my heart.  But oh, his skin.

It makes me wince to see how much of his skin was affected by that horrible eczema.  I remember it, of course; but something about seeing it makes it impossible to ignore the fact that it covered so much of his body and was so, so terrible.  

But look at him now.

Oh, what a difference!!!!!

I'm not going to have the stamina to stay up longer to finish his seven-month post, but tonight I go to bed with overflowing gratitude in my heart that God has blessed Benjamin with beautiful, clear skin.  What a gift!

Wordless Wednesday {Project of the Day: Puttin' Up Corn}