what lies ahead.

A day before we left. Sara Shared with us that she had been thinking about being home schooled. 

she thought it would be a great idea for her. 

She will be entering 9th grade. 

(in 2 weeks) 

oh boy. part of me was yelling HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY. 

while part of me was saying... OH NO this kids smarter then I am .... How will I teach her.

Oh that devil he tells us lies. doesn't he..... 

but rest assured... I spoke to a good friend that home schools her 4 girls

(1 in high school) 

and I am confident.

I. CAN. DO. THIS. 

I love that this girl of ours wants to be HOME. 

Home to build Character. Morals. Christian Values. 

I love that at such a vulnerable time in her life when 

most 14 year olds want nothing to do with their parents, 

well, mine does. 

Man I am welling up inside.

I am so happy and feel incredibly blessed that I 

will get to nurture and shape her just a little longer. 

You see as I am writing these words 

God is making me think about some things. 

Sara was only about 2 when I had to go to work full time 

crazy hours. 40 plus a week. 

My sister watched her. 

What a BLESSING that was and still is.

But I missed out. 

I have always felt that I missed out. 

and now God is granting me this extra time with my little girl

while she is growing into a incredible young lady. 

I can't be more excited. 

I can't even begin to tell you all that this means to me. 

Especially at the season in my life 

where so many changes have been happening 

in our lives / family / work 

Sara, she makes me smile. And laugh, and think. 

She makes me twitchy with her love for MATH. 

she makes me sing praises for the gifts that GOd has given her. 

and she is humble what a beautiful quality. 

It is going to be an exciting and wonderful journey we are about to begin in 

a short few weeks. A journey that is going to be hard at times and lovely at times. 

I can not wait. 

a camping we will go, a camping we will go....

 Here we are in front of our humble camper. 

We love it. It is just perfect for us. 

(yes, I secretly wish it was our little vintage travel trailer)

Someday. It will come. 

But for now this is what we are lucky enough to have. 

 We Camped one night in Lancaster... I have zero 

pictures from there b/c we pulled in and set up in the pitch black at 11:30 at night...

light shining only from my phone and neighbors far to close.. every squeal or squeak seemed to

be magnified 10 fold. 

 and we took down and moved to our destination the next afternoon. 

so no time for any photos there. 

The final destination was the KOA in Elizabethtown, PA

It was lovely. we set up our pop up 

plugged her in and relaxed. 

 We had the most beautiful weather.

warm enough for swimming and cool at night. 

you know, sweatshirt at night cool. I love that. 

We swam in the beautiful pool.

Sara was warming herself in the sun. 

Maddie became braver and braver by the end. 

I had booked our site kind of last minute and i they had left was this deluxe site. 

it was DELUXE. we had our own patio / firepit / grill.

One of the things I love about maddie is that 

she finds entertainment where ever she goes. 

Its a gift. she played like this for a long while.

one day we visited Hershey Chocolate world. 

We decided not to go to the park and add over 200 dollars (for 4 of us) 

to our day. 

So we had a blast on the free ride at Chocolate world and 

we went to the 4D movie there. 

So much fun. 

Maddie picked out a hershey bar stuffed animal 

that she now calls, What else, Hershey. 

We had the best corn I have eaten all summer

from a farmer down the road. 

We bought delicious home made root beer 

from an Amish road side stand in Strasburg. 

Maddie decorated the front of our camper with a streamer she got at Hershey.

People go all out with lights and flags and things for the campers....

man I have a banner I should have brought... 

oh well next time. Maddie was happy as can be with her

little gold streamer. 

She also wrapper herself in it. 

and while we packed up she found a caterpillar who 

she became fast friends with.

It was lovely to be together. 

We missed Emily very much. 

it was kind of sunny in this one but I loved it... 

The End. 

my love of cows and my possibly fatale electrocution

I love cows.

just do and always have. 

I remember begging my father to stop and allow me to pet them. 

"please Daddy, please just stop the car and let me pet one" 

(he never did stop...)

Well my love never ceased and I grew up to be a girl who 

still LOVES cows and has a camera. 

So here is how it usually  goes....

me:  Oh, look at those moo cows. Are the not just the loveliest of all creatures? 

Dom : silence

 me: Oh, would you pull over maybe so I can get a quick shot? 

Dom: silence

me: Oh, I will be really quick...

Dom: pulling over the truck.... 

me: hopping out and snapping a few. 

that is how it usually plays out. 

except on the day I captured these beauties....

me: Oh dom those cows are perfect would you pull over?

(mind you we are in a BIG truck on a very small back road in Lancaster County..

did I mention the road is small? ) 

Cars of course are whizzing by at about 80 mph... 

my husband pulls off the road into a ditch... to be as far off the road as possible. 

Dom: hurry up.

me: OKAY, I Will. 

as I swing open my door. the door is touching the fence.... (now lets just stop for a moment I really was thinking that the farm was amish... and I will just leave it at that) 

 grabbing onto the door to jump out and capture the beauty....

me: putting my foot down on the ground...

Ouch I am getting shocked... 

pick my foot up

put my foot back down 

me: ouch I am getting shocked.... 

from inside the truck you hear gut busting laughter.....

It was pretty hysterical.... 

and my foot did sting a bit for a while.

I finally get out and try to get a picture 

(the next 2) 

 As I got closer the cows all bolted away from me..... 

Electrocuted and not even a fabulous picture to show for it. 

There is always next time. 

happy color

Color makes me happy. I took these pictures last fall and just rediscovered them 

this yarn was all hand dyed and hand spun and all that... 

Its just makes me a happy camper. 

summer summer summer time...

  Summer

How could it be  only a few more weeks till sept? Where on earth did that summer go?

i have been very happily doing Hot Yoga all summer. It is amazing. 

the best I have ever felt. Yup. Not kidding. 

Love the intensity of it. Pushing myself and being able to watch my

body adapt and become more able to do more and more. 

It has been a hard summer to say the least. 

But on the flip side I would say that I  have grown closer to God in 

a way i never thought possible. 

Even when things look the darkest He is right there to hold you and 

guide you. (if you allow him) 

I have seen God do some amazing things for me this summer. 

I hope and pray that one day I can share them with the world. 

IF I had a verse for the summer it would be 

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 

                                        Romans 12:21