If I live to be 100...

I've been on a reading spree lately.  I've discovered that my church has an amazing library filled with "purposeful" books that I just can't get enough of. 

I just started this book yesterday and from the intro I can tell it is going to be good!  From the cover I knew it would make me cry, part of the reason I picked it.  I love a good book cry.

From a Clover Lane recommendation, I also just finished A Lantern in Her Hand, which is another book about ageing.  I love books like these because even though they make me sob, they give me an appreciation for my youth BEFORE it has passed me by.

One quote from A Lantern in Her Hand was something like:  When you are young, you have your health, but no time...When you are old, you have time, but lack health.  Moral to me:  Make TIME now!!! 

At the end of the book she reflects on her whole life and everything she has done.  Of it all, her favorite memory is supper time:  As she's setting the table...hearing her children playing together in the yard...and waiting for her whole family to come in to sit and eat together.

She talks about setting the table as a passage of time and as each plate was removed a piece of her was gone...until she was just setting the table for one.  It was so sad, but so true.  I can just see myself as a little old lady at my kitchen table set with one plate...looking back at this time I'm in RIGHT now and missing it SO much.

That's why I like this type of book so much...It helps you to be an "old soul" before your time and appreciate the life you have right NOW as you are living it.  I think it makes me a better wife, a better mother, a better person.

"I like it when they want to hold my hand and sit close because they can't hear or see.  I like the cool, slippery skin on their hands and the way their eyes light up.  I love to see a hundred-year-old woman wearing lipstick."
-If I Live to Be 100

Focus...

Missy shared with me an app that I just love!  Thought I would share with y'all.  It is the "Focus on the Family" app, which has 30 minute podcasts of the Focus on the Family radio program.

I don't always get to catch this program...but I really enjoy listening to it, so these podcasts that I can pick and play when I'm folding laundry...on the road...etc. are perfect!

Father Daughter Dance...

Betsy had a really special Daddy date on Saturday.  Of course we told her about it a week in advance so she could get SUPER excited!  JB was out of town last week, so that further added to the excitement of a special event when he got back.

We really went all out!  My mom was here last week and she bought Bet a new dress.  The day of the dance I painted her nails, broke out the curlers to fix her hair in an up-do and let her wear some of "mommy's lipstick".

They had a WONDERFUL time!...The moms had an equally fun time together as our five boys ran wild played.  We were saying we wish we could have been a fly on the wall...600 daddies with their daughters dancing "The Train", "Cha-cha Slide", YMCA, etc.  How fun is that?!  A night of good old-fashioned fun!  They are already looking forward to next year!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Brave little ducks...

We are facinated with the Planet Earth clips.  These little mandarin ducks are just 24 hours old and after this jump they have a one mile hike to the pond where they will live.

May our words be as encouraging to our children as this duck mother's call.