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The question he was asked nearly every day growing up-
"Are you the only boy?"
"No- there's my dad and my dog."
oh, life with these girls!

Happy birthday, James!
We love you.

228/365

home again, home again...

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Through the hardest parts of life and the most joyful ones; in the crazy-making seasons and the oasis-like breathers; in the stories that vex us, and the relationships that test us—you love us, will never leave us, and will complete us. Father, we praise, bless, and adore you. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ merciful and mighty name.
- from "Shutting Down Our Whines with Worship- Praying through Romans 8:31-37," by Scotty Smith, August 14, 2015

Thankful for an oasis-like breather in the crazy-making season and a few days with these people, most dear. Father, I praise, bless and adore you.

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Sitting up top, majestic views and sun in my face, thinking, "This doesn't happen in the United States..."

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Walking cobblestone streets before the town awakes.
Library kiosk in the plaza.
Cafe con leche.
I believe; help my unbelief!
Azure skies and white wisp clouds.
Hiking and views and surprise cornfields and donkeys.
Rest.

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The traveler sees what he sees. 
The tourists sees what he has come to see.
- G.K. Chesterton

223/365

I thought that if I waited, the cotton might be picked before I got back. And so it turned into a race, to see if I could get the shot before the sun went down. As described by my passenger, that quest may have involved an unauthorized u-turn, hazard lights, and a car parked precarious angle on the shoulder of the road. But, we both got the shot.

I clicked and then stopped to really soak it in; the beauty of this life takes my breath away.

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A mid-morning trip for a visa and early lunch in the streets of Nuevo Progreso.

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"Despite how it feels sometimes, freedom is not doing whatever we want to do, but in discovering how to #learntolovewhatmustbedone...within the confines of God's design and his provision. And in the Gospel, this is grace indeed: that Christ would rescue us from slavery to sin, and win us to the freedom to love what He loves. In the face of all that OVERWHELMS us + seems IMPOSSIBLE this week, we can know what it takes is not in how hard we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, but in the freedom we have to do what doesn't come naturally, but only by grace."

- from gracelaced on Instagram, 9August2015

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The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
-John 3:8

(taken during harvest at Texas South Wind Vineyard & Winery)

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traveling down new roads...

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It seems like August afternoons are mostly about finding the coolest ways not to be bored. And yes, "coolest" can mean either in terms of temperature or in terms of excitement, depending on who you are...

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Hot temps.
Cool Raspa Wednesday.

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B-day:
breakfast tacos with bacon,
beach,
Blizzard,
bowling,
blessed.

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"A weevil is a type of beetle from the Curculionoidea superfamily. They are usually small, less than 6 mm (0.24 in), and herbivorous. Over 60,000 species are in several families, mostly in the family Curculionidae (the true weevils). Some other beetles, although not closely related, bear the name "weevil", such as the biscuit weevil (Stegobium paniceum), which belongs to the family Anobiidae."

- "Weevil," from Wikipedia

ewwww.

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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christas a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
- Ephesians 1:3-10 (ESV)

(and thank you, Covenant Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas, for your gracious hospitality and very sweet fellowship!)

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Reeves was also know for his honesty, dogged persistence, and unswerving devotion to duty and the law. He always got his man; having arrested 3,000 criminals, he only oncefailed to nab the man he was after. He never shot a man when it wasn’t necessary and they hadn’t aimed to kill him first. And he never changed his policies or treatment of folks on the basis of race, ethnicity, or even familial ties; all were equal under the law. Not only did Reeves arrest the minister who baptized him, he also arrested his own son after the young man murdered his wife in a fit of jealously. None of the other marshals wanted the latter assignment, but Reeves simply strode into the Chief Deputy Marshal’s office and said, “Give me the writ.” Two weeks later, he brought in his son to be booked.

Oh, and he had an awesome mustache.

- "Bass Reeves: Best Lawman of the West," from The Art of Manliness

The things you learn visiting new places...

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“It is a happy talent to know how to play.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

210/365

Play. Love. Laugh.
Not a bad summer theme...

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"I worked on my weaknesses and made them my strengths." 
—Sydney Leroux

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"Is there a single person on whom I can press belief?

No sir.

All I can do is say, Here’s how it went. Here’s what I saw.

I’ve been there and am going back.

Make of it what you will."

- from Peace Like a River by Leif Enger via "Editing Suburbia" by Jenni Simmons on the Curator blog

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Everyone around the table can create quite a hullabaloo. (and we thought that 5 toddlers were loud!)

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It’s news I’m most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else! God’s way of putting people right shows up in the acts of faith, confirming what Scripture has said all along: “The person in right standing before God by trusting him really lives."
- Romans 1:16-17 (The Message)

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The ladies in the kitchen transcend culture and place, and I smile thinking about those far away but always dear.

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So I begin by acknowledging, yet again, that you are God, and I am not. I don’t want my main goal, these next few days, just to be getting a bunch of stuff done. I want my faith in Jesus to express itself in love, to everybody involved. I’ve asked it before, and I’ll ask again, Father, keep my to-love list more important to me than my to-do list. You, who will be honored by every nation and throughout the world, be honored in my heart, home, and responsibilities.

- "A Prayer for Getting Still before God and Living That Way," Heavenward blog by Scotty Smith

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The days are long and our joy is full.

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Listos para la escuelita biblica!

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window shopping

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Leaving is the hardest part.
This time, it REALLY was the hardest part!

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Quinceañera musical chairs madness! 

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and then we sat for a bit.

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Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.
- Isaiah 40:28-29 (ESV)

thankful for early morning quiet, breakfast tacos, "the closer you get...," ordinary grace, homemade flautas and salsa, surprise calls and text, laughing at dinner, "the beauty of the Gospel," prayer, sweet endings to full days.

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peach cobbler.
just because.

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Help is on the way.

193/365

Canta alegrias al Señor!

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6 years and going strong! Thanks you BFF girls. It is our joy to see you love one another and love on us with hospitality. Will you still bring your old folks the Rainbow Cafe when we're in the retirement home?
:-)

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Life. You just can't make these stories up.

We sat around the dining room table, eating and reading and tapping notes on the computer and doing other ordinary everyday things on an ordinary Thursday afternoon. The birdcage hangs in the corner of the room. The birds are nearly always making noise of some sort- chattering at themselves and  prattling at us, rustling around, squeaking the cage. But this flutter sounded a bit different. If we didn't know better, you might think that little WALL-E was making a suicidal plunge from the nest. He hung by the green string upside down, flapping about. His faithful caretaker jumped to the cage and nestled him and removed him from his plight. But a piece of yard remained, tightly entangled around his foot.

Oh, motherhood! The surprises you offer! Today it was to play surgeon to a little finch. While Sarah firmly but gently cuddled our annoyed bird friend, pecking at her the entire time, I used tiny sewing scissors to remove the string from his tarsometatarsus (yes, I looked that up). And then we set him back in his home. The normally feisty and bit cantankerous Taeniopygia guttata (yes, I looked that up, too) remained on his perch the rest of the day, obviously a bit stunned by the events of the afternoon. But, we believe he'll be fine. And with a story to share with EVE and M-O. 

Life. You just can't make these stories up.

(photo note: yes, I had to take a picture before the procedure began. See the string on his foot?)

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RaspaWednesday:
this week, assorted combinations of Tigers Blood, Limón Natural, and Mango Natural from El Gallito Feliz.
And these chicks were pretty happy, indeed.

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I didn't come to play. I figured I would watch and cheer. And I got away with that for a little while. Until the ladies showed up and it was everyone unto the diamond. I shuffled my flip-flops down the dusty baseline over to right field and hoped the ball wouldn't come my way. I took three turns at bat- and amazingly, I didn't strike out, though I only made it to base once and that was only because of an overthrown ball. So really, I didn't come to play. But I did watch and cheer.

Next time, sneakers.

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Father, these cherished friendships turn my heart heavenward. They simply remind me that the foundation and fountain of all good friendship is found in you. I praise you for befriending us in the gospel. It is overwhelming, settling, and centering to hear Jesus say to us, “I no longer call you servants. . . . I call you friends” (John 15:15).
- from "A Prayer of Thanks for Long-Standing Friends," Everyday Prayers by Scotty Smith

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2 of the 22.86 million viewers of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup USA victory!

(alert readers: please do not fail to note the pink pre-wrap; although also remember that our player has been in pink since birth and pre-wrap since 2008...)

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"The day will be the most memorable in America.  I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival...it ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade...bonfires and illuminations (fireworks) from one end of this continent to the other, from this day forward, forevermore."
- John Adams, in a letter to his wife after the Continental Congress decided to proclaim the American colonies independent from Britain.

Thankful that this is the only rocket's red glare I know.

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Randol Schoenberg: It's hard to believe Hitler once applied to be an art student here. 

Maria Altmann: I wish they'd have accepted him.

- from Woman in Gold

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Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
- Daniel 3:24-25 (ESV)

pretty awesome VBS illustration, Ryan.

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RaspaWednesday. It's become a thing.

(this week: Ice Ice Baby. We tried the Kids Creepy Crawler, Mango Lemon Lime and Strawberry Delight. One word- YUM!)

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Vacation Bible School at Instituto Isaias 55- the school for the deaf in Reynosa.
And I can't help but smile.