Pretty-Happy-Funny-Real in one picture with side notes

I was not going to link up this week because I honestly only too two pictures and one of them I posted yesterday for Wordless Wednesday.  How did that happen??  I guess I have been too busy with trying to get curriculum in order and after the photo fest on Little Man's birthday, I felt like I had taken a million photos even though I hadn't.  Anyway, Auntie Leila said we could link up with even one photo and so I felt like she posted that just for me.  So here it is:

Pretty

Is there anything more beautiful that a baby to love?  I mean really, they are a source of such beauty and goodness. It reminds me of Mother Teresa's famous quote, "How can there be too many children?  It is like saying there are too many flowers."  For instance, my one rose bush is blooming and it is a gorgeous site, but imagine a group of five blooming bushes or ten or twenty...could more really be less?  

While on the subject of flowers and gardens, my garden was not that pretty but was plugging along.  Then a bunny took up residence and my swiss chard disappeared.  However, when we went to pull out the first planting of bush beans in order to plant a second round, we discovered that the beans had hidden and preserved some of the swiss chard, beets, and carrots.  We decided to leave the bean plants and protect the rest of the garden.  WELL, on Tuesday, I came home to find a ground hog in the middle of my garden eating everything in sight.  I chased him away and put down more hot pepper but needless to say the rest of the chard is gone along with all but three carrots and four beets!!  I think I need to stick with my strengths next year, growing dandelions and clover (both of which are edible anyway.)

Happy

Little Man has been trying to abscond with my dust pan and brush for weeks.  I keep saying no, and making yucky faces but he wasn't buying it.  So, I bought him a little dustpan and brush at the dollar store and boy was he happy!!!!!!!!!!! The picture above is when he first got it.  He was waving it around and sweeping everything in the kitchen.  I couldn't catch any pictures of that because he moves so quickly.  He is such a happy baby.

Funny

Well, isn't a baby wanting a dustpan and brush funny?  His squealing in delight gave me the giggles.   Those weren't the only funny noises going on this week, though.  The big kids went to the county fair with their grandmother (my mother-in-law).  While there, they rode plenty of crazy rides and ate plenty of food--most of which boils down to sugar and food coloring.  I really limit their sugar intact and have all but eliminated food coloring from our diet. So their feasting on slushies, cotton candy, funnel cake, cheese dogs, french fries, sugary drinks, and ice cream really had a profound effect on them--particularity Buddy.  He is still coming down from that sugar high!  This has led to many random, crazy, silly, wild, original tunes being created and performed in our house. 

 It's been a wild week!

Real

The array of things on the floor is the accumulation of less than an hour.  It reminds me of that line from Steven Curtis Chapman's song, "picking up toys from the living room floor for the fifteenth time today..." Having a little toddler who is super busy and super mobile has led to the house perpetually looking like a hurricane just swept through.  I am hoping that I can find a way to get a handle on his redecorating skills before school starts or I do not know how I will keep up.   It's not just the unsightly mess, it's the fear I have of falling and breaking something as I try to negotiate it.

However, on a more real level, I have been heavy-hearted thinking of the persecuted Christians in the Middle East and their plight.  Makes worrying about what the house looks like seem foolish.

Please pray for their deliverance!