happy 4th, and rest

Wow, can't believe I let so many days go by without blogging! I thought of it a few different times, but wasn't able to get down here to the computer. So here we go. Friday was, of course, Independence Day! And it was a wonderful day. John was off of work for the 3 day weekend. We spent the day around the house, I did some crafting and the boys did stuff outside. That evening, despite bouts of heavy rain, I took Asher to downtown Maysville to see the fireworks show, while John stayed at home with Allie. They didn't start until 9:45 pm, and I wasn't sure about taking Asher. After all, that is way past his bedtime and he has been on these meds with the poison ivy. But John and I both knew he would LOVE it and possibly remember it, being 5 and all, so I decided to go for it! We had our folding chairs and umbrellas, and met up with the Maves Family and their out-of-town company and enjoyed the fantastic display. In the background was Nature's Own Firework Show going on, as in lightning! It was a pretty cool event to see. Saturday we decided to head over to Florence (northern Kentucky close to Cincinnati) to do some shopping. We don't do this very often any more, with gas prices so high and then of course spending money "while we're here we might as well get...". We wandered in Bed Bath & Beyond to browse and I saw the curtain selection and thought, oh yeah! I do have more options than Lowe's or KMart! LOL. So we picked out some neutral brown suede curtains with grommets at the top to put the decorative rod through. I have to gently press them as the wrinkles are awful, but I did go ahead and slip one of the two on her rod to test it and it blocks the light wonderfully and looks great. So I will get them both pressed and that will be something else to cross off the list! We then went to an awesome freestanding Dillard's store for shoes for Asher. They had a great selection and I am extremely happy with what we picked out - a pair of Born sandals and a pair of slip on leather Timberlands. He likes them both, too. From there we got lunch at the Macaroni Grill, and then we went to our favorite "fish" store to get a new light for Asher's tank and of course couldn't resist some new corals and fish. We got THREE new fish for our tank, which is a big deal as we only had 4. They are small though. And we got a new fish for Asher's tank, as well as 2 new corals for his. So far today everything looks great and hopefully will thrive. This morning...we made it to church! Yay! It was wonderful. We went back to Victory Christian which is down the road from us about 6 miles (towards town). We went to the early service, which started at 8:30 am, and amazingly made it on time. Asher was one of only 4 kids in the children's church, which was probably for the best. And there were only I think 1 or 2 other children in the nursery with Allie, with 2 or 3 workers! Getting up that early was challenging, especially with our new late morning summer schedule, lol, but totally worth it of course. The preaching was just as amazing as last time we were there (last summer!). And praise & worship was wonderful. I am glad we went and am also glad Allie did well in the nursery. We kept her with us for about 10 minutes during praise & worship, but she was squirmy and wanted down so I went ahead and took her. They told us when we picked her up that she got teary a couple of times, but otherwise did great. One of the main things I got out of the sermon - and this preacher is so good he gets enough material in for like 3 sermons - is the need to rest. He has already conquered the battle, he has perfected my faith. Just TRUST. Don't try, trust. Learn to rest. It's not about works or my effort to be perfect to be accepted or earn blessing. He gives his blessings freely, without any qualification on my part. Grace = undeserved favor. Thank you, Jesus!!!!!!!!! So on that note, I am signing off and going to work on some craft things while Allie is down for her nap. It is hot and muggy outside and although the boys are out, I am just not up to the heat today. I have a ton of projects on the brink of being finished that I am ready to get done with already, lol!