Mama Lavender = Turtle Oak?

I'm feeling the need to integrate all of me into me - not sure if that makes sense, but it's where I'm swimming this morning. I'll be pulling some posts over from my original blog Mama Lavender and likely just post a link to here and take a (permanent?) break from that location.

I picked the name Mama Lavender because for close to 15yrs Lavender Oil was my go to choice for calming, healing, feel good moments. It was a deep part of how I saw myself. This year my MCS has taken Lavender Oil away from me.

What that means right now is that I am having difficulty self-identifying w/ the name/space/person of Mama Lavender - finding it painful and disjointed to be there - which is sad for my family and friends who visit looking for pictures and updates and whatnot and sad for me because I don't believe we are meant to live our lives in ways that feel painful and disjointed. So here I am and am really curious to see where this journey brings me next :)

Eli Has A New Blog

Eli has entered the blogosphere over at:

http://nerdynecessities.blogspot.com/

He's having a blast and that's way cool in my book

Halloween 09

Bryn and dear friend Ashley are, respectively, a 1980's teenage zombie and a hippy zombie. Obviously this picture was taken prior to zombie make up application - they look so awesome!



Me and Trixie and Maya are staying home to greet any Trick or Treaters we may get :)

Eli is downright spooky this year!

Sure Do Love Our Zoo!

Rick recently had a weekday off so we took Eli to the zoo. Always a good time :)

Some Summer Pictures

Someone turned 10 this summer!!!!!

We went bowling a lot this past summer. There was this neat deal called kidsbowlfree and it only cost $25 for Rick and I combined to bowl all summer w/ them. We had so much fun!




Eli built this shelf all on his own and then gave it to me :) I'm trying to find just the perfect spot for it in our office to hold some of my treasures!



Bryn and I had a great Mommy/Daughter date and went for a nice long walk at the beach.

So Funny! Got stuck in the tree :)

So strong!

Eli and I went on a trip to the fair in Sept. - we had good times and worn each other out! :}

The Great Eight by Scott Hamilton Book Review

The Great Eight by Scott Hamilton took me a while to read. I would pick it up, read a few pages and put it down again. At first this seemed like a challenge but now that I’m done I am grateful for the length of time I took to read this book. I feel that I was able to go deeper into the material and sit longer in those spaces of new ideas this way and, hopefully, those spaces are now more familiar to me. I found parts of the book repetitive, but then again this wasn’t new material for me just a new presentation. If changing your life by changing how you interact and react to your life had been new concepts for me I think the repetitive would have been very helpful.
The overall gist of Scott’s message was that being positive is a very doable and powerful way of existing. Things will happen in our lives – in everyone’s lives – we can not stop changes, but by being positive and using his “Great Eight” techniques/concepts we will live more fruitful, happy, and fulfilled lives.
I found Biblical truth here. However, it was because I read the Bible daily and not because there were a lot of direction correlations drawn between what was being and what is written in God’s word. I wish there would have been more explicit correlations made – they would have been helpful for many readers. Every now and then the author would phrase things in such a way as to begin sounding much more New Age than Biblically based and that, coupled w/ the lack of Biblical reference, makes me nervous. People need sound leadership in these times – so many get caught up in New Age ideas and ideals – this book could conceivably be read by someone who is lost in New Age concepts and help them stay lost instead of helping them find their way to salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. That was my one big issue with this book and why I will only selectively recommend this book to others.

Grandbabies!!!

My dear sweet husband and I got word that his son is now a papa! This was big news both because of the obvious but also because these two have not spoken in a long, long time and we have all missed Aaron so much. I know not having him in Rick's life has left a huge whole there and to have the opportunity to reconnect on any level is such a tremendous and wonderful blessing. So, without further ado, please meet Erin and Viktor:

They are so adorable - I wish I could hold them and rock them, but, alas, they live in MI :( Perhaps I need to start looking for a modifiable travel trailer again and maybe we can make a road trip out there next summer. This is definitely something I need to be praying about!
Here is a picture of dear Aaron and the twins:

Isn't he a handsome guy? That's my step-son - but I've never liked that title - reminds me way too much of Cinderella. He was 16 when we met so I've thought of him as a dear friend/younger brother I was never blessed to have growing up. Really missed him - so grateful that his lovely mama, Esther, took the first step to re-open the lines of communication.
Esther, you rock!