“If we’re not careful we’ll lose a good portion of our Saturday,” Tim said as Friday night rolled on and neither of us showed any sign of retiring.

Those words woke me up this morning and pushed me out of bed and down the stairs. My head was fuzzy and my eye lids heavy, but I was determined to get up. The house was quiet. It wasn’t particularly early (in fact, I can’t post the time as my beloved morning friends and family member would roll their eyes) but the house was quiet. After a late night of fireworks, the children were all still fast asleep.

I grabbed my Bible study book and pen and settled in on Big Blue, our love seat recliner.

Reading the first page, I prepared to answer the questions. “Rats, I forgot to get my Bible,” I mumbled to myself. “Surely there’s one on this little table. Who picked up this room anyway? There are books piled everywhere.” Grumble, grumble. Always a good place to start a Bible study.

Spotting my Bible across the room, I decided I would just close my eyes for a few minutes before leaping enthusiastically up and getting it.

20 minutes later I was still napping, study book and pen clasped firmly in my arms.

So much for embracing the day and getting an early start. I think I would have done better had my early start included a cup of coffee.

Kathy

It’s my turn to try out the new slide show feature Tim uploaded to our Wordpress blog. Some would say our blog is already a little photo heavy, and we don’t really need slide shows with dozens more pictures.

Those people obviously need to get a cup of coffee (iced if necessary) and just sit back and enjoy the Duckabush Experience. This elusive DE wouldn’t be complete without a plethora of pictures. Tim and I are under constant demand for more photos from our family members.

They’re just greedy that way. Thankfully we adore our (still seems new to us) Nikon D40X camera and are more than willing to accommodate the desire for additional photos. I have a wonderful friend, Heather, who is an amazing artist and has offered to give me some photography lessons. There is much to learn and I am eager to be a student of the camera.

I should note that the pictures of Rachel on the jet ski are a wee bit misleading. She wasn’t out on the lake driving the Seadoo. The owner of the jet ski had just given the girls a ride on the water and climbed off when I grabbed my camera. I told Rachel to lean forward and pretend she was driving.

Lest anyone think I send my 12 year old daughter jet skiing out on the lake. Certainly not! Well, not on the first trip out anyway.

Oh, and that shadowy picture of two people on the jet ski (in the slide show) is Kirstin and me. Our hostess, Nancy, wanted to be sure there was photographic evidence that I was out there cruising around the lake. She seems to think I spend more time BEHIND the camera than in front of it.

Um, yeah. That’s pretty obvious.

Kathy
Project 366 - Day 180

I’m often amazed at the beauty with which God has graced this world, and the desire that people have to cultivate and appreciate that beauty. Surely Romans 1:20 is self-evidently true:

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Today was a glorious day; after I finished work, I just had to be outside. I lay on my back in the yard, looking up at the sky, breathless at the blue and gold of this bright summer evening.

When Kathy returned home from her Lake Day, I grabbed her camera and strolled down the street, snapping pictures of the flowers that my neighbors are growing. David and Sarah came along to keep me company — the pictures in the slideshow below represent just the flowers I could easily find without trespassing.

Truth be told, many of the flowers have already bloomed and faded … late May is actually a better time to be a flower photo-hound, at least in western Washington.

– Tim

(OK, I’ll admit it, this whole post was just an excuse to try out some new slideshow software. I had to shrink the pictures down to a pretty low resolution so the slideshow would work — you’ll have to take my word for it that some of the photos were actually quite stunning.)

Tim was a love and stayed up late to fix my computer troubles last night. I went to bed, leaving my computer in his capable hands. By the time he was ready to slumber, the issue was resolved and my zippy internet speed restored.

And who doesn’t want zippy internet speed? I like just saying zippy internet speed.

In order to test Tim’s finesse with a modem, I thought I would upload a plethora of pictures and share them with you all. Here goes.

Sarah and her friend, Elise, enjoyed a visit this week.

Who’s carseatis this?

Daniel, Adam and Isaac explore the great outdoors.

This is one of the crafts Rachel made in our Being a Joyful Girl class.

Kathy and Julee - moms of those joyful girls.

There you have it. A little collection of pictures from this past week. I didn’t include one of Joshua because I had a difficult time collecting one. “Oh, Mom!” is what I typically hear when I pull out the camera in his presence.

Here is a link detailing some of the specifics about Rachel’s Being a Joyful Girl class. What a special time!

Kathy

I don’t think you really need to be a golfer in order to own a golf cart. In fact, I have long suspected that some golfers take up the sport just so they can drive a sporty little golf cart. Maybe you just need to live near a golf course.

Rachel takes everyone for a spin.

When an opportunity to purchase a friend’s golf cart became available, Tim and I quickly jumped at it. Although they don’t golf OR live near a golf course, we thought Tim’s parents would love to have a golf cart for The Refuge. They have visitors of all ages come out to the retreat center and having a small vehicle available for transportation around the property is just perfect.

David and Daniel catch up on their bikes.

Not to mention the entertainment value for grandchildren.

It doesn’t go very fast, but then how speedy do you want to travel when you’re giving tours, observing wildlife and exploring trails.

Now if we can just get the kids to say goodbye to their favorite new toy.

Kathy
Project 366 - Day 168