A Corvette and a Rainbow or Two

I’ve been kind of in a haze lately.  Not really thinking too much about our approaching trip to Africa if I could help it.  It’s like waking up from a dream to realize that it’s only a few months away now.  I’ve been occupying my thoughts with beautiful skies and dad’s Corvette.  This week is pretty full.  I have to finish buying supplies for our five day trip to a mountain cabin, attend a wedding and teach on Sunday before leaving on our trip this Monday.  I figure I’ll be ready for it once all that gets done! 

The other day I noticed this huge cloud plum rising above the rest and I thought to myself that the rest of the evening might be interesting.  The weather has been all over the board lately so you are never sure what each day will hold.  This cloud looked like a beckoning hand or ears on an immense rabbit…you be the judge .  The truth is there wasn’t much that could pull me away from the clouds until dad pulled up in this !  I didn’t even know he was thinking about such a thing!  I still can’t get used to this sitting on our driveway though mostly it’s covered in the garage now…dad rearranged and we’ve got four cars comfortably in our three car garage now.  I’m not sure but I think I’d be dangerous if I were driving this thing It has a 12 disk changer and a Bose sound system and though the top is hard it comes off so you can ride it without…ah yeah!  You should hear the sound when dad starts it up!  That alone is music to my ears There’s a difference between the kind of car I’m used to and this sweet little machine.  Everything about it speaks quality.  Dad is like a kid in a candy store because back in the day he had a ‘67 Stingray and always wished he had another Corvette…I guess his dream came rollin’ back through and I’m thrilled for him.  I’ve heard of duel exhaust but this has two duel pipes

After all the excitement I got back to the beauty of nature …don’t worry this won’t be a let down!  I began to notice an effect with the clouds having a hole in them…I call it the eye of God effect…it looked like God had a blue eye on this evening We’ve had some brief but furious little storms pass by.  They have heavy rainfall and some gusty winds.  Best of all they came with some of the best rainbows I have ever seen I’ve seen rainbows before but these were particularly spectacular We sat there just glorifying God for how wonderful it was and it just got better and better These bows were not only glorious but extremely long lasting!  Honestly I don’t think I’ve seen a more beautiful thing ever!  Just when we thought that was done the next day brought another rainbow that was as spectacular with even better skies Notice the heavy sheets of rain and the golden light The light grew more and more amazing as the clouds grew extremely lumpy Have you ever felt like you look at the skies and see the very gates of heaven It was like we were seeing something that couldn’t possibly be of this earth and I know that I know there is a God who’s maker of it all.  Even as the bow was fading I was in awe but drawn to look behind me only to see another spectacular painting that God so artistically was working on Times like these show how surely nature is one of the best evangelists ever How could one not see this glory and say how great is God This is indeed God’s country through it all I was humbled at the glory of God and I thought of the great things He’d done just the day before.  I couldn’t help but think:  “You’re just showing off now.”…somewhere I felt God smiling at that. 

Of Wolf and Man

It was surely a delightful 4th of July this year though I admit there were times when I was wondering if it was going to rain us out…it never did!  Mom was struggling with her ankle some but did manage to join us for the firework show which was of course spectacular as always.  I’ve loved fireworks since I was a kid and hope that never changes.  We went home and did yet more of our own fireworks and dare I say it?  We had a blast…ugh, I know but I had to say it!  Lovely gave blood recently and won in a drawing (pun possibly intended) to actually meet one of the “wolves” from the Twilight series…Sam as he’s called in the movie…it actually made it to the newspaper and was quite the event.  As it turns out he’s from Montana…the little town of Poplar as a matter of fact…who would have thought?  Love said he was a very nice got and of course she had her picture taken with him.  I have no doubt that will show up in her blog at some point.

I’ve several pictures to share so let’s get this show on the road!  The evening continue to be spectacular.  I expect this is because of the endless fight for it to try acting like summer her.  We rarely have days where it breaks the seventies and in fact often struggle to leave the sixties.  It’s one of the coolest summers I can remember for us.  You can eat your heart out or not depending on what kind of weather suits your fancy.  This has given us some wonderful skies to enjoy I have to admit .  It can actually look like it can’t be real sometimes.  Sometimes rainbows try to form even though there’s not been much rain

but even without the rainbows the skies take my breath away and leave me with no choice but to take out my camera once again and start clicking away.  I can’t always see anything but the glorious colors in the sky but some are more imaginative and see a lot more but all in all I’m just glad not to be either be dying because of stifling heat or terrible humidity and I can walk right out my back door and see this every day !  This is God’s country! 

We coaxed our little princess to sit down and have her 4th of July picture.  It took some work but it was sure worth it though we had to work at it she did pretty good and she kept her royal dignity about her…or did she ? 

The fireworks were really good…I think my favorites are the ones that have actual shapes like this heart though the smiley faces are wonderful I never could capture them for some reason…go figure.  Still the classics are pretty hard to beat don’t you thinkSo all in all I’d say this summer has hit the mid-point with a bang which leaves me wondering if it’s this good now what could the finale be Whatever it is I can hardly wait

Surprisingly some flowers survived our huge hail and the tornado that swept through on Father’s Day and like I’ve said before the courage and strength of these things inspire me to no end since God can clothe these in such splendor how much more is He able to take care of usdon’t you think?  The cows have returned to pasture and they are quite unconcerned about politics and various global events…maybe we’ve got a lot to learn from them God bless and keep you!

Freedom

This has been a month that has flown by in fact, I'm still stunned at how fast time flies by.  The summer is about half over at this point.  Perhaps it's been the excitement of the storm on Father's Day that has made our thoughts be focused on that while time was moving ever onward...I have no idea.  Now as Gabby daily begs me to go get some fireworks I realize that half way point is nearly upon us.  This promises to be an unusual year since the kids will have only been back in school for a month before we head off to Ghana for a month and when we get back it will be nearly Thanksgiving.  A month of the Ghanaian heat to face our cold back home...talk about shocking contrasts!  We continue to have severe weather pass us by daily.  This leaves us with some spectacular sunsets

.  Sometimes I feel like this is the eye of God peering at us through the clouds...could it be He's winking at us ?  I've said before that seeing the sun breakt through the couds always brings me hope sometimes.  I particularly love it when there are rays breaking through like it did this evening because it's not just a breakthrough but a forceful breakthough!  These kinds of rays are more amazing to me than any special effects lasers on a Sci-Fi moviebecause it's all natural and without any kind of special effects...it specially painted by Godand it's right there for anyone to take notice and appreciate...and I really did appreciate this one!  The problem with the unpredictable weather is that with the heat index up lately Lovely and I like to walk in the evenings to avoid the heat and that's just when unexpected storms can pop up and surprise you.  This has happened to us more than once and can be pretty scary

especially when we've got quite a ways to go to get home!  We've had to run home with the wind rising and the lighting being pretty scary before

!  I often run home just to get my camera to try and capture that elusive lighting photo.  I would say that my success has been limited at best.  I spent some time as this storm passed clicking away always missing it by just a little bit

.  None the less it was spectacular to witness and we were relatively safe since this storm passed nearby and spared us most of the dangerous other counties to the south east of us had to deal with.  Gabby looked at my pictures and said that it was "baby lighting"...I'd have to agreeLOL!  Not all is dark and stormy however.  We have a little nature drama going on.  We have had a pair of Magpies move in and they have claimed this territory as their own

.  They fear neither other birds nor cats and in fact spend much of the day tormenting the local cats.  I actually find their antics pretty funny.  Lovely had her donated some blood ironically before we went to see "Eclipse" which by the way is a pretty good money.  You can sure see that they've got more budget to work with since the first of the "Twilight" series movies.  We have been gathering some friends and hitting the midnight release.  It's insane but it's kind of fun.  I am not a fanatic...I just enjoyed the series and like to see what they are doing with it in the movies.  This one had a lot more action then the rest which was kind of cool too.  I was able to get some last spectacular sunset shots.  There wasa golden light that came with this one that was so spectacular.  There wasn't a direction I could look where something artistic wasn't going onand some how it felt like something wonderful was going to happen

but all I saw was the sunset and the wonderful light this provided.  I wish you all a wonderful 4th of July!  God's blessings to you!