Meet Sven

This is Sven. He is a Pacific rock crab looking for a good time. He is older and knows what he wants. He is not looking for a serious relationship and feels like "life is too short to be tied down."

He enjoys long walks on the beach and moonlit dinners. He recently found a great all you can eat raw chicken buffet that he would love to share.

He tops out at 6 1/2 inches with a striking red completion and black eyes. He has a laid back outlook unless riled up. He is a crab that knows how to stand up for himself and those he loves.


UPDATE:
Sven is no longer listed on our "Available Crab" page as he has had an unfortunate boating incident. He will be scattered over salad today.

Seafair

This summer has been crazy busy. Soccer, beaches, play dates, and today, Seafair. Aside from the record shattering hot temps here (hello 106!), we have had so much fun and made new friends. It is hard to believe that it is August already.

My husband was offered box seat tickets for the Seafair hydroplane races/Blue Angels airshow for today. So we dropped Meradith off with my mom and headed out to Genesee park with Brian in tow.

Wow!

Here are a few pics from today...

The hydroplane races

With our tickets we got pit passes to be able to go down and see the hydroplanes. So I went down to the pit to take a few shots of them out of the water.

The Boeing hydroplane. It runs on bio fuel!

Brian watching the hydroplanes as they start from the pit...

The Blue Angels

After the airshow the Blue Angel pilots were in the pit signing autographs.

I LOVED that there was a female pilot.

And, of course, the Seafair pirates...

Fun at the Beach

This last weekend we spent the night out in Kingston. Oh, it was so fun and the view was amazing.


Making a sand castle...

Cleaning Out the Closets

*originally posted by me at calvarycommunitymops.blogspot.com

It's summertime. I find that my schedule changes during this time of year. It relaxes and becomes far more flexible, but also fills up with more play dates and fun activities. I don't have to rush my son off to preschool or get out the door for regularly schedules activities. My days are more open, mostly.

I love spending the time at parks and zoos, plugging into MOPS planned play dates and in general soaking up the sun.

Summertime also brings with it a desire to do projects, at least for me it does. There are so many randomly stacked things that appeared over the winter in the garage that we can barely get the cars in. And when we can get the cars in, we are stuck because we can't open the doors!

My closets are overflowing with clothes that are out of style, don't fit or are just plain worn out. My linen closet is unspeakable.

My goal this summer is to clean out. Clean out the things that I don't use, don't want or don't need. Pass things on to other moms, thrift stores or the dump.

Declutter.

My relationship with God has much to declutter as well. How many things have I taken on board that are not benefiting me? Beliefs that have come, not from God, but from "that's how it has always been" or "that's what my parents believed." I have beliefs that cause me to feel guilty for not being perfect. Does that come from God? I don't think so.

I would be the first one to say that learning from others is a valuable thing. Passing on faith from parents to children is one of my top priorities with my son and daughter. But, old stale beliefs need to be tested and tried. Held up to see if they still fit. Are they a product, not of the teachings of God, but of a fad that came through the church (or society)? Do I have a tie-dye faith? Or do I have a classic, never-goes-out-of-style A-line faith? Where do my beliefs come from? The Bible? Society? Movies?

I loved the book The Shack. There were parts that challenged me and my prejudices. Do I believe that it was Biblical? No. But did I inadvertently take on beliefs that are contrary to the Bible?

How much of what I believe have I taken on board by random things in our culture?

The only way to distill my beliefs is to spend time with God and his Word. Letting Him talk to me and asking Him to show me the truths that can be mined only from Him and His Word and to possibly find a mentor in a more mature Christian woman.

Just like I need to spend time going through my closets this summer, I need to spend time with God. Going through my beliefs.