Summer Merit Badges

I just looked at the weather app on my phone, and guess what ??

... summer's here !

While June 21st may officially be the first day of summer, the season has been in full swing here in Oregon for the past several weeks.

We drove past our local aquatic center a week ago, and despite the temperature (a breezy 65 degrees!) the place was packed with brave swimmers. My kids began a spontaneous chorus of "when-are-we-going-to-the-aquatic-center??" - if you've never heard a van-full of children unanimously declaring their passion for something ... well, you haven't lived. It's pretty persuasive. 

So on Thursday, when my weather app showed a bright ball of sun with no clouds peeking out behind it and a mommy-approved temperature of 79  -  we packed up sunscreen, towels and flip flops and headed to the beach.

Otter Beach, that is.

I wish I had a video to demonstrate for you what Otter Beach is to this girl. I am not kidding- if I didn't believe in reincarnation, and if I did believe in swearing and mermaids... I would swear to you that Lily was one in a previous life.

But as I don't believe in any of those things, I'll just tell you this: this girl loves to swim. I mean loves.

I'm talking, get her in the water as fast as you can, arms flailing and legs kicking and peels of laughter and DON'T HOLD HER HAND because she is a big girl, and she knows exaaaaactly what to do here, and do not even try to convince her that water and open mouthed smiles don't mix well, because you cannot even contain that level of happiness if you try. And yes, she wore a lifejacket the entire time, if you were wondering. (<< Grammi, that sentence was just for you.) 

We spent several happy hours at Otter Beach before we piled everything back up and headed home for dinner. I asked the kids on the way home what some of their happiest summer memories have been ... because I'm sappy like that. Ask my kids- just about every family trip, whether it's a three hour trek to the pool, or a three day vacation at the KOA - the drive home will involve a discussion of what our favorite moments were. Maybe because I love to view the world through my kids' version of it, and maybe because I'm just a big kid myself... this is my little drive-home ritual.

Or maybe it's the old Girl Scout in me, pinning new memories onto my vest like merit badges ... one that has a cabin and a pine tree on it for our camping trip to Fort Stevens, another one with big Mickey ears for a vacation at the happiest place on earth, still another one with a pool umbrella and bottle of sunscreen on it for all those relaxing hours spent at the aquatic center ... I like savoring the memories behind those badges just as much as experiencing the actual events themselves.

So yesterday we made another summer memory, and if there were a badge to score with this one, it would probably be embroidered with two tiny symbols representing the fruit of our labors : 

...helloooo, cherry pies. 

Mackenzie and I went for a morning walk yesterday, and just as we were about to walk in our front door, our neighbor called us over to their backyard... actually it was our neighbor's son's girlfriend, and she was house sitting. Two giant cherry trees were ripe for the picking, and she needed help in clearing them out before our neighbors got back ...would we be willing to come back with the kids and help her out ?

I told her we had important things to do first ...

... like run home and scream to the others that a Summer Merit Badge was waiting, so grab some shoes and buckets STAT !!

Behold, The Cherry Picking Party that ensued ...

They even had a maraschino cherry tree ! Shirley Temples, here we come ;)

(Five gold stars to whoever knows what a Shirley Temple is.) (And yes, I know maraschino cherries are made and not grown.)

Life is just a bowl of cherries... or miniature balls, if you're Hayden.

After picking several gallons of cherries, and eating about the same amount, the kids spent some time on the giant trampoline in the neighbor's backyard .

I nursed Hayden and chatted with the neighbor's sweet girlfriend... turns out she has a great aunt with Down syndrome, and get this - she's seventy-three ! She was born in an era when institutionalizing children with Down syndrome was common, but her mama said the words that would have been my words, had I lived back then : not my baby. She raised her daughter at home, the seventh child out of nine, and she lived a full and beautiful life. She now spends her days living with her two older sisters and enjoys telling everyone she meets the lineage of her family tree. That's no small task given the amount of nieces and nephews she has - 115.  And Vanessa (the neighbor's girlfriend) said her aunt can tell you exactly who belongs to who. 

I was so blessed to hear this family's story of courage and love and grace, while sitting under the cherry trees on a beautiful Oregon afternoon, watching my girl play happily with her siblings, without a care in the world.

How far we've come ...

Finally we packed up our blankets and buckets, said thank you to our gracious host, and headed home. Our hearts and tummies full, we silently added another precious badge to our vests, one that we'll treasure for years to come.

“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”  ~Henry James

It's your turn now... share a summer memory in the comment section, just for fun?

Happy summer !!!

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New Born Baby

Hayden's Birthday Extravaganza At The Park

Tomorrow is Father's Day. I'm too emotional to write about fathers this weekend, is that okay ? It has been one year this month since Sam and I both lost our dads. It still hardly feels real. We miss them more than words can say.

my father, Stephen Charles Kopp. I miss you, Daddy.

Sam and his father, Dennis Parker Rice

I'm still behind on blogging ... but I'm forgiving myself, because I'm caught up on laundry. And I have two cheesecakes made for tomorrow, and only two more children to finish homeschooling for the year. Hip hip hooray.

As I type this, Lily is sleeping, and Hayden is too, meaning they will both be wide awake at midnight. Wonderful. If I didn't have dozens of items of clothing to iron tonight for Sunday School in the morning, I would be trying to keep them awake until their bedtime. Instead, I'm taking advantage of a quiet house (the older kids are all outside) by posting Hayden's birthday pictures here, and thinking about the ironing I need to do. I'm a multi-tasker like that !


And I just remembered, today is June 14th, flag day.

So in honor of that, I am going to post pictures of Hayden's birthday, which was May 12th.

There is absolutely no connection between the two holidays, but there you have it.

It's my blog and I can do things like that if I want. Blog author's prerogative, and all that.

I'm even going to give this post a fancy title at this point, just for fun :



HAYDEN'S BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA AT THE PARK.



I'm hoping the fancy title makes up for the simplicity of the actual event. You'll see why in three seconds.


We had Hayden's birthday at the park.

 Abigail and Caleb made three dozen chocolate cupcakes, and I frosted them to look like baseballs, tennis balls, basketballs and footballs. The theme of the party was .....wait for it .... balls. Because ever since he was old enough to sit up and hold one, Hayden has been OBSESSED with balls. Ball was his first word. He falls asleep with a ping pong ball in one hand and a tennis ball in the other. He turns everything into balls - cheerios, phones, toothbrushes, the plastic iceberg lettuce toy in the nursery at church - they're all just different versions of balls to Hayden, just waiting to be thrown. Once he started crawling, his favorite thing to do was throw a ball down the hallway and chase after it ...and then turn around and throw it back down the other direction. He could be pitching (no pun intended) the world's largest tantrum known to mankind, but hand him a ball and he transforms into the happiest baby on the planet.

Hayden. Loves. Balls.

Thankfully The Dollar Tree cooperated nicely with our birthday party theme, and I think I spent a whopping $12 on this here shindig. We brought some baseballs and mitts from home, sent the kids and whoever else wanted to play out onto the big grassy field next to the picnic tables, gave Hayden a tennis ball for the night, and called it good. No pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game for kids to fight over, no basketball shaped piñata to give all the parents a heart attack, no goody bags that would end up on the floor of the car after the party anyway ... just cupcakes and a few snacks and baseball at the park, because that's how we roll when there are eleven kids with birthdays per year.

You won't find this one on Pinterest, folks....

...but the birthday boy was pleased as punch, and that was the goal....

The weather was perfect - a warm breezy Oregon evening, with just a few hours of sunshine left at the end of the day.

Jason had to work, but Naomi brought our grandbabies. Koa (above) brought a fruit salad and a serving spoon, Norah (below) brought some charm ...

Monique and Josiah came, along with our newest blessing, Princess Macie ...

Mackenzie brought her nice new camera, and took lots of pictures of hayden opening presents   her feet....

Lily enjoyed fifteen thousand tortilla chips, as well as the icing off three different cupcakes ...

Kenz and her Ducky 

My favorite part of every first birthday is the cake smashing photos. Kenz took about seventeen of them, and it's taking EVERY OUNCE of restraint I can muster right now, not to post them all. I'm not kidding, I think I have an addiction to cake-smashing-baby pictures . I mean, just look at them ...

Swoon.


Sam and I feel so blessed to have a baby at this stage in our lives. I think about that every day. I always wanted a baby in my forties - and I got two.

Somebody pinch me.

The party was a (cake) smashing success, and even though we didn't get any pictures of Hayden and his gifts, he enjoyed opening every single one of them.

 Okay, honestly I think Abbi and Noah opened his gifts, which is probably why we don't have any pictures ... if I recall, Sam was wiping layers of frosting off Hayden's outfit while the older kids frantically helped me pack up the party before the sun set ... at any rate, Hayden enjoyed playing with everything the next day.

This past year went too quickly in so many ways. My baby is one, and it feels like I just had him yesterday. He's doing so much now - standing and saying words and feeding himself and learning new things every day. I want to slow life down, but it's just impossible ... so instead I'll just enjoy the ride ...

... happy birthday, Baby Hayden !!!

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New Born Baby

the big picture

I am so behind on blogging that I don't even know where to start catching up.

I have probably a dozen emails I need to reply to, and 200 or so that are junk mail in need of deleting.

I have a package that needs to be mailed that should have gone out last week..

I have about six loads of laundry to do - and that's just to get caught up with what's in the laundry room... there might be more hidden in closets ...

I have a few kids who are finishing up their schoolwork this month, before we call it quits for the summer... and they need a lot of encouragement to get there.

It's just one of those weeks where I feel a little behind the great eight ball of life.

On days like today I tend to overanalyze things. It should be opposite... I should probably look at what's on my plate and decide there is enough to fill me up and more... why take on the deeper questions of life like : What's my purpose here ? Am I doing a good enough job at everything ? Am I pleasing the Lord? Is there more I should be doing ?

But that's just how my brain works sometimes. I have a hard time prioritizing when I feel overwhelmed. Instead of taking a breath and conquering one molehill at a time I invite some mountains into my life just to make things fun.

End of the school year motivation levels are through the roof here. No, really.

So here I am ... blogging ... doing exactly what I just described  - adding something to my load, just because.


Why ?

Because I really feel like God is wanting me to be more bold in my faith lately, especially in my areas of influence. I'm a stay-at-home mom, and as such, I don't get out much. I admit it. I mean ... I do make the normal rounds - the grocery store, the post office, the doctor's office, the playground, church, sporting events, and an occasional restaurant or two. But for the most part, the people I see on a daily basis are the ones who share my last name ...

my grand baby, Macie Blair Rice. Swoon.

And so this morning, when I was praying and asking the Lord to help me not miss the big picture - because it would be very easy to do so when there are a million little things calling my name... He put someone on my heart ....






































....are you done scrolling ???








It was you.





I may not get out much, I may have a small sphere of influence right now, physically speaking... but I do have you.


The people who have been reading here for several years, or several weeks, or maybe just a day or two.

I don't pay attention all the time to page view statistics anymore... it was fun when I started blogging, but the newness wore off  - and I really barely have time to get on the computer these days with six children to homeschool. But when I peek in and see the numbers, I have to stop and ask myself : what am I really saying here in this little space called A Perfect Lily ? How am I using my influence for the good ?

I mean if all I am doing is posting some cute pictures and tying some words together for a nice little package, then I'm really just taking up your time and mine .

Because there's so much more to our lives than fun birthdays and nice recipes and trips to the farmer's market.

Oh, don't get me wrong- those things have their place. Totally. I am thankful and grateful for those things. And I'm happy to post about them.

But this weekend I listened to a sermon my husband preached on eternity ... and it really made me think - again ! - about what my purpose in life is.

Because here's the thing  : I really do believe there is a Heaven and a Hell. I don't believe that the end of life, as we know it, is the end. I believe with all my heart that we were created with a purpose- to know the Lord, and to live our lives for Him.  When I got saved 29 years ago, I repented of my sins and gave my whole life to Jesus. That may sound like catch phrases to some of you - "repented of my sins" and "gave my life to Jesus." But they are so much more than that.

What happened at an altar in a little church in Tempe, Arizona, was that a 17 year old girl, with lots of questions -  about who God was, and why she was here, and how to get rid of guilt for things she had done - she found Jesus. She heard the gospel- the good news - that Jesus died for her sins, and that He made a way for her to go to Heaven. She listened to the words straight from the Bible that said she didn't have to be "good enough" ... because none of us are good enough ... to make Heaven her home one day. She heard a preacher read the words of Jesus when He said "Come unto me all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest." And she believed them. She raised her hand when that preacher asked if there was anyone in that church who wasn't right with God, and she timidly made her way to an altar. A beautiful Christian woman met her there (who is now in eternity with Jesus !) and led her in a prayer of repentance, asking God to save her and give her hope. She wasn't made perfect after praying that prayer- but she was changed.  She didn't get religion, she didn't decide to join a church - she met Jesus.

And how do I know that what I got was the real thing ?

Because He changed me.

I am no longer that timid, guilt-ridden teenager who walked to that altar 29 years ago. I have peace in Jesus. Am I perfect ? Far from it. (Ask my kids. In fact, anyone who knows me. I have problems.) I'm far from perfect - but I am forgiven.

And that's the simple message I hope you get out of this post today.

There will be lots of posts in the future about holidays and Down syndrome and product endorsements and trials and triumphs at the Rice Ranch. In fact, I have a whole batch of beautiful photos from our anniversary trip last week to upload and share.

I just wanted to make sure today that I obeyed that still small voice this morning, telling me to make sure I don't miss any opportunity to share the greatest truth of all in this particular sphere of influence.

Do you know where you're going to spend eternity ? It's really so simple.



We're all sinners.. we've all got problems.

As the Scriptures say, "There is no one righteous, not even one." Romans 3:10


We will all face death one day. Nobody gets out of here alive.

It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. Hebrews 9:27

There is a price to pay for sin... and a way out.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

God made it so simple for us. 

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9



We can know peace - the true peace of forgiveness.

Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Romans 5:1

If you've made it this far and read through my words - thank you. Thank you for taking the time to read, and for letting me share my heart with you. I'll be back soon with more pictures like the one above from our sweet anniversary getaway...

xo

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New Born Baby