:}
Counting Our Blessings
This is what we could see right outside our window on Tuesday. There have been seven fires in different areas around the state in the last week. In fact, my own brother’s family and two of my nieces were evacuated from their homes when the flames came too close to their neighborhood across the lake.
But this new one–sheesh. How eerie is it to be able to see the red glow from the flames, in the smoke.
The next day, we could see this brave guy flying back and forth, back and forth–from the lake…
into the smoke. Our church leaders asked us all to please pray for the firefighters to be safe and to please, please, pray for rain.
Believe me–we prayed. In the middle of one of Miss Chompy’s prayer she said, “And bless the firefighters to be safe. Mom what’s a firefighter?” Pretty cute.
Then, this morning we woke up to a huge rushing sound in the yard. I sat up in bed at first, thinking it was the wind tearing through the rose bushes and rattling my windows.
I thought, Oh no, please–not wind. But looking out the window, I saw–it wasn’t the wind…
it was RAIN! Funny, even after all the prayers, it still surprised me to see it. In fact, I had to wonder for a minute if it really, truly was rain clouds…
or just more smoke.
Our fiery mountain was all clouds and steam by afternoon. I can only guess about the other, farther away fires…but we’re hoping they’re out too.
Isn’t Heavenly Father clever?
Just when we’re so-so tired of all that heat and ash and think we can’t stand it any longer…
He sends us the rain!
“So the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one…”
Blessed Rain
After praying all week for rain–today, it’s RAINING!
Hope it snuffs out all those terrible fires.
I hollered to Miss Chompy that Heavenly Father answered our prayers and made it rain and she said, “We DID it!!”
What she meant was–HE did it. :}
Independence Day
Happy Independence Day my friends!
Orchard Love
I saw this sweet little game online the other day, that reminded me of Hi-ho Cherry-O from when I was a kid. After looking closer though, I found out that it’s even better. It’s called Orchard and as you can see, even a three-year-old can play it.
First, you load the trees up with fruit–green apples, yellow pears, blue plums and red cherries.
Then somebody rolls the dice.
If you roll a color, you get to pick a fruit from the tree…
and put it in your basket.
But if you roll the dreaded crow, you have to take a puzzle piece that will put a picture of the nasty old bird together. Now then, here’s the good part–with this game, the kids are actually cheering for each other instead of duking it out, because the point is to pick all the fruit before the bad-guy crow shows up and eats everything. There’s no competition between players –only working together against the crow.
Isn’t that a fabulous idea? No, no, this is not a paid advertisement. I was just so happy to find such a perfect game for Miss Chompy, Lily and the Beck, that I wanted to tell somebody about it. And so you know, the kids and I have played the game about 25 times in the last few days.
Yeah, that’s us.
Playing till we drop.
Heh, heh.
Tell me~ have you every heard of Orchard? What are your kids favorite board games?
PS– Gracious Rain is in 2nd place in the KSL Best Local Blogger Contest!! If you’d like to vote go right here and register…then vote. Thanks- thanks!!