July is a great month! I hate to see it end!
In North America Everyone is in the depths of their summer.
I love July.
I love summer.
I love family and fireworks.
I love warm weather.
Enjoying the warm outdoors, warms my soul!
This summer I hosted a neighborhood Kelly Minter bible study on the book of Nehemiah (highly recommend it and will write a review soon). As I prepared for the last meeting I was struggling, and it seemed like there was nothing that could lift my heavy heart.
Oddly, the homework for the last chapters of Nehemiah included a discussion on how life tends to make full circles and often brings us back to similar places and different circumstances. We are given second chances, and boy do we need them.
As August begins, I continue to have a slight funk about me and need a second chance. I want to make the rest of this year count. I want to treat August like it is January. A fresh start. Why not review my goals and consider new goals to add or old ones to change? As I complete one season and prepare for another, my heart is committed to make this fall and winter special. It is all too easy to lack focus and exuberance as I approach the end of the year.
Scripture memorization is one of my 2012 goals. My memorization goal through the month of July is complete. Hooray! Let’s celebrate! Uh… Not so fast….The problem is that I don’t have another plan. Sure, one can just take a favorite scripture here or there and work on it, but I want a new focused plan. Since my 2012 one word is ‘decide‘, I am on the verge of making a decision. Remember the old Yogi Berra said, “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.”
I’d love to hear how you handle this time of year as school starts, seasons change and holidays rapidly approach. Do you lose sight of goals you made back in January? Do you renew and review?
Here’s my suggestion for a great verse to memorize.
Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers victory it’s sure. Prov. 15.22
Love to you… and success with your plans…
It is time for a puppy fix. Hot summer days require refreshing water nearby. June is our neighbor’s precious golden retriever pup.
This is one of 
Pirelli was born at Canine Assistants without a foot and is now 
Tahoe meets neighbor ‘June Bug’ for the first time. He loves other pups…as long as they don’t interfere with his meals or play time. After all, he’s the one who gets to go everywhere.
Tahoe loves children and helps them overcome canine fears.
Hooper, a friend’s golden doodle, recently stayed with us for several days and decided to dominate and take over the bed. He’s a snuggler and almost makes Tahoe jealous.
Zeek, a neighbor’s German Shepherd, loves Brent’s attention when he comes to the Williams hotel. Yes, Tahoe is patient with company and his dog whispering dad.
Our nieces visited for a week and when we were waiting for their departing flight Tahoe was sad and needed comfort. See how he suffers.
Leah gives love as she says good-bye. She has a special bond with Tahoe.
Now that all the company is gone, at least for a few days, Tahoe just wants to go inside…run to the backyard…
…. play some Kong
…and happily go to bed with mom and dad and no visiting dogs, kids, friends or cousins.
I hung out with a friend’s family if my family was gone. Often we dreaded time alone.
Fear flew in as quickly as the kite on the stark wall beamed the last colorful comfort before the lights dimmed and visitors deserted. Couldn’t someone please spend the night? No, the rules prohibited such pampering. A call for help was as close as a simple fuzzy ball hanging from a cord near the bed! I think it had mercury in it and with a tap activated an alert to the nurses’ station.
