Teaching Illustrated Bible Journaling
The 1, 2 & 3 John Bible Journaling Workshops at Personal Scrapbook in late August were completely full! I enjoyed spending the day diving into the Word and seeing this beautiful group of ladies (ages 11 to 72!) use their creativity to illustrate the lessons from these three New Testament books.
In addition, I shared an introduction to Bible journaling for a small group hosted by my friend Darlene. I also created a four-part Bible journaling devotional series on The Proverbs 31 Woman incorporating audios, pdf tutorials, and a video tutorial. (I'll share more about this series and how you can access it in the coming weeks.)
FUN Stuff
One Saturday in August, despite the heat (95 degrees!), we drove up to Eisenhower State Park for a short hike and a couple of hours in the shade. Robbie read while I worked on an illustrated Bible journaling page.
On a recent Friday afternoon, I took myself ice skating (there's no rule that I have to wait for one of the nieces to visit to go to the rink, right?). Last weekend, I attended a retreat that I'll share more about in a future post. And we enjoyed catching a few new summer movies - Spider-Man:Homecoming and Despicable Me 3!
Not-so-FUN stuff
The devastation here in Texas from Hurricane (& Tropical Storm) Harvey was unbelievable. In the Dallas area, we were well north of it, however it was heartbreaking to watch this storm tear through our state. My sister and her family in southeast Texas were surrounded by water! Although they did not get water inside their home, they are still working to get things back to normal after water was several feet deep in their garage and the extra house on their property (where my niece Pun'kin was living at the time). We talked and texted all through the night the storm hit that area as they watched the water come within an inch of the threshold. Here's a photo looking out into their backyard the morning after Harvey.
Of course, there have been many other tragic events over the past few months - earthquakes in Mexico, Hurricane Irma in Florida, forest fires in several western states, etc! Many people will be dealing with the aftermath of these disasters for months (and possibly years) to come. We feel blessed to not have been directly affected . . .unless you count the self-imposed fuel shortage that stormed through our area when the news reported that several Gulf coast refineries were shut down temporarily due to Hurricane Harvey. Honestly, I laughed out loud when I walked to the bank to make a deposit and discovered a line of cars over a mile long waiting to get gas.
Home Improvement
Over the past few years, our front flowerbeds have gotten in pretty bad shape. After a few years of drought-like conditions and water restrictions, most of the bushes we planted shriveled up and died. I pulled most of those up in the spring, which left plenty of room for weeds to thrive! I had our lawn maintenance crew come out and clean everything out (except the crepe myrtles and rose bushes) and add a layer of mulch.
We also had the trees trimmed as several branches were touching the house and others were very low-hanging. It's hard to tell in the before and after photos (below), but this work made a huge difference. It's so nice to have this work done. The beds will be easy to maintain through the winter and ready for some new plantings in the spring!
It's hard to believe tomorrow begins the last quarter of 2017! My plans include: (1) blogging every day in October, (2) completing some additional home improvement projects, (3) traveling, (4) celebrating the holidays, and (5) checking several things off my 50 Things To Do Before I'm 50 list. Any guesses as to which items I'll be checking off? Here's a photo hint for one of them!
What are your plans for the last quarter of the year?
