August 30th: "Three Gifts Very Small"

#694  The brand new Monarch

#695  Mike's cargo area

#696  The actual size of the real snake (not pictured) from which Joel rescued me...

.....and the subsequent snake fascination from the boy  (you can't see it, but he has a snake on his shirt, too.....)

August 29th: "A Gift One, Two, Three"

#691  ONE very excited 2nd grader on her first day of school

#692  TWO kids marvel at the morning sun

#693  THREE extra hours of an empty house

August 28th: "Three Gifts Long Awaited"

#688  Last day of summer Day Trip

#689  A good, cheap lunch

#690  Sitting Down

August 27th: "Three Gifts New"

 Author's Note:  Tonight, The Eldest's school hosted the Meet The Teacher night....highly anticipated both to actually meet the teacher, but also to come back to the school that last year at this time had been almost destroyed by a fire.  So thankful...

#685  New Haircut

#686  New Old School

#687  New Routine

August 26th: "A Gift Cut, Sewn, Buttoned"

#682  Cut:  Sunday Coupons

#683  Sewn:  Grandmommy's church bag

#684  Buttoned:   Sunday dresses

August 25th: "Three Gifts Fragile"

frag - ile  adj.  Easily broken, damaged, or destroyed.  Frail.

#679  Superforts

#680  Impromptu Naptime

#681  Pristine Children's bathroom

August 24th: "Three Gifts Moving"

#676  The morning spent alone with the Eldest  (at the mall playground---her choice)

#677  The Only Boy's strumming arm during his "concert" about America.

#678  The Littlest's new fascination with Hot Wheels

August 23rd: "Three Gifts Old"

#673  Old pipes in the aquarium

#674  Old alligator at the zoo

(photo credit:  Ella Edwards)

#675  7-year-OLD's picture of OLD shoes on an OLD floor.....

August 22nd: "Three Gifts in Light"

#670  Early morning light

#671  Bright minds ready to soak up knowledge

#672  Radiant floors

August 21st: "A Gift Straight, Curve, Turn"

Author's Note:  Not only did we wake on this last official day of everyone's summer to nourishing and refreshing rain, but also we celebrated the day my husband was born....my match-in-every-way and  the biggest gift to this family.  What a great day when he joined the world.

#667  Straight:  a tandem stick horse

#668  Curve:   the bend of bubbles

#669 Turn:  metamorphosis turning things new

August 20th: "Three Gifts in Serving"

#664  GG's fun and creativity....lessons in serving

#665  Papa Hall's quiet leadership and tender care....serving as chauffeur

#666  clean sinks

August 19th: "Three Gifts in Church"

My kids are still away.  I miss them, but let me just say, this was the first all church breakfast in 7 years that I didn't have to fix someone else's plate, I could talk to whomever I please (uninterrupted), and we were very, very early.

But back to the dare....

#661  CJ is back.

#662  The Men's Choir starting worship with "Brethren, We Have Met to Worship"

"Brethren, we have met to worship and adore the Lord our God;

Will you pray with all your power, while we try to preach the Word?

All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down;

Brethren, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around."

#663  Singing harmony with my sister-in-love, Anna

August 18th: "A Gift Red, Read, Written"

With the children away at GG & Papa's house, I took the opportunity to deep clean some closets.  Oh, the treasures waiting to be found....

#658  A trace of a boy away

#659  A remembered discovery of a bonus

#660  Evidence of a littler Eldest

August 17th: "Three Gifts in the Morning"

#655  Creative time

#656  Quiet conversations

#657  Packing for GG & Papa's house

August 16th: "Three Gifts of Family"

Author's Note:  Last of the pics of the trip to the coast (maybe....), but today's dare kept me thinking about our trip as a family and how we bonded on our adventure.  Thanks be to God.....

#652  The Beginning.....two became one.

#653  The Blessings...each different.

#654  The Bundle...together, we thrive.

August 15th: "Three Gifts Ugly-Beautiful"

(final day of a great vacation week.....back home and settling in)

#649  Monstrosities of man....the scars on the land but the beauty of achievement

#650  Post-vacation laundry...the finality of the end but back to the familiar and comfortable

#651  Souvenirs...the jumble of colors but each one carefully selected and cleaned

August 14th: "A Gift In A Ring, Curve, Sphere"

(Day 6 of our family trip to the Texas coast....the last of the week....again, thankful.)

#646  Ring of a commercial washing machine....tending to the cabin that has kept us so well

#647  Curve of the bottle of Aunt Polly & Uncle Freddy's liniment...that sits across the street from their old quaint cabin

#648  Sphere of the graceful dancers....their mystery and strange beauty hypnotizes from a distance