Five Simple Things (July 9)

The weekend! Yay! We have had the sun shining all week until Thursday when the sun hid behind the clouds. The Bean has been swimming after our homeschool class lets out and The Mr. and I have been enjoying the garden and sitting outside just soaking up the warm temperatures. We are still wondering where the hot temps are because we've only had a high of 90 so far. We are sure it will hit us soon, but for now, we are really enjoying the 75-80 temperatures. The Mr. is thinking of breaking out his charcoal grill for this weekend. He always cooks on a gas grill, but we have a lot of camping charcoal that needs to be burned. Maybe pop the tent up in the backyard, cook on the charcoal grill, and pretend we're camping? We'll see what the rest of the weekend brings. Here are the things that made this week awesome!

1. Black Birds

Since the beginning of spring we've been placing bird feeders and bird houses around in different places throughout our yard. We've had so many birds come and hang out with us because of that. Black birds, blue jays, chickadees, starlings, and even an owl that likes to hang out in the big cherry tree right at the fence line.

2. This Sign

This sign was seen in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, during our recent trip to Arkansas and I couldn't help but share it. Car wash, BBQ, and a barber-Multitasking at its finest!

3. This Lavender

We've been cutting and bundling lavender a lot this week for the shop. I had to place my shop on "vacation-mode" on Etsy just to get all of the orders so far fulfilled. The Mr. and The Bean have been a great help and we are almost done with all of the orders placed so far. I am so grateful for everyone that has helped keep my passion still afloat. You can check out both of my shops here and here and by the end of July they should be combined as one and back up and running, so keep in touch!

4. This Camera

This was my first digital camera and I won it from a photo contest held by the local Bi-Mart store. I recently found it while cleaning out a hall closet and getting rid of things. The Mr. and I have been on a mission to downsize and live more simply. Unfortunately, this camera had to go.

The picture that won me the contest was the one below.

The Bean was just a little guy,

5. This Thought

Recent violence has made me rethink where I stand with some issues that are happening lately. It's hard to think that someone could get so angry at another person that they actually hate them and want to cause harm on them physically or emotionally. I've never hated anyone so it's hard for me to understand how someone else could. My thoughts about hate have really been brought into prospective over the last year when someone told me they hate me. The person was a close relative and since that time it changed me. It changed me in a way that made me hurt deeply knowing that there is someone out in the world that could hate so easily. The Mr. is able to move on and be able to close this person out, but I don't function mentally that way. I feel horrible for whatever we did to cause this person to hate so quickly, but on another aspect, I feel they need to change their way of seeing things in order to stop the hate they feel in their heart. The reasons they give for the hate don't justify the actions they have caused us in pain over the last year. With that said, even though my experience with personal hate doesn't compare to recent hate, I still feel that people cause themselves to get to a point of hating another for reasons that are only temporary. Hate leads to bitterness and bitterness ultimately is your own demise. I don't normally talk about issues in the news, or politics on my personal blog, but the more we speak out the better others will understand that the world doesn't operate on hate and those that hate others, saying they hate others, or showing they hate others will fade away. Praying that there is change isn't working, action is what is needed now. We must all do what's right, even if it's not particularly joyful.

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