Hay Happens and Hay's Happen

The fourth Monday of the month we like to share our appreciations for each other. I make a nice dinner, we sit a the dining room table, and share/love/enjoy.

I made steelhead trout with a nice tangy marinade. YUM!

Daddy is so excited he’s eyes are closed as he dreams of the deliciousness waiting for him!

I love spoiling my family.

We appreciated Daddy first: TOT, you go!

She used colorful adjectives and explained as she read.

Then I shared. I could have gone on for many pages for my HHH. (IA = I appreciate)

Then Tot shared about me. Just wow. My ability to overcome? My love for the family. These are things I didn’t even realized she noticed. Thank you.

Then Daddy shared about me. I’m so grateful.

And then we shared about the TOT!
Me first:

(again, so many more, but I had to stop somewhere)

And then Daddy shared about Tot.

So grateful for our family. Appreciation is daily, but we memorialize it on one day in the month.

She got into the car yesterday with her new kids. Yes, she adopted some new critters from recess!
They all got names as they each have distinct personalities. They also have a new Trader Joe’s water bottle home cozied with dandelions.

She got home from school and gave them dinner of raisins and lettuce.

Very happy little ladybugs.

And even more happy when she lets them crawl in nature.

Tatum just complete the 3rd quarter! Wow! The year is getting harder, but she continues to shine. Now, her History grade went down a bit, but with the project coming up, she’ll raise her grade. She is doing project and presentation on Martha Washington.

First, here is her report card.

But…and this is a BIG but…. I look at the character. (grades help too).

Look at what Mrs. King wrote:

Sweet, sensitive, and a servant’s heart. YES! She sees what I see. Often she is comforting a hurting student.

Now, what I see at home…much of this, but even more.

Tatum came into our room this Sunday morning with a two-page essay she completed. Now, she had already completed it for Martha Washington, but we cut it up and put it on her board for presentation.

She apparently woke up in the middle of the night with a realization:
OH NO! I have to turn this essay on Monday, and we cut it up! I need to rewrite it!

So she woke up at 5 am (on her own) and did this whole thing:

Bursting in our room at 6:30am, she showed me her paper.

So I told her she had showed some tremendous character traits by doing this;

Perseverance

Responsibility

Respect

Attention to Detail

Diligence

and Intentionality

SO proud of you for being WHO you are. Your fruit is juicy!

Gardening is such a Godly endeavor. It truly embodies the idea of life: The more we sow seeds of love, joy, peace, patience…. the more we reap this in our lives. We plant, we get TEN, TWENTY, ONE HUNDRED fold. What a beautiful concept.

Tatum is learning this concept of giving. Giving OUT with how she speaks and acts. The tongue can be a mighty force of giving LOVE or stealing joy. She is choosing love.

Patience is required when you plant seeds (or when you use kind words and you don’t get back kindness sometimes) James 5: 7-8: “Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. 8 You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

I tell this to Tatum. You continue to be kind no matter what. Later, it will come back in spades.

Daddy is illustrating this for us with the garden he has made in our back yard. JUST WOW!

Isn’t it glorious!?

Stay tuned for the crop we will sow and reap. Thank you, Daddy for showing how this works, and thank you Father for being our teacher of this law.

May we continue to sow seeds of the fruits of the Spirit.

Has it already been three years?

He’s our little snuggle bug, but he can be two dogs.
On one hand, he’s so lovable. In the morning, he goes around to all three of us to get a quick pet and love pat, and then he moves on. He belly crawls to Daddy when he is to go outside. He licks all visitors to death.

On the other hand, he is so skittish that he constantly is jumping around. He truly just needs a chill pill at times.

But all in all….COOPY…. you make us so happy! You brighten up the room.

Enjoy your little treat. We love spoiling you.

Tonight in our Hay Happens meeting, we read a devotional from Max Lucado.

My idea was to draw a heart and fill it with OUR renovated hearts!

Daddy went deep with the SON shining upon Him producing the FRUITS of the Spirit.

Tatum filled hers with a HOUSE of fruit also! Her fruit is blossoming. Love the “self-control” piece.

I kind of did the same thing with my heart. My FRUIT is continuing to blossom.

We all are humbled and grateful for HIM working us all out for HIS good.

Daddy and Tatum sure are producing fruit of LOVE right now!

I love you HAY family

We’d have a “staycation!” What better way to celebrate. Stay in. Stay focused on each other. AHHHHH.

Doug somehow snuck all the goodies for me behind my back as to surprise me!
I surprised him with a cute little getup.

We dropped off Tatum at mom’s (THANK YOU MAMA) and started our date.

He gave me these flowers to start. Can you even!!??

Then we enjoyed our dinner. Coconut’s takeout saved the evening so we could spend more time talking than cooking. Also, a few gifts!

He got me a birdie that holds my vitamins! (NEEDED!), a cool Bible verse calendar, and an A-Z birdie box that he created. WOWOWOWOW. Just look what he did for each letter.

HOW AMAZING! JUST WOW. Honey, you are so good to me. You see me and all the good. Just thank you.

Our dinner was lovely and we later watched An Affair to Remember.

Such a fun romantic movie. Kept us on the edge until the end.

The next morning, we went down to our “ocean” and had a nice walk. The weather was glorious!

Oh, HHH, you make my heart smile. I love you so much.