CURRENTLY || July

READING // Brideshead Revisited + the Iliad

WATCHING // Lord of the Rings again with my brother. "There's some good in this world... and it's worth fighting for."

EATING // homemade pancakes

LOVING // these days of bright blue sky and fluffy white clouds floating o'er head + lake days, canoeing trips, and bonfires... the roaring flames leaping to the sky, surrounded by friends laughing and telling jokes, listening to the nighttime sounds and watching the moon come out, just encircled with good company and friendliness and wanting it to never change.  It reminds me of that part of Brideshead, “If it could only be like this always – always summer, always alone, the fruit always ripe and Aloysius in a good temper...” 

REALIZING // often the of best times are those not recorded in photos, because you were too busy enjoying the moment.  Too busy living to bother about a camera.

PLANNING // how to decorate my college dorm room. (!!!)  exciting stuff lies ahead.

REMEMBERING // our lovely vacation in Wyoming at the beginning of July.  The fireworks + parade + rodeo on the 4th... the hiking, the waterfalls, the camping for 3 days away from civilization... The peacefulness + the beauty.  And mountains. ♥

PONDERING // St. Therese and her Little Way yet again, as I re-read Story of a Soul.  How I need to be satisfied with the kind of flower God has made me to be.  Even if it's the little violent half hidden by all the brilliant flowers, I need to embrace God's will and strive for perfection where I am, not wishing to be something else.

"He opened the book of nature before me, and I saw that every flower He has created has a beauty of its own, that the splendor of the rose and the lily's whiteness do not deprive the violet of its scent nor make less ravishing the daisy's charm.  I saw that if every little flower wished to be a rose, Nature would lose her spring adornments, and the fields would be no longer enameled with their varied flowers.   
So it is in the world of souls, the living garden of the Lord."  (Story of a Soul)

LISTENING // Irish tunes of course. Will ye go Lassie, go / Red is the Rose / the Black Velvet Band

THINKING // what a great experience it is to have a real summer job.  Working at a Montessori school has it's ups and downs definitely, but that's ok.  Life has it's ups and downs too.  Sure there are some days when I'm counting down the hours till I can leave, but there are others when the time goes by so fast, we're taking the kids to the beach and coming back to play spoons and do puppet shows and before I know it the day is over.

BEING THANKFUL //  for so much.  As I recall these past months it brings to mind one of my favorite Anne of Green Gables quotes:
“After all," Anne had said to Marilla once, "I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.” 

This summer has been full of those days.  So many delightful memories strung out one after the other.  Memories I'll keep close to my heart as I get ready to fly across the country, TAC-bound.  God is incredibly good.