Goodbye, Summer! Hello, Fall!

I know I am a few days late in saying goodbye to summer, but here in south Georgia it has felt absolutely nothing like fall!

Oh, but yesterday we ushered in a slightly cool breeze with a bright blue sky and even a few leaves falling to the ground. Or maybe that was pine needles. Oh well, either way it was something falling out of a tree and thankfully it wasn't one of the boys.

Today it is cloudy but cool. We have two doors open and the boys are running in and out (something I don't normally let them do. You do remember your mother saying, "I told you to stay in or stay out!"? Yes, I say that too.) I am cooking lunch and I so badly wanted to tell you that only one fly came in, but as soon as we started to eat his family decided to join him.

Before Keith came home to join us for lunch, the girls and I decided to say goodbye to summer. Madison said goodbye to the bugs. Yeah, right. Morgan said goodbye to the heat. We have our fingers crossed. Mallory said goodbye to swimming. We didn't get to go as much as usual.Meghan said goodbye to the sunflowers. Sweet. And I say goodbye to another few months of watching the kiddos grow. Seeing their little bodies become tanned by the sun. Watching them laugh and splash in any kind of water we can find. Even if it is in the backyard of Papa's on the old yellow slip-n-slide. Goodbye to the watermelon, peaches, and berries of all sorts. Goodbye to the long summer nights when bedtime wasn't until long after 9.

When we say goodbye, it is only for a season. But, one thing is for sure and that is we will never get the one we are saying goodbye to back. So, for all you women out there who are blessed to have someone very special around you, treasure the moments. Don't let them pass you by. Lift up a word of praise to the one from whom all blessings flow.

Now we say, hello fall! We welcome the shorter days and the cooler air. We anticipate the beauty of the leaves changing and falling. We look forward to hot soups and spicy chili. Jackets and long socks. Football games and hunting. (I threw that in there for Keith!) Special times with family and friends. A time to give thanks to the one who blesses us beyond our imagination.

May our days ahead bring God glory. May we as women embrace His great calling and honor Him in all we do.

Nichole

Fruit in its Season

(1) Madison Suzanne, (2) Morgan Gail, (3) Mallory Nichole, (4) Meghan Elizabeth

(5) Joshua Spencer, (6) Stephen Nicholas, (7) Meleah Grace

A Baseball Team? A Soccer Team? Kid's Little League?

No. May I introduce you to our Mission Field and our Discipleship Group.  We just happen to all be on the same team! Right now it is the team that makes up our family. The Boggs family. Prayerfully as they grow and mature and the Holy Spirit draws them, we will all be on the same Faith team!

It wasn't too long ago that the days were long and wearisome. Constant training and disciplining. A whole lot of whining and complaining. Selfish and sassy attitudes. Huffs and puffs of all sorts. Why are our kids (and myself included) acting this way??!! What am I doing wrong? We should be farther along than this. This is not a picture of the Lord Jesus in our home. I wanted to throw my hands up and wave the white flag of surrender. Certainly I didn't want to quit, did I?

Not too much later the Lord gently reminded me that this was in fact a picture of a battlefield. I was dealing with eight people who had a sin nature that wanted their own way! He reminded me that this was my mission field. There are several little ones who have some growing to do. They don't know Christ as Savior. My mission field. There are several older ones who have stated that they want to follow Christ. These are my discipleship group." Be strong and of good courage", the Lord told Joshua several times after Moses had passed away. He had an even bigger group of people to lead! "Be strong and of good courage, Nichole". I know He is with me and I know this is where He wants me. I wave the white flag of surrender, "Yes, Lord".

So, joyfully and prayerfully we will open up God's Word to 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and recite the truth about love. I encourage the children that this is how we treat each other and this is how we should love. It reminds me of a ball team teaching the fundamentals, the basics. We may have to read it every week until they are grown and married, but I believe and trust that His word will not return void.  You know why? Because we want numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6, and 7 to WIN!

Nichole

Psalm 1 - tHis family tree

Psalm 1:1-6
Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.