Blueberry Hill remix

We usually pick blueberries on our 4th of July trips to NC, but this year the farmer informed us that there had been a frost in April.  No public picking this year.  Total bummer.  There's nothing like picking for about an hour and then running to jump in the lake afterwards.  And, I had planned on the youngest to be initiated. 

Madeline picking last year.

Michelin baby in her private outdoor spa

This year, we drove up to Norris, and Madeline said,

"Sara and I will be the eaters, and Mom, you be the picker.  That's a good idea."

"Don't you love the forest Sara?"

"Dla,aldluaj?"

A much needed example of sisterly love. 

You eat one underripe blueberry and you never need further instruction.  I caught Sara with a slighly chewed green blueberry and that was it.   First hazing was done. 

Then my brilliant child realized that it was much simpler to grab the blueberries that had hit the ground. 

Gather ye blueberries while ye may

But, where have your shoes gone today?

Both girls ditched their playshoes because they had been covered in newly mown wet grass.  Madeline would yell , "Ow, ow, ow!"  to which Sara would lend an echo and then laugh hysterically. 

We picked for about an hour and then headed back home, happy, hot and with one more thing off the summer bucket list.  PB&J was enjoyed plastic poolside. 

What I've been reading

The Power of Habit  "Why we do what we do in life and business"
by Charles Duhigg

Ridiculously fascinating!  In depth examples of how habits are formed, kept, and changed such as:  How P&G marketed a failing brand, why AA works, how Tony Dungy taught an apathetic NFL franchise to win, Paul O'Neill's remarkable turnaround of Alcoa by focusing on worker safety, what about Rosa Parks' refusal spearheaded a change in Southern segregation. 

"Every McDonald's, for instance, looks the same- the company deliberately tries to standardize stores' architecture and what employees say to customers, so everything is a consistent cue to trigger eating routines.  The foods at some chains are specifically engineered to deliver immediate rewards- the fries, for instance, are designed to begin disintegrating the moment they hit your tongue, in order to deliver a hit of salt and grease as fast as possible, causing your pleasure centers to light up and your brain to lock in the pattern."

Think
The Life of the Mind and the Love of God
by John Piper

Read this one starting with the appendices first, and read  it slowly.....

"Focusing on the life of the mind helps us to know God better, love him more, and care for the world. Along with an emphasis on emotions and the experience of God, we also need to practice careful thinking about God"

This is a Soul
The Mission of Rick Hodes
by Marilyn Berger

A book recommended to me by my pediatrician as we were talking about special needs adoption.  This heart doctor "pioneered" taking pictures of his patients and placing them front & center in their charts as a reminder to everyone that the diagnosis are real, live people with faces.  He has personally adopted 8 ( and counting!) of the hardest spine and back cases in Ethiopia, where he has lived the past 28 years.

A Praying Life
by Paul Miller

A book that has been on my "want" list for about 6 months finally came to fruition at my birthday and has not disappointed.  I've read through it once and intend to read it again this summer in a "workbook" fashion.  Miller is clear, vulnerable, and practical in his exposition on life lived in prayer.  Highly, emphatically recommend.

"Prayer mirrors the gospel.  In the gospel, the Father takes us as we are because of Jesus and gives us his gift of salvation.  In prayer, the Father receives us as we are because of Jesus and give us his gift of help.  We look at the inadequacy of our praying and give up, thinking something is wrong with us.  God looks at the adequacy of his Son and delights in our sloppy, meandering prayers."

Bringing up Be'be'
by Pamela Druckerman

My favorite thing about books is the fact that they keep your world "BIG"!  Druckerman is an American living in Paris and wondering why, how, and is it possible for my kids to behave like these French kids?! Super fun and eye-opening to read, especially as I get caught in my rut of living in a small world.  She is a journailist by trade, keeping the book from being to research intensive and dry.  It is filled with personal  anecdotes, but I have to wonder, do the French want it's counterpart??