Hello, DL here. We went strawberry picking on June 24th. We went with 3 or 4 other families to a strawberry farm in Antrim, a town 15-20 minutes away from where we live. My dad didn’t go, just my mom and us kids. We didn’t get rained on, thankfully. Just a moist, cool morning with mosquitoes all over the place. The red ripe berries were peeking at us from under the leaves. That sounds like poetry, kind of, doesn’t it? Maybe all the poetry that I’ve been reading for school is influencing me. Oh no! (mock horror) I don’t want to become a poetess! Just kidding. I don’t really want to write poetry though. Not my thing. I prefer to write in prose if I have to write at all. I’m not a big fan of my writing assignments for school. =[
Anyway, getting back onto the subject, between the 5 of us picking, we picked 25 lbs of strawberries in about an hour or so. Pretty good! Even Garrison picked strawberries, Mom taught him which ones were ripe and he filled up his own container. It was fun going with friends though, more interesting than if we had just gone by ourselves.

We brought the berries back and Mom picked up some stuff to make jam. A couple of us kids helped Mom make jam. I hulled the strawberries, Mom washed them and Di squished them into a mushy pulp. Then Mom did the rest. I have no idea how to make strawberry jam or any jam for that matter so if you want to know, ask Mom not me. Mom did 2 batches of jam and from both batches, she got 18 jars of jam!
We ate some strawberries but they didn’t taste super great. Dad says we’ve been spoiled from having Hood strawberries from Oregon. I guess that the strawberries from Oregon taste better than the ones grown in New Hampshire. I helped my mom sort strawberries, wash strawberries and hull strawberries. And after I was done hulling strawberries and sorting them. I was sick and tired of strawberries! I was humming a tune to myself, “strawberries here, strawberries there, strawberries everywhere” over and over again. I’m not really sure why, maybe b/c I had gone strawberry crazy! Just kidding. My mom said that she would close her eyes tonight and see strawberries. I don’t know if that happened or not but there definitely a lot of strawberries. We also froze 2 gallon-sized bags worth of strawberries. Mostly the frozen berries are for smoothies! Which are absolutely delicious and make a fabulous summer treat. I hulled a lot of berries for that as well. Berries and berry stems. Oh no, they’re floating before my very eyes!! Just kidding. I’m being too dramatic.

Dad and Mom are planning to give most of the jam away. It’s very good jam by the way, I had some on toast for breakfast this morning. Mom said that maybe she would give it away to people for Christmas presents. An easy gift, not expensive, they’ll most certainly enjoy it and it’s edible. What’s better than that? I know! Chocolate! I’m getting off subject again and being silly. Sorry! I don’t know how you save jam until Christmas. It’s a good 6 months away, but then again, I don’t know much about jam or canning either so go figure. I don’t want to see strawberries though for a while. For the next couple of weeks, I’m going to be strawberried out! I know strawberried isn’t a real word but I made it up and thought it was fun. Well, hope you enjoy this post about strawberries! I also hope that you get to eat some delicious strawberries yourself this summer. Just don’t send any to us! Signing off. -DL (Dog Lover)

What does it mean to abide? To me it means to rest in, trust in, wait upon, and entrust myself to, in this case, someone. That someone is the Triune God. A dear brother and friend challenged me to abide in Christ and clear out as much of my schedule as possible to wait upon God for my next step. His challenge was made in face of his knowledge of me as a doer, an initiator, a person who struggles to wait. I also believe that this friend walks very much in step with the movement of the Holy Spirit.

Given all that I do in my work here at His Mansion, I am asking myself constantly this past week, what does it mean to abide, to remain, to wait upon the Lord. In the past I have seen the Lord’s movement produce in a way that I as a human could never match. Often when I trust God, giving space to Him in my life and my spheres of influence, I see Him work, and I get the incredible pleasure of being swept along in His wake.

Why then is it so hard for me to abide? My flesh, my natural bent cry out to plan, to talk, to work, to act and yet I know in my head that if I can remain in Him, it will be very clear when I need to move myself. Timing is most everything, and I want to control it, even though it is NOT for me to control.

I know there is a freedom and rest that is found in abiding in God. Freedom and rest are things I long for, but it doesn’t seem that I want to trust Him enough to receive them from Him. Alas, that is my prayer, to abide, to remain, and to wait until He moves first that I might follow in His wake. - Dad writing

DL here. I just got back from Tae Kwon Do. Our family drove up in our minivan on the way to Tae Kwon Do class but I decided to walk down with my brother, Di. It turned out that both of us ran down the whole way. I heartily recommend that to anyone who just wants a bit of exercise. Run downhill a cool night just for a little bit. If you run really hard, then you get cramps. At least I do. If you have long hair, let it out behind you. I don’t know why but I like running downhill on a cool night with my hair flowing behind me. Thought that I’d recommend it for somebody else to try. It just feels good b/c it’s not too hot nor too cold outside and I like the feeling of the wind blowing through my hair. Interesting, huh? That’s all for now. Just a short and sweet post. Signing off. -DL