A Running Collection

William Boggs was a cowboy.  He rode the range rounding up cattle  Rode over the mountain trail  Getting them captives out of jail.  He was a cowboy.  Ol William Boggs was a cowboy.  He had a pistol had a rifle and a shotgun too  He was a cowboy, William Boggs was a cowboy.  This song has been around for awhile. George's dad sang it to him. I know there is more to the story. I know William loves to sing it and for a long time, he couldn't go to bed until George sang it with him. He is our cowboy. He just was made to be a cowboy. He's dreaming of a horse a lot of the time.

We had a pile of people come over on the Fourth of July. We had a spread of American food. BBQ, potato salad, baked beans, pasta salads, an American flag cake, guacamole, watermelon, blueberry cobbler, pickles, beer, sweet tea. Red, white, and blue jello. We were in bathing suits and shooting off fireworks. Children squealed and ran around with sparklers, stood in awe and fear of the noises and asked for more. They stayed up late. People talked and ate and drank and sat.   This old house held us all in the rain and then released us back to play and shoot fireworks. We celebrated barefoot. We watched children toddling and new friends making. This is the Fourth of July. 

 I love my family. I love, more than anything in the world, to be with my family. It’s true. I love my mom and dad a lot. I love to be near them. I love to talk my mom’s ear off.   She never stops listening (she’s probably gotten pretty good at appearing attentive over the last 38 years). I love to watch my dad just go with the flow and grab a kid and enjoy them for a few minutes. I love that he just goes for life. He asks good questions and loves to eat sweets.  I love my siblings. We had a rough childhood. It was broken up with all the things that break families up. We worked hard, all of us, with the prayers and help of a large supportive community, to rise out of the heap of brokenness and thrive. We haven’t perfected it, but we are all thriving. And I think what I mean by that is we LOVE life. We love what we are doing – raising families, loving people, loving God, being adventurous, and always learning. I’d say that’s what we are all doing. Figh...

We pretended it was a rainy cold day. Complete with hot tea and blankets. The stifling heat would just need to wait outside while we snuggled for a bit.   Out came the play dough and books and projects we’ve wanted to do. Hannah played with us for a bit before drifting off into dreamy nap land, which meant we didn’t have to stand guard over tiny pieces and electric outlets.