Live simply that others might simply live.  ~Elizabeth Seaton

Simplicity, carried to an extreme, becomes elegance.

                                                                         -Jon Franklin Writing for Story

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.  ~Albert Einstein

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.    

                               -Hans Hofmann, Introduction to the Bootstrap 1993           

We can fit a month of fun into six days by making the most of  the 24 hour periods bestowed upon us.

All too soon my tires whirl along the country roads taking me back to where I came from, and that large winged monster flies off with my sister.

We each return to our dwellings  to  hastily prepare for the new school year, we break from the hustle and bustle to text and pretend  that we can run back to Neverland, the happy place,  to play, live, explore, and dream some more.

It already feels like we haven’t seen each other in months.  How can that be?

Oh,

 to be brave

 and

 coordinated

 I

wish

to be

a

rockstar

just like them

when

I grow up!

in an Antique store with my sister and the cousins my eye caught a familiar face.

My brain registered the face of Shirley Temple I was so fond of her when I was little.  Memories of early Saturday mornings, waiting for the television to come on the air so I could watch the curly haired cutie.

Wait a minute…who is that on the right? 

 It’s Chrissy! 

 I was recently thinking about my Chrissy doll and by golly here she is right before my very eyes!   (well, a close resemblance not the original doll).

Did you have a Chrissy doll? 

 Her hair could grow and then you could use the dial on her back to shorten it again. Long, short, long, short, so much fun!

Everyone was in the creek but her, she trembled from the shore filled with wanting to be there too.

She inched closer and closer…a little puppy in a big body of water.

Mustering up courage, she swam her little heart out until she reached her peeps.

Trusting in warm arms to carry her back to shore, but of course, not before she had a good swim about.

of shared space.

First: Be cautious the cousins are at play.  Make sure it is posted.

Second: If sharing a large room make sure that everyone understands the rules of your area even if it is only the size of a sleeping bag.

Third: It is important that everyone sign the bottom so that it is clear that the rules are understood.

Fourth:  Even if you never, ever jump on the bed you wouldn’t want anyone to start this year so write it down.

Fifth: Include your American Girl dolls in the rules, you never know what they may get into while the cousins are fast asleep. 

Finally:  If you leave mail in another cousin’s mailbox you will be entered into a raffle and could win a prize.

This is the door

 that leads into the house

 that reunites a family

 where memories are built.

to my humble abode.

If you are visiting me from Chatting at the Sky I am jumping with joy that you are here.  Come on in!  One thing we have in common, we both really like Emily!  She is a  gracious, lovely lady and I am tickled pink to be guest posting today. 

If you have been here before, please take a moment and do the happy dance with me and then shimmy over to Emily’s where  you will be blessed by what she shares and the beautiful women that gather to celebrate the lovely, unexpected and messy moments of life.

In a few short weeks, school will be back from the place it has been and the summer of 2010 will draw to an end.

Before the last days of summer sift through my fingers like sand, I am running away to a land filled with a sister and some giggly girls, and an ever so tolerant brother-in-law.

The cousins will romp, and my sister and I, although we still cook and clean, will be carefree because the load is lighter and there is big girl conversation.  The truth that our lives have intertwined since before we can even remember shares our space.

 The routine that is nipping at my heels, pushed back just a few more days.

I wrote about…

the first two books here.  I finished the third book, The Telling from The Seasons of Grace series last week.  

 This book left me in a contented state of mind, but I still think there is so much more story to tell so I really hope there is more to come.

The overall theme is that the truth will set you free and although secrets from the past have lay the foundation for the Byler family, when the truth is exposed all the scattered pieces are put back together in such a way that the family is better off for the growing pains they have suffered.