Welcome July!
It’s July! I’m a day late in welcoming the new month but here we go. The holiday weekend and hubby’s 10 day vacation are nearly here. He officially starts vacation tomorrow at 1:30 PM. He’s absolutely stoked to only have to work a half day. I spent today cooking, working on this site and reading the Book of Psalms. It’s a daily spiritual habit for me now. Take the date, read that Psalm, then add 30 and read that Psalm, do it again. It’s a vague description of the process I know. Today is the 2nd, so I read and prayed Psalm 2, Psalm 32, Psalm 62, Psalm 92 and Psalm 122. I started this after reading Praying the Bible by Donald S. Whitney. It’s great for days when I don’t have a direction for my prayer time. My prayer list is always crazy long but sometimes I need a direction and it’s been a game changer. Especially since it’s been a rough year for many of my friends.
The start of a new month means a free book through Amazon First Reads because we have an Amazon Prime subscription. Most months I find something interesting to read. Last month I picked up American Sky and absolutely loved it. I’ll be posting my review tomorrow. For July, I was able to pick out TWO books:
Getting a free book is great but scoring TWO is even better! I don’t find cozy mysteries through this program, but I do love historical fiction and they always seem to have something. The Fourth Daughter is a multi-generational saga and The Women of Arlington Hall is listed as historical fiction/romance. Now, I’m not a fan of romance but I’m willing to give the book a chance. If it’s focused strictly on romance with no substance, I’ll be adding it to my “Did Not Finish” list. Once I finish The Beast of Littleton Woods (A Lady Hardcastle Mystery Book 12) I’ll read these and then share my thoughts at the end of the month.
We’re watching the weather because we have a BBQ planned with our kids and grandkids on Saturday. We decided to relax on the actual holiday, get together on the 5th and that gives us Sunday to do more relaxing. For me, I’ll do my relaxing after church Sunday morning.
Speaking of church, I’m praying on a different front because I just got word that the wonderful young man that’s been leading our worship for the last year, is stepping down.
He’s in a place where he feels he needs to step down. The past year has been filled with full time classes at university, being hours away from his home, and commuting 45 minutes to church each week. I’m going to miss him a lot. He brought life with him and a deep desire to serve the Lord through music. My prayer is that he remains committed to his music as he continues to let God lead his way. With that, I’m praying for the new worship leader that will step into the role. We don’t know who that is, yet, but God is faithful and we have faith that He’ll bring the right person to our growing church.
This refreshing photo of our pool was from last year. We made the decision to keep it closed this year. It’s the first summer since we bought the house that we don’t have the pool open. I miss it, but it’s good that it’s closed. J is so busy with work this summer because his company expanded into two new areas. I stepped back into my job at church. In a previous post I wrote about this and shared that our decision was based on time as well as money. The money we free up from not running the pool (increased water and electric bills, cost of chemicals) will be put toward a loan we took out to install the new roof and gutters.
Home ownership isn’t cheap, but it’s definitely worth it. We were very fortunate to buy our home before the market spiked and interest rates jumped. Two of our sons were able to buy within a couple years of us, so they made out. Our youngest makes good money, is single but lives at home with us. It’s a waste of his hard earned money to pay for a rental. Apartments in our area are ridiculous. So he lives at home. It’s a blessing having him hear. Especially when J lost his job in ‘23.
During my parents time it was common place for multiple generations to live together and take care of things. Americans have become accustomed to the “get married, buy a starter home, have kids, buy a bigger home, kids grow up, downsize the home” path of life.
I can’t even imagine how my grandniece and her fiancé will be able to afford a house when they get married next year. It wouldn’t surprise me if they moved in with her parents for a bit. Fortunately, my nephew has a big house. so there’s plenty of room.
That’s enough rambling for today. July is off to a good start and I’m looking forward to another staycation with my man.
Peace,
Nim
