like riding backwards in a car

he took a nap pretty much right after he and mom came back from their church retreat. so cute. i wonder if we’re all little kids underneath all the layers.

so grateful for the rain that came down today and ended the over-a-weeklong heat wave of 100+ degree weather (avg around 107). I’m ready for a new season. it was also an interesting day at REI today. had 2 ladies there tell me they each recently got out of a relationship (and one of them -- T, an employee -- turned 27 today). i wonder if i missed an opportunity to encourage them. either way, it was nice mtg friendly ppl.

hung out with the fake flowers and my blue water bottle at the table today

logically, I know that they can’t really harm me, but when I see [or more often, hear] one of these fig beetles flying anywhere in my vicinity, I freak out like a big scaredy cat and duck and cover.

clouds have it. One could almost forget it was 108 degrees that day.

I swear there were ants working together to build this mound, but every time I looked at them through the lens of my phone, they’d seemingly disappear.

Finished “The Alchemist” today. First fiction book [like an actual book] I’ve finished in at least a handful of years I think (I did read some Harry Potter fanfiction last year). I liked how the author threaded different mental connections the protagonist was making. Read this to fulfill a commitment to reading at least 1 leadership-related book, but this one’s only tangentially related. It’s more a book about going after your unique purpose. Still wondering about mine.

only picture I took today, and this was just so I could send a picture to my podiatrist b/c I’m getting more worried about the state of my feet (in this case, I was worried about potential bony protrusions).

cried a lot after the sermon today, but it was a good cry. our faucet isn’t actually leaky, but its rotated position is definitely off, and I dunno how to fix it.

My sister often marvels at the density of amazing people around her and how fortunate she is that they’ve all decided to allow her into their lives and bless her w/ their awesomeness. After having heard countless stories about several of them and meeting some of them in person, I can attest the truth of that observation. BUT my experience has shown me there is also a ring of goodness and love that follow her a la Psalm 23 wherever she goes, and it’s no secret to the ppl who find themselves within that space, that it’s a place where ppl are invited to gather round at the Lord’s table.

Bro brought back all his games (well, minus one of my favorite games, Hanabi, since he lent it to a friend) to store at home due to having much less space at his new place. It’s an impressive collection.

The second instance resulted in the homemade noodle dish pictured above that I got to try. The parents were at a pastor’s house for dinner, and when my mom saw the delicious meal prepared by the wife, she wanted to save some of it to share w/ me, so she asked Dad if she could share his bowl to save her portion for me. The pastor’s wife overheard her and offered to just send my mom home w/ an extra helping. I don’t deserve my mom.

Mom was really cute and said, “I’m so excited for you to try it! I followed the instructions to make them adelante! Is it adelante??” Yes, mom, it was adelante~

guess what this reminds me of? the endometrium of the uterus! I confess my mind makes some strange connections sometimes

It was surreal to see the total solar eclipses [via livestream] in different cities and states as the moon cut a path across the 48 contiguous states. Extra special to hear the emotion in the voices of the NASA scientists who had studied this for years and could tell you a thousand details about it, seeing it in-person. What they had read about had become reality and was even more magnificent than they could’ve imagined (some were crying on camera!). I wonder if this is how the first Christians felt and how those who’ve devoured the Bible for passages about the presentation and union of the Bride to her Groom will feel when they come face to face w/ their Beloved.

he’s like a little boy. or a really old man.

we’re already cheap (or practical & ingenius?) for using pie plates as plates, but I realized my dad graduated to another level when I saw that the plate I was using, which previously had holes in it, had been given new life with some electrical tape