• Jesse has a tendency to misread things sometimes, and often the result is hilarious. I wish I had written down some of the examples through the years. The other night in the Scripture reading for the devotional book we’re going through, he read “abdominal idolatries.” It usually takes me just a second to realize something doesn’t sound quite right, then it clicked that it should have been “abominable idolatries.” But actually he’s not too far off there…

• Monday I was walking around feeling an immense measure of relief, like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, figuring it was because it was the first day in at least a couple of weeks that there wasn’t something pressing to be done that day (though, of course, there are always things to be done.) Then I realized that most of the summer travels were over. I mentioned earlier that we were having a lot of coming and going this summer, and most of it occurred in June: Jim and Jeremy were in Brazil for about a week, Jason left to spend the summer in California, Jesse went to Six Flags with his youth group and then spent a week at camp, Jim went to ID to bring his mom back. All in one month! But that’s it except for Jim’s regular travels for work and Jason’s return from CA in August. It feels like summer is just now beginning.

• Jim’s mom seems to be doing well adjusting to assisted living. The people there are just wonderful, and she’s appreciating the safety features, like the handrails in various places. She interacts great with the staff and with her tablemates at meals, but she hasn’t ventured out for any activities. I asked the activity director yesterday if it was ok if I came with her to some of those things, and she said it was fine. (There is a lot to this situation that is similar to taking children to school — you want to do whatever you can to help in any way, but you don’t want to embarrass them.) I know if I say, “Do you want to go to the craft activity?” she’ll say no, but if I say, “Let’s go…” she might. We’ll see!

• I don’t know if there is anyone who reads here who doesn’t also read Rocks In My Dryer, but Shannon had a great article the other day on Growing Your Traffic for your blog.

• Bet at Dappled Things linked to a compelling article about short-term church mission trips. I am appalled that people mentioned there did things like paint the same building six times or built structures that fell down after they left. What an awful testimony to the nationals and what extra trouble for the missionaries there. Our church has had part in several great mission trips, and I have known several missionaries who have benefited from having a team come over for a couple of weeks, but there needs to be a lot of preparatory work with lots of questions asked ahead of time. No one should just go over and jump in without coordinating with someone there what needs to be done, what materials should be used (according to the country you’re going to, not according to what would be done here), when would be good timing for the missionary, etc.

• Merriam-Webster has added several new words to its newest dictionary. Some I would have thought would have been included long ago (dirty bomb, dwarf planet, malware); some I had never heard before (edamame, Mondegreen); some I knew the definition of but didn’t know there was a word for the concept (air quotes, infinity pool).

• Miss Sandy at Quill Cottage posted a neat book-making tutorial.

• I don’t normally have music playing while I am on the computer — my mind can only handle so many venues at one time, and usually reading and comprehending is all I can do at one time. But sometimes when the house is a little too quiet, I enjoy listing to Abiding Radio. It’s wonderful — beautiful sacred music, no talking, no commercials.

Have a great day!