Dirt, sticks and Fireflies

We visited Ore City this past week and my kids had the luxury (yes, you read correctly) of playing in the dirt. It' a novel idea for us "city folks" -- at least that's what I feel like after a visit to East Texas. And I mean that with the utmost respect for both of my rural homes. Sanger is rural, there's no doubt about that. But for some reason a visit to the piney woods of Upshur and Morris Counties seem to make Sanger look like a metropolis. Is it the people, the trees or the dirt? I don't know, but I kind of liked it! (not to mention the fried catfish and cold Bud!)

Last night we were sitting around a fire out at my mom and dad's land roasting marshmallows and listening to, well, not much. It was so peaceful and calming. We were treated to a light show of lightning bugs, fireflies -- whatever it is you want to call them. I prefer "lightnin' bugs" with the "u" drawn out a bit, but that's just me. Anyway, my Dad mentioned that he hadn't seen that many lightning bugs in a long time, and they certainly hadn't come up as close to people as they seemed to here lately. I like to think that maybe they're sensing that us humans are beginning to slow down a bit and appreciate God's creation. Perhaps they aren't so timid as to approach us when we aren't frantically trying to "better" our lives. Or maybe they've been here all along and we've just been too busy to notice.

Well, we slowed down a bit this week. Cooper played with sticks and made dirt pillows, and not once did he use a stick as a light saber! I think Abby was dirtier than her brother, as evident from the outside (and inside) of her clothes every time we came in from playing. As Scott's mom says, "God made dirt and dirt don't hurt!"

Life is good.

I'll post pics later.