My Week In Pictures: The Fourth Installment

This week, like all the weeks before it, went by too fast.

I know there are 7 days in it.

But they pass by so quickly.

A good friend of mine once said, "Our lives revolve around the clock."

I don't think truer words have ever been spoken.

We wake at a certain time.

We eat our meals at a certain time.

We plan our activities around time.

We have become slaves to our clocks.

I fully admit to this.

I am a control-freak/live-with-order type of person.

I long to be less controlling of my days.

My husband declared our weekend a relaxing one.

That included no work. 

For him.

I still worked.

I have a small obsession with work.

It keeps me grounded.

And it allows me to treat my husband to lunch every once in a while.

Which I enjoy doing.

So, Kelly put his feet up and sat beside me while I worked.

He spent his time looking up computer parts.

We took Niko to the pond.

It was the perfect way to start off our weekend.

He ran around, sniffing everything in sight (as usual).

He climbed over benches, slid down the slide and attempted to chase ducks.

Daddy didn't let him though.

We like ducks.

I proceeded to tell him, "Ducks are friends; not food."

It's the same thing I tell him about cats.

He disagreed.

This duck was very protective of her little ducklings after seeing Niko.

She made sure she kept herself between us and her babies at all times.

I couldn't help but take pictures. 

They were so fuzzy and adorable.

On Saturday, we took Niko to Natural Falls State Park.

You can read all about our adventure here. 

While hiking, we ran into a 9-month old Malamute puppy named Cato.

He was twice as big as Niko!

And twice as strong.

Malamutes are distantly related to Siberian Huskies.

They are also a bit meatier, with really big muscles.

Si's are lean and slim.

I did fall in love with the breed as I watched Niko and Cato play.

So, on our list of dogs to one day own (besides more Si's):

Great Pyrenees, Australian Shepherd, Border Collie, Newfoundland and, now, an Alaskan Malamute.

Hey, we love dogs at this house!

Niko passed out early Saturday evening after hiking and learning how to jump over

the hurdles Daddy made for him in the back yard.

Sunday, we spent our morning and evening at Pryor Creek Baptist Church. 

Pastor Koons gave two great lessons on Jehoshaphat.

One of my favorite lines from his sermons:

"Experiencing God's best means that you will not always get what you want. 

He must increase and you must decrease."

Powerful words.

But also thought-provoking.

In order for God to do a great work in our lives, we must allow Him to have total control.

Also, another good reminder from Pastor:

"God wants to prosper you!"

That evening and Monday afternoon, most of Oklahoma experienced severe tornado weather.

There were several tornadoes that touched down south of us.

Thankfully, by the time the storms reached us late Sunday evening, they had weakened.

Our prayers are with those who have lost homes and lives in the towns affected.

The weather did a number on Niko.

He spent all day Wednesday in bed.

It also didn't help that Tuesday, right before the bad weather, a 

transformer blew in our front yard, scaring Niko half to death.

He does not like a lot of noises--especially if they're loud.

He's very sensitive to them and will spend all day in 'bed' if he gets too scared.

Luckily, he had his favorite pillow to keep him company.

Wednesday night, I went up to the school with my husband to watch him teach.

I don't like the stormy weather, but look at how green everything is from all the rain!

It's absolutely breathtaking. 

The sunset wasn't too bad either Wednesday night.

It was so colorful and bright.

Thursday night's sunset was gorgeous, too. 

I wish my camera could do it justice. 

Now that the trees are filling back it, it's harder to see the sunsets from our front yard.