Love Without Resistance

I've been too busy to blog. My life is full and I should be thankful. I've been busy doing stuff like rushing around to get 3 girls to their last soccer game of the season where they just had fun. This team ... oh my. They have a few girls who have played before but the majority of the team are first timers. For a Middle School age group, this is not a recipe for a championship team. Mine tends to watch and process the game more so when she makes a move it's deliberate. Our Tinkerbell sweetie who only entered the fray for the last 3 games of the season, charges like a mama elephant even though she's half the size of the competition and hadn't kicked a soccer ball until a month ago. Then there's "the bull". I love watching her play. She gets in the way, she accidently ahem knocks people over. She is all legs and elbows and laughter. This game she even managed to let a ball bounce off her shoulder and right into the goal. Our goal unfortunately but still...it was the only goal of the game for our team. And when she got up from the ground where she let herself collapse after realizing what she'd done, I could hear her laugh. She has a very loud raucous laugh. There is no mistaking it. I was worried she would cry but most of her teammates were laughing with her. Not the goalie, but I wouldn't have laughed if I were her either.
Immediately following the game we hit a fast food joint for a bite then hurried back to town 30 minutes away to drop the others off at home so we could turn around for a 3 hour drive to Winslow, Arkansas and one of my favorite places in the state. Devil's Den State Park.
The Man was going up for a video/photo shoot in the park for new commercials and ads.  The small one and I went along because 1) who passes up a night in a cabin in a beautiful park? and 2) maybe we'll get lucky and get to be in the shot.  We didn't get to the cabin until almost 11 p.m. I would love to rent this cabin again- screened in porch with rocking chairs and a picnic table facing the woods and we could hear the creek. #12, go, make reservations NOW. Having had a long day, we all fell into bed until the alarm went off before dawn the next day.

And then the work began. The 3 of us set out for the campground to meet several others including the always gracious and lovely Park Wife and her clan. Luckily the boy was able to free his schedule for the morning and he met us in the campground too. I think he was happy he did since he spent the entire morning at the forefront of a video shoot hiking across Lee Creek with the park interpreter, Rebecca, who is very easy to look at. And smart. And funny. The poor boy. It was such a chore for him.  It amazes me each time what goes into just getting some pictures on film- waiting for the light to be just right, doing the same thing over and over again to get the right shot. It's exhausting, I can't imagine how the film crew does it all the time. We had a fun day, a full day, a long day.




Someone kept yelling "Smile!"

In the middle of the day while there was a break, mostly due to the cloud cover moving in, I caught the small one and the boy playing in the creek and on the dam. J usually has sole custody of the camera but he was busy so I grabbed it to catch the fun. I marvel at times such as these that our little blended family that has been through such trials and tribulations, has grown into this. Moments of peace, camaraderie, gentleness. Moments when the tensions and anger of the past don't show. Love without resistance. Caught on film.