An evening in the garden

Almost every summer that I've been in Bloomington, I get the chance to take care of the garden of one of my professors while he and his wife go on vacation. They have a rather large garden for living smack dab in the middle of town and I love getting the chance to putter around in it. It's full of flowers in the front and vegetable and berry patches towards the back. It's always a bit (ok, a lot) overgrown and has a fair amount of weeds growing amongst the crops, but that doesn't seem to bother them.

For the past week and a half, I've been caring for the garden. Mostly watering it when the weather's dry and picking my share of fresh leaf lettuce. That's another one of the perks of garden-sitting: all the fresh produce I can eat! It's been 10 days of delicious salads. Today while I was out picking lettuce and broccoli and snap beans, I happened to turn towards the berry patch. And this is what I saw:
:) I wasn't expecting it, but the first batch of red raspberries had ripened. I picked about a quart and ate some along the way. So good!

After taking care of the garden, I decided to mow the their yard. They hadn't asked me to, but it was in dire need and I knew where they kept their lawn mower. It's a push mower... and by 'push' I mean that the only power you've got to work with is the pushing you put into it! And what followed is an hour and a half of the most satisfying manual labor that I've done in awhile. I ended up with grease and a matching set of blisters on my hands, and I loved every minute of it. There's no good way to describe the joy I got from it. It seriously made me want to offer to come mow their yard more often!

Why I think four-year-olds are great

Today in the 4s & 5s room after the story was told and the construction paper crafts were put away, I played legos with Gavin, a sweet four year old with a great imagination. No better way to spend a joy-filled Sunday morning. There's no one like a child to bring you out of a self-centered outlook. Suddenly you find yourself elbow deep in a tub of legos trying to get a four year old interested enough in the fort you're building so that he won't be as concerned about being in a group of kids he doesn't know so well. And it's just fun to be absorbed in the whimsy and imagination of a four year old. There can be windows without walls and a dog that's larger than the lego people and the steering wheel in the middle of the yard that may or may not control something--it doesn't have to make sense; it can be whatever you want it to be, no rhyme or reason. On the other side of the room Maya and Eli were jumping up and down because they had finished a 100 piece puzzle that they started before story time. Christopher beamed when he managed to spell out his entire first name on a piece of construction paper--11 letters is no small feat for a four year old! They make me smile and laugh and get excited about things that I wouldn't have batted an eye at yesterday. I love looking at life through the eyes of a kid and I think they teach me just as much as I try to teach them.

A summer evening

As daylight steadily fades to dusk
Beauty takes every form, filling our senses with delight
The breeze rustling through leafy treetops
Whispers to the water trickling a song on its way to the pond
Cardinals are bits of crimson flitting through the branches
and squirrels scamper away to forage for another meal
A sparrow tiptoes close by, curious to read over our shoulders
Here we sit, in dewy grass made with joy from the Creator's heart
Flashes of lightning highlight clouds against the darkness
Our eyes are lifted up, finding You in your creation
Seeing your power in bolts dashing across the midnight sky
Feeling your gentle touch in the summer air washing over us
Through our awe, we find voices of prayer
Celebrating your character and glorifying your triumphs
As we raise our humble refrain, the frogs join in our song
A gentle hymn from human and amphibian alike
May we never cease to praise your name.

I ain't lyin'

Bringing joy into your world, one musical at a time.
Of particular note in this clip:

• Link's wink and slight vanity
• Seaweed's switchblade while serenading Penny
• Link licking Tracy's picture. Ewwwww.
• Link's freaky change in facial expressions
• Seaweed, Seaweed, did I mention Seaweed?

Hairspray: Without Love

A snowy observation

People smile more with 9+ inches of snow on the ground. On the walk to meet up with friends for lunch today I met the eyes and smiles of a few others that were out trudging through the snow-piled streets and sidewalks. It was like finding camaraderie in the piles of beautiful, white snow and the shared joy of a day off. The same thing happened when we went to play at the park. People were out laughing, playing with their dogs, sledding, and building forts, snowmen and snow angels. There's just a different feel to life on a snow day... light-hearted, joyful.

Happy Snow Day. :)

I Got the Feelin' (Baby Baby Baby)

Oh, Cosby Show reruns. This one's a classic; makes me smile. Check it out. (Sorry, embedding disabled on this one)

The Huxtables lip sync to James Brown
AKA Theo is awesome

Jenny: "I wish my family did that..."

Joy in the small things

November 9, 2008

Yet another reason why kids are amazing: they remind me to find joy in the small things and that everyday should be lived with laughter and friends.

Conversation between Nicholas and Zane (both 5 years old)

Nicholas: My name starts with an "N."
Zane: Hey, my name has an "N" in it too!
Nicholas: Really? Cool!

...and later...

Zane: I'm 5 years old.
Nicholas: Me too! Cool!

(Then they looked at me with something akin to pity when I told them that I was not 5 years old. :) )

Dear God, Thank you for butterflies and dolphins...

It's Sunday morning in the 4 & 5 year old room and we're getting ready for snack time. Abby, a sweet little girl with blond hair and blue eyes, volunteers to say grace:

"Dear God, Thank you for the butterflies and thank you for the dolphins and uh...thank you for grace. Amen."

I loved this prayer. How precious. Abby thanked God for butterflies and dolphins. Why? Because they make her happy. She sees these creatures and she smiles and laughs. It makes sense to thank the Giver of these gifts. I've told probably half a dozen people this story and even went as far as to put it on my favorite quotes because I enjoyed it so much, but it took on even more meaning after Doug's talk at Connexion Sunday night.

Doug spoke about joy, using Scripture from Philippians 3. One of the points involved the joyful nature of God. I have to admit that I don't often think of Him that way. I think of Him as experiencing happiness, but I guess I leave out the aspects of wonder, excitement, and surprise that I often find in joy. Doug described it as God making one daisy and then being so overjoyed with it that he just kept making them... why only have one daisy when you can have many? Or God making one blade of grass and then continuing to create blades of grass because he was delighted by the color green. I love this illustration of God's delight in His own creation and it sent me back to Genesis:

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated light from the darkness. (1:3-4)

The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their own kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. (1:12)

God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. (1:25)

God saw all that he had made and it was very good. (1:31)

I could keep going, those are just a few examples. The phrase "And God saw that it was good" took on new meaning for me. I don't think God is just seeing the practicality and productivity of His creation. I think He's really filled with joy over it. He is delighting in it, like a painter gazing at the portrait he just finished, admiring his work and feeling wonder and excitement over what has been made by his hands. What a beautiful characteristic of God to think on. I thought about that this morning as I walked to work. I made sure to take notice of the sun and the trees and the robins that were hopping around trying to catch worms for their breakfast. Just knowing that God delights in His creation made it so much more meaningful to me today. It's like your best friend's birthday party when they get a really cool toy and are excited to share it with you. Their delight becomes your delight. God's joy becomes our joy.

Down in my heart to stay

Despite all of the hustle and bustle of moving, this week has truly been joy-filled. The fellowship has been wonderful. Between lunches, planning meetings, emails, and Bible study, each day has left me smiling, laughing, and delighting in the blessings God has given me in friends. Seriously...right now, smile on my face. Can't make it stop. :)

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee
God of glory, Lord of love
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee
Opening to the sun above