Field trip and February

 

Lord, I need You, oh, I need You

Every hour, I need You

My one defense, my righteousness

Oh God, how I need You

Matt Maher, “Lord, I Need You”

On the way back from Nana’s, we spent some time at the same children’s museum we went to nine years ago, wherein Caleb was very much a toddler and my inability to crawl through tunnels was due to the need to keep track of multiple small children rather than my advanced age.

During this February of deadened trees and deadened affections, Lord, I even need You to make me feel how much I need You.

Last time we had communion, our pastor remarked that even though now we observe the Lord’s Supper around a small table, eating and drinking very tiny portions, one day “we will sit at a very big table.” The gray drizzle of this world will be past and we will feast with Jesus in full glorious color, with His people from every tribe, tongue, and nation.

Caleb understood the concept of working the water locks this time, as opposed to merely keeping a death grip on the little boats and repeating, “MINE”

’Cause You fashioned the earth and You hold it together, God

So hold me now

I will lift my eyes to the Maker

Of the mountains I can’t climb

I will lift my eyes to the Calmer

Of the oceans raging wild

I will lift my eyes to the Healer

Of the hurt I hold inside

I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes to You

I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes to You

God, my God, I cry out

Your beloved needs You now

Bebo Norman, “I Will Lift My Eyes”

Ada, 60 seconds after she told Caleb to stop hoarding the controls so little kids could play too

He makes the flowers and the sun come back every spring; He can hold me together. In fact, thanks to the groundhog, this year it’s coming early. 

Spring will heal this February ache, but my better hope is that one day He will heal all the hurts I have inside.

Lizzy playing the part of Little Red Riding Hood and me playing the part of the big bad dinosaur that eats Grandmother.

Every hour, I need you, Lord, to lift my eyes. Lift my chin to gaze at barren mountains and remember Who formed them, and that He calls me Beloved.

Nana and Grandpa and the zoo

Jason was home from our St. Lucia trip a whopping 10 hours before flying out once again to faraway lands on business.

Actually it was only a few states over, but still.

I got reacquainted with my child by playing a round of .com Monopoly, which Jason owned well before we were married, back when the properties made sense, so naturally most of the houses and hotels are missing.

We made do with what we had nearby.

One Kix on Yahoo: a truly daunting space to land on.

Caleb’s improved properties eventually bankrupted me.

A Kix and a Lego on Yahoo: truly unaffordable.

Meanwhile Jason was put up in a fancy hotel. This pic of his morning crema made me wonder if I need a Nespresso.

On his return home, we enjoyed each other’s company once again for a full two weeks, after which I took the kids to visit Nana and Grandpa for a couple days.

We went to the zoo in an effort to be mildly educational.

This smart sandbox thing in the visitor center was really cool—it constantly rearranged the topographical lines and filled in “lakes” as you dug around in the sand.

Then we wandered through the wildflower garden toward the zoo entrance. A zoo for plants, if you will. And all the specimens are hibernating.

The reptile center was nice and warm, although less than accurately named, since it was half filled with frogs.

Poisonous frogs are sooo cute!

This guy looked pretty grumpy about being stared at while he was sleeping. 

In the outdoor exhibits, we found a snoozing raccoon that was SO FLUFFY.

And this gorgeous red fox.

Red wolf. He looks just like the guy in Dances with Wolves!

The sightseeing train wasn’t running in the off season, but Caleb took time to explain to Grandpa all about the gauge of the track.

Next we visited this Indian Crested Porcupine, and who knew porcupines were so cute?

Next door to the porcupines were these show-stealing otters, one of whom was inexplicably chewing on a porcupine quill.

A break to take in the view, and then a visit to the ducks.

And their little chipmunk friend.

Sandhill crane.

After a climb to the very top of the hill, we moseyed back down to the car.

And returned home to enjoy more of Nana’s fabulous cooking.

 

What’s saving my life right now

It’s that time of year again…Groundhog Day.

It’s gonna be cold, it’s gonna be grey and it’s gonna last you for the rest of your life.

While I might naturally agree with Phil Connors’ sentiments, a more helpful way to frame this midpoint of winter is to contemplate what’s saving my life, when it’s tempting to think of all the things (cold, darkness, etc) that are killing me.

Thanks to Modern Mrs. Darcy for hosting this every year.

What’s saving my life in 2018

What’s saving my life in 2019

What’s saving my life in 2020

What’s saving my life in 2021

What’s saving my life in 2022

What’s saving my life in 2023

Honorable mentions this year: 

1. Puzzles.

Photo by Hans-Peter Gauster on Unsplash

Surely this doesn’t surprise anyone. I have a dedicated puzzle table in my room which almost always has a puzzle in progress. Right now I’m working on this one—a 1000-piece “Romantic Street Scene.” 

I’m kept in constant supply of puzzles because I volunteered to count the pieces of donated puzzles to my favorite thrift store. So every few months I go in the back room there, load up my bag with puzzles of my choice, and work through them all. Then I return them and either leave them in one pile with a note that they’re missing pieces, or I stick an official sticker on them saying “This puzzle has been checked for missing pieces.” Then they can sell them at a higher price than the get-what-you-get boxes. And *I* get endless puzzles.

2. Good books and time to read them.

Photo by Tom Hermans on Unsplash

Just before we went to St. Lucia, I finished Little Dorrit, one of Charles Dickens’ longer novels. I decided to tackle it (all 900 pages) because I felt it would make me a more cultured and educated person, but I actually really enjoyed it.

In St. Lucia I read a perfect beach read, Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line; a book by Jennifer Graham and Rob Thomas that I gather is based on a TV series that features a cute, blonde 20-something improbably solving murders in a spring break town.

On the way back from St. Lucia, mercifully, since it took us, ahem, longer than expected, I had Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson and read it cover to cover. I love an unreliable narrator and I do enjoy a novel about mommy politics, and this had both. It features a neighborhood mommy book club that quickly turns dark, which is a great premise.

Since coming home, I’m reading Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald to help cope with my post-vacation reentry. It takes place in Grand Central Station and is apparently thoroughly researched; when I told Caleb all I was learning about Grand Central and how trains work, he was confused why I was reading it, until I clarified that it’s actually a love story.

3. Espresso pods.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

I don’t know if it was just association or if they truly had great coffee in St. Lucia, but I came home with more of a taste for it than ever. I discovered that our favorite brand of compostable K-cups has an espresso roast. It’s not the same as being served a freshly pulled affogato while overlooking the sunny Caribbean Sea, but it is pretty good, and richer than the regular pods.

What’s most of all saving my life right now

Puzzles, books, and espresso are pretty great, but what’s truly keeping my sanity intact is Ada getting her license.

Photo by Zac Ong on Unsplash

She got it just before Jason and I left town. In the past four weeks, she has driven

• To see her own friends
• Herself and her sister to youth group four times—including going early for worship team practice
• To the grocery store while we were gone
• Her brother to the jump park
• To run her own errands
• Herself and her sister to Bible study
• To a clothes swap one of her friends hosted
• To play in a volleyball tournament early on a Saturday morning
• To pick up pizza a few days after we returned, when Jason was out of town for work, I was in agony with a massive rash, one of our cars was inexplicably broken down, and a water main in town broke, leaving us without running water right before dinnertime

She and we both love that she can see her friends whenever she wants, even if they live 40 minutes away. And when she asked if she could run track this spring I could say, Sure! This affects my life not at all!

What a blessing that the occasion of my teenager getting a license is cause for more comfort than fear. Not that I don’t pray for her safety on the road, because I do, but having her help drive herself and others…it’s saving my life.