I have the need to re-create things. Re-create moments and events - trying to capture the exact feeling I once felt. When I go on vacation in the summer I want the air temperature in the hotel or cabin to be arctic because that's the way it's supposed to be...you're supposed to come in from the sweltering day and almost throw your body into shock when you walk into the refrigerator that is your temporary home. Not only do you keep the temperature the same as you remember, you go to the same place you've always gone...the smokey mountains. You MUST drive in through the long winding path that suddenly thrusts you into Gatlinburg (even though that road ALWAYS makes you carsick - but that's part of the experience), and you must ... this could really keep going, but I think only one or two of you would know what I was talking about. This problem doesn't just apply to vacations; I do this with everything. I am actually planning to do it tomorrow. My family and friends from church and I used to attend an Easter passion play every spring at a university about 2 hours away. We would load up the car with the most abundant and wonderful picnic food you can imagine (pringles in at least 4 different varieties), and we would picnic at the same spot every year before going to see the play. Well, there is a similar event happening here in Michigan tomorrow, and all I can think of is, how do I make it perfect? By this I mean, how do I recreate the good feelings I have associated with this event in the past? But as I do this I realize I am setting myself up for disappointment. It is not 2 hours away, it is 2 minutes away. My family and church friends are not here, there are only 3 of us going. Why would we need 4 cans of pringles? It is about 50 degrees instead of 70 (so no 1st sunburn of the year) sigh. sigh. sigh.

My husband tells me I need to experience things as they happen and not try to mold them to fit what I think is a good time (which reading over this I now realize includes hypothermia, car sickness, and a sun burn, hmmmm). I agree with him, and I know it's true, but . . . maybe I don't know how to live for the moment. Is that something you can learn?

I have a purple pen. I feel the need to tell you this. It is a simple bic pen with a lid, but I have fallen in love with it. It writes in purple too. It says "April is Month Of The Young Child". Yep. Now that I write it, it sounds like some kind of Native American phrase...like, "Michigan is land of many snow" or something like that. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you about my pen. I am glad that small things can still make me happy. So here's to the small things........

Bubbles. I used to spend hours doing the dishes...making more and more bubbles...shaping them into things, blowing them around the kitchen.

A nicely made-up bed.

Kermit the frog singing "Wild Thing".

Winnie-the-Pooh.

Small children in plays and programs.

The home video of my little sister's first birthday.

Giving the perfect gift to someone.

Knowing that my long candle-lighter is always in the same place.

Planning things.

Forsythia. The name and the flower.

and purple pens that write in the perfect shade of purple.



Share what little things make you happy....maybe I want to add some to my list. :)

Joseph, Moses, David, Elijah... I have read about these men of God and have found that each of them went through a kind of training time...some of them for many, many years. And none of them were trained in easy circumstances; Joseph was a slave, Moses a fugative shepherd, David spent a few years running for his life from a crazy-man, and Elijah was exhiled and lived with a poor widow. God had a very specific purpose for each of them, a big purpose He needed them for, but first they had to learn how to trust Him. Joseph went on to be the second-in-command in Egypt and saved many lives during a famine; Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt (after Joseph was forgotten - the Egyptians decided to make the Israelites slaves, go figure), David became the greatest king Israel ever knew, and Elijah led the people away from their idols and back to the living God by standing up to a very, very bad Jezabeel. I won't go into more detail than that, but I strongly suggest you read about these things...no small feats, let me tell you. Anyway, none of them could have accomplished these things if they had not trusted God - if they had not learn to hear His voice.

I feel like I am being trained. This part of my life is wonderful in many ways, but I feel so uncertain of my future. I work at a job that makes me feel useless and very bored. I am a teacher, or at least I feel like that's what God has always called me to, but all those doors were shut, and God seems to be keeping them shut for now. From my first thoughts I've always felt that God had a big purpose for me, I have no idea what that is, but I believe He wants to use me to do something, so I am grateful for the training. I am grateful that I never have enough money, but that God ALWAYS provides; I am grateful I actually have a job, and I'm grateful I have the one God wants me to have...I will try to learn the lessons from this job He has for me. And I am so grateful that God sent me a trainer whom I call my husband - a man whose faith rarely waivers and a man who helps me see the forest and not just the trees.

God is teaching me that following Him is enough...it is enough.

Jonathan and I lead a small group at our house every Thursday evening. Besides all the other blessings we receive from this; it also requires me to clean my house at least once a week :) That sounds bad...I clean my house. I guess what I mean is that - when I know people are coming over, I look at my living space with a different eye, and that's helpful. Anyway, my very sweet husband decided to help me out and do the "before small group" cleaning a couple Thursdays ago. I gave him some ideas on what needed to be done...dishes, vaccuming with smell-good stuff, general arranging and putting away of things. Unfortunately I forgot to mention the bathroom. We are not fortunate enough to have two bathrooms, so that one can always be kept in tip-top shape, with nice lotion and hand towels. Nope, just one, so it has all our stuff strewn about, and we are prolific strewners (wow, positive that is NOT a word). Nightgown, hairdyer, make-up, little toothpaste remenant in the sink, maybe a few wiskers from Jonathan's last shave...yeah, bathroom stuff. So, anyway, I usually do a quick once over in the bathroom before people come, and add nice little touches like a candle and nicely folded hand towels, and above all, I close the shower curtain! We have a very cute shower curtain, and we have one of those old tubs that never looks clean no matter how often we scrub it; and while I can learn to ignore it, the thought of someone else seeing it makes me feel unwell in my mind. (dingy bathtubs make me think of scary roach-motels) So, the first few weeks of our group I was very confident in my bathroom...almost wishing people would need to go, serving lots of juice and water; no one ever did....I mean NEVER. I'm sure you can see what's coming. Jonathan did not think about the bathroom, and I did not think to check when I came home from work, guess how many people went to the bathroom that night! JUST GUESS! Every person, every single one!!! Can you believe it?!?!? And it was timed so that I couldn't go in between to check it out, so my mind was racing..."oh dear....what did I leave out? please have at least put your undies away, did I take the garbage out recently, gasp.....the shower curtain!" After everyone had left...bladders ALL empty, I walked grimly into the bathroom; the shower curtain was wide open. Sigh. As you can imagine I redoubled my efforts for the following week, and miraculously not a single person has gone since. You've just gotta love it :)

This is spring break at the university, but alas, Jonathan and I still had to work. So we decided to take a one day spring break. It was glorious and I would like to share it with you.

We woke up late, actually that's kind-of a lie. Jonathan got up at like 7 I think to start making some oven-dried tomatoes. I woke up then too, but forced myself to lay in the bed till 9 :)

Then we made pancakes and watched a pilot for a new show called Kings. Heard of it? It's really cool; it's the story of David in modern times. Very clever; the producers really did their homework.

Then we went to play tennis...and while we've done this a few times already this week...gradually becoming better and better....it's like we reverted to beginners, we were aweful. There were some old people in the court beside us (probably 70's) who were kicking our butts :) But it was fun.

Then we came home and took a shower and got our picnic ready. We had delicious sandwiches on Jonathan's homemade honey-oat bread (oh so yummy) with his fantastic sundried
tom-ah-toes...it was glorious!

We went to the beach for our picnic, with our books for reading. It was quite windy and cool at the actual beach (and I had decided to be daring and wear shorts in the 60 degree weather :), but Jonathan and I aren't big beach people anyway, so instead we enjoyed ourselves at a beautiful little park close to the beach. We layed on a blanket in the soft spring sun (have you ever noticed that the sun feels soft in the spring?) had our picnic, took a nap, read our books (I finished my Bill Bryson Notes from a Small Island...hilarious.

Then we went to the public library, got some more books, and went home to plan our garden.

Absolutely wonderful.