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Life Unedited

/ amylynw / Leave a comment

Today as I went to make our bed, I turned down the sheets to discover a small baby doll with lots of purple corn chips scattered around her.  She lay quietly in the sheets and I could tell she didn’t want anyone to know about the chips.  I had to choose a smile over a bubbling up annoyance.  I wonder what was going through that little mind while they ate chips in Daddy & Mommy’s bed.  I also wonder what my reaction would have been had I climbed into bed tonight in the dark and felt those things crunch beneath me.  I’d say their pain level upon contact with skin is akin to legos.

Elsie learned how to ride a two-wheeler all by herself this weekend.  One push, and she was off.  Someone generously gave her their old hand-me-down which fits her perfectly, and now she is cruising around the block like she’s always known how.  In a dress, no less.
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She also has her first loose tooth.  She is full of her typical, inquisitive conversation.  Today she chattered with me the entire time I buried 78 bricks around our side garden.  Or it might have been 104.  Or 42.  The number kept changing as she kept count.  I didn’t keep track of her questions and observations because my hands were covered in dirt and couldn’t write anything down, but I know I chuckled a lot.
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Spaghetti and Daddy rhyme when they come out of Betty’s mouth.  Both bring excitement.  Other things make her excited too.  Playing hide-and-seek… which by the way happens in her world whenever she sees anyone.  She will almost always yell, Got you! whenever someone walks into a room.  She is learning the fine art of not always getting what she wants.  I think we all deal with disappointment each day, but Betty likes to show it in full: crocodile tears and all.  Either that, or The Slanted Eyes Look.  Actually, as I type this paragraph (this afternoon) the world is crumbling at the fact she can. not. have. a. banana. right. now.
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Our egg carton seedlings are growing well, and we’ve been making all sorts of fun things outside in the garden.  Once things start to grow, I’ll put some before and after photos!  Stay tuned for June and July garden pictures!   Right now the tulips are blooming.  Some unedited shots of those beauties:
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One of our many garden projects includes vertical gardens!  Matthew created some fabulous palette garden beds and they’re in the midst of getting filled with dirt and seeds.  Soon we’ll be making some honeymoon salad: lettuce alone.
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Speaking of being alone, that doesn’t happen very often around here.  I even caught myself yelling from the shower today, You don’t need me!  If there isn’t blood, you don’t need me!  Talk to me after I get out of the shower!  No joke, the aforementioned caller hadn’t needed me for the previous hour.  It was only the moment the warm water hit my aching head that the urgency struck them like a bad bladder.  Nope.  Didn’t need me.  I have actual footage I took of Betty sliding things under the bathroom door, saying, Mommy… Mommy… Mommy… while I tried to get five minutes peace.

Matthew also chopped down three trees that were overtaking the electrical wires, and he will be building a shed to house the bikes and mower and outside toys.  The same day our trampoline ripped from side to side.  Twenty-four hours later, our Heavenly Father, who knows just how much our kids live and breathe on our trampoline, replaced it for free tonight!  It’s even bigger and nicer than our old one.  He’s a wonderful Dad, who knows our desires and loves to give us good gifts.
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When the boys were playing hockey last week I ran out on the rink to take pictures.  Elijah said, There’s a fan on the court… She’s a big fan of Matthew Weldon.  You got that right, buddy!  The other night we ate our supper after the kids went to bed, outside in front of the fire-pit.  I am a really big fan of him.
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On Sunday, Jack turned seven!  What a hunk of love.
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April 20131

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He built the Eiffel Tower all by himself.  All day today he had the perfect tuft of bed head going on, making me smile.  He is a conscientious little guy who likes to pack his own bag, make things straight, and color inside the lines.  He loves hard and deeply.  His heart aches for those who are sick.  He is loyal, seeks justice, and loves gifts.  His metabolism is always burning full steam ahead and he eats more apples and carrots in one day than most people do in one week.  He longs for Heaven.  We love you, Jack!
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Tonight’s Secret Invitation

/ amylynw / 1 Comment

I like to cook for a lot of people.  It’s an inherited trait, I think.  My Grandma did it by  necessity, having 9 kids.  My mom also did it frequently, and it was always a standing joke about how we always had enough supper for an army.  Tonight I decided to invite someone over to join our bounty.  It wasn’t a tangible invite, really.  It was more like a piece of bait, splashed across my facebook page.  I told myself that whoever responded with any inkling of desire would get an instant invite.  Maybe it sounds silly to you, but it wasn’t to me.  It was exciting, cutting up pounds of potatoes, grilling a dozen hotdogs and a dozen hamburgers, baking sixteen rolls, and putting together a huge apple crisp.  I kept wondering who was coming over for dinner.  Well, five o’clock rolled around, then six o’clock, then seven o’clock.  One person bit the bait, but they had other commitments.  Another looked longingly at the dangling metaphorical french fry, but since they were about a twenty-hour drive from here, that didn’t work out either.

We ate.  Now we’re surrounded by leftovers.  You know what?  I felt a lot like Jesus must feel like every day.  Every day he invites us to partake of His bounty.  He has some set aside just for us.  Specially made to fit our tastes, our talents, our abilities.  His invitations aren’t vague ones, either.  This one is very clear:  “Come to me all of you who are weary and over burdened, and I will give you rest!”  He says.  Yet we keep on carrying our burdens alone, cinching up the pack tighter so it doesn’t fall off.  We are so often just not brave enough to say to His face, “Are there any of your blessings left for me?”  We walk by faith so tentatively, so secretly, so timidly sometimes.

He says something else to us: “Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money!  Come, take your choice of wine or milk— it’s all free!   Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength?  Why pay for food that does you no good?  Listen to me, and you will eat what is good.  You will enjoy the finest food.  Come to me with your ears wide open.  Listen, and you will find life… My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,  so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”  If someone tells me “free food”, I usually come running.  Jesus is offering better than that.  His food is eternal life, and that means life abundant.  It’s not life that is just okay, it’s life that’s amazing, full of adventure, and life beyond our wildest imaginings.

Right now I think God is cooking up a great feast for us.  He is grinning and waiting for you and me to snag His invitation personally so He can treat you to life abundant.