I am outside tonight, enjoying the cool temperatures, high humidity and gorgeous Iowa sunset.
I love connectedness. I love how one person is connected with another; how the sky is connected to the earth, the beauty of the sunset, the importance of the bugs and animals and that all together as one we sing out a beautiful chorus to our great Creator.
The sun has just disappeared behind the blue/purple/pink haze of summer but the sky is still bright.
I have just returned home from leaving my oldest child at summer camp for the first time. I have no doubt she will have a fantastic time. She is growing into a young woman and is full of confidence and grace - and laughter, so much laughter.
(Okay so the bugs did make me go inside. I know mosquitoes serve a purpose but why does that purpose have to include MY blood?)
My husband and littles have stopped for ice cream on the way home and I have been granted the rare opportunity to sit in quiet and reflect on life.
I don't get to reflect much anymore - I just feel tired alot.
(And now I itch.)
I walked to the post office tonight and watched a plane fly overhead. I wonder where those people are going? I wonder who they are going to see? Are they happy? Are they sad? A business trip or a pleasure trip? What about us? When we travelled to China to pick up our sweet baby boy, were there people down below wondering about us? I wish I could tell them how wonderfully our world was about to change.
(Seriously, I just got so many bug bites and I was out there 5 minutes. I hope Amariss uses the bug spray I sent with her. Soooo glad I packed bug spray!)
I was prompted to write another blog post by a good friend of mine. She was 12 when I met her... She was a shy girl coming to youth group as a 6th grader and my husband and I were youth sponsors. I seriously remember the very first day she and her older sister came to youth. Now she is 24 and is married and is mothering her own little one. I'm pretty sure when I was 20 I never imagined that we would someday be sitting and having coffee and catching up as friends. Friends, connected - through life, seasons and motherhood.
Also, where did 12 years go?
(My family will be home soon and I'm anxious to check the camp website and see if there is a picture of my little girl yet.)
I love to remember my connections. The new neighbors down the street with young children, being from a small town, loving to sing and dance and paint and experience life - I love to see connections everywhere I go.
I wonder if we looked deeper to see how we were all connected, if we might learn to love a little more deeply, to share a little more grace and to experience a lot more joy?
