Literary Wanderings: George MacDonald #7

This month has been super busy. The Hubs was on vacation for two weeks so we attempted to live it up. There were three weddings, a graduation party, a baby shower, a retreat, and a family reunion. This was all in addition to the routine activities of our home (meals, laundry, cleaning, learning) and our weekly activities like Tae Kwon Do, visits with family and friends, gardening, game nights, and ministry.

In the midst of all this, I have found some special time with God, but it's not been the moment by moment practice of His presence that I hoped it might be. So my prayer this week matches this stanza from Diary of an Old Soul, July:

29.
O master, my desires to work, to know,
To be aware that I do live and grow--
All restless wish for anything not thee,
I yield, and on thy altar offer me.
Let me no more from out thy presence go,
But keep me waiting watchful for thy will--
Even while I do it, waiting watchful still.

I have been blessed by all that I've been able to share in these last few weeks. Here's some pictures of my favorite moments:

We took Chase to see Silver Lake sand dunes, one of our all-time favorite places to visit. At the beginning of this post is a picture of our feet in Lake Michigan from the same trip.

Of course there were games to play. This one (Bootlegger) didn't pan out too well, but it was fun to push around the little trucks with the machine-gun-toting mobsters in them.

My dear friend's wedding was a perfectly lovely event.

Don't Postone the Joy

I'm not sure who originally coined that little nugget of wisdom, but it's been rolling around in my head lately. I'd like to say that I've been spontaneous and care-free with my time as a result, but I haven't. Mostly I've only been aware of the times that I'm pushing for that elusive end-of-the-to-do-list moment. I'm a "work first, play later" kind of mom and wife. Sadly, in my mind, the work never seems done; there's always something that could use some attention.

Over the holiday weekend, our family retreated to the Hub's parents' home on the lake (a tiny lake up north). There's not much to do there except relax and have fun, so that's what we did. I was able to spend some time on a couple of favorite pastimes: fishing and frisbee. We also played croquet (not one of my favorites). I suspect that my family might like to keep one of those croquet mallots handy to bonk me over the head when I'm neurotically postponing the joy.

The Gulf of Mexico: Extravagant

I mean extravagant as in: absurd, bizarre, crazy, exaggerated, excessive, extreme, fanciful, fantastic, flamboyant, gradiose, immoderate, implausible, inordinate, lavish, ludicrous, nonsensical, preposterous, unreasonable and unrestrained.

These are the thoughts that I had during our out-of-the-way jaunt to the Gulf of Mexico on our drive home from Texas last week.

First, we drove through 30 miles of bayou. Having never been in a bayou, I found the landscape fascinating and just a little scary. There was nothing around the dry strip of road except water and quaggy vegetation. There was one way in and one way out.

Then suddenly, we had arrived; the Gulf was right in front of us. We were in Holly Beach, Louisiana. Population: 17, judging by the 'neighborhood' of posh heightened houses and RV's. The water was muddy and the tide was coming in. We had to carefully navigate tide pools and muck to make it to the water's edge. I was naturally speechless in regard to the perspective. Oceans (and the gulfs that are attached to them) are so huge. It's quite humbling.

There were seashells of all shapes and sizes on the beach. This is where the extravagance knocked me over. At our feet were countless tiny shells and they covered the beach around us. They crunched under our feet with every step. How can that many sea critters have thrown off their homes? How could there be that many shells in one place? I was astounded.

Such wonders force me to praise my Lord. The excessive majesty and unrestrained creativity of God are characteristics that we can experience. What a gift.

THE heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.

Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.

Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

-Psalm 19:1-4

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

-Romans 1:20

We Just Went

A handful of weeks ago, our family up and went on a mini-vacation. We were all feeling the blues, so we thought a small getaway might cure us. We dedided to go to Frankenmuth, to Zehnder's Splash Village Hotel and Waterpark. It was a great time! We ate dinner one night at Zehnder's Restaurant in downtown Frankenmuth, which was a real treat!

The waterpark was great. There was a small area for tots, to Ian had his first swim. After some initial hesitation, he enjoyed himself. Chase loved the lazy river and Jim went down the big slides so much he made himself sick. The vacation was great, even though we had to leave early and scramble to get the house ready for showing (we're trying to sell it). We hope to go to Frankenmuth again this summer so that we can walk around downtown. Jim was interested in the sausage store...