Email posting

Dear Jenn,

So I'm trying to post via email and I sure hope it works.

Sent from my BlackBerry® Tour wireless handheld

Spicy!

Dear Reade,

Just so that we can remember:

"That's as spicy as a man in red socks."
-- The Boy, in reference to bottle green elderflower

Love you (and him too!),

Jenn

blue butterflies

Dear Reade,

Girlie and I just saw a lovely, lovely blue butterfly in the yard. Blues are so delicate and beautiful. Eye-catching and simultaneously cryptic. With the wings spread in flight they are stunning. When they wish to hide they blend in so well.

They are much like us, those beautiful butterflies.

"If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do" (2 Corinthians 4:7ff, The Message).

Thanks for teaching me about butterflies.

Love, Jenn

towards a family statement

Dear Reade,

In conversation today, as I was spindle spinning, you said to The Boy, "Look what Mama is learning, practicing, getting better at. Learning new things is very good."

And I think that if we were creating a family mission statement learning would definitely be part of it, eh?

Love, Jenn

At the weekend...

Dear Reade,

Taking a few minutes of writing time while The Boy plays with the neighbours and Girlie rests with you. While I was up in the night I was reading from the Psalms:

God made my life complete
when I placed all the pieces before him.
When I got my act together,
he gave me a fresh start.
Now I'm alert to God's ways;
I don't take God for granted.
Every day I review the ways he works;
I try not to miss a trick.
I feel put back together,
and I'm watching my step.
God rewrote the text of my life
when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes. (Ps 18:20-24)

There's a sense in which I want for these ways that I write to be a review of the ways that God is at work in our lives and our family. A record, not only of physical milestones and philosophical musings, but of the spirituality of our everyday lives.

Love to you,

Jenn

Crazy Days

Dear Reade,

You've retired upstairs with The Boy for a few minutes. Girlie is playing with a cardboard box boat and a rubber boot. And I'm breathing deeply.

What a day!

I suspect that the kids were just as they have been for the last number of weeks. Busy. Active. Yell-y. Push-y. Needing proactive parenting moment after moment after moment. But today I was not as I have been for the last number of weeks. Today was an "off" day.

It makes me very mindful in these quiet moments of what I am being saved from. Or what I have been saved from. Three and a half or four months ago my internal space was like today's crazy space, every day, all day. I'm so grateful that I don't live with that level of anxiety, uncertainty, powerlessness and self-doubt day by day.

I am also grateful that you are home for a bit. :)

Love, Jenn

At school waiting for class to begin

Dear Jenn,
For some reason I feel anxious about my classes coming up. I'm not sure why. I know I'd rather be at home, that's for sure. I suppose it's just that these Spring/Summer classes flash by so fast and I don't feel like I've spent enough time reading etc. I have to make more time for it which means more time away from home, unfortunately. I just can't get anything done at home.
Reade