Comfy Love

Sometimes you just need some comfy love. When the day is dark and gloomy; when you're sick and even chicken noodle soup tastes rotten; when you stub your big toe; when your little brother won't share a favorite toy; when you're feeling blue or you can't seem to fall asleep. That's when a little bit of comfy love comes in handy. 

Every child needs some comfy love in the form of a soft quilt. The kind of blanket you drag around with you everywhere you go; the kind you can't take a nap without; the kind that feels like Mommy's warm hug wrapping you in her safe arms. 

That's why I made one for my friend Sarah. She's expecting a little boy any minute and she's finally decided on a name for the little guy - Henry. Though her life hasn't turned out the way she might have dreamed, it's still a life orchestrated by the kind hand of her heavenly Father who know the deepest dreams of her heart. There's a plan for this special little boy and we want to be part of it. As a family we want to promise to be there whenever Sarah and little Henry might need us because that's what families do. They love each other through the good and the bad.

I can't think of anything more wonderful than a brand new baby to love. There's just something about the way they snuggle into your arms, the way they smell like baby lotion, and they way they curl their dimpled hand around your finger. I have a feeling there will be lots to love about little Henry and I'm looking forward to seeing his sweet tiny fact for the first time. Perhaps someday I'll watch him wrap himself in the comfy love of a well worn quilt sewn by some distant Auntie.

HENRY'S BABY QUILT

STRIPES AND POLKA DOTS

TIME TO SNUGGLE

  

Wild in Surburbia

It's true. We live in the suburbs. There are plenty of manicured lawns and fancy light posts. There's not a junk car on blocks or a chicken house in sight but somehow, in the tiny patches of green wilderness between the houses, lives a menagerie of critters. They appear at dawn or dusk to entertain us with their antics and Kendall often makes war on said critters with all sorts of interesting ammunition, like mothballs. Apparently the moles constructing the twisting mounds of tunneled earth through our backyard don't care for the unpleasant odor. Who can blame them? 

We've had our share of surprise encounters - like the time I walked out our front door with bare feet to get the mail and nearly stepped on a huge black racer sunning himself on the welcome mat. I'm not sure who was more surprised but I am sure my blood-curdling screams freaked him out. Needless to say, we both took off in opposite directions and I haven't seen him since.

Several weeks ago I heard a crash in the garage late one night. Of course, since no one else around here hears anything, I bravely volunteered to check things out. Hoping and praying it wasn't some masked intruder stealing my husband's expensive tools, I flung the door open just in time to scare the ba-gee-bers out of a raccoon helping himself to the garbage can full of recyclables. I screamed and jumped, he jumped and howled, then took off like a shot, disappearing into the darkness. Let's just say it's a good thing my bladder was empty and all I had to clean up was a few bottles and cans.

When we pulled the field stone off the front of the house during an exterior remodeling project, Kendall gleefully pulled several small corn snakes from the rubble and put them in a container so our girls could observe them. Being a home school family means you count all sorts of experiences as education so a wildlife encounter adds something really interesting to our science or nature studies for the day, unless Daddy chases you around the yard with a snake in his hand. Then it counts as physical fitness! Corn snakes are much prettier when observed from a safe distance.

We also have our share of sweet brown bunny rabbits. They live in the tall grasses, palmetto bushes, and overgrowth in our neighbor's yard. We see them often in our backyard looking for something tasty to nibble on. The other day I watched one wriggle just under the fence into the yard next door and couldn't help imagining him in a little blue waistcoat with brass buttons. Thankfully, Mr. McGregor doesn't live next door and my husband is such a big softy he wouldn't think of plugging the rabbit hole. In fact, several years ago he came inside to get the girls and I to show us a tiny nest under the landscaping in the front flower bed. It held three tiny baby rabbits. They were adorable! We kept watch over them and Heather became their special protector. When the temperature dropped and it began to rain, Kendall cut a hole in our recycling bin and placed it gently over the nest. Sadly, two of the bunnies didn't make it but Heather managed to capture the last one. We placed it in a box with a soft towel and watched him snuggle into its warmth. We took the bunny to a wonderful woman who takes in all sort of little critters, nurses them back to health, and releases them into the wild. 

Another time Kendall discovered a bird's nest in our side shed. A pair of cheeky Carolina wrens had woven a lovely little round home of moss and twigs in the nook of our plastic hose reel. The baby birds were so tiny! They opened their little yellow mouths wide hoping for a crunchy bug or a wiggly worm. Their incessant cheeping kept Momma and Daddy Wren busy looking for their next meal. We enjoyed watching them as they continued to outgrow their nest. They finally disappeared and the beautiful nest was empty and quiet.

Just this week I've had the opportunity to watch the ramblings of a baby armadillo, a brown cotton-tailed bunny, and a red shouldered hawk. Apparently the hawk was making a rather large nest in our palm tree. We've had lots of thunderstorms and strong winds which blew the nest down into our yard. I didn't see it at first but when I took the garbage out I noticed the hawk crying and flying frantically from tree to tree. I walked around into the backyard and found the nest lying upside down in the wet grass. The hawk was sitting in a large oak tree, watching me carefully with a piercing eye. I was hoping there were no eggs or chicks in the nest and thankfully when I flipped it over, it was empty. Today I watched the hawk again, sitting on a low curving branch just past the pool patio, gripping the limb with its sharp talons, feathers ruffling as the wind continued to blow. They are magnificent creatures!

We're happy to have a continual parade of God's critters make their way through our little patch of green earth in the burbs. Enjoy these pictures of our wild life - armadillos and bunnies and hawks, oh, my!

A NEST OF BABY BUNNIES

PETER COTTON TAIL

THE CAROLINA WREN'S NEST

CHEEKY LITTLE BIRDIE

Little Brother

Christopher Jon is my little brother. Though he stands well over six feet tall, towering above the rest of our family, he's still my baby brother.

I used to be the baby. I was the youngest of all the cousins, enjoyed being the center of attention and always got the most presents at Christmas. But that changed when I was six years old. Mom and Dad brought a strawberry blond baby boy home from the hospital. He was so cute you couldn't help pinching his cheeks. He remained a cutie-pa-tootie until I had to share a bathroom with him.

A preteen girl should never be forced to share a bathroom with her younger brother. I dreamed of the day when the toilet seat would be lowered and the toothpaste wouldn't be splattered all over the place or completely dried up because he forgot to put the lid on. The mystery puddles on the floor would be water from the shower and if we were out of air freshener it wouldn't be a national emergency. I even remember the potty training stage when Mom brought him a game involving tiny paper boats. The object was to sink them successfully then watch as they were sucked into a swirling vortex of toilet water. Need I say more?

As he got older, things got more interesting. When he was old enough to appreciate the movie Star Wars, which made it's debut in 1977, my parents bought him the eight track. Yes, I said eight track. If you're too young to have any idea what that is, look it up! He listened to it over and over and over - stretched out on his stomach in the living room on the green shag carpet, building tiny Lego spaceships, and reciting every line of the movie along with the accompanying sound effects. He nearly drove us crazy! When Ghost Busters came out in 1984 Mom gathered a bunch of spare parts and junk from around the house and he built his own Ghost Buster's backpack. He also dug some nifty underground tunnels in the backyard using Daddy's good tools. When my father fell into one while doing yard work he discovered his missing tools, buried and completely rusted. Dad still talks about it even though Chris replaced them long ago.

He had the worst allergies ever - mold, mildew, dust, and cat hair, which required weekly shots. Mom became permanently attached to either a dusting cloth or a the vacuum cleaner. The only time in my life I threatened to run away was the day we had to give our cat away. I put my worldly possessions in a wagon, announced to my parents that it was either me and the cat, or Christopher, then I walked down the street, sat in the dirt and cried. Needless to say, Mom and Dad choose Chris over the cat. 

Chris was a bit hyper-active as a kid. Maybe it was sugar, maybe it was allergy medication, maybe he was just full of energy and needed to burn it off by running circles around the rest of us. In light of that I'm still not sure why my parents were so shocked to come home from an outing one night only to find him pinned face down, spread-eagle in the family room with me sitting on top of him. It seemed like a good idea at the time - the easiest way to babysit while my parents were gone, literally. Mom wasn't pleased. "We're going to drive around the block and when we get back I don't want to see this!" Unfortunately the same scene greeted them when they opened the door the second time. It escapes my memory which one of us got into more trouble that night. 

There were times during Christopher's teenage years I was doubtful Dad would allow him to live past the age of seventeen. Daddy often quoted Bill Cosby, "I'll take you out, boy, and make another one just like you!" Those were difficult and tenuous years but things have changed.

These days we talk several times a week on the phone. He comes for dinner and stays to play boards games with the family. He attends church with us when work doesn't get in the way. We find time to hang out, take a walk, watch a movie, talk about our lives, and do grownup stuff together. He lets down his guard and shares his heart with me more than he used to. Sometimes I think about Chris as a little boy and I remember all the crazy, creative things he used to do. Sometimes I think about the years we were afraid of losing him or of him losing himself in bad decisions and the wrong sort of company. He's come through some really hard situations and is a better man because of the lessons he learned.


He's learned to be responsible, to work hard, to be loyal, to be a good friend. He's learned how important family is and he's learning that you can't live your life as an island because that's not what God intended. He's learned that we need each other; we need people in our life who challenge us and who love us enough to tell us the truth. He's learning to give himself away and find joy in not living a completely selfish life.

I've always loved my little brother but I find him becoming more dear to me as the years go by. I'm really glad my parents chose Chris over the cat and Dad let him live because the best years are ahead of us.

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, 

plans for wholeness and not for evil; 

to give you a future and a hope.

MOM GETS THE RIDE OF HER LIFE

CHRIS THE FISHERMAN

SIX FOOT TALL RUDOLPH

TURKEY HEADS

ME AND MY BROTHER

Work Small, Think Big, Go Deep

Jesus was deeply concerned for the continuation of his redemptive, reconciling work after the close of his earthly existence, and his chosen method was the formation of a small band of committed friends. He did not form an army, establish a headquarters, or even write a book. What he did was to collect a few very common men and women, inspire them with the sense of his spirit and vision, and build their lives into an intensive fellowship of affection, worship and work.

~ Elton Trueblood ~ 

The Strategy of Jesus

It's the beginning of a three day boot camp of sorts, held on forty-seven acres of heaven in the Georgia woods outside Athens, and it's our first morning together - the twelve member mission team who would jet to Kenya in three days and those of us who came simply to serve and participate in something wonderful, something bigger than any of us dreamed. 

Jeremy Folmsbee is a towering red-headed man whose gentle speech, contagious laugh, and sensitivity to the Spirit of God, endear him to everyone. While a soft morning rainstorm pattered on the metal structure sheltering the team, Jeremy pulled a small copy of an excerpt by Elton Trueblood from his Bible. "Why are we here? What's our purpose?" These were important questions we hoped to answer during our time together. He spoke eloquently about understanding the vision and purpose for our life as believers - the mission for our earthly existence. 

The impact of Jesus on mankind and his redemptive work cannot be measured. He accomplished the greatest possible good through a small band of committed friends, common men in whom he invested his life. With intensive fellowship, a deep abiding affection, genuine worship, and work, they changed the world by drawing others to the hope-filled message of the Gospel. There is no substitute for the simple small band of caring, loving men and women demonstrating the love of the Savior to a lost and dying world. This is our mission. This is our life - to work small, think big, and go deep. If our hearts can truly grab hold of these truths, our life and genuine love will authenticate the Gospel, pulling others into the life we share together and the sweet hope we have in the saving work of Jesus.

During the next two days in the harvest fields of the Schulman family's property, we joined with Jesus and he met us in sweet unexpected ways: a foot washing that turned the hearts of a father and his sons toward each other and made us weep with gratefulness; singing over a young Mother and her two small children facing heart-wrenching decisions; prophetic words of wisdom, comfort and direction; quiet time in the grassy green fields behind sun-warmed bales of fragrant hay; the birth of God-breathed visions for the future; sharing meals, working side by side, laughing and crying together; the formation of precious friendships and the renewal of friends long separated by time and distance; freedom from dark fears and the provision of much needed financial support for the team. The Savior used it all, skillfully weaving together a beautiful tapestry - showing us how to follow the pattern of following him. It was a gift and privilege to be there.

If you'd like to follow the team in their adventures, please click the following link.

http://joinedwithjesuskenya.wordpress.com/.

ENTRANCE TO THE PROPERTY

A VIEW OF THE HOUSE FROM THE FIELDS

WILD BERRIES GROWING AROUND THE LAKE

EMMA COOKE, HEATHER SUTTER &  JUDAH FOLMSBEE

FOLLOW THE WAY OF THE CROSS

BETHANY MOORE, HEATHER, COURTNEY & CHRISTOPHER COOKE

THE WHOLE GANG

MORNING DEVOTIONS AND COFFEE

THE KENYA MISSION TEAM

The Unexpected Opportunity

It's been raining all day. The sky is a gloomy grey, overcast with scuttling clouds. It's the perfect sort of day to stay in your pajamas a bit longer, enjoy a cup of coffee, and lose yourself in the adventure of a great book. It feels quiet and still today, almost like the world around me is waiting expectantly for something wonderful to happen. Everything is brilliant and green and the air smells of rain and wet earth. It's the kind of day you might expect the unexpected.

I love the way God surprises us with things we never expected. He's done that for Heather and I. We've been given a spur-of-the-moment opportunity to travel to a tiny corner of the Georgia woods, visit with some dear friends, and serve a team of twelve people who'll be jetting to Kenya on a ten day mission trip. 

Though we don't have all the details we do know the team will serve at an orphanage that houses children who've lost their parents to the aids epidemic. The founder's goal of King's Kids Village is to raise these forgotten children as if they were their very own. In their mid 70s, Paul and Eleanor Stern, long time missionaries to Africa, built the village that now houses forty children and twenty-five staff members. Their life is proof that it's never too late for God to bring unexpected opportunities our way. We'll never be too old to hear the voice of God.

What unexpected opportunity is God placing in your path today? The next time the clouds burst open and rain pours from the sky and the day feels quiet and still, expectant, and wonderful, don't be surprised if the Savior gives you a vision or an opportunity for something new, something unexpected.

If you'd like to visit the Stern's website, please enjoy their inspiring story and mission by clicking on the link.

www.kingskidsvillage.org 

I LOVE RAINY DAYS