June 7

When I was growing up, our church would place a rosebud at the front of the sanctuary to celebrate the birth of a new baby. Although I hadn't thought about the practice in years, that memory came to mind when I spied this pure white rose and a host of buds in my yard this evening.

New life. Thankfully it's something we can all have through Jesus, but even though I have confidence in my salvation, I'd be lying if I said my heart isn't deeply troubled right now. I've hashed and rehashed this current reality in my mind over and over again over the course of the past week, and it all comes down to this simple truth: we are called to love each other, regardless of race or religion or creed or shape or size or age or ability or political philosophy. Society is broken because we so often fail to love.

Love is engaging in conversation and not tuning out when it gets hard or uncomfortable. Love is accepting that we are not always right. Love is resisting the urge to attack someone publicly no matter how much you think they deserve it, because we all --every single one of us, even the lowest of the low-- are worthy of grace. (And when you trash someone, you're spreading seeds of hate. Think about that.) Love is learning to be sensitive and avoiding judgment because personal histories are powerful and no two are exactly alike. Love is seeking truth and adapting our thoughts and attitudes and behaviors when we find it. Love is thinking and reflecting and then, when led, doing something. Love is realizing that we are all unique creations who are known intimately, valued immensely, and loved deeply by the God who created us.

I suppose it might be easy to dismiss my words because I'm just some white chick who lives in an affluent town, but please don't because I'm no stranger to deep, life-altering suffering. Contact me and we can chat. I'll tell you the grittier, uglier details of my life story to date because vulnerability may be hard, but it can also lead to healing.

I see and hear and empathize in ways you can't imagine but I have to do better. A lot of us probably could. Because in the end, love is what gives us the only kind of life that truly fulfills us and meets our needs. It is the only thing that will cure what ails our society. And no matter how painful or how trying a path we've had to travel, Love offers us all New Life. And that's no small gift.

June 6

The kiddos got their report cards this week and all did well, so Adam took them to Wendy's this afternoon for celebratory Frosties.

No real reflection here, other than to say that I'm extremely grateful to have children who are intelligent and (generally) self-motivated when it comes to school and learning. Not small blessings, I think, but mighty easy to inadvertently overlook.

June 5

I took this picture of Brady during dinner.

There's just something so sweet (and ironic) about my baby (bruiser) hugging his electric pink stuffed unicorn, so I wanted to remember it.

And there you go. Just a quick snapshot from my life, but a good one. And I'm always thankful for the good ones.

June 4

Between textbook return and VBS worship team practice for Abby, a grocery store run, and the dentist for me and the boys (and that was an experience), it was something of a busy day. I didn't think to take any pictures, so when I went outside to take care of my little garden tonight, I snapped one of two of my bigger (but still little) tomato plants.

I don't love the 100 degree temps we've withstood this week, but I do love that my wee tomato plants love the heat. And I do love watching them grow and I do look forward to consuming the tomatoes they'll eventually (hopefully) produce. And that all serves as a salient reminder for me about life in general: Sometimes, in order to be able to enjoy those things we love, we must first put up with some "heat".

June 3

With temps already over 90 by mid-morning, Abby was first to ask if she could get in the pool today. Brady and Isaac had some kind of brou-haha over a video game so Brady was next in line to don his swimwear (and goggles. I have no idea why he likes to wear them so much but he does). They were both waiting out their prescribed "15 minutes after sunscreen application" period and I was taking a picture of Brady by himself when Abby appeared in the frame and got down next to him like this:

I have no clue what she was doing or why she was doing it but I love this photo. I love Brady's smile and I love that these two --who are rarely together-- are together. And I love that Abby looks so beautiful and grown-up and I love that (unlike me) she doesn't suffer from resting you-know-what face so she's actually capable of looking beautiful even when she's not smiling.

And then 20 minutes later, when they'd gone outside and Isaac had joined them in the pool, I loved standing in the dining room and watching them as they played together. With six-plus years between Abby and Brady, that doesn't happen all that often these days. So when it does, I am one thankful mom.

June 2

Adam and I were rebels tonight and broke the county-imposed 8 PM curfew.

In our defense, dinner was a little late and he opted to put the boys to bed before we headed out for our evening stroll, which began at 8:15. I didn't even think about the curfew until I mused whether or not it was still in effect a few minutes later, and by then it seemed silly to turn around so we continued along our way. (Mostly I think it's just kind of funny that I violated my first curfew at age 42.)

Anyway, it was still over 80 degrees so the elevated temp plus the aforementioned curfew made it a very quiet, very pleasant walk. And given how busy my mind has been of late, I'm thankful for those moments of respite with my hunny.

June 1

Several months ago, Isaac's baseball coach from the 2019 season contacted us to see if he'd be interested in joining a travel/tournament team. It took quite a while to get to this point, but today, that team finally had a chance to practice together. It's hard to see, but Isaac is a small dot on the right running toward the dugout in white pants and a dark green top.

Both of the boys were bummed when the Little League season was canceled, so Isaac was particularly excited to get out there and play again. And although it was definitely a different kind of practice, I know he had a good time. So for this small bit of "normalcy" in an alarmingly abnormal time, I'm grateful.