That stump behind the kids came from across the road. Ordinary people drag valuable things home. But we aren't ordinary, really. My landscaper designer (Aunt B) will help us fit it into the landscaping.

Priya and Anneka helped gather the paltry bit of produce from our pathetic garden before it froze.

And really, besides some various kinds of peppers, a few carrots, the few tomatoes we got away from the free-range chickens, this swiss chard is about all we had to show for. And some potatoes. But swiss chard is tricky because it tastes so, well... green. I tried the Rustic Swiss Chard Tart recipe that someone won quite a few dollars for in Better Homes and Gardens magazine. The crust was really good, but the swiss chard still tasted really green. Like alfalfa. Cheese doesn't really even help it. Kale is green and spinach is green and they are good. Beans are green and they are good. Swiss chard comes in green and yellow and red and is beautiful, but it tastes green.

Ellie is perhaps the only one who can carry "Oocie". The cat appeared one day in the shed and must have been someone's pet, but as someone wise (Mark) once said (in relation to a dog-pound Basset Hound named Buford that I had to have once who turned out to have a body odor problem and a penchant for wandering), "There's a reason why someone got rid of it."

vision

We're not called to be a people of vision, we're called to be a people of revelation. God speaks and we follow. We've completely taken this Disney notion of "when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true" and melded that with faith and come up with something completely different. There's something wrong in a culture that preaches nothing is more sacred than your dream. I mean, we walk away from marriages to follow our dreams. We abandon children to follow our dreams. We hurt people in the name of our dreams, which as a Christian is just preposterous.

That doesn't mean I just sit here waiting for God to hand me a Post-it note with tomorrow's agenda. But I brainstorm, I have ideas, I put them on the wall, and I pray about them. Then one of those ideas will start to percolate a bit, start to bubble, and then I chase the bubble to see if that's where God is moving me. But if suddenly God seems to be moving me in a different direction, I let go of that idea, because it's just an idea. If I keep calling it my dream, I'm holding on to it too tightly until it becomes something I can't let go of. And the only thing I can't let go of is God. Everything else should be held with an open hand.

(Phil Vischer of Veggie Tales fame on his new venture Jellyfish Labs, quoted in WORLD magazine)

on the first day of second grade and kindergarten, respectively

lovely camping site away from other campers, except for the karaoke across the cornfield

campfire to cook breakfast and to warm the 40 degree morning air

popcorn over the campfire

watching the water boil

paint

scraping the little remaining paint...

primed...

slave sister labor endangering their lives to paint dangerous places...

second coat....perhaps begging for just one more...