Strength and Beauty

…I have turned the front porch into a sitting area which is so lovely in the morning. On the other side is a play area with a full kitchen, baby center (for dolls, that is) and dress up clothes to make you giddy if you were a four year old.
…I have cleared out the play room (which no one really played in) and made it a wide open space. I had dreams of moving all my craft/sewing/yarn stash into there but that is on hold since our life/home/family seems up in the air on where we are going to land next.
…Ivan and I have seriously started looking into moving somewhere, anywhere and it seems the path God is highlighting might be Iowa City. This almost gave my mother a heart attack when she heard the news.
…I decided one morning to go for a run at Lions Woods while Ivan had taken the girls to the park. I put my Ipod in one pocket and my keys in the other. I attempted to run and was getting distracted by the jingling and clanging so I slowed down, spotted an old log and nestled my keys behind there hidden from view on the trail. I ran the one mile (miraculously) and came back to retrieve my keys but they were no where to be seen. Time went on, long story made short: I think some guy was going to steal my car. He had snagged my keys and came back an hour later clicking on the remote lock trying to find out what car it opened in the lot. I happened to be sitting under a tree watching the whole event and confronted him. Odd. Mental note: don’t go jogging in the woods and leave your keys behind a stump. Also: take a cell phone with you at all times.
…Many beach trips have ensued and my freckles are in full bloom.
…I have harvested not once, but twice, my basil and made a monster batch of pesto but neglected to read the recipe very closely and added not one teaspoon of salt but rather one tablespoon of salt. Waiting for the basil to reproduce so as to dilute the salt down. :/
…I have watched some really bad movies. What’s up with the movie industry these days? It seems really poor and lacking for any substance. I did enjoy these: Whip, Georgia O’Keefe, and Pray the Devil Back to Hell.
…I finished two memoirs: one was amazing and will be reread at some point, the other was so-so. Leaving Church by Barbara Brown Taylor and Perfection by Julie Metz, respectively.
…The Martens’ clan came for a family reunion of sorts before the beloved Elsbeth moves off to Vancouver. The house was full, we ate like kings, and had your typical family drama. I was happy and glad.
…Scarlet has learned a few more words, namely, STOP.
…I spent the night in the Emergency Room at Lake Forest Hospital recently with severe abdominal pain related to gall stones. I need surgery to remove my gall bladder in the near future. Blah. Or as they say in Battlestar Galactica: frack.

Up on deck:
–>Renae and her goeslings are coming for a whole week long visit next week. I get to hog her.
–>The annual Lake County Fair, a must keep tradition for our little Martens’ family.
–>Possible trip to Iowa City in early August to see family, help build a delux desk for Jason and maybe some interviews.
–>Knitting, knitting and more knitting. Why does it seem I could knit multiple hours every day and be just fine with that?
–>Some serious yard work and weeding is in store for my old knees and weathered hands.
–>Peach cobbler. The peaches are in; they are plentiful, perfectly ripe and cheap. Come one, come all.

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We had a play date at the Waukegan beach today! Second day in a row we have been to the beach. What an amazing and beautiful place; so much blue, every shade of it. I decided to pack up the burly with the two children weighing in at a total of almost 75 pounds. We aren’t counting the weight of the burly itself or the mini cooler, the beach chair, my knitting, diaper bag, bag of books/DVD’s to return to the library, beach toys and towels. Wow, I can pack it in.

Well, I chugged that Cadillac of a bike to the Waukegan beach and back. The whole time letting my old cotton dress flap in the wind showing a little white thigh, feeling sexy and carefree. It felt great.

And then tonight I went to my monthly Waukegan knitting guild meeting that met downtown at the Brick Cafe. I decided to bike it in a different skirt and loved it. I may start riding anywhere/everywhere that I can. The burly makes it entirely possible: grocery shopping, library, visiting friends, post office.

As I rode the bike tonight to knitting, it took me (literally) about one minute to figure out why it felt like I was gliding, almost flying and in a much harder gear than usual. And then it came to me, I don’t have all those children and gear in the back. I laughed aloud as I rode, scaring the neighbors…”There goes that crazy woman who’s skirt is flying up over her face laughing aloud to herself.” Ah, well, I felt alive and happy and free.

I had an interesting thing happen this evening. I had barely escaped the raging four year old upstairs who was thrashing, screaming, kicking furniture and having a fit over the fact that she didn’t like the pajamas I put on her. I came downstairs and remembered that my little seedlings were thirsty after hardening outside all day. I was performing my usual ritual of dribbling tasty water and speaking sweet-nothings in their leaves when I noticed a very big green truck across the street and in front of the ghost house. I said softly to the plants, “Well, that’s odd. This is not the sort of neighborhood you see PeaPod trucks in. I wonder who is ordering grocery delivery.” Being the nosy person I am, I began to track the delivery man. He crosses over Ridgeland dragging behind him four boxes in a cart and starts walking down my street. I presumably follow him through my house keeping my eye on him through the windows still thinking to myself, “Who ordered PeaPod?” Lo and behold, he walks into my backyard and up to the mud porch.

And then it comes to me: this past Saturday, I had an evening from hell, literally. I won’t get into it here but lets just say I found Scarlet with a black eye she got from falling down the stairs and AA covered in red fingernail polish, literally, legs and all. I still haven’t been able to laugh at this. It took me about two hours to find the grace of Jesus to cope with this and stop being angry and bursting into tears every minute or two. It was about this point that my sister and I started talking on good ‘ol gmail chat. I told her about my horrendous evening and long day and she said, “We are just going to have to plan a night sometime this week where we can have a glass of wine together and talk on the phone.” In which I replied, “You’ll have to buy the wine; I’m broke.”

So guess what was in those four boxes being hauled up my little path to my mud porch: wine. And groceries. Groceries we really did need and literally have not an extra dollar to spare on the basics such as milk, eggs, yogurt and bread, which were all in those four boxes. And let’s not forget the peanut M&M’s. Those are for PMS desperate moments, she tells me.

And I just can’t help but think about that Christianese, borderline-cheese verse in the Bible that really is quite deep and true: we comfort with the comfort we have been given. Same goes for generosity: we give generously with the generosity that has been show towards us.

Thank you, Dana, for being a regular in-the-flesh portrait of God to me.
I was blessed by that big green truck. I was blessed by you. And I have sure enjoyed talking on the phone this evening on the lovely front porch with my little seedlings in earshot with a glass of Shiraz in my hand.