joy

someone said to me the other day, "i'm the richest person in the world...warren buffett has nothing on me!"  they were joyfully expressing gratitude for the circumstances of their life....the joy of family and learning and fellowship.  we can honestly echo this.  an embarrassment of riches that is hard to see from certain places.  we live in a neighborhood that has struggles, to be sure.  yet this place also has remarkable, incomparable grace and goodness.  this was again clear to us when we spent some time with kids in our neighborhood making cookies.  here is isaac taking it all in.  please pray (if you're the praying kind) for this little place of hope...for the staff and volunteers who are so very loving and gracious.  if we are so fortunate as to witness the breaking in of God's kingdom in this time and place then i'm expecting such breaking in to happen in places like this where love is a verb.

 

fire pics

an alarming fire

the building next to us caught fire last tuesday night.  our neighbor knocked over a candle and his place went up in flames...quite the adrenalin rush.  i was putting isaac to bed and he spotted the flames leaping from our neighbors window toward his bedroom window.  the heat pulsed through isaac's open shutter.  no one was hurt.  so now the sad little four-plex sits empty...it only had two renters anyway.  here are a few snaps from the night.  i didn't get any good shots when the flames were roaring and the windows were popping...poor little isaac was beside himself and needed my undivided attention.  i'll try and forgive him.

(geoff)

snoozing like a bee

it is cooling off here in lexington.  the nights are mild and the sun is losing its summertime sting.  i was enjoying the autumnal rays yesterday with a  midmorning cup of tea out in the garden.  my attention was drawn to the dozens of huge carpenter bees dotting around the last of the zinnias and marigolds.  they also show a particular preference for garlic chive blooms.

anyway, many of them were stereotypically 'busy bees', tirelessly moving from one bloom to the next.  but just as many were taking naps right there at the site of their labors.  it was one of the most delightful things to observe, bees taking naps right there in the workplace.  what un-edited ease they model for us.  it was a good lesson to me about the value of rest and the endless education to be had from the ways of God's good creation. 

Jesus made a point of drawing our attention to the way creatures work and play and receive what they need from the hand of God...how much more (Jesus goes on to say) are we beloved ones of the Creator, and how much more confident can we be in the provisions of God.  i come away from my education through the bees with a renewed appreciation of the importance of rest...not as a last -gasp reflex against exhaustion, but as an inherent part of a well lived and diligent rhythm of life.  it occurs to me that sabbath is not collapsing into the weekend, too worn out to do anything else, it is a nap in the middle of the day and a prayer of thanksgiving right when we think we can least afford to pause.

(geoff)

promises, promises...

we've been rubbish at keeping this thing up to date. sorry. 

we just had a full and wonderful weekend hosting some dear new friends from the nashville area.  seven people interested in community gardens and intentional community living came to hang out and ask good questions about our life together.  they were most gracious guests and we are excited about how God will fold them into God's plans for that part of Tennessee. 

isaac is well and enjoying his schooling.  he is also becoming quite the lego-builder.  he is developing a great sense of humor and is even working on his theology...in a recent conversation about our prayers for rain (we are in a drought here presently) isaac lamented the fact that we had been praying EVERY day but it had not rained in weeks....he asked quite honestly, "has God lost his strength?"

please feel free to submit your answer to such a sophisticated question from a 5-year old... :)

...and in case you have forgotten what we look like...here we are with Geoff's mum and dad.

...and just us.  

 

we promise we will keep this blog up to date.  promise.