"Days, all one kind, go chasing each other."   Pablo Nerudo

I am sitting here looking at these pictures and too many days have gone by, they have merged all together as one picture for me. 

When I talk to my Mom she says "The Lord is going to take your breath away!"  Life is still crazy at our house, in every single direction, but I do believe God is preparing us for something, and in the midst of these days there is still so much good, and so much love.

We took the kids to the park, Steve was standing on a rock and swinging them over the water to make them feel like they were going to go in.  Can you just hear them "Again Daddy do it again!"

Four year old tights

"Live deep, not fast." -- Henry Seidel Canby

Going through some of my journals. (03.30.09)

"Spring has returned.  The earth is like a child that knows poems."    --Rainer Maria Rilke

"Once you are real you can't become unreal again.  It lasts for always."  --Margory williams (The Velveteen Rabbit)

I went out on a short inspiration field trip with hungry eyes, I held the 600 dollar teddy bear and made up stories of the child that loved him so well, and  the quilt, maybe it was a group of lifelong friends all sitting together talking about their lives while stitching it together.  The needlework sampler was done by a 12 year old girl, and on the bottom left the picture is of  a spice box...can you just imagine the recipes? The smells?

Janet my younger sister.  She just passed her comps, she is getting her masters in counseling..you know what I love so much about her?  I knew she was going to stop by and see me, I just wasn't sure of what time.  The boys were sitting in the backyard drawing and I walked past the back door and saw that she was out there sitting with them, I have no idea how long she had been out there but she is so good at entering in their world.  I leaned on the door frame and just watched her, I couldn't hear what they were saying but the way she leans forward and engages them in conversation, it is really something.  She takes her relationships with them very seriously.

My friend Nadia came for coffee, we chatted in the kitchen for a few hours eating donuts and drinking coffee.  Eti told me today that for his birthday he wants "Aunt Nadia" to come which is such a random typical Eti thing to say but the funny thing is that if I told her she would come.

Nadia told the kids that the very best pet to have is a skunk, that she heard it from several pet store owners...how about that?  And now guess what my kids want?  Steve googled "Pet Skunk", but got distracted and spent most of his time researching miniature, furry Irish donkeys for a pet.  You can indeed get an Irish donkey for a pet and they say that you have to pet them often because they are extremely affectionate and get lonely.  Steve said he would not keep it outside, he wants it to live IN THE HOUSE with us.

I can just see him taking it for walks down the street, and sharing his popcorn with it while watching Chuck or Lost.

 I finally took all my feathers that I have been collecting out of the shoe box and into the open.  The antique bud vase works like it was made to hold feathers.

Our small group from church that gets together every week went to a local nursing home and sang for some of the residents.  I loved how this elderly woman wore red, I wonder if it is hint to her spunky personality from years ago?   The lady next to her wore a purple pant suit with a purple floral scarf and large rings on almost every finger she had her nails painted lavender and her hair was all done up.  I commented on how well she looked and she smiled and said "I like to dress up for Jesus on His day."  She has Parkinson's and I pictured her alone in her room trying to paint her nails and doing her hair and the trouble she went through to celebrate this important day.  One women behind her had her hand on her heart and tears just coming one after another down her cheek while she sang "In the Garden Alone" and "Amazing Grace" with us.  Next to her was a women who had lost most of her vision.   She was a renowned organist back in the day (her nurse told me) I sat by her as she rocked in her wheelchair while we all sang and she lifted her badly arthritic fingers and played all the keys in the air as if she were still  at the organ

Another woman I sat next to just sang her heart out,  when her husband came in to visit her while we were there she did not recognize him but she had remembered all the words to the hymns we sang.

Eti is super happy that it is muscle shirt season and has been "working out" to increase his biceps.  As soon as Jeff got off the bus they started running laps and doing push ups. When Eti is serious his voice gets really low and "Manly".  They worked out for almost two hours and Eti took it all VERY seriously.

Can you see his robin picture on the door?  He also takes traditions seriously and drew this the day he saw the first robin, I found it taped to the door reminding us to celebrate.

On Tuesday I spent some time with my good friend Jenean, she needed to get some head shots done for her upcoming musical recital.  Isn't she stunning?