Returning Refreshed

We had a really nice Easter vacation spending time with my dad "Boppy" and step mom, "Mimi" (what the kids call them). It was so nice to go back "home" to Illinois, to the suburb of Chicago (Palos Park) where I grew up. It is so peaceful, an area filled with forest preserves and lots and lots of old, old trees. My favorite are the old oak trees scattered throughout.


The days went by fast, but they were well spent. Easter dinner with the extended family was just lovely as my southern step-mom created an authentic Southern Easter dinner and J had a blast playing with all his cousins. I made a couple of my recipes during the week, Tray Baked Chicken and Papa's Goulash which my dad and Debbie (and J) really enjoyed. I was able to catch up with a couple of my good friends from childhood and they got to spend some time with J.


I would have to say that my most favorite part of the trip was my daily walks while J was napping. I was able to leave the house while Boppy and Mimi kept watch. I spent time just drinking in the beauty of the Lord's creation as I explored the familiar area. Taking time to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells drew me closer to God. I took time just gazing in front of the pond that is down the road where a pair of geese have made their home. I loved just listening to the birds and watching the trees sway in the breeze. A couple of my walks were 30 minutes and a couple over 45 minutes. Each walk enabled me to spend quality time in prayer and communion with the Lord out in nature. It was very sweet. It also brought back so many memories of riding my bike up and down the roads and running all over the neighborhood. The houses themselves have changed so much. On each street, several of the old houses have been torn down and immense homes have taken their place. Some look like castles, some look like mountain lodges.




During my walks, it was a treat to see a flock of migrating warblers. They let me come incredibly close and I knew they had to be some type of warbler by their mix of yellow, gray and white colors. After searching the internet, I discovered they were yellow-rumped warblers (first picture). I really enjoyed watching the birds throughout the week, and saw another bird, the white crowned sparrow (second picture), which stopped over at my dad's house. I also enjoyed hearing the birds. The call of the woodpecker, the songs of the robin and the cardinal, the noisy call of the blue jay. My dad's porch was a great place for watching and listening to the birds. It was such a blessing to me.



Another favorite from the week was spending lots of time with J reading books. I didn't have my computer with me and we watched very little TV, so we had lots of time together. I took some time to go through our old kids books in the dank, musty basement and my dad let me take several of them home. They were a wonderful discovery for J, who spent literally hours with me each day, just having me read them to him. He loved this finger play book (picture above) and after having me read it several times, he enjoyed doing the finger play on his own. Frog and Toad are a new favorite.




One of our final treats was making a trip to our little town's ice cream parlor, The Plush Horse, which has been around since 1937. They have a life sized white stuffed horse inside and J was just thrilled to see it. He picked his seat at the cutest little tiny kids table. It was fun taking him to a place his mom used to visit often as a kid. The ice cream is just delicious.

We had plenty of unpacking and settling in to do once we got home, but it's good to be home after having a nice little vacation away.

So many things reflect God's beauty, opening my eyes

This morning we made a quick stop to the grocery story for some things I forgot yesterday. Julian wanted to go to the park and was upset when I put him in the car and explained we were going for groceries. He REALLY loves going to the park now that it has warmed up. Anytime we go in the garage now is a trigger for wanting to go to the park. When we came home, we did play outside for a while. We had a couple balls to hit around and just enjoyed being in the sun and fresh air. I wish we had a little sandbox or something for play in the yard, but we really don't have a lot of room since it's a condo. Julian did pretty well with breakfast, eating mini muffins and yogurt. He's also getting better at using the spoon. I notice he often uses his left hand with the spoon or fork but other things he uses his right.

I spent time in 2Samuel 22. David and his men are again fighting the Philistines. There's a lot of fighting in the Old Testament. Beth reflects how God brings David victory but this time through another person. It says David was exhausted in battle. Beth traces this word and in Hebrew it means to flee or fly away. That what David wanted to do was run and hide. It's refreshing to see David's humanity here. It reminds me of times when battles come and I'd rather run and hide than get into the confrontation. It takes a lot of effort. One of his men came to his rescue. This made me think of how wonderful it is when someone dear comes to our rescue when we need it, when we're exhausted. I can think of a time only last fall when I was overwhelmed in my depression and exhausted from the battle and my sisters came to my rescue. They stepped in to care for Julian as I needed some time out to take care of myself.

I was getting sleepy and then God gave me a second wind and I had a good study of Esther. The author has us imagine what it must have been like as Esther prepared to go before the king. Something in that day that could result in death. What an emotionally trying time it must have been knowing she would do it and it could mean her death. I see this as an example of how God uses trying circumstances to help strengthen our faith. When Esther came to the inner court, it is beautiful as you see no hesitation at all from the king and in fact he was pleased with her as he accepted her and invited her into the court. What a powerful example of an answer to prayer.

Julian did well with lunch, other than a couple mini melt downs. He cried when I wouldn't let him eat a muffin until he ate more of his hot dog. He often cries when not getting something he wants (or not getting it right away) but in prayer God has helped me grow stronger in not just giving him something because he's crying. How this even in a small way can help to prepare him for life and help him grow. He is beginning to learn his colors. He knows red, yellow and blue. Having a couple balloons has helped and also giving him crayons to color with and having him ask for them by color. After lunch, we went to the park for a while. It was really just beautiful today with the sun shining bright, the smell of spring and temperatures around 60 something. There were other kids around today so Julian hung back a bit and didn't go down the slide as much. The highlight was that he got to walk a little chihuahua. He went over to see the tiny dog and the woman handed him the leash and he led the dog around a bit. He ended up dropping the leash but thankfully the dog ran back to his owner. While we were walking home, I remembered reading somewhere today that the next time you were outside to really take it in and how easily you can find five things reflecting God's beauty. This was a really good exercise and I felt my heart connecting with God's. Here are my five of today:
-fluffy little buds on a tree that looked like soft pussy willows
-tree that had bright red fuzzy buds all over it
-the beauty of a bird in flight
-tall grasses softly moving in the breeze by the pond
-leaves and sticks dancing around in circles in the wind
I really appreciated our time outside even more.

Julian ended up waking up early again from his nap. I'm not even sure he went to sleep. He was only down about 45 minutes. So while I cooked, he was trying to find something to do. He saw the pans and said "me cook" and so I got him some pans and put a little bit of water in the bottom and gave him a spoon. He had fun stirring and making "soup". Then he did some coloring and kept calling me over to look saying, "mommy see, mommy see". He'd look up at me with this expectant look with his mouth wide open like "look what I did" and I'd tell him what a lovely picture he colored. After dinner, we played a little bit and then it was time for bed. We spent the next couple hours with our life group. I made a red velvet cake with vanilla frosting as we rotate on treats. We even had leftovers. Today we were talking about the story of Zaccheus and the transformation that came out of his relationship with Jesus. Being a chief tax collector, it was an incredible thing for him to give away half of his possessions to the poor. It shows a heart that desires to please God; a heart becoming so filled with God's goodness that he has less desire for the things of this world. Possessions are just possessions. This is a theme similar to one we talked about in my MOPS group. I was struck then too about how much stuff I hold onto and really having a desire to go through our possessions asking the question, how can we fulfill someone's need? What can I give to bless someone? I really want to take some time and do that. Mindfully unload as a love offering to God. This blog will help hold me to that!

It's now the fun part of the day where I get to relax and unwind. It's also late so sleep will be coming soon.