I’m tweaking a few settings on the blog today, so if you visit and notice a few things out of whack, it’s only temporary. Everything should be back to normal soon.
Image from Day Eight (Comfort) of the August Photo Challenge.
Tag: the August Break
‘Buvoo zhh zhh ma mumm’ to you (August Photo Challenge: Day 4)
Wow, readers, you are truly wonderful. I was overwhelmed by your sweet words — and your prayers! — yesterday when I was feeling small and far away.
Today has been a blessed and peaceful day. How could it not be when it involved crepes, new striped fabric (different than what’s pictured above), and this little sweet pea giving me slobbery kisses while saying over and over “buvoo zhh zhh ma mummm”.
Pretty much perfect if you ask me.
Image of eggshells, i.e., crepe aftermath: Day Four (Interesting Litter) of the August Photo Challenge.
Feeling small and far away (August Photo Challenge: Day 3)
It was too much, yesterday, this sense of being so far away. I went out with Aveline, out to air-conditioned shops and pushed her around in her stroller while I looked at pretty things. And everywhere I walked, I saw friends shopping and laughing together. And I walked around, alone.
I felt small and very far away from home.
Later that night, I cried. I try not to, I really do. But sometimes, when everyone you know is either 46 hours to the west or 25 hours to the north, you just can’t help feeling a little sad.
Image: Day Three (Friendship) of the August Photo Challenge.
Staying Cool in the Heat (August Photo Challenge: Day 2)
Aveline knows there’s no better way to beat the heat than with a midday siesta. While the noon sun burns hot, wilting the leaves and muting the birds’ song, she snoozes away in her bright little diaper.
Her days are spent mostly shirtless, at least while we’re indoors. When we go out,she wears a cotton hat and a sundress, and sometimes a pair of shoes from her adorable collection of mary janes.
Once papa gets home, she’ll beg him for a sip of ice water. He can’t ever resist, and lets her wet lips slobber all over the rim of his glass. I love the tiny slurping sound she makes as she gulps down little mouthfuls of water.
It doesn’t cool down at night, here. When it’s dark, the wispy hair around her ears will still be damp from sweat, and she’ll fall asleep again sprawled out atop her blankets.
Image: Day Two (Staying Cool) of the August Photo Challenge.
God led us to this oasis (August Photo Challenge: Day 1)
It’s AUGUST. I don’t know how something like that could have happened. Funny, the chatter today about Fall being just around the corner. It sure doesn’t feel that way here. The crickets’ dusk song hasn’t slowed; one chirp blends into the next with scarcely any time at all elapsed in between. The humid air is thick and unforgiving, holding up so much water it’s a wonder the clouds don’t come crashing down around our feet. My toenails are brightly painted orange – neon, not autumnal; more like sherbet than like maple leaves. The inside of the car is scorching, and the seats burn our summer legs as we climb in.
This is not the crunchy and dry California summer. This is not the verdant green, sweatshirt-clad Midwest summer. But this is our summer. Our summer, and we are peaceful. God led us to this oasis, this palm-tree laden land where our table is filled with food, where the pool is clean and refreshing and ours to enjoy, where the row of windows in the living room look out over roads and into the sky, and not into other windows.
Sometimes, it’s hard to see that this is an oasis. Our families are thousands of miles away. I do not have friends here to laugh with, friends to share a summer afternoon with. I get lost trying to find simple places like the post office. The street signs are all unfamiliar. It is hard, sometimes. Hard to be so far away from what used to be home.
But mostly, somehow, I am peaceful.
God saw what was going on with Israel. God understood. (Exodus 2:25 MSG)
Image: Day One (Self Portrait) of the August Photo Challenge.
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