Raindrops on Roses

Well, whiskers on kittens are not really among my favorite things, but the girls in the pictures are certainly among my favorite girls. (I don't have a current photo, but thought this old one was especially cute, so there it is.)

Tonight we had two of them over. Even if you don't know who they are, you can tell by looking which two are sisters, so that's who came over, along with their parents and little brother.

It's late, so I won't write much, but I will say that this evening was the most fun I've had in too long! Those who know who Claire, Caroline, and Seth are will know why they have such a special place in my heart.

Tonight we laughed and laughed as little Seth talked and talked, inviting us to his house numerous times and mentioning all the different things he has in his room and asking, "Do you want to see it?" We even got invited to spend the night by this hospitable little boy (who thought it was a great idea to let us sleep in his big boy bed, so he could go sleep with Mommy!)

We played piano and sang, "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes," "I Believe," "Bibbity Bobbity Boo," and Claire even remembered a piece she learned over three years ago when she was taking piano lessons from me.

Caroline kept busy with stickers and crayons, and it was clear that she is a wonderful big sister to Seth (perhaps even convincing him that pink and purple are the proper favorite colors???)

We did lots of remembering...remembering piano lessons, remembering magnets on the dishwasher, remembering our special candle ceremony of special women, remembering Laura, remembering visits with Emily (in the photo), remembering, remembering.

The photo was made over three years ago. A lot has happened in those three years. Children have grown, hearts have healed, God has blessed.

God has blessed, indeed.

Ruah

The air has changed.

Yesterday I went for a walk with my dad, a good 40-minute walk up and down hills, and hardly broke a sweat.

Today we turned off the air conditioner and opened all the windows.

The wind is blowing. The air is fresh.

I feel like I'm coming alive again, after a long, hot summer that had just about worn me out. "Dem bones gonna rise again."

Who knows? With this new energy, maybe I'll start writing more often and even finish the Croatian Chronicles.

That remains to be seen. The important thing is that the wind is blowing, the air is moving, and my spirit is rejoicing in the promise of autumn. Living in the South, fall is my favorite season. And the past two days have been like a sneak preview. Summer will not last forever. We can breathe again, and sit on our porches again, walk our dogs again, and enjoy being outside again.

The air has changed.

It reminds me tonight of a passage from my favorite, G. M. Hopkins, after he describes how man with his industrialism is messing up the earth. (And though I'm not yet convinced of the scientific basis for the global warming theory, I know our asphalt and cutting down of trees makes summer much worse....)

And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs--
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.