free gifts

I 100% love presents. Getting them and giving them. I just love presents. At English camp a few years ago, we talked about the "free gift" that God offers to us--life in Jesus. Since then little gifts remind me of The Gift.

Good gifts are just good. They fit, you know. And they are free. The sweetest thing about a gift is that it is--given. Just plain given.
Recently, Wes & Verna Birch, a couple in our church, found out that David was scurrying, scrimping and saving money to buy a camera. They'd lost one, bought a new one, found the old one and so decided to give it to us! It's so fun to be able to photograph the beautiful, little things of life again.

still a lazy summer

Well, I've been wracking my brain to come up with something newsy or inspiring or provocative or even just plain-old-interesting for a blog post, but honestly, there's not a lot going on around here. It's a slow and lazy and restful summer. Some days are hot, some are colder. I open the curtains, water the garden, talk with the neighbors, do fun stuff with David, read books, visit and be visited by friends, grocery shop, tweedle around with projects--budgeting, making granola, painting furniture. I read Leviticus, do errands, talk on the phone, cook, eat, sleep. Really, nothing fascinating to write about.

In 15 days school will be starting, and I'll begin substitute teaching as soon as teachers start getting sick. Maybe I'll have something to write about then--although I probably shouldn't write about that stuff on this public place! I've got a discipline book that I'm trying to get through right now, Teaching with Love and Logic. I've also been thinking about seeing if I could be a barista at a teeny-tiny coffee shop they're building next door or teaching writing to freshmen at a local Christian college. Just on the side, you know. We're also poking around the idea of working with middle school kids from church. That'll actually start pretty soon, I think. Monday or Tuesday nights.

So, as a matter of fact, there is a whole stinkin' lot on the horizon. Fun, new, scare-me-totally-to-death stuff. But for now, for the next two weeks or so, it's just time to soak up the quiet. I'd better be learning how to pray right this minute.

a bountiful garden

My garden has gone from a flowerbed overgrown with weeds,
to an empty lot of stinky manure,

to a patch of little sprouts,

to a bountiful abundance of flowers and vegetables.

Every day is a new exciting treat. Today the first sunflower opened!

Unfortunately, my camera is currently hiding, so these pictures (from David's phone) will have to do. Too bad the prettiest picture is so small; there's just too much detail for the phone's memory to handle!

summer summer summer summer, part 2

So, along with those, I'm also reading Twilight. Everyone's reading it, right? I guess I've been suckered in; yesterday I read for quite a few hours. It's fine. Goes quick. Like a movie. I guess I don't have any real strong feelings about it....well... Actually, one thing that makes me squirm is the script that it's giving so many girls for falling in love. I feel like it says, "This is what it is to fall in love." It feels like this way, looks this way, is this way. It's always and only and completely consuming. (As though a boy-crazy jr high girl needs to have that re-enforced!) And in Twilight it's totally physical, instinctual. Like there's no brain or choosing involved. Love just IS. I don't know, what do you think? I know some of you have read it :) With that critique though, I should add, I think Stephanie Meyer is a charming writer. I like the way the words and pictures are woven.

Just watched Tears of the Sun. Still thinking about genocide, ethnic cleansing and all that. Heavy. Good movie.

Also, the old, all-time favorite, While You Were Sleeping. Still love Sandra Bullock. David chose Tears of the Sun, I chose this one :) Did you know they don't have this at Blockbuster anymore? I guess I'm getting old! Who doesn't enjoy a dose of happily-ever-after on occasion?

What else? Oh! I've been slowly making my way through Walking with God by John Eldredge. It's pretty much his personal reflections on what it means to walk with God over the course of a year. Over the past five years I've been regularly challenged by the way he's written about what it means to walk with God. I feel like he's put into words and given theological reasons for things that I've experienced. I'm not a hook-line-and-sinker follower, but the concepts stir me up enough to make me hold onto Jesus tighter. What more could an author want, huh?

No picture for this one, but we've been studying Ruth with church. What a fantastic story! Over the past few months, I've been reminded what an incredible story of hope and promise this is. Speaking of happily-ever-after endings! This one has it, from bitterness to restoration.

summer summer summer summer

I am SO happy it's summer. As a student, I had NO idea just how thrilling the first day of summer could be. NO idea. As much as school was hard this year, I've gotta say, the joy of being out of school has almost made it worth it. Almost.

Yesterday I spent like five hours sprawled on the floor under the front window reading library books. Delicious. Books that were for no particular purpose except enjoyment. Wow. And here they are:

Cuts of beef and exotic appetizers. Who knew those Spaniards had such fun cook books?


Yep. Still a teacher. I feel like I just scratched the surface of a whole world of fantastic kid literature. I loved learning about US history this year, and I was most emotionally impacted by the historical fiction kid novels that I read. A personal favorite? Day of Tears by Julius Lester, about the largest slave auction held in America.

Oops! Battery's almost dead. More later.

yeah for meat!

There's this restaurant in Portland--Two Brothers Cafe--that makes me feel like I'm back in Slovenia (or maybe a little south of there).

David got pleskavica. And though he stumbled over that name, he was pretty excited to have a hamburger that was as big as his head!


And I had čevapčiči. YUM YUM YUM! (And fyi, Christina, the meal was brez Union, brez Laško. Samo sva pila vodo. And boy do I like water!)