Summer Wonderings

Boom- ba boom- ba boom... 
My puppy gallops across the yard, with fluffy, bouncing ears and a tongue flapping wildly out his smiling face. He pushes his big head through a rope diamond in my hammock. He could just go over the edge, but he insists on pushing through a hole. 
A quick "kiss" on my nose. "Hey Mom! Watch me!", I feel like he's telling me. 
And he bounds off to grab a stick, prancing around with his trophy held high. 
I read my book until the light grows too dim to see the words, then I look up, and realize I've really been missing it. Up above, the branches of the two trees who graciously hold my hammock up meet far overhead. Hearing a light, trilling song I search the mess of leaves until I spot its singer- a red cardinal. It lets me listen for a few more measures before darting off into the dusk. 
Lightening bugs start to twinkle and one almost lands on Piper's nose. He snaps at it, cross-eyed, pretending he knew it was there all along. 
Inspired by the serenity my mind starts to wander around the globe. The world isn't so big- I think. I have a dear friend who at this moment is asleep in his bed in Herne Bay, England. I can picture his back garden that he probably sat in before bed tonight, just like I"m doing. I know missionary families in a dozen countries. There are kids in Czech Republic that I've held and laughed with. I know students studying in Asia, serving God in Africa, traveling in France. Yeah- the world isn't so big- just think.. I"m just "me" and I can list 30 people I know all over its surface. 
My mind went further.
 And besides the ones I know personally- there's the people that have affected people I know. A best friend of mine lived for two years in Southeast Asia. That older couple that gave her a home? The man she bought bread from each week? The children she played with and the young girl she befriended? I'm somehow connected to them, though we've never met. 
And another close friend- he's Brazilian. His parents and grandparents and childhood friends and teachers in Brazil I've never met, yet I'm more "acquainted" with them than thousands of other Brazilians. 

Blue to pink to streaks of deepening purple. 
The sky melts into a masterpiece painting. 
And just as I had started to convince myself of my theory that the world isn't quite so big, I realize just how far off I am. 

That sunset- how is it even made? Do you know? I'm sure you can explain to me how the colors and air and light happen- but really, can you reproduce it? The lightening bug- that one, right there- how many times did it flutter its wings today? Was it in the child's jar across the street and it's tiny heart just stop racing from its near-death experience?
The trees and birds and air and people with their dogs in Louisville, Kentucky- I can try to convince myself that this world isn't so mind-blowing- but it really is just that. 
God
He spoke that sunset. He spoke it to happen and it did. 
He knows the life span of every lightening bug, not just in my yard tonight but the ones that I chased and caught when I was six the summer of 1992. 
He isn't just familiar with stories of a bakery owner in Asia- He put the love of baking into the man. 
He knows the number of hairs on my dog, and the thousands more that have already fallen on my couch and carpet! 
The cardinal glorified Him in singing that song tonight, for that was exactly what that bird was made to do. 
Piper, it being so distinctly dog-like, in digging holes, galloping after cats, laughing and panting, chasing sticks, is praising his Maker. 
Yeah- the world is big- really, really big. But I praise my Maker that He knows- no, more than knows. He spoke into being and loves and is sovereign over every beautiful bit of this earth. 
Tonight, don't miss the sky's light display. Lay down your book and just watch. And praise the Author for writing you into the world tonight.

Blog Failure?

January 21 to July 16. 

Half a year. 

I didn't get on here to write about the big things.... buying a house, moving to a new country, having a baby, leading lots of people to the Lord.... 

Oh wait- those things didn't happen! Maybe that's why I didn't get on here to write. 

From January until July- 

I went to work every day- interpreted elementary school for two precious students. I jumped rope with little girls, praised artwork, had Gospel conversations with two first graders time and time again, got to know co workers, co-wrote and co-directed a play/musical, taught hearing kids how to better communicate and understand deaf culture.... 

nope- nothing big enough to blog about there. 

Cody and I lived six more months of marriage- praising the Lord for growing us in praying together, and also going through more weeks and months of struggling to pray and study the Word together. We went for walks, wrestled with our Piper, planted a square foot garden, laughed a lot, cooked meals, worshiped with our Immanuel family, read books.... We spent countless hours with our best-friend-couple... eating meals, playing games, watching movies, doing life. 

I got licensed to teach Zumba! 

I learned how to do bookbinding and have made four handmade journals from scratch. 

I took my National Interpreters Certification Performance exam in March- STILL going crazy as I wait awaiting results patiently.... 

Over the past six months we went to concerts performed by friends, watched friends graduate college, visited with friends from Colorado, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Grenada, Indiana, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and more I'm sure, celebrated family's birthdays, welcomed home church families who adopted kids, praised the Lord with joy over pregnancies of friends, labored in prayer for the salvation of family members....

I traveled to North Carolina to visit my sister and have a mini road trip with Celia. 

Cody and I traveled with Celia and Felix to New York City and spent a wonderful week walking, seeing, eating, and walking some more, soaking in as much of the city as we could hold.

All in all- six months of little things, of day in and day out things. Month after month of things that I don't feel like I should blog about- that no one really cares about. 

But this is life. These little things DO add up- 

A Gospel conversation with a neighbor is important- because God's Word accomplishes the purpose for which He sent it. 

A game night with friends is a memory I'll always have and cherish. 

Laying the hammock with my husband after work is now part of who I am...

And so- yeah, nothing "big enough to blog about" happened the past six months- but thousands of little moments did indeed happen, and each one plays a part in who I am now; in what my life is, was, and will be. 

Sorry I didn't blog about any of it- but then, isn't that the kind of life I want to live? The kind that is so full of little, day in and day out goodness that I can't put my finger on any one topic to blog about- but instead just go on living in the joy of it all? I'll take that :)