T-man

I popped into Great Beginnings Preschool this morning to say hi to my favorite cheery teachers, Ms Laurie and Ms Donna and of course to Thatcher... this is how our conversation went:

Thatcher: Hey Miss Shan!! You come to my house?
Me: No bud, not today.
Thatcher: I come to your house, Shan?
Me: Sure, you can come to my house. Not today though.
Thatcher: You got games?
Me: Sure do. But you probably have better games at your house.
Thatcher: Yep. You can play my game. It's got rocketships. Loves you Shan.


... sounds like a date :)

Pink umbrellas

It was a rainy day at church yesterday and there were about 50 umbrellas of various sizes and colors lined up by the front door... but after everyone had left only one pink one remained.

I carry a pink umbrella to brighten up the rainy days, but the one left behind wasn't mine.

One of my two year olds was leaving church last night after a banquet with his mama and he said, "Mama, is that Miss Shannon's umbrella?"

:) love it. Here's to having a two year old lookin' out for ya!

"With most men you can determine pretty nearly how they will act in given circumstances; you can enumerate the influences at work, and their value. But you can never be sure in the case of the Christian, because his faith is making real much of which the world around takes no thought whatever... Faith is not careless of time, but more mindful of eternity. Faith does not underrate the power of man, but she magnifies omnipotence. Faith is not callous of present pain, but she weighs it against future joy. Against ill-gotten gains, she puts eternal treasure; against human hate the recompense of reward; against the weariness of the course, the crown of amaranth; against the tears of winter sowing, the shoutings of the autumn sheaves; against the inconvenience of the tent, the permanent city. None of these men would have lived the noble lives they did, had it not been for the recompense of reward and the gleams given them of the golden city amid the sorrows and straits of their lives."

-- f. b. meyer The Way into the Holiest

War Dance

www.shineglobal.org

I just watched this movie-- or rather tried to through tears-- upon the recommendation of some of my friends who live and work in Uganda.

It is the story of a group of children from the Acholi tribe in Northern Uganda who travel to Kampala, the capitol of Uganda, to compete the National Dance Competition. These children have all grown up in the 20-year war zone in the northern part of the country and live in a displaced persons camp of over 50,000 people.

Their story and their hope is incredible.

I was babysitting the three Thompson girls tonight and at dinner we were talking about some of the funny things we have seen downtown on Friday evenings...

Margaret: Do you know what? One time I saw a man with a beard allllll the way down to the ground!
Me:Oh yea?? How long do you think it took him to grow that beard?
Margaret: I don't know... maybe 50 years... or maybe a month.

Filling our house...

For ten months now Ellen and I have pondered the large blank wall in our living room and discussed what would look best there. It's varied from a faux-window created from various World Market goodness, the Christmas creche for way longer than was appropriate, and recently a collage of beauty a friend made for us.

Sunday we decided to brave the aisles of Michael's Craft Store and find canvases, paint, and courage to create our own little masterpiece. We spent the afternoon laying in my room sketching, gathering inspiration from google, coloring, erasing, and delighting. This also may have been the longest concentrated period of time that Ellen and I have been in one room without talking.

We got around to painting, taking a deep breath with the first plunge of the paintbrush into thick acrylic I'm-not-sure-about-this-color paint. And this was the result! Ellen painted to two that say hope and I did the other two. Interestingly, when we asked our friends/family which two they thought each of us did almost no one got it right! Maybe in gaining the courage to paint something and hang it on our wall we also got the courage to defy the way our personalities define and shape us too and go a little outside the lines. Either way, we were please with our little masterpiece.

So come over for dinner and delight with us! :)

Speaking of dinner... we filled our house with over 70 people last night for the City Parish Cinco de Mayo party. We offered to host the party planning on using our enormous backyard, but the monsoon that has been sitting on C'ville lately prevented that. The people came, the ark that was our house got bigger magically, and the children laughed as we tackled a pinata in the rain.
... community at its best...