Green & Wet & Wild

I am so much better now.
Thankful for good nights and energy returning.
And clear lungs.
There is just so very much to be thankful for.
All the time!

I'm even loving the rain.
Grateful that I had those weeks of sunshine in the Mediterranean
It made it so easy to come home to clouds and wetness.

It is crazy green and lush out there.
The creek is raging and tumbling towards the expanding lake.
I've never seen it this high.
Wind and thunder, rain and lightning
This is the beginning of summer

Rivers of righteousness...

Rain down your Spirit on this place
May the natural speak of the invisible
May we become crazy green and lush
Producing fruit in every season
With roots that go deep.

Because we are a dry and needy people
So full of ourselves
Wealthy and distracted with pleasure

I groan.  I wait.  I pray.
Need to be more desperate.
Not giving Him rest, day or night.

Yet joyful with anticipation and expectation.

What a tangle, what a tension.

My Sweet Girls

So many favorite things came together on this fine day...
An opportunity to shop at the flower farm just down the hill
With my two very lovely girls.

Both of them love flowers and earth and planting
And I do too!
So, armed with my mother's day gift certificate, my girls and a big cart,
The adventure began.

















Oh the joy of the colors and fresh smells and the promise of what will come!
We filled the cart with vegetables (the tomato bush already bearing many little cherry tomatoes) basket stuffers, begonias, tiny straw sunflower plants, lobelia, allysum and other wee baskets bursting with color and life and joy.

What fun working together on the back patio, putting together the baskets and messing in the dirt, arranging and rearranging the colorful displays till things felt balanced and happy.
Watching the girls, my girls, interacting and enjoying each other as they worked together.

The conversation flowed and there was such comfort in our togetherness.
The dogs kept us company and the weather was lovely.
One of those days that drops out of heaven
The simplicity and perfection of the moments creating a warm sweet memory.

not quite right

It's been the strangest week

I started off with such a bang -
woke up the morning after arriving home from Rome (that sounds incredibly exotic so I have to mention it, plus it gives perspective) and went to church!
Then I went grocery shopping due to the emptiness of the fridge,
went home and made a huge pot of chicken soup.
I did laundry (there is far less laundry when you have lost your luggage)
and put away my stuff.
By this point I was tired and not feeling well as the 24 hours previous to our arrival home were brutal.

Seriously - so many loooong flights in those straight backed chairs.
And problems with the throw up bags and my bathroom issues.
It was just long and complicated and there were so many transfers.
One of the transfers I was unable to help with as my body just gave out on me.
This was probably due to the illness that was already setting in.
It was at the end of the 9 hours flight from Rome to Montreal.
I felt floppy and weak like a rag doll.

And imagine.
I was in Montreal and all I saw was the airport and some pretty old buildings, a river and lots of green out of the tiny airplane window.
Seems a pity to be in Montreal and not to stay awhile and investigate.

Oh well.
My body had no energy whatsoever to investigate.
I just had to get it into the next plane which took 5 hours to get us to Vancouver .
We flew right past Kelowna and we were all such a mess.
So tired.
But we still had to sit in the airport and wait for that last little puddle jumper airplane to fly us over the wonderful, familiar mountains to home.

So after visiting Oma and Opa on Sunday evening, I came home and crashed.
And I have not finished crashing.
My chest has been infected, have felt feverish and oh so tired.
Have had some horrible nights with so little sleep and some weird dreams and confusion as to which port I was waking up at.

My lungs are just not doing well.
Almost like i'm drowning in wetness.
So I cough and cough and wheeze and rattle.
I think one of my ribs has been misplaced in the process and it hurts.

Two visits to Dr. Wittel to kill offending bugs and viruses but I'm still drowning.

I get so tired when I'm doing stuff and of course my back is hating this home wheelchair in a big way.
Excruciating.
So between lots of spasms, bad nights, drowning lungs, sore eyes and overheating I am just so very very weary.
The wakeful nights are spent wondering too many things.
So I've gone to Psalm 23 and asked for prayer on facebook.
Ha!

And today I invited Oma and Tante Hilda over with Elsie and Dad surprisingly joined us.
So that was a bit of exhausting, but sweet diversion.
We had lunch on the patio in the sunshine.
There's been lots of rain and more forecast tomorrow so I just felt it was imperative to give the sweet little ladies an outing.

Anyways.
Things just don't feel quite right yet.
At all.
Even though I'm home and sleeping in my wonderful bed
in my wonderful home on my amazing giant yard.

My faith is at an all time low.
So I'm asking others to pray for me.

Oh, and Jesus is praying for me
I just remembered and I need to think on that.
Luke 18 also came to mind when I was nearing the end of the cruise which was riddled with a few awkward times.

We need to keep on praying and not give up.
Amen.

and we're back!!

just a little tiny post
we got home late saturday night
after about 24 hours of travel and layovers
beyond exhausted

but there are memories tucked away
pictures to be perused
so many happy places to visit and revisit
in our imaginations

the cobblestone streets
windows with shutters
and boxes with flowers
cafe's under umbrellas
honking cars
sunshine
blue blue water
open balcony door letting the breezes in and
the sound of the cruise ship swishing through the waters
champagne to celebrate
towel creations on our beds
welcoming us into clean freshly made beds
a sweet reunion in a busy city
familiar faces around the fancy dinner table
where stories would unfold

there is more to come
i'm sick with a bad cough and fever
but i'm full of happy thoughts
and ever so thankful for that adventure of a lifetime.