Basking

As long as I live I will never understand 'Spring in Michigan' (really, is there a such thing as spring or do we dive straight into summer?). Its quite the shocker to wake up to 45 degrees and fog and march out of church to a balmy 79 degrees and sunshine - a shocker I will gladly embrace.

It was just the kids and I this afternoon, and after a quick nap, we headed outdoors. As soon as I spread out the sheet for us to perch our little selves upon, Belle chirped, "Oh, this would be the PERFECT day for a picnic! I'll go get the food!"

She returned with cheese sticks, carrots, and water. And we had ourselves a lovely little picnic indeed.

Judah, ever my curious lion cub, was momentarily entertained by our quiet little picnic, until he discovered it was far more fun to splash in the water than drink it.

He wondered off to his own adventure - the dirt beckoned and there was much to explore.

Belle and I sat face to face, squinty eyed and wind blown, sunshine spilling over in our smiles.

And she said to me (I do believe this sums up the heart of a woman right here),

"We should talk about something."

"Okay, hun," I answered, "what do you want to talk about?"

"Lets talk about our feelings," she said as sincere as she could be.

Trying not to let my amusement show I asked, "Well...what should we say about our feelings?"

Matter of factly she replied, "You know. What we feel about things and what we don't feel about things."

"Okay," I said. "Well, I feel really happy that it is such a warm day out and we are having a picnic."

Without hesitating, she jumped in, "When the wind blows through my hair, and I feel it on my face, and the sun shines on my skin...I feel SOOOO happy!" She closed her eyes and looked toward the sky as if to take it all in, then broke the silence,

"Let's talk about the world! I love that the world spins 'round and 'round. I feel so happy when I think about the world."

There is no denying this one is my child - a four year old that is a feeler to the core, and describes her world in experiences and emotion. If you know Aron and I at all, we interpret the world through feelings and internal impressions. She is definitely our child.

And this one - he is acting more and more like his daddy. He loves to create, loves to draw, loves to sing, loves to play ball, loves to play dolls, loves to touch skin, loves to laugh. He is one happy dude.

We've got a right handed artist,

And a left handed one.

And TWO bug lovers. See that black dot in front of Belle's paper? THAT is an ant that decided to join our picnic. Judah belly laughed as the insect crawled all around, and he repeated over and over, "Hi! Hello! Hi!" as he waved at the tiny creature. I caught him mid wave in the picture below. Belle lowered herself to get a closer look at the ant for the sketch she was making of it, "Let's see, how many legs do you have?" she said to their new friend. "Oh, you're fast! I can't count with you moving all around!"

Thank you, Jesus, for this breath of fresh air and washing of your love. Even the babies were basking in the warmth of your goodness today.

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air..." Ralph Waldo Emerson

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