The Flowers of the Everlasting Spring

"My dry deserted bones, long bleached and polished by the winds of the Sahara, arise and relive at your command. And I'll rise and I'll unfold like the flowers of an ever lasting spring." Thomas Merton

My brother reads some Thomas Merton on one of Mike's songs called, "Another Savior" (you might be able to listen to it on his Facebook page; if you're really interested I can get you a copy of the Cd) anyways, I have been thinking about the "ever lasting spring" for over a week now and things keep popping up. Here, in the midst of winter, I see spring!

Two weekends ago Matthew, Katie, and Zetta (my bro, sister in law and niece) left for 2 1/2 years. They are peace workers in Northern Africa. While I can't quite bring myself to think about not seeing them much over the next couple years I am so awe stuck at the amazing glimpses of spring that this adventure conjures up. As I was praying for them I really had the sense that God is going to use Zetta to attract people to M/K and help them build relationships. I think that Zetta herself, is going to show people peace even at the age of 4 months! God only knows the extent of the "seeds" M/K/Z will get to plant while they are away from us. Even in the 24 inches of snow they are walking through now I can only imagine how excited they must be to share peace with their new friends.

I went to the grocery store the other day. It was so cold my hands hurt for about 10 minutes in the car after I loaded up my groceries. I kept thinking about the daffodil and tulip bulbs they are already selling at the checkout lanes.

It's funny how friends come and go out of your life. I am excited about 2009 bringing new and old friends. A week or 2 ago we had dinner with our friends, N and B after not seeing them for almost a year! B is an amazing friend; the basis of our friendship is "no BS" and I love that! It was so good to have them over to the house and reconnect after such a crazy year for both of us. I'm looking forward to hanging out with them again soon. Also, I've been in touch with two of my old college roommates that I haven't talked to in years. Colleen actually started stalking me on my blog (haha). She is an amazing woman - her family reminds me a lot of the McGovern family (big, Irish, Catholic, in each other faces in a good way). Colleen is the kind of person you can sit in a jacuzzi tub in your bathing suit with lots of bubbles and a bottle of wine then go watch the "oh boy, oh boy, oh boy meets world marathon" (I just told Mike that story the other day and he said there aren't many people in the World you can do that with). I stalked Jess on Facebook until she decided to be my friend and it turns out she moved back to Ohio and lives about 10 minutes away from me so, we are planning on catching up soon. Jess is responsible for Mike and I meeting. She and I went to a small group meeting together and that's where we met Mike for the first time. Mike says he can clearly remember meeting Jess but not me...haha! The rebirth of friendships is an amazing thing. It's great to have people in your life that you can go without seeing and them pick right back up where you left off.

Two weeks ago marked 5 years since my Grandma, Zetta, passed away. It was hitting me like a ton of bricks so, I decided to get out some letters I have that she wrote to me while I was in college. One of them was from winter. In that letter she wrote about how she couldn't wait for spring and how when she was in college she would go outside with her friends to sun. Another letter had a dried flower in it that she had picked from Amish country (my mom and Michael had taken her for dinner). I decided to frame her recipe for strawberry rhubarb pie and hang it in my kitchen. It looks nice and reminds me of all the fun we would have in the kitchen with her. I hope to get a few more "special" hand written recipes of hers to frame and hang along with that one.

This past weekend Mike and I went away for a night. We stayed at the Belamere Inn in Perrysburg. It was a really great time of relaxing and reconnected as a couple (the boys stayed at my moms house for the night). As parents these nights are really needed. We get so busy taking care of the kids needs that we forget to work on "us" sometimes. It's good to remember the roots of your marriage.

I'm reading a book , "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" that my cousin Brooke let me borrow. From the title I'm sure you can have enough information about how it would bring glimpses of Spring but I'll tell you anyways: it is a really interesting book about a family who decided to only eat food that they can get locally or grow themselves. It's part memoir part journal about their year of eating local. It's taking me forever to read (its only a couple hundred pages) because I want to soak it all up (and I hardly get any reading time these days).

Yesterday I watched as much of the Inauguration as I could (there were 4 kids in the house). Enough said, right? Hope, rebuilding, spring... Oh, and I really think Michelle is stunning. I'm excited to see what she does as First Lady.

It's amazing how the promises of Spring can be all around us; we just have to get a little creative and look for them sometimes. In my heart, I feel like God is calling me to spring, to a new found faith and excitement about Him. Faith in Him is my "ever lasting spring". So, I'm ready to take of my jacket and run outside into the sun!