Kids Zone

On Wednesday evenings I have the amazing opportunity to spend time with young impressionable minds at church. Specifically, I am assigned to a small group of kindergarten girls for approximately 1.5 hours at Kids Zone. I don't feel especially gifted working with the wee ones and sometimes I feel like they comprehend nothing. Some weeks I have none present and get to hang out with other groups, some nights I have a few but get little conversation out of them, and then some nights are like tonight. Tonight my heart breaks for these kids. 

Here's my take away from the evening: Divorce is a giant selfish act of parents.

I know that I do not know all the details, but tonight I had two young girls tell me through their sad face that they missed their dad. When I asked for prayer requests one wanted to pray for their dad that was away and the other wanted to pray for her mom and dad to get back together. 

I feel so blessed to have been raised in a two parent family. When I think about these situations and the millions exactly like them across our world, I see the results of divorce. Children that grow up in split homes are deeply affected by it. Praise God that we have a loving God that encompasses all. Praise God that he never leaves us. Praise God that these girls come to Kids Zone for a short while once a week so we can love on them with the love of Jesus. I pray that I have enough love to give.

Planting

Today I spent the majority of my time planting and transplanting. I have highs hopes and expectations for the life that is growing and the life to come. Today as I placed the tiny seeds into the soil, watered the soil, and turned on the light I had many thoughts. How amazing is the fact that I place a seed the size of a pin-head into quality soil and it has the potential to produce a large plant and multiple fruit? It simply blows my mind to think how carefully that detail was planned. It was planned by a powerful God thinking about us. We are so blessed.

I transplanted my cabbage plants into these fabulous homemade newspaper pots. They took a little bit of time to create but seriously genius. Newspaper = free. I was inspired by the fabulous Jessica Shoffner and viewed some how-to videos online. Once again, genius.

I may be equally excited about the Cowpots that I'm using. I also may have officially run out of space under my grow lights and I have two more varieties of tomatoes to get started. Guess we'll have to do some rearranging. 

Coming soon: eggplant, paprika peppers, quran red peppers, german pink tomatoes

Value

Tonight I read a chapter out of a book my parents have been reading in their Sunday School class. Our two books have been remarkably similar at many times. This week would be one of the very similar topics. This book is called, "Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them." The chapter is on gratitude and after my mother finished reading it with tears in her eyes she told me to read it. I've read the book before but this chapter was definitely an appropriate read for me today. Appropriate for my current quest in life: to live in intentional community with the radical love of Jesus.

John Ortberg says, "The ability to assign value is one of the rarest and most precious gifts in the world. People who live deeply in community learn to discern and express the value of other human beings. They are masters of expressing love in word and gesture. They assign high worth, value, and importance to others by viewing them as priceless gifts. They see that in addition to the "as-is" tag, every human being carries another sticker from God: 'Made in my image. Worth the life of my Son. My prized possession whose value is beyond calculation.'"

Early in my faith journey when I became a new creation in Christ I remember realizing a simple thing. It's not about me; but my purpose is to glorify God. Today, I feel like this picture of glorifying God has a new detail. I see much truth in this statement Ortberg makes, "We complicate our faith and lives in many ways, but at the core, our purpose is simple: We are called to love."

Anticipation

I am eagerly anticipating Spring. As excited as I am for the earth to turn green around here I still feel like I have much to do before then. I have a list sitting on my desk that is a Winter To-Do List. It's contents include:

• Paint my room - Not even close to starting. I have paint, that's all.
• Sew t-shirt quilt- Progress has been made on this project that I started two years ago.
• Make brochure for my freelance baking business- I decided against really publicizing my freelance baking business because quite honestly I'm not sure I really want to and the work that goes into specific orders is not worth the return.  
• Pack & move out- I will say that today I actually looked at a house in Abilene. I am a little bit torn with this decision because I know that I do not want to live alone and I haven't really found anybody ready to start an intentional community. Yet, I'm also pondering offering a spare bedroom for homeless. Baby steps, I got a job, now I can move onto housing.  
• Plan garden- I have purchased all my seeds for my garden and have started some, but as far as planning the layout, not so much. 
• Contact community garden people- This I have finished! Progress is definitely happening on the first ever Abilene Community Garden space. We have met as a group and have made definite steps toward seeing a real garden space. Very exciting action. Now we just need some land.

Because this week has been so unseasonably warm (70!) I have been able to enjoy time outside. I've pruned all our fruit trees and taken several trips down the lane for some fabulous outdoor February exercise. Yesterday I enjoyed lunchtime in the sunshine. Before long I'll be able to enjoy fresh local salad. Can't wait!

Lunchtime delight: spinach, beets, chickpeas, pickled squash, shredded carrots, sheep feta cheese, sunflower seeds.

Flexitarian

I really can't believe that I have not heard this term before. Today, while reading our Mother Earth News magazine, I came across a discussion on flex cooking. According to the article, "Flexitarian" is a new term that refers to people who enjoy a predominantly vegetarian diet, eating much less meat than typical omnivores. When they do eat meat, they usually opt for healthy, humanely raised selections, and may make exceptions for special occasions or when dining as someone's guest. Flexitarians are creative in finding ways to use less meat in normally meat-centric dishes. 

That's me! I would prefer to eat a vegetarian diet, however, when in situations where this is not possible I will eat meat.  This term has apparently been around for a little while because an article I found online from Newsweek was written in 2008. They also describe flexitarians as part-time vegetarians. Where have I been? Too busy eating to think about what to call my diet.