Safe

To our dear family and friends. You may have heard that there was a deadly bomb blast in Cairo today. We received an email from Jonathan and he and all the students in the program are safe. They are sobered, however, because just yesterday, about 2/3 of the students were in the area where the bomb went off.

We would appreciate your prayers for their safety. And prayers for the country of Egypt, where the situation is very tense at this time.

BBC news story here.

Gems from my reading

Remember this resolution: Read more.

I've been keeping it. And I'm also keeping a little quote journal, writing down bits and pieces of beautiful writing that speaks. I find I wander back to these little bits in my mind, to the images they evoke, to the pondering they spark, to thoughts of beauty, and to truth couched in everyday occurrence...

Like this one:

There was a young couple strolling along half a block ahead of me. The sun had come up brilliantly after a heavy rain, and the trees were glistening and very wet. On some impulse, plain exuberance I suppose, the fellow jumped up and caught hold of a branch, and a storm of luminous water came pouring down on the two of them, and they laughed and took off running, the girl sweeping water off her hair and her dress as if she were a little bit disgusted, but she wasn't. It was a beautiful thing to see, like something from a myth. I don't know why I thought of it now, except perhaps because it is easy to believe in such moments that water was made primarily for blessing, and only secondarily for growing vegetables or doing the wash. I wish I had paid more attention to it....This is an interesting planet. It deserves all the attention you can give it. -from Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, p.28

Water made for blessing. Made by God for blessing. And not only water. Birdsong on a February morning, the outrageous colors of the coleus starts in my window, the light of the morning candle, the scent of lemon blossoms. It's all for blessing. God's gifts are all around us, abundant. I want to give attention.

One loss, one win

A loss yesterday on a gorgeous mountain day with lots of sunshine. Asheville won 2-0. Joel's team dominated in the first half but just seemed to give out in the second.

Today was the reverse. A slow first half but after the break, they came out and played with intensity. I'm proud of my boy. He's just getting his spring soccer legs under him. He has never played for this coach before and he's been a little nervous because the coach has the reputation of being a bit harsh. But he's a good coach and Joel is learning to listen to the good instruction and encouragement and let the other stuff roll off.


In the second half of today's game it seemed like Joel got comfortable. No longer nervous or tentative, he pressured well at right-mid, made some key plays and sparked the team, I think, to play with greater intensity. It seemed like a different team that showed up in the second half. They scored 3 goals and came away with a 3-1 win! Joel got lots of praise from other parents after the game. I was told next game to feed him the same thing I fed him today. Hmmm, think homemade noodles could be a soccer winning strategy?!

Almost a header goal

Truth be told, what we had for lunch I "adapted" from what I heard Lynne Rosetto Kaspar describe on The Splendid Table as Joel and I drove back from Asheville yesterday. Head over to Good Food if you want the lowdown....

Off to the mountains....

...for soccer. Club season for Joel starts today. On this sunny, warming, blue-sky day I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing than driving toward the mountains for an afternoon soccer game with Jeloboy, Joley-boley, Hola Jola, Joel.

Pictures to come....

And on another note...I feel honored to have a poem featured on L.L. Barkat's Random Acts of Poetry Friday blog at High Calling blogs.

Alrighty. Off to the mountains. Have a happy Saturday.

The word is out....

Someone very special, my own sweet daughter, has a very special "baking" project going....

Check it out!!!