Oh Hail!

We've had some frightful weather in Colorado this week. Every afternoon has brought thunderstorms and more: Friday was the only day without tornado warnings and sightings!

Thursday afternoon we watched the dark clouds move in. By 3pm we were turning lights inside the house. And by 4pm the hail began. It grew loud so fast that after throwing some pillows and sweatshirts down the basement stairs, I turned to see the kids crying, but I couldn't even hear them!

The backyard as it bounced off the deck and lawn:

The front yard and the river of flowing hail down the gutters of the street:
The trees suffered the most, as there were leaves down everywhere:

It shredded the covers we had on our deck chairs:
And our grill cover looked like it had bullet holes!:
But it taught Lucy the importance and comfort of being able to pray whenever she wants. She said, "It was really short, but I prayed that God would protect our house from the storm." And He did.

Apparently, my affections CAN be bought

Seems like life is bring lots of changes my way this year. One that I haven't been terribly fond of facing has been the idea of changing our insurance plan. I've now come to terms with the reality that as of July 1 we will be in the hands of an entirely new group of health care providers.

I kind of liked the ones we already had. *sniff sniff*

Ah, but who am I to complain? Thinking of so many around the world who don't have the easy access to doctors and hospitals, and many in our own country and neighborhoods who have lost jobs and therefore their coverage, I've come full circle to accept that any heath care is good right now!

So when we were invited to an open house at the brand new medical facility that we will soon call "our" doctor's office, I was on board.

Skeptical, but on board.

I think it was completely God's hand that we ran into our neighbor about 23 seconds after we walked in the door. She lives across the street and just happens to work for the health care company we are switching to. She mostly works with Medicare patients, but she was there for the grand opening and it was comforting to see her beaming smile.

We took the nickel tour, asked some questions, and even got to chat for a few minutes with the pediatrician our kids will most likely see. She was friendly, engaging, and she knew about Kawasaki's and immediately asked about Josiah's heart. She ensured us he would be able to continue seeing the same cardiologist, as they also network with Children's Hospital.

I liked her!

As we ended our tour, there were tons of free activities for the kids: they each got a balloon thingy made for them (I can't call them animals, really, as Lucy's was Sleeping Beauty and Joey got a fishing pole and fish), Lucy got sparkly cherries painted on her hand (they gave the kids their choices of fruits or veggies -- very health-conscious of them), and there were massive vats of plastic beads, pipe cleaners, glitter, paper, string, and googly eyes to make virtually any craft one could imagine.

We were facing closing time of the open house, but were nonetheless ushered toward the free food. We managed to happily scarf down huge fresh fruit and granola yogurt parfaits, but we took our croissant sandwiches to go.

On the way out, they asked if we wanted some free vegetables.

Um, yes, please!

One of the benefits of being the last out the door: a large reusable bag loaded with fresh green beans, fingerling potatoes, and a few radishes, all locally grown and straight from the Parker Farmer's Market.

So I walked out with a smile on my face, croissants for dinner, a load of fresh veggies for the rest of the week, and a renewed sense of confidence that even when change occurs against our will or desire, God still has us in the palm of His hand.

Matthew 6:26 "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"

There a First time for everything...and a Second...and a Third...

This past weekend, I mowed a lawn for the very first time in my life.

With my 25-pound son strapped to my back.

Yes, in 30-some years of living, I've never before been behind the bar of a lawn mower. As a kid, I was too young to use the riding mower on our five acres, even though I begged to try, and after we moved to a smaller yard as a teen, we sold the riding mower and hired someone to do it for us.

I've simply never had the chance. Sad story, huh?

So, on Sunday, not only did I get to mow a lawn, but I got to mow THREE lawns!

Let me tell ya, there's nothing quite like pushing a mower through a quarter acre of jungle weeds with a nearly-two-year-old strapped to ones own body to break a good sweat.

And it was fun! (Don't tell my husband I said that or he might hand over the reigns to our mower at home, too!)

Our church canceled our regular Sunday activities to go out and "be the church." We participated in a service project in a Denver neighborhood close to downtown. We partnered with another church through a local organization called Extreme Community Makeover. No, there was no Ty Pennington and no chanting crowd behind a bus, but there was a lot of fun and a lot of hard work to help a neighborhood with some much-needed upkeep and renovation.

John and Lucy and I worked with several other families on one particular neighborhood block doing yard work. Josiah was quite content to observe from the safety and comfort of the sling carrier. Across the street an entire house got painted (in about three hours!). And spread across several city blocks, about 60 adults and many kids from our church, plus about 200 from another, showed the love of God to these people by meeting some practical needs.

The kids had some fun, too. One gem of a resident cut up a watermelon for us and brought out a dozen hoola hoops for the kids to play with (on her newly cut lawn, ahem).

(Lucy is in the back wearing a bright green shirt.)

But the kids also pitched in by picking up trash, hauling away branches, painting and washing brushes, and keeping us laughing.

It was such a joy to work with these families from our church, and it was especially great to have both of our kids with us as we served. We value serving as a family, and are so excited to be part of a church community who does, too.

(The Newton Street crew)