100. Old Pictures

Lately, on my Sonderjourneys blog, I’ve been posting Project 52 — 52 weeks of posts covering the 52 years of my life.

I had run out of pictures — and this weekend, my Dad scanned in pictures for me of when I was 4 to 6 years old.

And they are so much fun to look at!  So many things I’d forgotten came flooding back — down to details of clothes I wore and toys I loved to play with.  Many of the memories I had no idea went back that far — because when you’re 4 years old you don’t think about the date a lot.  But my Mom carefully noted the month on each picture, so now I know, for example, that we found our cat Zenie when I was 3 years old.

And I’d forgotten all about that toy camera I found so very fascinating!  I was ready to take an abundance of pictures even then.

99. Wildflowers

When I get out of the habit of posting blessings, I start to think they need to be for big, momentous things.

But the point of doing this blog was to remember to be grateful every day.

So today I’m picking something small and wonderful — all the many wildflowers that bloom beside my lake.  Each day there are different ones blooming.  And they are beautiful.

98. Booktalking

It’s booktalking season!

My co-worker and I are talking to all the kids in 6 elementary schools close to our library.  Today we talked to 700 children, Kindergarten through 6th grade.  We tell them about the summer reading program — how to win the coupon book and about all the programs and performances we have going on at the library this summer.

Then we tell them about books we think they will enjoy.

Neither of us felt prepared at the start of the week.  But it’s turning out we don’t even have to repeat books between different grades, we have so many good books to choose from.

Booktalking is exhausting.  But it’s exciting, too, to get to reach that many kids.

It’s so wonderful when they come up to us in the library and say, “You came to my school!” and they ask for a book we told them about.

96. Oregon Trip

I got back last week from a wonderful, soul-feeding trip to Oregon.  There’s so much to be thankful for about the trip, I haven’t even tried to post here.  I can’t express it all, so it’s hard to even begin.

So I’ll just say here that the trip, however it turns out (I had a job interview.) — was a wonderful blessing.

95. My Lake

I’ve got a small lake outside my windows.  Management recently drained quite a bit of water to fix some fountains on the other end.  So for a couple weeks, it was at a very low level.

Now it’s been raining for ten days — and the water level is up even above where it should be.  The world outside is green and lovely.

94. Songbirds

I went for another walk by my lake today.  It wasn’t a spectacular walk.  Cloudy sky.  The lake was drained a large amount and hasn’t recovered yet, despite recent rain.  I didn’t bring my camera, but Murphy’s Law didn’t work and I didn’t see the great blue heron.  (Though later I did from my house!)

However, even on a not-spectacular day, my walk is accompanied by birds singing.  When I take the time to notice them, that’s a blessing.

93. Pictures of Tulips

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Last week, I went to Burnside Farms and took pictures of tulips.

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In case you haven’t figured it out, I love taking pictures of flowers.

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It was a lovely late afternoon.

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Not too hot, not too cold, nice breezes blowing.

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When you take pictures of flowers, you really see them.  You notice how delicate, how rich the colors, how perfect they are.

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I took a special interest in the dramatic ones this time around.

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And looking at the pictures, choosing a “few” from the hundreds I took, simply makes me happy.

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And we even brought some home.

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91. Prayer on the Church Property

Our church is building a building, a community resource center.

Some obstacles have come up, and this afternoon my small group met on the church property to pray, along with the pastor and his wife and another friend.

And it was beautiful.  In so many ways.

The weather was beautiful.  The sun was shining through spring-green new leaves.  A breeze was blowing.  We were in the woods, with little flowers blooming on the forest floor.

But it was also so beautiful to pray in harmony with others.  Jesus promised that when two or three of you gather together, He’ll be there with you, and we could feel His presence.

“We will shout for joy when you are victorious

and will lift up our banners in the name of our God.”

— Psalm 20:5