little did she know

As you may have guessed via perusal of previous posts of mine, i am a tad obsessed with Anne of Green Gables.  Prince Edward Island sounds almost too good to be true.  The almost must be there, because from the sounds of it, good old PEI endures about 5 months of winter.  Like scary siberia winter.  Though the descriptions of them snuggling down into furs as they ride horse drawn sleighs through the snow glittering from moon and star shine, while bells merrily jingle all the way, do have the knack of reconciling me momentarily to a Canadian winter. Suffice it to say, I have been living in not-too-silent terror for this, my first East Coast winter extravaganza.  We had downwards of 16 degree moments this week, and I can take the intensity (largely due to my puffer coat that proudly extends mid-calf), I’m not so sure about the longevity.

it was so cold the water froze and the rose froze right along with it

The fact that winter is said to dominate March here, and most of April, gets me all in a tizzy.  I have been trying to keep my cool about it, and take one day at a time, and so far this has been just the ticket.  But that little nagging worry corner of my brain likes to remind me that it ain’t over until it’s over, and it’s going to be a loooooooong winter.  Well, little naggy worry corner, God has the last word.  And today He said: “Let there be Spring in January”.

the little bit that i nanny for 

I was sort of in a funk after I picked up my munchkin charge from school.  We had to leave the house to take the bigger munchkin to something shortly thereafter, and I stepped out the door into my own personal happiness party.  I fairly exploded when I realized how warm it was.  65 BABY.  6 and 5. Consider myself officially defunkified.

the Creator warmed me from the inside out with this Christmas present for my soul.  If the fact that it’s Friday wasn’t great enough, it was Spring in Virginia, in January.  January, my least favorite month of the year (too far from Spring, too long, too cold, too Christmas break overish, too January-y). 




 Today, for the day, it became my favorite.  

believe it or not, this pose was 100% her idea

So, Ella and I did the only sensible thing when it’s 65 degrees in January.  We rainbow chalked the heck out of her driveway.  Don’t let her be-coated little body fool you.  It was a bit cool in the shade, but that coat eventually was cast aside.  

Let’s just say, the fact that I didn’t need a coat all day, was seriously glorious.  I LOVE that perfect Spring day that sings the farewell song to coats until the next winter-it is such a happy day.  And, as previously mentioned, i was not expecting this day for many moons.  

I think the Beloved is trying to remind me that with Him, we should expect the unexpected. The glorious, beautiful, radiant, rainbow hued unexpected.  

He dreams bigger than we do for ourselves, so let’s let God be God and open our arms to embrace His Love and Faithfulness that is new every morning.  And rarely looks as we thought it would.  He is constantly "little did they know"ing us.

For example, i have a feeling that most of us would never have expected God to become a human.  Thankfully, He doesn’t go by our expectations.  He has plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us a future full of hope (Jeremiah 29:11).  It is often difficult for us to see this, because He works through sadness and suffering as well as blessings and joy.

Especially in the midst of sorrow, it is so difficult for us to believe that His plan is at work.  We ask how He could Love us and still let us suffer this way?  The answer is always the Cross.  It is always Jesus.  We suffer because we must live in the human condition.  The condition we brought upon ourselves when we first decided to turn away from God.  God brought meaning and beauty to being stuck in this place of separation from paradise by becoming one of us and suffering everything we suffer.  He showed us what comes at the end of walking through the valley of the shadow of death if we trust in God and abandon ourselves to His Will in the darkness.  Resurrection.  New Life.  

Spring comes after the death of winter.  

And on the cold days, when all of the green of the trees has long fallen away, and we have nearly forgotten what flowers look like, and it is difficult to believe that the weeping willow ever had anything besides those frail wispy strands limply dangling from the trunk, and we are cruelly bit and chafed by the winter chill, there remains the sky.  

The unpredictable, ever-magnificent, completely-out-of-our-control sky that never ceases to remind me that there is so much more than just what we see.  There is so much that God has in store that we cannot even imagine.  Little did any of us know...

One of the coldest days this week bestowed a summer kiss upon my brow in the form of this perfect pinkish purplish splendor

Expect the unexpected this weekend, my friends. In fact, expect it this life time. Always. We serve an unpredictable God, Who happens to desire to bless His beloved children at every moment.  Christmas proves that.  You never know when you will turn around and suddenly be bear-hugged by Spring in January.  

Speaking of bear-hugged, I must just add one thing: I have the best and sweetest and most precious niece in the world.  

I babysat her tonight, and it was a little slice of heaven.  She loves brushing her teeth (“brushies”) and washing her hands (“washies”) and cuddling (“cuddles”) with her enchanted family members and her giant teddy “Oso”.  Oh yeah, and hugging her Auntie.

this is only one year difference--she is growing so fast! 

She greeted me tonight in a big fluffly skirt, no shirt, and a happy dance that would melt the heart of Mr. Freeze.  

Thank you forever, Lianna and Ed, for sharing her with me.  I can’t wait to see the new one God has given you to love.  And Ed makes really perfectly fluffy pancakes.  I do not shirk the duty of pancakes props where pancake props are due.

happy weekending and happy almost Epiphany!

What can I give Him, poor as I am ?
If I were a shepherd, I'd bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I'd do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him :
Give my heart.