This Day Thursday

Outside my window ~ Well, it depends which window you look out. We've got a mix of gray skies and blue skies, clouds and sun. At least it's not raining today.

Thankful for ~ The one year anniversary of blogging over at Compassion Family is this Sunday. I can't believe it's been a year and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to have the outlet of blogging as part of my advocacy. I have "met" some amazing people and have been so encouraged and inspired by them. 

Thinking about ~ This season of Lent and all that means to me this year. God has brought me to a new understanding and I'm excited to spend the next 40 days fasting from some things and preparing myself physically, emotionally and spiritually for Easter. I'm particularly grateful for the book A Place at the Table: 40 Days of Solidarity With the Poor by Chris Seay.

Reading ~ I just finished The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller (good book) and need to get back into Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. This is my second "classic" and I'm half-way through. It's very easy to put down. The current read aloud book to the girls is Young Fredle by Cythia Voigt. 

Praying ~ For Grandpa Paul who broke his hip and had surgery on it this week. He's headed to rehab for a couple weeks. Kevin said this is the first time he (grandpa) has been in the hospital during his 87 years of life! Pretty amazing!

Listening ~ I pulled out my unaccompanied Bach violin solos this week and have been mesmerized by the sheer beauty of them. They inspired me to dust off my volume of music and play them myself on the violin. 

Hearing ~ The sound of popcorn crunching and Sydney reading library books to Kayleigh.

Plans for the Weekend ~ Kevin is headed to Washington to climb another peak so the girls and I will hang out at home on Saturday. Maybe I won't tell them it's Saturday and we'll go ahead and do another day of school. : )   Francis Chan is in town and there is a chance he will stick around to guest preach at one of his church plants just outside Portland. Maybe we'll head that way for church this week. It would be cool to see/hear him speak in person.

Some photos from our day ~ This is how we tend to travel these days. One on scooter, one on bike and one on foot. We went up to the local park this afternoon.

On our way we saw all sorts of springy surprises!

The girls each had a fort. They didn't build these, but rather "fixed" them.

This picture makes me laugh because it makes me look like the crazy, overprotective mom that makes her kid wear a helmet when playing on the playground.

And more beautiful surprises on our way home.