Dear Reader:

Doesn’t it seem like sometimes we get ourselves so caught up in life, in general, that when “God looks into our minds, He sees only thoughts spinning round and round…going nowhere, accomplishing nothing.” “His peace hovers over us…looking for a place to land.” (Jesus Calling Devotional)

Now that I have gotten my garden pretty well established…you would think I would start dividing the time between working in it and enjoying it. But I get so caught up in a project that I, sometimes, forget why it was created to start with…to have a sanctuary…a place of peace and silence to talk to God.

In other words…a place and time for God to be able to stop hovering and land His Presence beside me on a continuous time-line. ..to keep my “Open” sign blinking 24-7.

Like an old mother hen…I hover over each new plant and bud waiting to bloom…to make sure it is okay….off and going!

The one bud I am hovering over most closely is the first moon flower bud…I am beyond excited! I will remember that the first bloom arrived in early June…a kick-off for summer. (You will see it as soon as I do)

A few weeks ago…when Libby stayed at the B&B for us to go to Jackson’s niece’s wedding…she reminded me of a story about a trip to Holland that she had just come across again in some reading.

I remembered it too…a powerful lesson in life…human expectations and God’s expectations. Originally I think it was intended for parents of special needs children…but as time passes the anecdote can be applied to any situation in life where we expected one thing to happen but something else came along to replace it.

Most of us have lived long enough to know that our first choices in life rarely pan out….we don’t get in the first college of our choice, or get the first job we so wanted, or get published when we thought, or get the house of our choice. Such is life.

And there is a reason for the initial heartaches of disappointment…we are supposed to go down a different path…God is gently nudging us in another direction.

When we get together …(the Ya’s)…We reminisce over our past dot-to-dot life stages….if this had not happened at a certain time…then this other event wouldn’t have happened and the domino effect would have given us a completely different life…living in different regions with different friends/spouses with different life styles.

Instead God simply asks us to stop the spinning in our minds and let Him fill us with  His Presence and Peace …to let Him quit hovering and land beside us to reassure us that the path we are on…is His path of choice…not necessarily ours…but the right one.

” A Trip to Holland”

 Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel.  It’s like this……

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy.  You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum.  The Michelangelo David.  The gondolas in Venice.  You may learn some handy phrases in Italian.  It’s all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives.  You pack your bags and off you go.  Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”

“Holland?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy!  I’m supposed to be in Italy.  All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.”

But there’s been a change in the flight plan.  They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease.  It’s just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language.  And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It’s just a different place.  It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy.  But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around…. and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills….and Holland has tulips.  Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy… and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there.  And for the rest of your life, you will say “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”

The loss of our dreams is a painful thing…but as time goes by the pain lessens and our new world becomes a new home. 

So remember… if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things … about Holland.
……………………

So until tomorrow…Let us stop spinning our thoughts around in our minds like a washing machine…but instead turn them off and Let God in. He just might need to tell us about a new itinerary.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* I kept Eva Cate yesterday since her school only offers Tuesday and Thursday summer attendance days in June. We had a ball…it was girl’s morning…I brushed her hair 100 times since this was how one could tell who was a princess…royalty. Then we put on make-up, got a new “do” and painted fingernails.

She also had a very popular tea party with all her stuffed animals invited.

When Jakie got home…we had some good cuddle time!

 Eva Cate got her baby doll and

fed her while I fed Jakie….

I stayed long enough to see Eva Cate swim the length of the pool by herself with no floaties. Last year she took swimming lessons and didn’t seem to make much progress…she actually appeared to have regressed from when she was younger.

Now less than a month in the family pool…she has turned into a mermaid…unbelievable….swimming underwater…retrieving objects from the bottom of the pool…amazing…and swimming the length of the pool by herself.

She did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* While I was playing with Eva Cate…the number of “hits” since last November when we started Chapel of Hope Stories Part II ( Part I ending with 300, 000 hits over six years) turned to 20, 000 over six months. Thanks to all of you who remained loyal throughout the November change. I appreciate it more than you will ever know…we now have 600 subscribers!

* Lachlan ‘s garden tree is now official…his butterfly personalized stepping stone arrived while I was gone yesterday…now all the “grandchildren” trees have a lantern and personalized stepping stone…project complete!