Last evening, Pete went out and played golf and the girls and I dug in the garden and then went for a bike ride. It was our first "summer night" of the season. Colorado is such a weird weather state. We don't really have spring. Spring is just a group of weeks where some days it is winter and some days it is summer, until the summer days outnumber the winter days and it is finally summer.
Yesterday felt just like summer. During the summer Pete plays golf one or two nights a week. On those nights, the girls and I always work on the garden, eat a fast dinner outside and play until everyone is exhausted. They are great nights, that I look forward to all winter.
Yesterday it was about 80 degrees out. The girls and I worked on the garden (translation - they dug for worms and rolly pollies and I cut back the rose bushes). Our neighbors Ericka, Sophia and Nicholas came over and played for a while. Then we went for a bike ride.
Sarah is still using training wheels but she loves to ride her bike. Emily enjoys riding in her little cart behind my bike. The farthest we had ventured before last night, was to my parents house which is all of about half a mile away.
Last night, Sarah decided she wanted to go for a "big bike" ride. We rode and rode around the neighborhood and found ourselves at the entrance to the state park. Sarah was so excited to find herself there, she insisted we go into the park. We rode for about 1-2 miles on the trails in the park before heading back home. She rode all the way and was such a trooper. I was SO proud of her!
Riding around the park trails was such a surreal moment for me. When we bought our house last summer, I imagined one day riding down to the park with the girls. It was on my list of 'wouldn't that be nice if one day we did ---." Here we were, actually doing it. It was wonderful. Hopefully it was the first of many great rides this summer.
But tomorrow it is going to snow - so our next ride won't be for a few more days.
First summer night
The good, the bad and the ugly ...
Hello friends,
Many of you followed my weekly family devotions for Lent. I loved hearing about the experiences your families were having together. If I had to narrow down my biggest vocational passion, it would be helping families connect with one another in their faith. Having so many of you doing my devotions this Spring has just been an amazing experience for me.
The devotions which were posted on the blog, or printed in Let's Celebrate Our Savior, are part of a book project I have been putting together for a little over a year. This May, I am attending a writer's conference to speak to agents and editors about the book.
This is where you come in! The clock is now ticking for me to get my materials put together and ready for the conference. I need your comments, feedback and ideas. If your family did any of the devotions or activities, I would love to hear from you. Please let me know how it went, what worked, and what did not. I am not looking to have my back patted, I am looking for your honest (even if they are critical) thoughts.
Please e-mail me at wendy_schulz@msn.com with your comments. I very much appreciate it!
Wendy
The grace of good friends …
About a month ago, I somehow lost all common sense. In the course of about 12 hours I completely screwed up in two gigantic ways, affecting three of my friends. In the midst of my rather large lapses in judgment, my friends Susan, Suzi and Josie, offered me such amazing grace that I am still in awe. My first moronic move happened at Sarah's spring school concert. At Sarah's school, parents are invited to come to the dress rehearsal. This is a wonderful opportunity because you can see exactly where your child is going to stand, so you will know where to sit at the concert. So of course I had it all planned out where we would sit. Off my family went (very early – remember I dealing with the same set of parents who started the registration line 9 hours before registration). I got great seats for my family. While I was sitting there, I saw my friend Susan's mom sitting on the other side of the church. Little meddlin' me decides, "Oh I should go tell Susan's mom to come sit by us because our seats are better." You see Susan had missed the dress rehearsal so I thought her mom had just taken a random seat. So off I march (why! Why! Why Wendy!) I go and tell Susan's mom to move. She tells me "this is just where Susan told me to sit." (Of course I should have stopped here – but no) I tell her, "I think the other side is going to be much better." So off they all go – Susan's mom, dad and sister. Well low and behold, Susan had had another friend video tape the dress rehearsal and had picked out the perfect spot from which to see her son perform. No one in their family could see Alex at all from my suggested seats. I literally wanted to cry through the whole concert. It was awful. I felt SO bad. What in the world possessed me to march over there and get involved! Why, why why! If I could have found a big enough hole, I would have climbed right into it! I spent much of the reception apologizing to Susan and her husband. Susan was amazing. There was never a flicker of frustration or anger with me. She just kept telling me it didn't matter. She was amazing. Here I made her miss her son's last preschool performance, and she had nothing but grace and love to offer me. Nary twelve hours later, I was driving two of my co-workers, Suzi and Josie, to a work related training in Loveland, Colorado. A place I have never been before. But I assumed I sort of knew where it was, so I tucked the directions in my purse and off we drove.(Again – why! Why Wendy!) Josie had just moved here from Florida, so she didn't have a clue, and Suzy very wrongly assumed I knew what I was doing. After all, I did say I knew where I was going. So we drove and chatted, and chatted and drove and two hours later I asked Suzi to pull the directions out of my purse. When she read the directions it was like a 50 lb weight socking me in the stomach. I had driven us 170 miles in the WRONG direction! It was quickly obvious that we would not make the training. Both of them, who work A LOT of hours, had woken up at an ungodly hour on a Saturday for me to drive us on a 4 hour trip to nowhere. I was ready for them to be frustrated. I was ready for a bit of whining. I wasn't ready for the laughter. They both just started laughing. They laughed on and off for the next two hours as I drove us back out of the mountains. Not mockingly, not in hysteria – just honest, good humored laughing. Amazing grace. Ephesians 4:2 says, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." Thank you ladies for bearing with me in love and patience. 1 John 4:12 says, "No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." It is so true. Their love offered to me when it was much undeserved, exhibited the love of our Father which lives in all three of them. What great witnesses they are. Although it held all the ingredients of a truly bad weekend, it reminded me that God has placed me amongst truly wonderful people. Thank you ladies!
