Fisher Price

I am really just a little kid trapped in an adult body.  I am all about toys.  Not just any toys.  Fisher Price toys.  My childhood was spent playing with Fisher Price Little People and all things Fisher Price (oh and Tonka trucks!).  So today as an adult what do I enjoy buying?  Fisher Price toys.

I’m not all about the new Fisher Price toys with their chunky figures and super plasticy homes and stores.  My favorites are the original Little People and they’re super hard to find.  So every opportunity to swing by a second-hand shop or a garage sale is snagged.  You never know what goodies you will find.

So far in my little Fisher Price world I have amassed two barns complete with mooing barn doors, two or is it three, I think it’s three, houses, a parking deck with a working elevator, family camper with a boat and people.  I finally have people!  What good is it to have barns and houses and cars when you don’t have people!?!  Some of my beloved family finds my obsession a little crazy.  But my baby sister, she gets me.

My baby sister feeds my habit.  Every time she stops by our local second-hand store, Helping Hands, she comes home with goodies in hand.  Last week she came home with a Popcorn Popper and the Roly Poly Chime Ball!  I walked down the stairs and new presents were waiting for me.  The Popcorn Popper is super fabulous because it comes complete with wooden poppers!

Because my Fisher Price collection is expanding at a very exciting rate everything doesn’t fit in my room.  I have taken over the bookcase in our spare room and stuffed by barns and houses under my nephew’s crib!  I might have a slight problem.  But that’s really okay ’cause Baby Sister and I, we know how to have a good time!

By the by, Baby Sister is not really a baby any longer, she’s two decades old!  But she’ll always be my baby.  I kinda like her a lot.

Ezekiel 36:26-27

“I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statues and be careful to obey my rules.”

Ezekiel 36:26-27

Morning Renewal

The outdoors bring me such joy.  I feel the closest to God when I am experiencing his creation.  It can be creation I see every day, the Illinois River on my trip to and from work or the flight of a soaring hawk.  Just as similarly, the breathtaking landscape of the unfamiliar coast of Maine or the views of the ocean from a lighthouse bring me such a feeling of nearness to God.  Yet creation is not the only place I feel God’s presence. Music.  Music soothes my soul and speaks Christ’s truths in a way not fully explainable.

This morning as I was coming to work song after song was being played that caused my heart to swell with worshipful praise.  Driving along the Illinois River, watching the sun refract and catching the brilliance of the trees opened up to me a renewing spring.  God was pouring into me on my way to work.

Misty and Smokey

I couldn’t tell you the last time our family went camping.  Camping is a regular occurrence for me because of Venturing but going with the family is a rarity.  So this weekend we packed our bags, tents and chairs and made our way to Camp Wokanda.

 

Camp Wokanda holds a plethora of memories for the Bauer family.  There are so many memories encapsulated at Camp Wokanda I’m sure if trees and trails could talk they’d have a story or two to share.  Most stories to be told would probably leave you in stitches.  You never really know what we’ll get into while we’re there.

 

The whole weekend was super chillax.  We soaked up the smokiness of the fire and dried out from the mist and rain almost all weekend.  It was wonderful to just relax and chat around the fire.  Oh!  And eat s’mores!  No fire is complete without an ooey gooey s’more!

 

We braved the drizzle and launched the canoes for a little trip around the pond.  Jebby, the Bauer Beagle, even made a trip out onto the water.  He did not enjoy his family being in two canoes, traveling in different directions.  Because of his squirminess, my sister held him to avoid certain calamity.  But for a while it was touch and go!

 

The skies were mostly gray and the air was always damp but it was not a reflection of our time spent together.  Time together as a family is precious and always hilarious.

 

 

 

 

Escape

So often life is like a whirlwind.  My life is full of whirling and twirling.  Often it is hard to remember where I was and what I was doing just one day ago.  If you were to ask me where I was and what I was doing two weekends ago we would need to bring in an outside consultant!

My means of escape includes the outdoors, preferably barefooted, and my camera.  If I can soak up a little Vitamin D and wiggle my toes in the grass I’m good to go.  It’s my release, my escape from the hustle and bustle of my daily life.  I am so blessed to have easy access to the beautiful.

God has blessed me indescribably.  All around me there are portals to new worlds.  These worlds are opened to me through scouting, evening walks and time with family.  There are landscapes wherever I go crying out in God’s glory.  There’s nothing more relaxing or rejuvenating for me as a sunrise, sunset or the changing of leaves.

There are no words that ring more true to me than these:

“Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;

let the sea resound, and all that is in it.

Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;

let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.

Let all creation rejoice before the LORD, for he comes.”

~~Psalm 96-11-13a~~

These precious words rumble through my head and through my heart as I soak up not just Vitamin D but God’s grace, His faithfulness, His mercy, His love.  Now granted, I rarely ever remember word for word Psalm 96.  I do however, completely understand how even the rocks cannot be silent before Him.  I get that.

My mode of escape is really twofold.  I take a step away from the techno hubbub of today’s society and get my feet a little dirty.  But in reality I’m escaping into the presence of my Creator.  I’m falling into His arms, His embrace and am full out worshiping as I walk under a glorious night sky, sit in a corn field, roll up my pant legs as I cross a creek or catch the reflection of the moon off the river.

This is my escape, worshiping my Father as I stand in wonder of the world that is new every day.