Last-Minute Sitters

I am thankful for last-minute babysitters who will sit in my house while my son is asleep so I can go to a movie with my husband and some friends.

Who wouldn't want to sit for this little guy?

Entire List - Checked!

I am thankful that as of 3:00pm today every Christmas and birthday gift I needed to purchase for December has been bought!

No Black Friday for me. No last minute shopping. No parking lots full of slush. No long lines at checkouts. No dealing with overworked and underpaid sales staff. No anxiously wondering if online purchases will get here on time. No stress.

My Advent and Christmas season will instead be filled with decorating, baking, listening to Christmas music, lolling by the fireside, playing in the snow (if it ever gets cold enough), and awaiting the Christ child with an attitude of anticipation.

Praise God for online shopping, early sales, and for the foresight to work on my handmade projects early enough that I only have one more to finish!

Menagerie

For most of my young life I read about, watched documentaries about, and pretended I was a member of the animal kingdom. Alternately I wanted to be a veterinarian, a zookeeper, a photographer for National Geographic, or a tiger. I spent hours upon hours watching and catching insects, toads, and turtles, then keeping them for a day or two in a jar, a bucket, or an aquarium before letting them go again. I put nuts along the fence to attract squirrels, kept an ever-changing assortment of freshwater aquarium fish in my room, and for a time was the owner of a guinea pig and a couple lizards, in addition to the family dog. And I was and still am a font of largely useless knowledge about dog and horse breeds, anything native to Michigan, animals of the African Savannah, Bengal tigers, Australian wildlife, and the white wolves found on Ellesmere Island within the Arctic Circle.

Yeah, I realize that's sort of strange. But hey, we all get our kicks in different ways. I'd rather have spent my childhood in a tree or a snowbank or with my nose in the S volume of the World Book encyclopedia than doing a lot of other things--like playing with Barbies or Cabbage Patch dolls. I had more important things on my youthful agenda than shopping for the coolest clothes or interacting with other children.



As an adult I like to get my animal fix at Potter Park Zoo. I don't just volunteer there as a docent. I also just like to go walk around, either on my own or with my husband and son, and sometimes with my nieces and nephew. As I observe the incredible, beautiful creatures God has made and then consider that I, as His image bearer, am His greatest work, I appreciate anew how special my place is in this world. How can dumpy me be more important, beautiful, and interesting to God than this?



And yet, we human beings are God's most marvelous creation. And despite the fall and our broken relationship with our creator, God still set into motion a plan to reconcile us to Himself, to bring us back from the brink and restore us. God be praised!

Now, I realize that not everyone shares my borderline creepy affinity for the animal world. Some people are afraid of a fair number of the things God created: spiders, bees, snakes, rats, sharks, worms, cockroaches, centipedes . . . I even know one person who is deathly afraid of house cats and another who is rendered nearly immobile at the sight of a peacock. Others just find animals boring.

Boring? How can that be?!

But then, some people have a limited experience with animals. They don't have pets or, if they do, it's just your standard dog or cat. So, they try the zoo and find it lacking. But I have a secret for those who find zoos boring. You're doing it wrong.

The more you go to a zoo, in different seasons and different times of day, the more interesting behavior you see. Going on a hot summer afternoon and then being disappointed because "the animals aren't doing anything" isn't their fault--it's yours. Summer, in my opinion, is the worst time to visit the zoo. Do any of us want to be doing much when the noonday sun is beating down on us? And we don't even have a bunch of fur keeping us hot!



Even though I love animals and I love my zoo, I don't even usually darken the doors during the summer. Spring and autumn are by far the best times to go, and then in the morning or evening. Many animals sleep during a fair portion of the day, including primates and big cats which are usually everyone's favorites at a zoo. They nap, just like we all wish we could just after lunch. But in the morning and right about supper time, they come alive.

And don't just stop at an exhibit for 30 seconds and then move on because the lion is sleeping. If you take a seat on a nearby bench and wait ten minutes, you're bound to see more interesting behavior: roaring, play fighting, eating, and even mating. Even the way a big cat walks is fascinating, watching the muscles beneath the hide, seeing how they place their large paws, the position of their heads and tails which indicate mood and what they might be doing. Is that tiger merely walking or is he really in a hunting posture? Does that lioness see my unsteady 1 1/2-year-old son as potential prey? (You bet she does.)

If it's been awhile since you've given your local zoo a try, I encourage you to go soon. Even after the snow flies is a great time to visit. My zoo is open every day except Christmas. And there is nothing quite like seeing the gusts of breath coming from a tiger's mouth as he roars and grunts on a sub-zero day in a foot of snow.



This month I remember how thankful I am for the countless fascinating creatures God has made, for the ways they help me know Him better, for the opportunity to see His amazing creatures up close.

And I'm thankful to my parents, who I now know were concerned about me when I was crawling around the house pretending to be a wolf at age 12, but who were kind enough not to say anything to me at the time. Thing is, I can't wait to get back down on the floor and be a wolf whenever my son decides he wants to pretend to be an animal.

The Notion to Sew

I couldn't go through a month of thankfulness without mentioning a whole slew of people and items related to sewing and quilting. So, here goes. I am thankful for...

My mother, who bought me my sewing machine for a college graduation present in 2001. She also showed me the basics and is my go-to gal for any and all questions related to sewing, altering, and mending clothes.

My mother-in-law, who encouraged me to try quilting when I found a fabric that I just really liked but didn't know how to use. I could never have guessed what a world of pleasure that would open for me. I'm fairly sure that by the end of this year I will have made at least 25 quilts in the last 7 years. Below is a picture of the hand-quilted crib quilt I made for my son when my sewing room was in what is now his nursery.



My friend Valerie's mother-in-law, who has a long arm quilting machine she is happy to share. I have now quilted three quilts on that machine and will do one more before Christmas (if I can finish the darn top in time!). Below are two examples of quilts done on her machine.



My proximity to a Jo-Ann's Etc. store. I get most of my fabric there (though I do like to occasionally indulge in more expensive quilt store purchases). Wednesday I picked up five yards of this whimsical fabric on sale for $4.99 a yard and intend someday to make a fun kid's quilt from it.



My apparent gift of trying anything once. Because God graced me with a non-perfectionistic and fearless personality (when it comes to crafts, at least), I reupholstered my couch with fabric bought on a whim over eBay, despite having never done anything with furniture before and having no instructions. I've also reupholstered ten chairs, a settee, countless pillows, and a piano bench. I'm just so thankful that I don't feel the need to get everything perfect or I would never finish anything and I would be worried about trying new things and failing.

Lots of family and friends who seem to like getting handmade gifts! I love giving them and you just can't keep everything you make, so I'm so thankful for the many people in my life who will accept with a smile my proffered projects.

On the non-sewing-yet-still-crafty-front, I'm thankful for my friends Valerie and Kristin who are teaching me new crochet techniques. I'm really enjoying this foray into a new form of textile creation. I've made several washclothes and five scarves. In 2010 I intend to make a multi-colored granny-square-type afghan. Too fun.

So thanks be to God who gave me the gift of so many special people and a useful way to express creativity!

My Daily Bread

Last night we had pizza for dinner. This morning I saw a photo of myself taken yesterday in which I look like I'm 4 months pregnant (I'm not). So the plate you see on the left side of the above photo is what I had for lunch today rather than the leftover pizza on the right. And I loved that plate full of raw fruits and vegetables. I do like fresh fruit and vegetables whenever they are offered to me, I just don't always think to buy them. And when I do buy them, they often go bad in the fridge because I forget I have them (or I'm so lazy I can't summon the energy needed to peel an orange--pathetic).

Today I imagined trying to explain this behavior to someone who couldn't get fresh, nutritious foods to eat, someone who doesn't know where their next meal would come from. And while they are searching or begging my strawberries get moldy, my lettuce liquefies, my celery doesn't seem crisp enough so I throw it in the compost (or if I'm too lazy to walk twenty feet, in the trash). Shameful.

This month I remember that I am thankful for access to affordable nutritious food and I am ashamed of how often I squander that blessing by choosing foods that will contribute to weight problems, high cholesterol levels, heart attacks, cancer, and every other preventable (or somewhat preventable in the case of cancer) health issue out there.

As an upper middle class person who can walk from home to a Better Health Food store in about 5 minutes and Kroger in about 2 minutes more and buy healthy food, I have no excuse for my eating and exercise habits. Part of the way I should try to show my gratitude for this access is by being a good steward of my body, my money, and the foods I do buy. And by being a good example to my son.

Sometimes thinking about what we are thankful for can get uncomfortable. But that should spur us to change bad habits with God's help.

Volunteering

Since I was in high school it has been drilled into me that volunteering is a worthy and admirable activity. The late, great Miss Pat Ankney, former choir teacher and musical director at Garber High School, also functioned in our small town as sort of a mafia boss of students and former students. She was one of those women who asked/told you to go somewhere and do something and so you did, no questions asked. She created the Student Leadership Task Force, a group of highschoolers who did her bidding--which was always focused on helping others. This mighty woman touched thousands of lives and created young men and women who would grow up knowing the importance of giving back and asking nothing in return.

At Miss Pat's behest I have dressed up like Cleopatra and entertained at a charity dinner (Ah, that explains the photo!). I have built a playground. I have participated in a fashion show. I have cleaned up highways. I have tried to befriend a girl who felt disconnected. I have worked on Habitat for Humanity houses. I have tutored junior highers at an after school program. Miss Pat is the reason I ended up working at Lake Louise Baptist Camp the summer after my senior year of high school, a formative experience in my life and the beginning of many summer of volunteering at a very special place.

Today I only have so much time for volunteering and I really wish I could do more. But I am happy giving at least 50 hours each year as a docent at Potter Park Zoo. As a docent I do outreaches and teach kids and adults about animals, conservation, ecology, and what the zoo does for endangered species, among many other things. I work with all sorts of great animals, including snakes, lizards, ferrets, a chinchilla, turtles, a tarantula, tenrecs, hissing cockroaches, an armadillo, a rabbit, doves, the largest owl species in the world and soon one of the smallest owl species. It remains an important part of my life eve though I now have much less time and flexibility to do it than I did pre-motherhood.

This month I think of how thankful I am that someone made it a point to teach me that I need to volunteer. I'm thankful for all the volunteers who have touched my life. And I'm thankful for the many opportunities I've had to bless others with comfort, knowledge, assistance, and attention. If you don't volunteer somewhere, you don't know what you're missing.

Thanking Veterans

Yesterday was Veterans Day and I was tied up all day with commitments and didn't take time to blog. But I did want to add my words of gratitude to veterans past and present. Soldiers and pilots, clerks and communications experts, medics and chaplains, and others give their time, energy, and lives to protect us from harm and preserve our liberty.

My uncle Gary is a Vietnam veteran. My grandpa Chuck was a WWII vet, Pacific Theater, communications. My grandpa Linny was a WWII vet, European Theater, a mechanic in a medical regiment. And I have some old photographs of a couple veterans (I'm not sure if they were soldiers or officers but the age of the photos suggests they could have been involved in WWI or conflicts before that time) in the Smith line of my family, a branch of the family tree I know little about. A number of friends and former classmates have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and another friend has recently joined the army and is in Basic Training.

To all of these men and women I am very grateful. I'm thankful that they have served and are serving their country in a way that most of us would not.

Harrison Smith. The back of this photo says "873rd Aero Senadron, Aviation Repair Depot, Dallas, TX."

Melville Smith. I have no idea where he served.

Robert Linwod Wiggins. He served in the 68th Medical Regiment as a truck mechanic. Among other things, his regiment entered liberated concentration camps and served victims there. The back of this photo says "Wally with my gas mask."

My Camera

Anyone who knows me or who has followed this blog for very long knows that I love my camera, an Olympus E-410 digital SLR given to me by my supremely generous husband a couple Christmases ago. After the birth of my son in 2008, my husband gave me a macro lens to add to my telephoto and my wide angle lenses. I think I have gotten more use and enjoyment out of these gifts in just two years than any others I have ever gotten. I am so thankful for my camera.

I'm also thankful for so many wonderful things to photograph. Besides the couple thousand photos I've taken of my son in his 17 months on the planet, most of the photos I take are of the natural world. Some are of man-made structures, but by far my favorite subjects are plants, flowers, bugs, and landscapes. Many of my favorite photos were taken with my macro lens, which allows detailed photos of very small things and offer the drama of a very shallow field of focus. Others were taken with my wide angle capturing the drama of clouds, lakes, and sunsets. Still others were taken with my telephoto--birds especially.

It was difficult for me to pare down my list of favorites for this post, but I managed to get it below 30. Following is a sampling of my photography. Many of these photos have appeared on this blog in the past, but I love to share them again--not because I'm such a great photographer (remember, with digital you can take lots of pictures and find a gem among them) but because they are of scenes that I want other people to experience.

All of these photos were taken in Michigan. While I dream of traveling the western US (specifically many of our national parks) beauty can be found anywhere. I take my pictures in my yard, local nature centers, the zoo, at the lakeshore when I'm visiting my sister, at Camp Lake Louise, on Mackinac Island, in the U.P., downtown, and many other places that don't seem picturesque at first sight. In fact, when you don't have grand vistas it forces you to look closer, look at the details, the small things that go unnoticed when you're dazzled by scenery.

Try looking again at the places you frequent and see if you can find and capture a little beauty.

Michigan Roads

Anyone who lives and drives in Michigan knows that we have phenomenally bad roads. This is because we get a lot of weather. The state is nearly surrounded by extremely large bodies of water (The Great Lakes, for you out-of-towners), speckled throughout by thousands of inland lakes, and crisscrossed by thousands of miles of rivers. All that water means lots of weather, lots of freeze and thaw cycles each winter. So each year our roads crack and heave and become like moonscapes. Every summer and fall dutiful workers in orange vests fill in potholes and tar cracks in what can seem like a futile attempt to stop the natural course of things--entropy.

Now, we all hate construction. We hate the delays it causes in our commutes, the ugly orange barrels, the fact that our taxes are paying someone to hold a sign for hours on end (couldn't they erect, I don't know, a pole to hold that sign up?). We hate the guy who speeds maniacally toward the front of the traffic jam and even more we despise the person who lets him in at the front of the line (the nerve!).

But let's face it, if it weren't for construction projects, we would all have to drive Hummers. I've often thought that those car and truck commercials that brag about great suspension should shoot not on backwoods dirt roads (I mean how many of us regularly blaze a trail in the wilds?) but on Michigan city streets during the spring thaw. I think those would be far more effective commercials (though perhaps slightly less attractive).

All this to say, in the spirit of gratitude this month of Thanksgiving, I would like to say I am thankful for our crappy roads and for the many people who try to make them less crappy. It's far preferable to slow travel on dirt and gravel.

Thankfulness

As we enter November, the month of Thanksgiving, I want to take time to think about what I am thankful for and give praise to God for His many blessings. First and foremost on my list is my husband and my son.

In December, my husband and I will celebrate nine years of marriage. Each one has been better than the last, and they've all been good. He is my best friend, my soulmate, my encourager, and my love. I could not hope for a better man with whom to share my life.

My son also gets better and better. He's more and more fun, has an amazingly cute voice, a sweet disposition, and currently enjoys giving kisses when he's not babbling on and on about cars and trucks.

These two guys are God's greatest gift to me. I am blessed to share my life with them.

Look for more posts this month on things for which I'm truly thankful. Some may surprise you. ;)