Gentle Breezes

We had THE BEST walk around the block today. Ardyn pushed her dolly in the umbrella stroller. I pushed Mari in "Ol' bessy" -- our hand-me-down, navy blue, Noah's ark stroller that would have been THE BOMB in 1998. Mari loves it because there is no safety tray in front of her, so if her waist straps are even the slightest bit loose, she can stand up on the foot rest and ride standing up....way too much faith in three strands of decade-old canvas strapping. Ok, so the four of us headed down the driveway. (The boys and Ashli stayed home to run their remote control cars.)

Some sort of front was coming in. It was 70 degrees with wind gusts of 50 mph. We did ok down the driveway, but as we turned northward, we COULD NOT WALK. My windbreaker totally inflated, and Ardyn's shirt billowed behind her. We looked at each other...hair blowing straight up, plump cheeks slightly flattened. We cracked up. We tried to run. Nah-sir. We cracked up more. Ardyn laughed so hard she let go of her buggy and away went dolly! Then we cracked up some more! I looked down at Mari. She was doing her best impression of "Rose" on the bow of the Titanic....standing, chin up, chest high, arms outstretched. Despite the deafening gusts of wind, I swear I heard Celine singing, "Near...Far.....Wherever you are....". We continued to receive bonus cardio points for "resistance training". That is, until we got to the edge of the highway and had to turn around. Now the wind was chasing us from behind. We were running involuntarily down the road. We were cracking up AGAIN.

Surely with the wind, and all the ab-clinching laughter, we burned some major calories??? I lost 2.5 pounds this week. Yay! That means that Philip and I together have lost 28 pounds in 26 days. That sounds good to me. The wind that brought us so much joy this afternoon apparently brought equal amounts of trouble for Philip and his line crew. Trees and power poles are down area-wide. He's working hour #16....hopefully he'll come home to rest soon. The overtime will definitely blow away some more debt!

Speaking of being blown away: Sunday morning, the adult choir sang "Breath of the Spirit". It is a beautifully arranged medley including "Spirit of the Living God". It is a powerfully moving song. The lines that speak to me most today are...

Sometimes there is a mighty rushing wind,
The power of God that cleanses me from sin.
Sometimes there is a quiet gentle breeze,
That flows from heaven filling me with peace.

Thank You, God, for cleansing me from sin. Thank You for sandblasting my heart so that the overflow of my lips would bring life to those around. Thank You for Your mercies that are new every morning. Thank You for Your peace. You are all-powerful and altogether wonderful!