my son announced during lunch,
“this grape is my very, very favorite. mama, you must take a picture of it for me.”

and so,
after i had
made him ask
nicely,

because

i am, after all, his mama,
we got out the camera.
*
his next request
went like this,
“please
(hey, he’s being polite!)
will you put
my favorite grape
on that new thing
you’re knitting
and then take
his picture?
*

at this point i am trying to gauge
just how much trouble
this new relationship with the grape
is going to wind up being.
i think maybe a truckload of trouble
since it’s become a ‘he’
and it’s still his ‘favorite’.
*

juggling the estimating in my head
while aiming the camera
i take the shot.
and no sooner have i clicked
then my son pops the grape
into his mouth
and swallows it whole.
*

my surprise must have shown on my face
because my son smirks
(this takes control since both of his sisters are near hysterical at this point)
and says, “he decided that he wants to live in my belly”.
*

smile.
kids are so great, aren’t they?

‘grapes’ taken from 6:44 of luke.

it was just an ordinary saturday to almost everyone else at the bank.

my children took full advantage of all that ’empty’ space just waiting

to be filled with their happy squeals and dancing feet.

the notary very professionally did her job.

the people came and went.

i quietly wiped away

such sweet tears

from my eyes.

so sweet.

because after over three years of praying & waiting & praying some more,

we are in the final stages of adoption;

officially petitioning the state

for the right (which really feels like the priviledge)

to adopt the precious child we have felt was our own almost since birth.

so i was reminded, once again,

that we never really do know

just what is going on

for the strangers

right next to us.

because no-one knew that day what was going on for us –

the culmination of so many days, so many nights,

of hope and uncertainty and longing…

we are tired, but not broken,

and we are truly on the

final victory lap

right now!

‘victory’ taken from 12:16  in the book of job.

yesterday my children were bears.

they lived in ‘caves’

(2 blankets flung over an easel and a child size slide

to create 2 cozy cubies of darkness)

and ate apples.

*

today they are pranksters

conspiring together to ‘april fools’ me.

as i arrived downstairs to giggles and dancing eyes

they asked me

‘don’t you want to eat breakfast mama?’

i could sense it coming

but try as i might

i couldn’t see.

*

peanut buttered toast is usually part of breakfast.

the delighted chuckles got louder and louder

so i examined the toaster.

i shyly lifted the lid

off of the butter.

nothing even slightly unusual greeted me.

have you guessed yet?

if i look really closely at this photo now

i can see it, clearly.

can you?

i’ll give you a minute here to inspect critically

and compose a hypothesis

before i show you

this:

somehow

it never occured to me

just how few steps there are between

the wooden bread in the toy kitchen’s fridge

and the real bread in the full sized fridge before.

*

and

in case

you are curious,

the creamy white velcro centers

were especially delicious this moring.

‘plan’ taken from 9:10 in ecclesiastes.

celery

green grass

green peppers

bright green m&ms

my knit picks comfy ‘ufo’

at least 3 grass stained knees

empty dark green laundry basket

the leaves of the newly sprung crocus

the wooden blocks used for building castles

the suspendered shorts worn by 2 pigs in busytown

the 4 leaves left on the plant i let get too dry for too long

green moss on the fallen branches heaped high in the garden cart

prismatic lights dancing on the windowsill when i least expected to see them

‘leaves’ taken from 28:3 of proverbs.