buzzing... around my head and in my heart

we spent last weekend in Hico, hanging out with family and playing at the annual Old Settler's Reunion carnival.

grandma reading to the girls. sniff.

we all descended upon the Care Center to pick up yaya.

at the carnival, where I spent the majority of my effort warding off bees. there were so many bees, people!! boo. I know bees are very important and that they're in danger of disappearing, which would mean bad things for everyone, but it's no fun fending them off all night at an outdoor carnival. ah well. maggie was unperturbed. mostly because of my fending skills.

see all those people along the gate? yeah, I'm related to all of them.

daddy took magz in the spinning strawberry!

mica, yaya, and her new wheels. the grandkids all chipped in and helped purchase this scooter. she was so surprised! mica leigh is awesome for finding it and letting us help.

I went down the super slide once. I'm telling you, I was too busy battling bees.

yaya and kaitlin

mugging.

in addition to all of her awesome books, let it be known that our daughter has a taste for deeper things. behold, amy carmichael's "if":

this arresting quote has been attributed to ms. carmichael:

"We profess to be strangers and pilgrims, seeking after a country of our own, yet we settle down in the most un-stranger-like fashion, exactly as if we were quite at home and meant to stay as long as we could. I don't wonder apostolic miracles have died. Apostolic living certainly has." — Amy Carmichael

and that paperback below would be "More Than a Carpenter" by Josh McDowell. mmm-hmm.

she's also been known to frequently pull out "Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God". because, you know, there's nothing like a little 18th century Jonathan Edwards before kicking back with Elmo's World.

this is how it feels a little now. lovely and fast.

she had a hard time going to sleep last night, so I caved and went in to help. she'd gotten herself pretty worked up so I held her against my shoulder, did a bouncy, swoopy dance, and let her catch her breath. we plopped down on the couch in her room and I started singing some of the familiar songs, patting and drumming, and kissing any dear, soft skin that came near me. in the beginning, it was the cabin in the woods song, then she asked for itsy bitsy spider, and finally I moved into 'I love you with the love of the Lord', over and over. she looked up at me with such open trust, such sweetness and beauty in her big toothy smile, such assurance in the half-whispered 'mamas' she said as she patted my face and chest. that I'm her mama, her property of sorts, is something she knows, and the deep intimacy and fierce rush of love completely overwhelmed me. I cried and sniffed and tried to keep singing even as that baby mimicked my sniffles and giggled at her cleverness, and I just thanked God over and over.

I love you with the love of the Lord, I love you with the love of the Lord. I see in you the glory of my King, and I love you with the love of the Lord.

-m.y.