a weekend at Mount Carmel

                   IvarTalentShow from Becca Groves on Vimeo.

We got to go to Mount Carmel this weekend to celebrate the camp's 75th Anniversary. It was a perfect weekend, full of lots of old friends and now some new ones.

There was a time for telling stories, the annual meeting, worship and a program where we walked through the camp's history. They played audio of Grandma Bredberg telling of her favorite parts of camp. My mom told some awesome stories and then I spoke too. It was a neat way to get a feel for all of the generations who have loved this place so well.

But the coolest part of the weekend for me was watching Mount Carmel become Ivar's second home. He started to run around like he owned the place and even made some new friends that were often looking for him and he was always looking for them. Three brothers, Sam, Jacob and Joshua were all much older than Ivar, but they were so good to him. Sam even wrote Ivar a silly song on his guitar about Ivar's chickens who say Bagok Bagok.

On Saturday night they held a talent show and I decided to sign the kids up. First Elsie came up and showed everyone her talent: crawling across the stage. It was pretty great. And then Ivar came up. I knew we had a 50/50 chance that he would decide not to sing, but felt our odds were better with Sam up there for support. And sure enough, he sang every word.

The little red book in his hands is the New Testament, a gift from his Papa Groves. He loves that little Bible and I have found him many times sitting at his little table and chairs in his room, flipping through the pages even though there are no pictures. For a while I was hanging onto it for safe keeping...a good lesson for me! He knows what the Bible says!

rainy weekend

It is supposed to rain some more this weekend, and I believe he may be the only tractor driver around who will be okay with that. It's getting terribly late to get the corn in, and the rains just keep coming.

blooming spring

This is our first springtime at our new house and it has been so fun to see what pops up. It's all a surprise. We had no idea those tulips under the coop were there when we first set the coop in place. I felt bad for them, assuming they wouldn't survive, but they seem to love it under the coop. The yellow tulips shot up in the middle of the yard, with a few purple ones nearby. And I am so glad to still have lilacs. That was one of my favorite parts of our yard in Minneapolis. I love that smell more than anything.

But of all the flowers, the ones that are delighted in the most are "The Dandylands!"

the day to day

Yesterday I spent much of the day with my new wheelbarrow. I adore it. It is the tool that has turned me from a nagging wife ("will you please move that pile?!!) into an empowered wife ("I can move that pile!"). I spent the day moving tires, cement block, and removing rocks out of the field. And as I hauled the HEAVY rocks back and forth, I realized that this sort of less impressive work won't make the blog, but it should. Because it is more "normal life" than rainbow cakes. The trouble is that there is no real great picture of a field before and after picking out the rocks. You wouldn't be able to tell much of a change. But I can. And I decided it is worth writing about because it is as much a part of our day to day as everything else.

My other task yesterday was to clean the downstairs bathroom now that the chickens are in their coop. It took me three hours. Every single surface had to be scrubbed down.

When I was done Rory was so impressed he said we should go out to dinner. Instead, I took a rain check and told him we had to mow the lawn. It was embarrassing how long it was. It blew like prairie grass in the wind. So we fired up the riding lawn mower and I drove myself in circles for an hour. And then Rory took over and zoomed around the trees.

Today we are tackling the garage, and planting a few more hostas around the shed. And Ivar is going to keep sweeping the grass. Because that obviously needs to be done too.

how God speaks to us

Sunday was a precious day for me, and one that I don't want to forget. Our nephew, Kirby, was baptized and we went back to our former church for the morning. 

During the sermon, Pastor Strandquist told a story of Jesuit priest Father John Kavanaugh who went to work for a season at The House of the Dying in Calcutta. He wanted to know how best to spend the rest of his life.

On his first morning, he met Mother Teresa and she asked, "What can I do for you?" Kavanaugh asked her to pray for him. "And what do you want me to pray for?" she asked. He expressed the deepest desire of his heart: "Pray that I have clarity."

She said firmly, "No, I will not do that." Kavanaugh was taken aback. Mother Teresa continued, "Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of. " When Kavanaugh commented that she always seemed to have the clarity he longed for, she laughed and said, "I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God."

We celebrated Kirby's baptism with a big family meal and then Sara, Kirby's mom, stood and read the blessings and hopes we had written for Kirby and sent to her the week before. The hopes and prayers for this boy were so empowering. I got so excited to get to watch him run the race. And it made me excited to keep running my own. 

Then Sara told of how she and Kirby had been talking the day before about his baptism and why he wanted to be baptized. Kirby had mentioned that he felt like it was the next right step for him, that he wanted to know God more and that he was looking for clarity in what God would have for him.

Sara told this and then commented on the goodness of God to answer his question so quickly, especially on the day of his baptism, through the sermon we had just heard at church. She said, "that is how God speaks to us, and I don't want you to miss that. Sometimes I ask questions to God and it might be weeks or months, maybe years before I hear a word. But God hears me and he is faithful to respond. You asked for something on Saturday and God spoke to you through the sermon on Sunday." 

She was talking to Kirby, but I sat back and remembered this truth for myself. It was a remarkable lesson on the beauty of a faithful walk with the Lord, and how He wants to be in conversation with us. 

Kirby stood up and said how much he loves his family and how special the day was for him and then he said, "Trust is my Clarity!" 

’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,

And to take Him at His Word;

Just to rest upon His promise,

And to know, “Thus says the Lord!”

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!

How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!

O for grace to trust Him more.