YWAM Minneapolis DTS (Dischipleship Training School) promo video

The Tree

I love thee when thy swelling buds appear

And one by one their tender leaves unfold,

As if they knew that warmer suns were near,

Nor longer sought to hide from winter's cold.

And when with darker growth thy leaves are seen,

To veil from view the early robin's nest,

I love to lie beneath  thy waving screen

With limbs by summer's heat and toil oppressed.

And when the autumn winds have stripped thee bare,

And round thee lies the smooth, untrodden snow,

When naught is thine that made thee once so fair,

I love to watch thy shadowy form below,

And through thy leafless arms to look above

On stars that brighter beam when most we need their love.

-Jones Very

"Heavy"

Heavy

That time

I thought I could not

go any closer to grief

without dying

I went closer,

and I did not die.

Surely God

had His hand in this,

as well as friends.

Still, I was bent,

and my laughter,

as the poet said,

was nowhere to be found.

Then said my friend Daniel

(brave even among lions),

"It's not the weight you carry

but how you carry it-

books, bricks, grief-

it's all in the way

you embrace it, balance it, carry it

when you cannot, and would not,

put it down."

So I went practicing.

Have you noticed?

Have you heard

the laughter

that comes, now and again,

out of my startled mouth?

How I linger

to admire, admire, admire

the things of this world

that are kind, and maybe

also troubled-

roses in the wind,

the sea geese on the steep waves,

a love

to which there is no reply?

-Mary Oliver

The Young Dandelion

I am a bold fellow

As ever was seen,

With my shield of yellow,

And my blade of green.

You may uproot me

From field and from lane;

Trample me, cut me,

I spring up again.

I never flinch, sir;

Wherever I dwell;

Give me an inch, sir,

I'll soon take an ell.

Drive me from garden

In anger and pride,

I'll thrive and harden

By the roadside.

Not a bit fearful,

Showing my face,

Always so cheerful,

In every place.

-Dinah Mulock Craik

Three days later... resurrected joy

One year and three days after the birth of our sweet Emily...

Joy came to us in a little bundle of blue eyes and curly brown hair- so unlike the rest of her siblings with the typical black/brown eyes and black short hair. Madelynn filled my empty arms and my aching heart. Our little wiggler, always moving, quick to smile yet quick to cry- Alligator tears fall from those big blues framed with lo-ong black lashes. Yet her smile is equally contagious and laughter is the best medicine. 

Smart, mischievous, easy to please, ticklish, sweet, cuddly-

She is our joy of the family.

The cute chica with the pink socks turns a whopping five years old today! 
Happy Birthday Madelynn!