The trees were prettier.

Today Arwen and I didn't have to work until 5, so this morning we joined Arwen's fiance, Nick, and his roommate, Jason, and spent a couple hours walking around the Morton Arboretum. I had my camera with me the whole time and only took this one picture because this cyclist tickled my funny bone. I wear a helmet whenever I bike. Does it look like that on me?

I think it's cool the way a stick figure in a strange posture and a few curved lines so clearly denote that this part of the road is for cyclists.

Fun and games

I'm not sure what to think when my list of "things I want to do today" begins with "vacuum" and "put gas in the car."

Ashley and Dave's wedding

I flew into Mobile, Alabama Thursday evening knowing that Ashley would there to pick me up. My fast walk through the terminal turned into a run when I saw her and Blakely (who came down to visit Ashley in Mexico last summer) waiting for me. What a precious thing it is to be reunited with friends. They took me to Dave's parents' home where a lot of friends were gathered. Ashley had told everyone about her little friend from Mexico (the missionary with a dictionary) so I was greeted with hugs when I expected handshakes.

Friday morning we ran around doing errands and made ten bridesmaid bouquets. We put them in water in the refrigerator and Ashley's mother found them there completely wilted the afternoon of the wedding. It didn't take long to make ten fresh, beautiful bouquets.

Friday evening was the rehearsal and dinner, and Saturday morning we gathered for a bridal brunch at a cute tea room. I wore this dress that I bought a few days before at an antique store in Wheaton. It's a handmade prom dress from the 1960s.

Last summer for Ashley's birthday Dave mailed her Dreamland's barbecue - their favorite restaurant. We all went there Saturday night before a worship service.





Dave moved to Alabama from Boston a few years ago. He and Ashley are hard core Red Sox fans.


The reception was on the water so there was a pleasant cooling sea breeze and a gorgeous sunset.

Isaiah 55:10-11

This time last summer I was in Mexico. I think about it every day.
Praise God for this wonderful news from the Isaiah 55 Team in Reynosa:

God is at work!

After years of praying for the deaf community in Reynosa, starting construction on the school, building the school and holding classes, teaching the kids that they have their own language (Mexican sign language), building relationships and loving on the students and families, we are seeing some results! We knew that God was working in the hearts of our students but had no idea what was going on in their heads. YESTERDAY, one of our oldest girls Daniela accepted Jesus into her life (our first student to do so). She told her teacher Karina "I want Jesus! I want my life to be changed."

All that to say- the whole reason behind the deaf school is to share God's love with them. It has been a long process because understanding the concepts of the gospel and communicating them in sign language is difficult, but God is bigger than any obstacle.

We are excited to see how Daniela will have an affect on the other students, as she is already one of the leaders in the school. Please please please be praying for the deaf school and everything going on in the students' hearts.

Whoops.

On Thursday I flew from Chicago to Mobile for Ashley's wedding. (This is the first wedding I'm attending for a dear friend who isn't family, and my first flight without parents at one end. I think I'm growing up.) I learned a few things:

• Cell phones can't go through the metal detector at the airport.
• I don't actually know how to turn off my cell phone. I thought I did.
• So far as I can tell it didn't actually matter.
  

Perhaps I should entitle my blog Ramblings again.

I had aspirations of regular thought-provoking, amusing, lambent posts this summer, but the muse has been strangely absent. One would think that seeing me working five or seven hour shifts behind a desk in a quiet lobby would bring her running, but it has not been so.

This has been a delightful summer. I feel a bit as if I'm experiencing a part of childhood I lacked growing up. I never had the friends next door that you run and play with after you finish your homework. But now, when I get home from work, I throw off my ill-fitting polo shirt and khakis, jump into play clothes, and bike to my friend Megan's house. We have continued to run together. After that first miserable run, nothing feels so bad. This past Saturday, we ran in the 5K Run for the Stars race, in the cold and rain an hour or so after I had woken up with a cough and sore throat. I made my best time by a good two and a half minutes. I'm sure it was good for me.

I've also been reading some children's books. Megan and I went to the Wheaton library to get Winnie-the-Pooh & The House at Pooh Corner to read about the spotted and herbacious backson and came back with a couple of our favorite childhood books to exchange. I gave Megan Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield, and she gave me Robin McKinley's The Outlaws of Sherwood which I have now read. And then on Saturday I read All of a Kind Family, the first of a delightful series of books about a Jewish family living in Crown Heights (I think?) in the early 20th century. Those are stories that made me ask my mother if it was possible to become Jewish. That was a long time ago. I no longer want to become Jewish. I'm blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

My dear friend Arwen and I have been house sitting for one of my professors while he and his family are the in Holy Lands. It has been a huge blessing. He lives a block from the edge of campus, has a chinchilla with whom I have become fast friends, and has even allowed us the use of his cars. It's pretty much ideal. I'll post pictures of Arwen and Chickles soon.

I'll spare you, gentle readers, from further ramblings.