snail shells and backyard baseball

there's something delightful about late summer afternoons in the backyard watching a five-year-old hit home run after home run. C and I played for a long time out back yesterday. the winds were gusty and even broke branches off the big maple but luckily we were unharmed ;) we found two small snail shells that were of interest to me but as soon as he found out that "there are no snails inside!" he threw them aside. haha. home runs are more important. i think he made...hmm...close to 20. he's a good hitter. it was a lot of fun.

in other news, a raise has sealed the deal for a trip to Hungary, i think (and is, needless to say, a huge blessing in general). the only tricky part now is finding a time that works best for several different schedules. the best dates (prob Dec sometime) don't work the greatest for the family I work with...praying that something will come together that works well for all parties involved.

i got all my books for fall reading and will now work on some sort of reading schedule. i can't choose one to start with. oh, the dilemma :)

yesterday i collected my first two fallen leaves of the season. they're that beautiful mix of green and early yellow with orange. aah, so lovely. fall is spectacular. i tell you, it is a season that truly does my soul good.

i've been knitting up a storm--learning a few new techniques and improving old ones. i'm hoping to try some more difficult patterns this fall. we'll see. yesterday i visited my favorite in-city yarn store: SisterArts. that place is wonderful.

in closing, i'll just say that during the past few days i've been thinking a lot about love. in particular, what it looks like and involves to love someone (romantic and not). what does love demand? what does love offer? what does love teach? what ought love look like? etc. etc. i guess i've been rethinking God's love (which sometimes seems so hard to comprehend and, even, experience. but most of the time, i find i'm blind to it--and he's patient enough to break through my limited demands of what i think his love should look like. his love is surprising). and i think i'm realizing in new ways that His love really is the only place my love can start--which has a lot of implications, especially when i don't understand His love. But even if I can't understand it (or if i tend to misunderstand it), can't it propel me to love others? love is so hard and so beautiful. and feeling yourself love another is frightening, because it's such a vulnerable position. and loving someone takes work. but it's somehow so beautiful.

CS Lewis writes,

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”