catching up quickly

Now Playing: Brahms "Requiem". Track 6, "Here on earth have we no continuing place...."

The first part of last week was pretty busy: Lots of odds and ends of chores to be tidied up on Monday, studying to do, a paper to polish off for Thursday, etc. When Thursday came, though, things slowed down considerably. I spent Thursday afternoon taking a walk with Syneva in the neighborhood near Woodward Park, and then after our walk I drove to the park myself to take pictures of the tulips and trees, and to sit and read for awhile outside. I didn't do much "hanging out" with friends last week in Tulsa other than the usual Bible study times.

The weekend, though, was an amazing blessing. I rushed home after lunch Friday afternoon, and almost as soon as I got home, my family and I piled into the car to drive down to Marlow to visit Logan's family for the weekend. They live on a ranch--Logan's father works with carpentry and construction jobs, while also raising cattle. The visit was great fun. Their land was some of the most beautiful I've ever seen: a gorgeous mix of hills and woods and fields. The view from the back windows of their house was a rest to my eyes--behind their house, the land slopes gently down, over a freshly-disced field, to a couple of ponds, and then beyond that to a steep wooded hillside where oak, pecan, and cottonwood trees were just turning green, splashed with pink redbuds along the edge by the ponds.

Friday afternoon, as soon as we arrived, Autumn and Kady, Logan's sisters, introduced Laura and me to Chocolate, the calf they're keeping in a pen until it can be weaned. Dakota took us to the hutch where she keeps four doves and a rabbit named Cedar. After supper, Logan, Laura, Autumn, Kady, Dakota, and I all went for a walk down to the creek. Logan showed us a huge old oak tree and helped Autumn climb into it. We explored along the creek bed, while Cash and Stormy, the two dogs, splashed noisily through the water. Back at the house after our walk, everyone gathered together for dessert and to celebrate Logan's birthday. Logan's mother gave him a scrapbook full of pictures, a real treasure. Then a bunch of us kids played hide-and-seek outside in the dark with flashlights.

The next morning, during breakfast, Philip and Tanner, one of Logan's younger brothers, played chess, which kept all of us amused--they were being rather silly. Autumn let Laura help feed the calf. It slurped noisily on Laura's fingers before she gave it the bottle. Dakota, Autumn, Kady, Laura, and I spent most of the morning in the pasture with the horses and cattle. Dakota took Laura and me for rides on Comanche, the older of her two horses (the other horse, Yukon, is still in the process of being trained). It was wonderful to be outside in the strong wind and the sunshine, out in the fields with the animals. Dakota guided Comanche right down into a grove of lovely young redbud trees growing at the eastern edge of the pasture to show them to me. The dogs trotted companionably alongside, though Comanche nipped at Cash whenever he got the chance.

After lunch, my family left to drive back to Stillwater. Since Logan's spring break was over (last week was OSU's spring break), he followed my family back to Stillwater. Philip, Stephen, and I rode with him in his car. When we crossed over the Cimarron River, I was quite surprised to see how full it was--the sandbanks were all covered by rushing brown water.

Today was a good day, of course, being at church. We had Communion in the morning service. It was hard to go back to Tulsa again: Not so much leaving Stillwater, necessarily, but the constant pull of being on the move all the time, never being able to rest in one place. I listened to the Brahms "Requiem" on the drive back: "Here on earth have we no continuing place...." But, "Blessed are they who dwell in Thy courts. They praise Thy name evermore...."

And some pictures from the visit to Marlow are up on photobucket!