What we did with a sunny afternoon

We enjoyed a lovely sunny afternoon today. My husband and daughters and I went to late service at church, then out to lunch together afterwards. It was nice to do something with just the four of us. Meanwhile, my father-in-law visited the place he calls his "church" - Home Depot - where he brought home more plants for the backyard and enjoyed his solitary hot dog lunch from the food stand outside the store.

A side note: adding in another adult to our family is like learning a whole new dance - with a new dance partner. It's going really well, but it can feel a little overwhelming sometimes.

After our lunch out, we came home and all worked in the yard for a while with my father-in-law. The girls and I mostly weeded - I'm hoping to plant a vegetable garden in an unused corner of the yard. I have wanted to do that for years and years, and I'm hoping that I'll actually do it this year! It's so nice to have some momentum for working in the yard, and it's wonderful to see our yard being so loved after having been very neglected for many years.

Something I really wanted to do today was to paint. Just paint anything. But I also wanted to help my girls to paint. They received "artist's studio" kits for Christmas - portable wooden easels with drawers full of "real" paints. They are really cheap and will probably fall apart very quickly - but they are just the thing to inspire creative dreams in little girls (and big girls)! It's mostly been too cold outside (and they are definitely an outside activity!) until now to really use them, but this afternoon we spent an hour getting them all set up for the first time. The girls happily painted for almost two hours, while I worked on putting a meatloaf in the oven and cooking the rest of dinner.

So I didn't get to paint today after all (unless I get some out later tonight) - but it was still a very satisfying afternoon. Church this morning was wonderful, but I'm having a hard time remembering exactly why. Our pastor has been preaching on justice - it seems like a change of focus from previous years, and it is ministering to my heart so strongly. I wish I could articulate more than that - maybe sometime I'll be able to.