The weather has been beautiful here in Minnesota this week. Sunshine, unexpected warm temperatures, and low winds have really brightened the mood of the people here who have endured another Minnesota winter. With this beautiful weather, our snow has mostly all melted, except of course in the places where the piles from plowing were as high as buildings. In these areas the dirty snow is now just a very small pile that we look at with a bit of contempt and wish it would just let go already.

With the melting of the snow the ground has emerged and things are already looking to have a bit of a green tinge to them. Unfortunately, the snow has uncovered other things that have been residing under those giant piles. In one place last week we saw shopping carts sticking out of the melting snow pile next to a bus stop. On the ground though, we've found numerous pieces of trash and litter and things that have been blown around and trapped by the snow.

Driving into our apartment complex every day, I notice the large amount of litter that covers our ground and into the tree line of woods that surrounds our buildings. The dumpster facility for our buildings is close by and things blow out and have been waiting to be uncovered by the warm sunshine. Wanting to get out of the house and let my kids enjoy the warm weather yesterday, it occurred to me that we should go out and pick up the litter. Instead of just complaining about it (which is my normal way of dealing with it), we should grab our bags and go for a little litter walk.

The kids were enthusiastic about it, especially if it meant climbing through the woods in hunt of the elusive plastic bag or shiny wrapper caught on the trees beyond the path. My son lost interest fairly quickly and chose to make the random sticks into guitars instead, but later, as they were just playing, he found a pop can and was very proud of himself for bringing it to me. We filled up two bags of trash and I think we got a good lesson in care of creation as we did it. It reminded me of when I picked up trash on the side of the road with a Girl Scout group on one of those adopt a highway programs when I was younger.

It was a good time outside for a hidden teaching about how we care for God's creation around us--and the treeline looked mighty good when I drove out of the parking lot this morning if I do say so myself!

the earth is beautiful from the sky...but I'm glad to be on the ground.

What a whirlwind. This month has been absolutely insane (and it's not even the end of the month yet). Between doing homework for classes which seems never-ending, getting started in the call process, and family life in general, my months are usually pretty busy. But this month I added to the craziness by having three trips to do in the span of 14 days.

In the middle of the month my daughter and I got to fly to St. Louis, MO in order to visit my best friend Heidi and her husband Eric (he's a good friend too, but you know how it goes...). Heidi is in her first call in a town called Mascoutah, Illinois. It was a great trip and good to be with my daughter for a girl's weekend. The only downfall of this weekend was that my husband was sick at home trying to take care of our son while he was sick.

Then came my intensive weekend class (that was the reason for creating this blog). I went to Shalom Hill Farm with my classmates where we enjoyed fellowship, beautiful surroundings, and learning about our care for God's creation. The only downfall of this weekend was that I got horribly sick (thank you honey) and was sort of miserable while I was there. Okay, really miserable. I had to leave early to come back to the Cities and visit our Urgent Care center where thankfully they gave me some meds and I got to come home and rest.

Last, I flew to Omaha, Nebraska (after stopping in Chicago of course--heaven forbid we go directly there). In Omaha I met the other first call candidates that have been assigned to Nebraska and spent time with synod staff. We'll be moving forward with the call process too.

After all of this, I'm so happy to be at my own home sitting on my couch and blogging! It's time to be home. For tonight I get to ignore the pile of homework and housework to be accomplished this weekend and reflect on the experiences I've had over the past month.

As I've been flying through the skies this month (I don't fly for years and then in one month I fly way too much!) I've been looking out the window and "surveying" the beautiful grounds we have in America. But it also makes you look at your everyday surroundings in a much different way and I couldn't help but look down at the busy highways and the metropolitan areas and be a little sad that we're just going, going, going. While we care for our creation, we care for ourselves as God's creation too and with all the going I've been doing multiplied by the going I've witnessed at airports and from the air, I've seen the need for care that I know I have and that others around me need too. In ministry I hope I don't go so much that I forget that we all need a chance to stop going every once in a while and survey what it is we are surrounded by.

Here's to a night of being on the ground and NOT going!

wood is a sustainable product...sort of

Ok, so my husband and I took our kids out to eat and noticed that at this particular restaurant, they use recycled paper towels as napkins. That is, the paper towels are made from recycled stuff, not that they themselves are recycled...because that would just be gross.

I thought that was really cool and decided to get some of these for myself at the store later that evening. I also wanted to get paper plates made out of recycled materials. At Target (my favorite store off all time which makes this painful to write about but I think I'll get through it) I was looking high and low for these products and two workers were standing in the aisle putting things away. So I asked one of them if they carried paper plates made from recycled materials and he said, "No. We used to, but nobody ever bought them." So then I asked for paper towels from recycled material and the man said, "We don't have those either." I replied with a somewhat serious, somewhat sarcastic, "then how am I supposed to be good to the earth?!" To which he replied, "well, you do know that wood is a sustainable product, right?"

Hhhmm, I wish I would have had the courage to say to this smart***, "sure it is, except that it'll take decades before another tree is grown to maturity to replace the roll of paper towels that I'm going to use up in a matter of days (fewer if my children have anything to say about it)." But I didn't. I just smiled politely and nodded my head.

Harumph. Wood is a sustainable product. Well, he wasn't wrong, but a tree takes so long to replace! And for what? To be cut down again for another roll of my paper towels? Bamboo is better, but I'm pretty sure that my Target brand paper towels aren't made from bamboo.

I gave in...this time. I bought the paper towels made from non-recycled paper. I was defeated.

On another hand, I found post-its made out of recycled materials. The saying holds true: One step forward, two steps backward.

A little childhood whimsy...

I read this book with my kids tonight and I thought I'd share it with you since it follows what we're talking about anyway!

Here are Grover's 10 Terrific Ways to Help Our Wonderful World:

1. Respect and be kind to all living things.
2. Take care of plants in your neighborhood.
3. Re-use things rather than throwing them away.
4. Give used and out-grown clothes, books or toys to someone who might want them.
5. Choose things that can be used over and over again.
6. Fix broken things.
7. Do not waste water. Use just what you need.
8. Do not waste energy.
9. Always put trash where it belongs.
10. Recycle paper, bottles, plastics, and cans.

Thank you Grover, for helping me learn how to take care of God's creation!

Ross, Anna. Grover's 10 Terrific Ways to Help Our Wonderful World. Franklin: Dalmatian Press L.L.C., 2008.