Hymns and Hikes

I just praise God for beautiful days, sunshine, rolling hills, forests, hiking trails, and playgrounds! We have had wonderful weather lately. It's been so nice that we've been outside every day, which is why my kitchen hasn't been completely clean since Saturday or Sunday!

Sunday night, we found a hiking trail just right up the hill from our house. We never noticed it because we never ventured across the field that backs into our backyard...unsure of who the land belonged to. Turns out, it belongs to our landlord! We went across the field and up to the fence line where the horses always are. Jackson loves horses! That's when we stumbled upon the trail.

Last night, we went walking to see how far the trail went. It goes farther (or is it further?) than we hiked (we were losing daylight and had a tired boy in our arms), but passes by the forest and a lot of prairies. It was such a wonderful walk! We sang hymns and I told Jason that I felt like this is what it must have been like for John Paton and his family when they made the 4 mile walk to church every Sabbath day! Even though I have not been gifted with any kind of vocal talent, the sound was so beautiful and the words so rich. I was hoping that times like that would continue.

This afternoon, we went to the playground with Jackson. Normally, we go earlier in the day and all of the older children are in school. Today, they were all out on the playground and I was fascinated with watching Jackson watching them. He was very interested in the other children and not intimidated to approach them. A little girl from church, Reese, came over to play with Jackson. He loved her! She played with him for about 30 minutes and it was precious to watch them interact.

Tonight, our German neighbor's daughter came over to play with Jackson. We just met Linda last night and I already love her. We had a blast talking back and forth. I'm sure she went home laughing at my failed attempts to pronounce extremely difficult German sounds!

Tomorrow, Lord willing, I'm taking Jackson on his first bike ride. My parents mailed his bike seat and it arrived today. Jason installed it tonight and we're ready to go. I can't wait!!

Lord, thank you for the beautiful weather and the opportunities to get outside. You know how I love being outside!