Today is a gray, gloomy, cloudy Monday. It looks like it might rain. However, when I checked the forecast in the paper, it says there is only a 30% chance of rain. Which is really a bummer...because if you look at my geraniums you can see that they REALLY need water.
See?
Oh, there...that's better...now you can see the cracks in the dried out soil.
I may have to drag out the hose and actually water my plants before they all die.
Sorry that I didn't post anything yesterday. I was overwhelmed.
Tim and I drove over to Camp Weed yesterday afternoon to pick Clay up.
(Click here to see what he did this weekend)
We went into Mandi's Chapel to wait for the kids, because they didn't know we were going to be there...(it was a surprise.) Mandi's Chapel is beautiful. It was built right beside the lake, and it is very simple and open - with lots of glass windows.
Unfortunately, due to several years of drought in Florida, the lake has dried up and the chapel now sits on grass...but there are plans to refill the lake again beginning in May. I can't wait to see it.
This photo doesn't do it justice, and I'm sure my description won't be able to either...but the interior of the chapel is magical. When the dappled sunlight streams through all the windows, it feels as though you are really surrounded by the Holy Spirit. Maybe it's just that the chapel is so open to nature, or the simplicity of the architecture, or the fact that it is predominately children who worship there - but I have always felt closer to God there than almost anywhere.
A sidenote...I have always tried to keep this blog fairly neutral regarding politics and religion, but I feel like I must describe the setting in order to describe the events of yesterday. If this bothers you....just come back tomorrow!
So, those of you who know me know that I am a fairly private person when it comes to my faith. I don't like talking a lot about it, and I'm not comfortable with a lot of the public displays of it. I have always prayed, but my prayers are more of a private conversation that I have with God. However. There are certain times in my life when I have felt as though He were practically slapping me upside my head to get my attention. They usually have to do with nature - a sunrise or sunset, the ocean...something like that, or with children. When the kids were younger and attended Grace Episcopal Day School and the children would sing hymns during the chapel service, or be signing the Lord's Prayer...I always got chills. It was something about the purity of their sweet little voices and the complete honesty of their faith. Anyway, somehow the chapel at Camp Weed combines both of those elements, and it is always a unique and moving experience for me.
I can't go into details, but that chapel service was incredibly moving. I cried. I think everyone cried. Those kids, those teenagers - were so honest and so moved by what they had experienced that it could not fail to move us, the parents. I mentioned in the earlier post that Dana Whitelaw was there, and she spoke about her experience that weekend, and again we all cried. Clay has become a part of a community of kids who know him and accept him and love him and support him. Always.
God was there. And it was all just powerful, and emotional, and beautiful.
And that's all I can say about that!
