2500 Miles, 2500 Pictures

Here's just one picture. We had a great trip to Sea Isle City, New Jersey. Both boys loved the beach. What a blessing.

The Ks at the K

It was our first ballgame at the K since Isaac was 2 weeks old (we saw a game in St. Louis last year). The Cards romped the Royals, btw.

The Lord's "august design" in Natural Revelation

Below is an excerpt from William Cowper's poem, Hope. Cowper has been called the "apostle of nature" for reasons such as the below.

I can print the entire poem as a little booklet upon request. I think reading it is worth the effort required. As an example of the effort required, I had to do some research to find out who Cowper referred to as Leuconomus ("beneath well-sounding Greek I slur a name a poet must not speak"). Can anyone decipher the saint who Cowper is referring to???


The just Creator condescends to write,
In beams of inextinguishable light,
His names of wisdom, goodness, power, and love,
On all that blooms below, or shines above;
To catch the wandering notice of mankind,
And teach the world, if not perversely blind,
His gracious attributes, and prove the share
His offspring hold in his paternal care.
If, led from earthly things to things divine,
His creature thwart not his august design,
Then praise is heard instead of reasoning pride,
And captious cavil and complaint subside.
Nature, employ’d in her allotted place,
Is handmaid to the purposes of grace;
By good vouchsafed makes known superior good,
And bliss not seen by blessings understood:
That bliss, reveal’d in Scripture, with a glow
Bright as the covenant-insuring bow,
Fires all his feelings with a noble scorn
Of sensual evil, and thus Hope is born.

Hope sets the stamp of vanity on all
That men have deem’d substantial since the fall,
Yet has the wondrous virtue to educe
From emptiness itself a real use;
And while she takes, as at a father’s hand,
What health and sober appetite demand,
From fading good derives, with chemic art,
That lasting happiness, a thankful heart.
Hope, with uplifted foot, set free from earth,
Pants for the place of her ethereal birth,
On steady wings sails through the immense abyss,
Plucks amaranthine joys from bowers of bliss,
And crowns the soul, while yet a mourner here,
With wreaths like those triumphant spirits wear.
Hope, as an anchor, firm and sure, holds fast
The Christian vessel, and defies the blast.
Hope! nothing else can nourish and secure
His new-born virtues, and preserve him pure.
Hope! let the wretch, once conscious of the joy,
Whom now despairing agonies destroy,
Speak, for he can, and none so well as he,
What treasures centre, what delights, in thee.
Had he the gems, the spices, and the land,
That boasts the treasure, all at his command;
The fragrant grove, the inestimable mine,
Were light, when weigh’d against one smile of thine.

St. Louis Trip

Here's a link to a slideshow of pictures from our St. Louis trip, most of which are of the spectacular Missouri Botanical Garden. If you are ever in St. Louis, do yourself a favor and stop by. It turns 150 years old this year making it the oldest such garden in the country and is home to a 14 acre Japanese garden which is the largest Japanese strolling garden in the Western Hemisphere. We couldn't have been there at a better time; it was on fire with spring color. As the saying goes, the pictures don't do it justice. As I think back, I am kicking myself for the pictures we didn't take. I think there is a bit of sensory overload that begins to kick in. Not only do they have the beautiful Japanese Maples, flowering trees and shrubs and flowers, they also have the biggest Pin Oaks I have ever seen. There was a Pumpkin Ash so big you could fit your hand in the fissures of the bark. I am already looking forward to our return, maybe in the fall!

We also visited the Arch and the zoo (which is only 3 miles from the garden). At the zoo it turned cooler and sprinkled on us most of the time so we didn't get as many pictures. We had a good time and are thankful to Po for the trip!

Soccer

Last night was the first night of soccer practice. The boy was pretty excited. There were probably 60 kids in his group (they broke them down to about 6 kids per coach for 10 "teams"). We have been playing in the back yard where we try to take the ball away from him (he also adds some of his own strange rules). Leading up to the practice he kept saying that he wasn't going to let any of the kids take his ball away. When we first got there I think he was a bit overwhelmed. We got his shirt and walked down to the fields and we said go get 'em. He said, "I am not playing with all of those kids." It didn't take him long to get out there though. He threw his ball out into the field, where everybody was kicking around with the coaches and parents, and chased after it. He likes to drop back about 30 yards and then and kick the ball (he's pretty tired by the time he actually gets to the ball). He's in the same group as cousin Tyler. He listened well and stayed pretty focused. We had to strong arm Isaac to keep him off the field.

Narnia at Union Station

http://narnia.unionstation.org/

Good Morning

From Crops