The Adventures of Three Hobbits

Monday, June 14 was Collin's and my second wedding anniversary! We are praising God for two wonderful years of love, struggle, and bearing one another's burdens. On our first anniversary I drove Collin to the airport at 4 a.m. to catch a flight to Seattle for a week-long trip without me, which was a major bummer (although we did go on a special date a couple days before to celebrate.)


This year what we really wanted to do was to go on a date to Le Petit, a French restaurant downtown that we've been hoping to go to since we moved into the neighborhood. Since our anniversary fell on a Monday, the day when most restaurants are closed after a busy weekend, we opted for a family picnic to Cascades Park. Cascades is another place very special to us. It's where Collin officially asked me if I wanted to be his girlfriend, and where we have had many romantic, firefly-lit walks together.


We had a delicious dinner - White bean tuna salad, Fresh asparagus and roasted garlic salad, two flavors of homemade crusty bread, and the three types of Wisconsin cheese we bought last week (which were all excellent!) Unfortunately, as you will see later, all that cooking and the prerequisite grocery shopping in the morning took quite a long time. We didn't start our picnic until after 7:00, which turned out to be a little too late.


For dessert I baked a lemon-lavender cake, the same delicious recipe that Cindy Sparks made for our wedding. It has become one of our favorite cakes, and the perfect one to celebrate our anniversary. When I made it this time, instead of frosting it, I poured on a glaze made with finely chopped lemon verbena leaves. It was delicious! The daisies and lavender are from our garden, and made a nice topper even if this cake isn't nearly as beautiful as the yellow one Cindy made for our wedding.


We'd barely had time to eat our dinner and fully savor the cheese (Annie loved the 6-year aged cheddar) when dark clouds started rolling in. Then, sirens started wailing. We spent a few minutes trying to decide if they were severe weather sirens or the evening call to "OM" from the next door Tibetan monastery. Finally, I got too worried that the cake would be drenched by rain before we got to try it, so we packed up the picnic. Collin took the first armload to the car, got a better look at the clouds (they were green) and ran back to me shouting "Take Annie to the car and run!" As we ran to the car, Collin pointed at all the thousands of fireflies which were blinking like crazy in the quickly darkening sky.


That was the fastest storm we've ever had sneak up on us. Before we got in the car a torrential downpour was upon us. Collin wanted to get out of the wooded valley before either downed trees or a flash flood could leave us stranded. A few minutes later, we were home safely, and in a few more minutes, the storm had lessened considerably. We heard that a tornado had touched ground in nearby Spencer, and we were very thankful for God's protection. Even the cake came out dry (and very delicious!). Our only casualties were the strap of our picnic basket, which tore in a hurriedly slammed car door, and a broken spoke on Collin's nice umbrella.


There was also a really neat yellow light caused by the setting sun through the break in the storm clouds. It bathed our neighborhood in a warm glow.


Kirkwood Avenue, quiet and empty in the wake of the thunderstorms.


One of my favorite sights in our neighborhood is looking out across the street at the cemetery and seeing three crosses on the hill. It reminds me that God will always see His name glorified, even in a town which actively resists and hates Him. It reminds me that, in death, the only thing which matters is the cross of Christ. And on a night like Monday, it reminds me that every breath we take is ordained and given by God. He kept us safe in the storms. Praise be to God.