Sweet one

Tough

Aiming for puddles

Seeing The Butcher’s Son. Wonderful storytelling.

Gramma’s backyard is hours of entertainment

And beauty

A ride through the zoo

Glory

 

Your 7 Days? (Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend.)

You know Riverfest is in 8 days, yes? Check out all the details on their site.

Final Friday is tomorrow. You can get event details (and a map) here

Did you know there are opportunities to ride the City Bus during Ozone Alert days? “When weather and environmental conditions indicate Ozone levels could be high, an Ozone Alert will be issued.” On these days we can all take steps to lower the levels, including walking or riding the bus. For an email sent directly to you for these days, visit wichita.gov/ozone.

The Kid Power Cafe will be available again this summer for free meals for kids. Visit usd259summerfood.org for information on locations and times.

Curious about different week-long or one-day camps for your kiddos? Go to wichita.gov/parkandrec to find some great ideas.

Botanica will be hoppin this summer. All summer long, from 10-2 in the Downing Children’s Garden, exciting and educational activities will be available. Like their Facebook page to stay up to date.

Wichita Public Swimming Pools open this Monday, May 30th.

This Saturday the 28th from 6-8 pm, come to Naftzger Park for an End of School Bash. Rec games, board games, crafts and more will be available…along with food trucks.

The YMCA Waterparks will be opening on Monday May 30th as well. Enjoy lazy rivers, slides, climbing walls, and the wave pool. Free with membership.

Fun Fit has started at the YMCA. Enjoy your workout while kids ages 6-12 get active with games designed to improve strength, endurance, and flexibility. See your nearby branch for details.

Wichita Art Museum is hosting their third annual Bike Blitz. Hop on your bike and ride to WAM to decorate bicycles & enjoy giveaways and activities.

 

And for Senior Wednesday next week, check out their Art Movie: Herb & Dorothy, the story of unlikely art collectors. Doors open at 10:00 am for coffee and treats, with show starting at 10:30.

Don’t miss the Johnson’s Garden Centers‘ Memorial Day Sale. Among other deals, you can enjoy 30% off all trees and annuals.

Elderslie Farms‘ Bramble Cafe Opening has been pushed back to June 9th due to the torrential rains. Enjoy the fresh goodness then.

The Palace Theatre Summer Kids Series starts up next Wednesday with the movie Flushed Away. Enjoy fun, family-friendly films in the cool air.

 

Library:

Summer Reading Program is a go. Everything, including sign up, is online this year. For every 10 days you read for at least 20 minutes, you’re eligible for a prize.

And for the skinny on all the great events going on, visit wichitalibrary.org and click the Events Tab.

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Field Day

Dribble pro

Beauty

New fav

Kung Fu Panda awaits

Baseball begins

Tragedy

Glory

 

Your 7 Days?

What are you looking forward to about this summer?

 

As per usual, we have made a list of stuff our family wants to get our hands into. Thought I’d share a few:

 

House projects

 

Crafting

Hosting

 

Local Love

YouTube videos

Date Nights

Morning walks

Photography

Grilling

Yard Sale-ing

 

Gardening

Reading

Extended Family Love

More essential oils

 

Pinterest recipes

Library

A couple of Wichita Parks & Rec One-Day Camps

Time with Grandparents

VBS at friends’ churches and Kids Kamp at our church

 

What kind of stuff are you planning?

Well, friends, we are due for a recap.

 

Between chapters 8 & 9 in Zechariah, a very important event happens for our exiles: the Temple is completed.

“So the Jewish elders continued their work, and they were greatly encouraged by the preaching of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo. The Temple was finally finished, as had been commanded by the God of Israel and decreed by Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, the kings of Persia. The Temple was completed on March 12, during the sixth year of King Darius’s reign.”

 

Ezra 6:14-15 NLT

Can you believe it? So much work and time away from their families, along with so many challenges and rebukes and encouragements from Haggai and Zechariah. And here they are. Almost exactly 70 years after its devastation, the Temple is complete.

 

Up next: a party.

“The Temple of God was then dedicated with great joy by the people of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the people who had returned from exile. During the dedication ceremony for the Temple of God, 100 young bulls, 200 rams, and 400 male lambs were sacrificed. And 12 male goats were presented as a sin offering for the twelve tribes of Israel. Then the priests and Levites were divided into their various divisions to serve at the Temple of God in Jerusalem, as prescribed in the Book of Moses.”

 

Ezra 6:16-18 NLT

 

I just love how far we traveled with our exiles during this school year. For my personal sanity – and the health of my family – I took the summer off last year from Bible study in this space. What resulted was a whetted appetite to dig deeper come August. That is my plan again this year. Today is our boys’ last day of school and we have several big adjustments coming in our immediate and extended family’s life.

 

Breaks are good.

But don’t you just adore our exiles completed the Temple? And how celebration follows? Whether your summer season revolves around a school calendar or not, let’s all celebrate what God has done the past year. If we are seeking Him and His Word and community with His people with humble hearts, growth and change are inevitable.

And He’s the ultimate party.

 

Have a wonderful summer with your people!

Friday the 20th is another Night at the Fountains from 5 – 8 pm. Enjoy different food trucks and a walk along the river. Then Sunday come for more goodness with Food Trucks at the Fountain from 11:30-2:30. Yoga and live music round out the experience.

If you or someone you know needs some guidance in joining Medicare, register here for Sedgwick County Extension Office’s seminar Medicare Options.

 

Catch Alex Grecian at Watermark on Monday the 23rd at 6 pm for a reading and signing of his book Lost and Gone Forever.

 

Then on May 25 at the WSU Metroplex, don’t miss Watermark & Gear Up’s hosting of Wil Haygood for a reading of Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America. Haygood is the author of the bestseller The Butler, and in this biography he details the events surrounding Marshall as the first African American Supreme Court Justice.

Did you know May was National Bike Month? In honor of this, enjoy the Wichtia Art Museum’s Bike to Work Breakfast Stop tomorrow Friday the 20th from 6 – 9 am. All bikers can stop by the gardens and help themselves to breakfast treats.

Also this morning at WAM, enjoy The Gift of Art for any with early to mid-stage memory loss and their care providers. This free event will be led by the curator of education to encourage personal expression and reflection at a nice slow pace.

Mark your calendars for the 5th Annual Restoration Ride & Car Show on Saturday June 4th benefiting the important mission of Carpenter Place. Festivities include a cookout, car show, motorcycle ride and prize opportunities.

 

This Friday and Saturday is Opera on the Lake at Bradley Fair. Wichita Grand Opera will perform Pirates of Penzance. For reserved ticket seating call 316.683.3444. The event will feature free community seating along Bradley Fair Lake. Bring your lawn chairs and enjoy music under the evening sky.

What are Monday nights like for you? Mead’s Corner hosts Celtic Jam nearly every Monday, beginning at 7 pm.

 

Catch Natural Grocer’s public talk “Can Your Food Choices Save the Planet?” this Saturday the 21st from 2:00-3:30.

And mark your calendars, The Bramble Cafe at Elderslie Farm will be opening a week from Saturday, May 28th. This Farm to Table Cafe will be open Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through August 6th. Enjoy fresh meals in an idyllic setting.

 

Library:

You can join the waiting list here to learn to use Overdrive, the Library’s free digital e-book service at Westlink on Tuesday the 24th.

And don’t miss our Hook & Needle Friends event, held every Wednesday at Alford. Come from 10-noon to help those new to the needle or learn from others.

 

Have a great weekend!

From the yard

See the empty backseat? That’s a date. (Our sweet friends got married.)

Using up our about-to-expire passes. Lots of skating lately. (And youngest got brave.)

Triumphant

Glory

 

Your 7 Days?

Toady I’m linking up with Modern Mrs Darcy’s Quick Lit, sharing my latest reads.

Girl Meets God by Lauren F. Winner. I enjoy memoirs and this one is delightfully narrated, honest, and informative without being stuffy. Lauren grew up with a “lapsed Southern Baptist mother and Orthodox Jewish father.” She embraced Orthodox Judaism in high school and through college, but Jesus wouldn’t leave her alone. She was baptized in England and the story of her learning to marry her Jewish heritage and new Christian faith is brilliant. Not finished yet, but highly recommend.

For the Love by Jen Hatmaker. I am late to this party, but my word, I’m loving this book. Jen has a way of talking about marriage and kids and Jesus that makes me feel normal. Like we can have a dance party to The Dab and argue and have strong opinions and then pray and study and write about Biblical truths. Her Dear Kids chapter made me sob, the Church section stepped on my toes, and all of it made me laugh and feel normal. Highly recommend.

 

What are you reading lately?

“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:

 

People from nations and cities around the world will travel to Jerusalem. The people of one city will say to the people of another, ‘Come with us to Jerusalem to ask the Lord to bless us. Let’s worship the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. I’m determined to go.’

Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord of Heaven’s Armies and to ask for his blessing.

 

“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:

 

In those days ten men from different nations and languages of the world will clutch at the sleeve of one Jew. And they will say, ‘Please let us walk with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”

 

Zechariah 8:20-23

So beautiful. Is this not what we all want? Church, would we not love for those of every nation to grab hold of our sleeves and beg to walk in The Way? For them to see the Beauty and Worth of our King among us and be determined to seek Him?

These verses are the result of the previous two chapters. The product of just living and loving kindness is His fame.

 

We cannot do this on our own grit. Not by force, nor by strength, but by His Spirit. We abide in Him. We share honest community with one another. And we allow Him to transform us.

And others will hear Yahweh is with us.

2nd Saturday time. Fill your bag and save.

City Arts is hosting an Adult & Me Workshop on Saturday the 14th from 10-noon. Each child and an adult can make a red robin paper collage while spending quality time together.

Want to do Yoga on the Lawn this Saturday in the gardens of the Wichita Art Museum? I thought so. Begins at 9:00, free, and no registration required.

Did you know May is Celiac Awareness Month? Green Acres at Bradley Fair is holding a Gluten-Free Festival this Saturday the 14th from 11-3. Try new gluten-free products and enjoy discounts storewide.

Library:

Yesss. The Summer Reading Program will be starting up in two weeks, May 25th. They got sneaky this year and are helping us get in the daily reading habit. The more days you read, the more prizes you can win.

Register here for this afternoon’s seminar on how to use Overdrive, the Library’s free digital e-book service. It is from 1-2:30 at Rockwell.

Join the waiting list here to learn more about Android Tablets and Smart phones on Monday the 16th from 6-7:30 at Central.

Register here for the Microsoft Publisher workshop at Evergreen Branch next Wednesday from 6-7:30 pm. Learn how to make brochures, newsletters, greeting cards and more.

 

Have a great weekend!