It’s 2nd Saturday time. Shop Douglas. Shop local.

Source

The Workroom is hosting their Anniversary Artisan Market this Saturday the 9th. “Best local shopping #madeinICT with over 50 local art vendors, a killer live music lineup and a dozen food trucks to boot!”

At Botanica’s Tulips, Fairies & Forts this Saturday, Tanganyika Wildlife Park will have animals to see from 10 to 2. Plus, Poppy the Clown will make an appearance from 11 to 1.

Do you belong to the YMCA? If you refer a friend to join in the month of April, your friend’s fee will be waived and you will get a free month of membership. Everyone gets healthy and saves.

It’s getting to be Drive-In Theater weather. If you share this post on Facebook, you can win free carload passes from Starlite Drive-In. And carloads are only $13 on Fridays and Saturdays.

We missed the sign up for WDDC and the City of Wichita Parks & Rec annual Downtown Clean Up. But I’m still mentioning it because it’s awesome.

Ann Packer will be at Watermark next Wednesday the 13th at 6 pm in conversation with Whitney Terrell. The event is in celebration of the paperback release of Packer’s book The Children’s Crusade.

This Saturday the 9th, City Arts is hosting a Professional Development Workshop: Copyright & Intellectual Property for the artist from 1 to 3.

Library:

The Young Artists Receptions will be starting up tonight. Partnering with local early childhood programs, the library is displaying the creative work of sweet young artists. “Enjoy a special art-themed storytime, mingle with the artists and enjoy refreshments…for all young children and their families.”

Family Fun: No Bake Cooking will be at Central this Saturday from 2:30-3:30.

Learn how to buy & sell items online at Westlink’s workshop on Tuesday the 12th at 6 pm. Register here.

Get Cozy by the Campfire at Alford on Tuesday from 6-6:45 pm.

via creativeroots.org

Next week’s Senior Wednesday at Central will be Welcome to Lindsborg. Hear more about this city and its artists and festivals.

Register here for Central’s Social Media Demo. Learn about Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest from 3:30-5:00 pm.

And don’t forget to join the Westlink crew for their adult coloring social each month from 6:30-7:30 pm.

Have a great weekend!

Crab apple

A boy in a tree

Star Wars

Cousin time

Pictures

Babies everywhere

Eat at Joe’s

Feed the fish

Nice weather and neighbor friends

Spring glory

Your 7 Days?

What do you think about when you hear the phrase “War on Drugs”?

No matter your answer, would you take 4 minutes and read this article?

I don’t know what the answers are.

But I do know it is worth our time to consider the facts. To think through the billions of dollars spent. To have some conversations – particularly with those most impacted. And to separate the truth that none of us want those we love addicted to drugs from the best way to prevent that from happening.

What do you think?

Then I received another message from the Lord:

“Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah will bring gifts of silver and gold from the Jews exiled in Babylon. As soon as they arrive, meet them at the home of Josiah son of Zephaniah.  Accept their gifts, and make a crown from the silver and gold. Then put the crown on the head of Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest.

Tell him,

‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Here is the man called the Branch. He will branch out from where he is and build the Temple of the Lord. Yes, he will build the Temple of the Lord. Then he will receive royal honor and will rule as king from his throne. He will also serve as priest from his throne, and there will be perfect harmony between his two roles.’

“The crown will be a memorial in the Temple of the Lord to honor those who gave it—Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Josiah son of Zephaniah.”

People will come from distant lands to rebuild the Temple of the Lord. And when this happens, you will know that my messages have been from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. All this will happen if you carefully obey what the Lord your God says.

Zechariah 6: 9-15 NLT

Here is our Jeshua again. Remember, he along with the rest of the exiles had honorable work to do. But the office he held pointed forward to the coming Branch. The One Who would truly rebuild Temple. Who would welcome others from distant lands. Who alone fulfills the offices of High Priest and King of Kings.

I’m once again reminded of how seemingly backwards this King ushered in His Kingdom. To arrive so small and obscure. To live a faithful, ordinary life for thirty years. To invest most of His ministry in a small group of misfits. Then to humiliatingly die for my shame. The only crown He wore twisted out of painful mockery.

But this upside down Kingdom changed the world.

And His are the only feet I want to fall at.

Catch Philip Donlay at Watermark on Tuesday the 5th for a book signing of Pegasus Down.

Chickens have arrived at Johnson’s Gardens. Might it be time for you to take that leap?

Get your tickets here for the Wichita Chamber Chorale’s presentation of Rachmaninov’s legendary All Night Vigil (the Vespers). “Experience the sound and spirit of the greatest masterpiece of Russian Orthodox church music.”

Tickets are available now for the Great Plains Nature Center’s Passport to Nature. Your ticket helps support this wonderful organization and includes musical entertainment, local cuisine, and an auction.

Come to Lucinda’s in Old Town this Saturday to help celebrate 15 years of business. Enjoy treats, free gift with purchase (for first 20), and chance to win a gift card.

Have you heard of Bike Walk Wichita’s Bike Beautiful? Held in Murdock Theatre, you can preview bike-friendly fashions and learn about upcoming events. Proceeds benefit local bicycle and pedestrian efforts. Great way to love Wichita.

The Sedgwick County Extention Office’s Tree Festival is this Saturday April 2nd. Enjoy seminars, demonstrations, and an arboretum tour.

Do you have a Botanica pass? Their annual Tulips, Fairies & Forts has started back up. The next three Saturdays include Fairy Story Times, a bounce house, and 60,000 tulips. Plus don’t miss their Fairy House Competition: build your own house for a chance to win a Botanica membership.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Spice Merchant. Always yes.

Boys + see saw = danger

Full bloom

Easter snow

Hosting

Athletes

Plugging up fence holes with snow, of course

I love my family

Your 7 Days?

Have you ever heard of Black Wall Street from the early 1900’s in Tulsa, OK? It was an incredibly affluent all-black community, thanks to Jim Crow laws, which was massacred in 1921.

“The dollar circulated 36 to 100 times, sometimes taking a year for currency to leave the community. Now a dollar leaves the Black community in 15 minutes. As for resources, there were Ph.D.s residing in Little Africa, Black attorneys and doctors. One doctor was Dr. Berry, who owned the bus system. His average income was $500 a day, hefty pocket change in 1910.

These are Black-built, Black-owned buildings that were occupied by bustling Black businesses before envious whites rioted and destroyed them.

It was a time when the entire state of Oklahoma had only two airports, yet six Blacks owned their own planes. It was a very fascinating community…

The community flourished from the early 1900s until June 1, 1921. That’s when the largest massacre of nonmilitary Americans in the history of this country took place, and it was led by the Ku Klux Klan. Imagine walking out of your front door and seeing 1,500 homes being burned. It must have been amazing.

Survivors we interviewed think that the whole thing was planned, because during the time that all of this was going on, White families with their children stood around the borders of their community and watched the massacre – the looting and everything – much in the same manner they would watch a lynching. The riots weren’t caused by anything Black or White. They were caused by jealousy.”

An estimated 1,500 – 3,000 lives were lost, thrown in unmarked graves.

If you’ve never heard of it, you should read about it.

I don’t have any sort of application for this.

I just think it should be known.

I looked up again, and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze.  The first chariot had red horses, the second black,  the third white, and the fourth dappled—all of them powerful. I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these, my lord?”

The angel answered me, “These are the four spirits of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world. The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.”

When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth. And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth.

Then he called to me, “Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit rest in the land of the north.”

Zechariah 6:1-8 NIV

The eighth and final vision for our tired prophet. Since his name means “the LORD remembers,” let’s take a brief look back at the visions.

In the first vision, God tells Zechariah through an angel how He will comfort His people. In the second we learned God would lift up the heads of our exiles again. In the third, God shows His protective, fatherly love in describing His people as the apple of His eye and Himself as a wall of fire all around them.

Zechariah’s fourth vision showed the high priest, Jeshua, being accused by Satan in filthy clothes. And in the fifth, olive trees giving oil to a lampstand proved to our prophet the work would be accomplished only by the Spirit of the God of Angel Armies.

The sixth vision is of a scroll flying over the land, representing how God’s people had disobeyed His law. And the seventh featured Wickedness as a woman in a basket, banished to Babylon, away from God’s holy city.

Today’s vision is much like the first in that horses are sent throughout the earth. God would judge the enemies of His people, particularly Babylon (the land of the north), appeasing His wrath and giving His Spirit “rest”.

How poignant I am writing this on Good Friday.

The Day Jesus defeated the enemy once and for all.

The Day He willingly bore the wrath of God so we don’t have to.

The Day God’s perfect love and perfect justice collided on a cross.

I know one Rider of a white horse Who will be coming again.

Because of what happened on the third day, He truly is KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

And I just love His head will have many crowns.

It is Final Friday time. See list of participating venues here. Support our incredible local artists and businesses.

Next WSU Jazz Series artist at Reverie is the Michael Potts Quartet. Enjoy Wednesday evenings, 6-8 pm.

I don’t feel like I’ve given the Pop Up Urban Park sufficient love on these posts. It is so charming.

You can enjoy delicious food trucks every weekday from 11-1:30. Follow @DowntownWichita on Twitter to see their nights and weekend schedule too.

This Saturday is the Sedgwick County Zoo’s Easter Extravaganza. Candy stations, a scavenger hunt, and animal encounters. Oh my.

Get your groove on at Shake, Shake, Shake – Family Disco Party at the Wichita Art Museum this Saturday from 11-4. Get your look ready during the first hours, music starts at 2:00.

You’re not going to want to miss Daniel Tiger Storytime next Tuesday at Watermark from 10:30 -11:00. One family will even go away with tickets to the upcoming Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Live event.

Come to Naturalists in the Know at the Great Plains Nature Center every Saturday afternoon from 1-3, come and go. Each week is a different interactive experience. This Saturday is about Why Bees are Important.

Library:

Register here to learn more about how to market your small business at Central on Saturday the 26th from 1:00-2:30.

Learn all about cheese Geronimo Stilton-style this Saturday at Evergreen from 2:30-3:30.

Interested in writing your life story? Register here for Saturday’s Memoir Writing Workshop at Westlink from 2:30-4:30.

Enjoy an interactive Garden storytime at Linwood Monday at 6 pm.

And any time from 11-5 on Tuesday March 29th, come to Comotara branch to make an egg carton turtle.

The Library will be closed this Easter Sunday, March 27th.

Enjoy this Easter weekend. Have an egg hunt and take a picture with a bunny, celebrating new life. Read the eye witness accounts of the resurrection. Attend a worship service, even if it’s not your thing, and contemplate why the world still talks about what happened 2,000 years ago.

And definitely, definitely, eat Starburst jelly beans.

Camping with friends

Slingshots are awesome

The umbrella had seen better days

Dan said this was the guy version of the “Beach Toes” picture

Sunset

Sunrise

Spring glory

Your 7 Days?