Over the past week the kids have had various illnesses. First, Lindson had a GI illness and now Sierra has the hand-foot-and-mouth virus but is improving quite quickly. During the thick of the illnesses, I would do pretty much whatever the kids wanted to stop them from crying or distract them from how poorly they were feeling. For Lindson that usually means setting up a make-shift bed in the kitchen and watching endless movies (fine by me). For Sierra who can’t tell me what she wants at this stage it was more difficult. She spent the first days of the illness crying, crying, crying…that was even with the ibuprofen or Tylenol. Needless to say, she was attached to me even more than normal. On a last resort (and now in hindsight what should have been my first move), I decided to take Sierra outside to see if that might help. And I kid you not, as soon as we stepped outside she stopped crying and started smiling. It was so dramatic of a change that I noticed it and decided to try it again the next time she was crying. Like magic, she spent all of her time outside these past few beautiful days happy as could be despite feeling miserable. She would play in the grass, explore the yard, look up at the trees and smile, and of course take a taste of the landscape. With the wind blowing through her hair and the sun shining on her beautiful face, she was at peace. She was in God’s creation, where she was meant to be and that was all the comfort she needed. I have always known that God’s creation has healing power, but never before had I witnessed it first hand like that. It was amazing and so delightful.
Over the years, I have come across people (Christians and non-Christians alike) who have spoke to me about God’s creation in a way that I won’t soon forget. One person in particular was a physician I was working with this past fall. She was a great family practitioner and loved by so many of her patients. She spent the beginning of her career in Alaska working with the Indian Health Service and spent the first few years of her children’s lives there as well. She then moved to Madison with her husband (also a physician) and kids to provide her children with more educational opportunities. She had great stories to tell about the people and the landscape of Alaska and yearned to go back there someday. She is a nature lover and used her love of nature and God’s creation to counsel her patients in her practice. This was something that I had never seen done before and I thought it was brilliant. She would tell them to get out in nature as part of their healing, as part of their fitness and taking care of their bodies, and as a very important part of the mental and emotional health. She would “prescribe” getting out in God’s creation! And she would write it down for them! She would tell certain people who needed to increase their exercise regimen to take walks daily in nature and would stress to them how important it was to do this without distraction. That means no iPod…no nothing. Just you and the sights and sounds of God’s creation. Who knows what her patients thought. All I know is that it was an amazing way of looking at the total body health of an individual and that is the kind of prescription I would want to receive!
Another couple who have made an impact on Adam and me is the people we are renting from currently, Ron and Eda. They are currently being nomads and traveling around the West Coast and to Hawaii for the next year or more visiting family and friends. We are renting their house and taking care of the farm for them. When we first met them, we knew right away that we connected to them on a deeper level. We all have a love of the countryside, of being outside, and of the tranquility that comes with surrounding yourself with the beauty of nature. They have been a great example for us on how to live in harmony with nature. They essentially live off the land as much as they can and let the land live around them. Adam and I have talked about living this way for a long time and now have the glorious opportunity to do that in an unbelievable landscape of trees, gardens, streams, and fields! It is so amazing to be out in creation again and away from the city. Don’t get me wrong, we felt very blessed to have the wonderful homes/apartments that we did have in Madison. But we are not city people. We both grew up in the country and that is where we feel at home. We were yearning for so long to get back to God’s creation in a more real way. And guess what!?!? We got placed in Madison for residency, saw the ad on craigslist for this farm for rent, met Ron and Eda and immediately loved them and their outlook on life, and are now living in God’s creation and feeling at home. It is amazing God’s plans for our lives…He knows exactly where we are supposed to be. And for us, that is right here, right now in this beautiful setting where the songs of the birds and the rising of the sun wake us up every morning, where the kids and I spend the day exploring the world God has created for us, and where we come home from a long day and say “ahhh”.
Awesome.
All of these experiences have really been speaking to me lately. I don’t know what direction my life and career will take but I hope to be able to show people the beauty of God’s creation and it’s healing powers in some way. I hope to be able to spend much of my time in God’s creation, in community with friends, family and strangers, using all of my senses to enjoy the wonders He has created. I hope to be able to teach my children and the children of others about the beauty around us and the importance of trying to preserve it. That is what we have been charged to do…to take care of that which has been given to us. And I hope to live more simply in this crazy world we live in. Because all I need is Him and what He has created for me.
Here are some pictures of the farm we are renting:
Here is one of the three gardens...the vegetables are just starting to sprout!
The barn. Lindson's favorite place to play (besides the garage)...
A small view of the fields and the woodpile that Adam has been working at...
