Summer distractions

I've got a post editor full of drafts and a yard full of sun. It's the sun that's been winning out most days lately.

A long wet spring has finally given way to a warm summer. We've been spending long afternoons playing in the yard. The train tracks have migrated outside along with the buckets, chalk, and toy cars. The sun has been warming us up and the sprinkler has been cooling us down.

Our littlest walker has adjusted to the boundaries of our unfenced front yard, reigning in his new-found freedom enough for me to sit a while and read a book from our sun-warmed concrete stairs. It's not much, our patch of green, but we've come to love it. The baby (he's not really a baby anymore, is he?) calls out his irresistible greeting - "hi!" - to everyone who walks by. The boys watch, mouths agape, as the man across the street uses his chainsaw to clear away the encroaching brush. I wave hello to the teenage girl as she walks her massive German Shepherd up our steep hill. The neighbours' boy cranes his neck to stare at the kids as his parents carry him inside. Our elderly landlords stop to chat a while before disappearing into their suite.

This unfenced front yard has become our gateway to community, and we are loving it.

Forgive the quiet around here. The words aren't flowing so easily and my time is in short supply. Blame the sunshine and our neighbours.

Forgive, too, my neglect in sharing June's installment of the Attachment Parenting series. It has proven to be my other big hurdle right now. "Attachment Parenting: A Christian perspective" - few subjects are nearer to my heart. So much to say in so little space, this topic could easily be a series in itself. How to dig into the many facets of Attachment Parenting and Christianity? How to expose the lies that have worked their way into much of the Christian community? How to replace them with the Truth that comes from a holistic understanding of God and Scripture? But the words are coming, slowly yet surely, and I hope to share it with you soon.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying the sun with my boys. I'm preparing for visits from both sets of parents. I'm breathing deep this fragrant air and reading soul-refreshing books. I'm serving food on the grass with a side of immune-building dirt from grubby fists. I'm taking far too many pictures of happy boys and sand and falling water and yellow dump trucks.

It is very good.

What are you up to this summer?