Arrangements

I was trying to think of how to capture the various elements of the last week and I hit upon "arrangements"--- Mary and Rachel (in copying her sister) have this thing where they like to make arrangements... often they are "gifts" for people... they usually are made up of wooden blocks, puzzles, a random assortment of things in a ziploc bag, a drawing one of those sketchy boards, etc.  And sometimes these "surprises" have to be stowed away until someone's birthday; and there can be drama if the surprise is put away, or not noticed by the right person at the right time, etc.   Basically, there is joy in making the surprise, but there is also high expectation about the reception of the arrangement as well.

So, I appreciate this game of theirs.  And I also thought, my life is sort of full of "arranging" people's lives--- especially little people, but also socially, with work (Mark's students), with people far away (summer schedules), etc.  And I laughed when I read one time about "infp" (myers-briggs) as mothers, it said something like, "will spend a lot of energy arranging spaces and quality of time for their children".... Now, will they actually be patient and mellow enough to enjoy that quality of time, i don't know.  But the arranging of it is highly gratifying.

Here is a bit of a photo documentary of some things, i've arranged:


Here is our yard... Robbie and Precious are at the far table (mom, we melted an old jerry can to fix the hole in that table!).  They are playing with a wooden house that our gardener/friend had helped us make--modeled after the one that my grandfather had made me.  Oh, i remember the Christmas that Grandpa Claude brought me that doll house... Nana had helped with furniture, and little pictures in pictures frames, my cousin Anna had made little rugs, etc, etc.  It was awesome (I hope it is still on our storage somewhere).  Anyway, Mary Jane had some furnishings from her childhood so she's contributed that to this house and it translates to hours of play.
In the foreground is Mary and Carol drawing and painting.  Again, I've tried to make arty things very available so kids are always free to paint or create, etc.  In the distance, you can see a sand box and a little high house---my dad will attest to the years of my complaining about not having a tree house, a space of my own at our house.  So, I can make it come true this time around. It definitely also translates into hours of play.

Arranging Thanksgiving:  So, this is thanksgiving in our yard... these are USP students, I think Mark is trying to run out of the picture!  We also adopted the expatriate families when Thanksgiving got to be too much at my mom's house--- Mom, we officially decided that it was just too much to do 40 USP and 25+ Expatriate of various ages!  USP students are use to us bossing them around and telling them what the drill will be and it is hard to add a whole different social/interpersonal dynamic with our families and friends also attending, etc.  So, I think we all felt it was a bit simpler and of course, due to the months of Ugandan food and way of life, students are always very grateful for whatever manifestation appears before them.  And students have the job of making desserts, which is a win-win for all of us also.  

This year, a students had made a bean bag toss game (has a name with corn it?), and that was a nice addition to the thanksgiving tradition... they also had played a football game down on campus.  Rumor has it that our daniel caught a game-tying touchdown pass.  

Gathered here is a collection of our kids and alumni children--- they were at the "kids" table on the porch and it definitely brought back some memories of hosting kids in our house growing up.  My mom  would host some bigger parties related to the seminary where my dad worked, and I remember those evenings of many kids around and trying not to be my introverted self. :)

Because the week had been a bit full, i told the girls we would do an outing. So, on "Black Friday" we went ten minutes down (a very muddy road because it had rained for two days here--stopped just enough for the thanksgiving festivities).  There is a place that recycles glass and makes various vases, cups, goblets, etc.  And while those items were pretty, I was more struck by the sort of mix pretty arty mosaics somewhat haphazardly displayed around the cinderblock walled compound.  One of those sort of grace in ashes pictures.... I think I'm coming to a season where I, like Mary, need to also be making with my hands some arrangements--as an outlet and means of processing some of the layers of my life that can get to be beyond verbal explanations.  I don't know what this means and I'm working up to that by being more intentional in observing, exploring other artist's works first.