Pope Pages

This weekend went by way too fast, but that's just because it was another busy one. Friday evening we visited the Spring Creek Prairie, which is just west of our place. The were having an open house for their newly completed nature center. Dennis was especially interested because this building was constructed entirely from straw bales. The window and door frames were from trees cleared from the prairie. The insulation was ground up blue jeans. It was pretty amazing to see how such a beautiful building could be made out of things that are usually just discarded. We then took advantage of the beautiful evening and went for a hike through the prairie and around the wetland. Another beautiful Nebraska sunset.

On Saturday morning we headed into the farmers market to pick up some fresh veggies, and see who we could see. We ran into McKenzie and her two little girls Parker and Larken. Addie and Larken played in the dirt together, and when the started to eat the dirt, Mack pulled out some "wagon wheel" treats for them to chomp on instead. She's so prepared! Somehow we managed to miss Derek and Malia, Mom, Maggie and Collin and Zach and Stacy. It is amazing how busy the market has become over the years.

Saturday night we had a get together with folks in the Nebraska Lutheran diocese who are working with the Northern diocese in Tanzania, Africa. Dennis and I traveled to Tanzania the summer of 2002, and on Saturday night we were able to visit with a few of the folks who we traveled with, and were briefly reunited with some of our Tanzanian friends. It is a special group with whom we will always share a deep connection. We can't wait to take Addie to Tanzania.

On Sunday it was book club at Malia's. Dennis stopped by to pick up Addie but ended up sticking around for the entire book club. Actually, our book club is pretty loosely defined. It's mostly an excuse to get together with my girlfriends, talk, eat and do whatever else comes to mind. Malia's apartment complex has a pool, so we all ended up going swimming - Addie included. She really seemed to enjoy it despite the water being pretty chilly. Malia then whipped up some wonderful super. I think Dennis wants to join my book club now.