Paint and its Consequences

I had an interesting thing happen to me yesterday at nearly nap time. All the children were down and the light was about to be turned out when from a corner of the room we heard some whimpering. My lead teacher went over to investigate and then called me over. One of our four year olds had gotten into a little bottle of paint (purple--her favourite) from a nearby shelf and the paint was now all over her mat, her blanket, etc. She was obviously upset and had even hid her purple, wet hands underneath her. I coaxed her out of the mess and to the sink. And while we were washing up, my lead and another teacher from a different classroom told me that I shouldn't be nice to the girl because she had done something bad and she should experience the bad consequence of someone being upset with her.

My response was that regardless of how I acted with the child, she had already experienced the natural consequence. She messed with some paint at an inappropriate time and consequently the paint got all over. And then she spent the rest of the day cleaning up the paint from her mat. "What a bother! I'm not doing that again!"

'Tis the Seasons

As go our usual Saturday mornings, we drove into the city farmer's market for our weekly meat, etc. We were really feeling the cruel flirt of spring as yesterday's bright 70s turned into this mornings rainy 37s. I crab and Joey shrugs, "A lot of cold fronts come through here." Whatever that means.

In our attempt to eat solely upon the local and seasonal fruits of North Texas, we've had to ride out the winter rough with little color in our cupboards, eager for the blues, pinks and reds of warmer weather foods.
As with everything that is a true and loving devotion there is sacrifice and discomfort and pain, even. Joey and I are committed to the true and local yields of Earth and so we suffer the wait because we know it is "worth it."
My sister's family suffer the wait for their little boy, as all the loose ends of his adoption are tied up neatly and as they plan their trip to Ethiopia.
All women who long for their child, whether or not they are pregnant, know all too well a long and often painful wait.

In our attempt to follow seasonal foods, we've fall upon experiencing the Lenten season in a newly raw light. We joyfully suffer and indeed sacrifice the winter with the promise of Easter's bounty. I'd never really associated the Earth's seasons with the Church's seasons before and I am thankful for the new perspective.

I am also thankful that honey is a year-long food.