Spring is in the air!

Today was a beautiful day! The air was slightly cool, but the bright afternoon sun and clear blue sky made for a wonderful spring day. April is probably the prettiest month in Hays...with all the tree blossoms...various shades of pink, red and white. And they smell good, too!

I got the church newsletter done today. This is the first one I've done and it turned out pretty good and with relatively few snags.

Here is a poem I wrote awhile back. I sponsor two children through Compassion International. This poem is about the boy I write to in Rwanda.

The Prayer of a Child from Rwanda

I look at his photo placed
on my refrigerator; black-brown eyes
and solemn face speak of need
I’ll never know. He wrote me a letter
back in October which I received today,
the warmest part of this cruel cold day
in November.

The letter leisurely traveled
from Rwanda to Kansas
to tell me of their rainy season
and that they are planting beans.
And he—an eleven-year-old
with a name I can’t spell nor
pronounce—prays for me,

a middle-aged woman whose
middle-class life is wealth beyond
what this young child may imagine.
A middle-aged woman who
takes the time now and then
to send him pictures and write of
things he might never see

like snowmen, icicles and frosted
window panes. Always careful
to not suggest the disparity
of wealth between our two lives,
(though who am I fooling?)
even as I write to him,

daily he hauls water to his home,
to his loved ones ill with AIDS,
to the chickens and goats they raise
to eke out a living. He helps tend the beans
just planted, goes to school, learns to read
and sings about Jesus. And when he has time
he prays—for me.