Things in my bike bag

The other day I opened up the bag that clips onto my bike, and had to smile at the wild assortment of things I had collected over the course of the day:

– two trays of wet dog food, acquired with a coupon that a Dale friend asked me to redeem on her behalf.

– two or three pieces of “Bob Art”, elaborate paper cuttings like paper snowflakes except in the shape of tulips.

– a gift card for a local Parkdale business, donated for our upcoming Online Auction (stay tuned!!)

– a piece of costume jewellery from a Dale friend, to be delivered to Erinn.

– the usual stuff like my wallet, keys, cell phone and day planner.

I feel like this assortment accurately depicts an average day in my life at The Dale – running strange errands, garnering support for our little community, receiving and cherishing the various gifts that our folks have to offer.

#justanotherdayatthedale, and I’m loving it.

 

 

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Birthdays

I love birthdays. I always have, probably because I come from a long line of birthday-lovers.

This week happens to contain not one, two, three, four, five or six, but SEVEN Dale birthdays! One on Saturday, three on Tuesday, two yesterday, and one today. This means multiple cakes, birthday cards, birthday songs, and lots of expressions of love.

While I’m a firm believer that any day is a great day to tell someone that you are glad that they exist, there really is something special about doing so on the anniversary of that someone’s arrival. This is especially important when that person hasn’t always been assured of their great worth, or has been told that most harmful of lies- that they are not worth of love.

There are folks at The Dale who have been told all kinds of lies about their worth over the years. My hope and prayer is that, as we go through life together, celebrating each other along the way, all of our friends will know that they are beyond precious to us and to the One who created them.