People

It's really amazing that despite how horribly people can hurt one another, how easily people can also bless one another. It's just so easy sometimes. So simple.

The Sunday morning of Memorial Day weekend, the Martin clan was walking through campus heading to church. (Brookside meets in a building on campus at BGSU) There was a campus police officer in his car who had pulled aside to talk to another officer who was on his bike. Asher excitedly ran up to the car, pure awe spread across his face. The officer let him peak into the car and before we knew it Asher was sitting in the driver's seat. They flashed their lights for the kids and let them crawl around in the hard, hoseable backseat. Yes, hoseable. I don't know if it's really a word but there was no type of padding in the back seat so it could be hosed down. Makes sense I guess. Especially being campus police, they must see all kinds of drunk ;) The really sweet part was that both officers were just tickled to be able to give such a treat to a little child. One of them even said, "Gosh, I'm glad I was here to see this." Made his day. Blessed his soul.

That same night we cooked out at our new place for the first time. This is really two stories in one, but this next part must be told. When the offer we made on this house was accepted last summer, our dear friend Matt Lochtefeld drove by the house to check it out. He noticed the folks who lived here were getting rid of their grill. It was out by the street with a sign on it that said "FREE". Well apparently Matt had a vision for this grill. Long story short, and there really is a lot more to this story, Matt took the grill back to his house in Perrysburg and cleaned it up. Once we moved in, he brought it back to BG and gave it to us as a housewarming gift. How thoughtful is THAT? And it's an awesome grill too. I don't know much about grills, but it's big and has a side burner and runs excellently. Bless my soul.

Back to our first cookout. A little over a dozen friends gathered in our home and on our deck. Some friends we hadn't even met until that day. All the better. People brought all kinds of amazing food. Weather was perfect. Laughs were shared. And the kids played happily for hours jumping from the pool to the swing set and back into the pool stopping only to collapse on a beach towel to refuel. Bibs and eating utensils completely unnecessary. Later, as Ben and I cleaned up from the day, our tiredness was muted by the retelling of stories and conversations that were had. Memories that had been made. Exhaustion trumped by joy. All because of people. Bless our souls.

These simple blessings through people go on and on. How have you been blessed by people lately?