Mini Chainsaws Are Cool.

Someone at Lowes believed I was responsible enough to purchase a handheld pruning chainsaw. 

The blade is short. It’s battery powered. And it’s my favorite tool in the garage. 

This past week I decided it was finally the year to cut some overgrown bushes. 

They were gnarly, weed-infested, even had full sapling growing out of them. The bushes in question are right next to a high traffic neighborhood walkway, growing out over the path. 

I’m not a gardener. 

If there’s a plant to be killed they call me for the job. All I have to do is look at it. I walk past a flowerbed and it’s immediately covered in weeds. It just knows I’m there. 

But I can chop away at some overgrown bushes. And that’s exactly what I did. All told it took two Saturdays, my brother-in-law’s trailer, and 6 trips to the city yard waste dump. 

They were really overgrown. 

Also this week, amid the chopping brush like a suburban madman, Jude had full access to her tablet and had lots to say. Only she didn’t use her tablet. 

For some reason she was in a bad mood all week. She was extremely particular and overstimulated. She was also tired because her sleep schedule was hit and miss. Megan even sent me this picture on the way to speech therapy. 

The text read: “Heading to speech. Should go well.”

The entire week did not go well. And Jude kept relying on her sign language, pointing, and hand-over-hand instruction to let us know what she wanted. More than a few times, she wanted something ultra-specific that pointing and grunting could not effectively communicate. 

Cue the meltdown. 

That’s where we are. She has the tablet, but doesn’t want to use it. When we try to force her, she selects two buttons. “Something is wrong. Let’s do something else.”

Like the bushes, with Jude we’re attempting to cut the old so that new growth can flourish.

Just like my landscaping, it’s a long process involving lots of work. 

Like clearing the pathway, it looks ugly and bare before it looks alive and complete. 

But God makes all things new.

And there’s no better time than spring. 

"Then He who sat on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.'
Revelation 21:5