Where do the years go? Can she possibly be old enough to dress up and go to prom? She has become a beautiful woman. And I am one lucky mother.
Archives for 2010
“And this baptism now saves you”
Something is happening to her. I’m not altogether sure that she fully grasps it. It started when she quit work. And it further heightened when she brought her children home to educate them. Maybe you’d call it an epiphany. Or an awakening. Sometimes it feels more like a death or at the very least a drowning of an old fantasy.
But something very peculiar happens when you face the truth about yourself and about your life in one area; it eventually creeps into all areas of your life, invading your presuppositions and putting to death the lies under which you’ve operated for so long, drowning them in a sea of life-giving water.
It took her by surprise and she must learn to swim again. Or so she thinks. She reaches out for something familiar but even her virtues seem to have washed away. There is no sure footing. There has to be another way. Or surely she will drown.
When you allow layers upon layers to be peeled back so that all you’re left with is the nakedness of your own depravity……
When the words of Christ sink in and take hold and gnaw at you and undo you…….
He is taking you into His death. “Deep calls to deep at the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers have gone over me.”
She finds it hard to breathe. She fights Him. She finds it impossible to surrender…….
And then He comes. He has made another way.
He will be the one to surrender.
And His surrender will be perfect, even to death.
His words play a melody in her heart.
He has come to give her life abundant.
how long have i been in this storm
so overwhelmed by the ocean’s shapeless form
waters getting harder to tread
with these waves crashing over my head
if i could just see you
everything would be alright
if i had to see you
this darkness would turn into light
and i will walk on water
and you will catch me if i fall
and i will get lost into your eyes
and everything will be alright
and everything will be alright
i know u didn’t bring me out here to drown
so why am i ten feet under and upside down
barely surviving has become my purpose
cause i’m so used to living underneath the surface
if i could just see you
everything would be alright
if i could see you
this darkness would turn into light
and i will walk on water
and you will catch me if i fall
and i will get lost into your eyes
and everything will be alright
and i will walk on water
and you will catch me if i fall
and i will get lost into your eyes
and everything will be alright
and now everything is alright
everythings alright
studio 3z makes me smile
Remember when we went to Cincy a few weeks ago? Well, one of our great pleasures was meeting Brett and Jess of studio 3z. I found her blog months ago and began to confess my smittenness of their work. They are the most beautiful, unique family I think I’ve ever laid eyes on. And they homeschool too. Oh how I wish I lived in Cincy. Today, Jessica emailed me and said some of the pics were posted from our photo session and she graciously let me post a few of them on my blog too. You’re gonna wanna make some hot tea and nestle into a comfy spot when you visit her blog–it’s one of those you’ll get lost in. Brett and Jessica are as warm and gracious and beautiful in person as they seem when you visit their site. I consider it a honor to call them friends. Enjoy their work!
two little love birds!
love the shots into the sun!
and who can resist an old blue caboose as a prop?
i couldn’t resist taking pictures of them taking pictures—-
and I think this is my favorite pic of their adorable family.
I know, you’re smitten now too, aren’t ya?
Dumpster Divin’ Yard Sale-in’ and Lake Livin’ aka the longest post known to man
I’ve been keeping things from you and I apologize profusely. But I knew you’d be jealous.
I have a dumpster.
There, I said it.
I rented one for the move and I’ve never been happier with a rented item. I’m giddy about it. And to celebrate my sheer joy, my friends Kelly and Denise went dumpster diving with me. And tried to pull out some old fabric. But I put my foot down and made them come shop at the actual yard sale.
Which you should have attended, by the way. When you move into a house with at least 4 less rooms, things must be purged.
And if you didn’t happen to make it to the sale—you missed out. Because everything was negotiable. Even the small children.
Everything except the pressure cooker, that is.
Nick marked the $15 Walmart pressure cooker at a whopping $100. It was a conversation piece. Here’s a sampling of the many people who asked about the cooker.
Random Yard Sale Attendee: “Do you mean to price that cooker at $100?”
Nick: “Yep.”
RYA: “Is there something special about it?”
Nick: “Not really.”
Turns out, Nick is an aspiring chef and wanted to keep the cooker for himself. We told him to just take it out of the sale and keep it but he insisted that, for the right price, he’d sell it. At the end of the day, he let his guard down and offered to take $40 for it. The woman laughed and said, “You can just keep it then.” He was happy to see that absolutely NOONE was tempted by the world’s most expensive pressure cooker. We laughed all day about it.
Then there was the scary pumpkin/shoe display.
I walk into the garage and overhear this:
Daniel: “Why is that scary pumpkin with the really tall legs wearing a top hat and eating paper?”
Nick: “I don’t know but I think that’s why the shoes aren’t selling, man. We should move the pumpkin.”
{{{Backstory: The teens were in charge of the yard sale and got to keep half the proceeds from the things they sold. They were highly motivated workers. Nick and Daniel (Steve’s nephew) on the lower garage and CAiti on the upper garage. The boys worked hard to set their garage up like a department store with a veritable sporting goods’ section. It was priceless.}}}}
The boys worked hard and seldom did I see this when I went downstairs. But I love the cat ears head band Nick. And the price tags.
And CAiti was busy all day too—-negotiating, chitty chatting and watching lots of our pretty things go bye-bye.
I was so happy to sell both of our extra refrigerators. I called my favorite appliance delivery boys to load that baby up for the happy new owners. I’m sure Stevie and brother Jeff were thrilled to be interrupted in their fishing excursion to help—-but they really did deliver appliances for their dad’s store back in the day. It was all so vintage. I’m just sayin’.
It was a great day and fun was had money was made by all. I love these guys.
Of course, since we were so lucky to have brother Jeff, Daniel and Grandpa Eddie visiting, we had to squeeze in a little lake fun!
We live on a peninsula, with our house on the ‘main channel’ side and our dock on the ‘cove side’. Our 4-wheeler will make the trek down to the boat a little easier on the 40 somethings.
They were such good sports to put up with our busy schedule this weekend and our beastly mammoth, Hank. Hank thinks he’s died and gone to heaven. He swims and chases ducks all day.
We were sad to see our family go today. We made them promise to come back down soon. {Thanks so much for making the long journey down—we love you guys!!!}
I leave you with one more pathetic peak into my house. I’ve been meaning to clip some wisteria from our road and put it on the mantle but I’m so exhausted that by the time I remember to go clip some, I’m too tired. You can see more unedited pics from the weekend and from the house on my flickr stream.
And I’m gonna go collapse in a heap.
If these boxes could speak…….
You might find this strange, or just strangely amusing, but although I haven’t yet unpacked my socks or all of my pantry items or my underwear drawer for that matter, I don’t waste anytime hanging my wall decor. It makes me feel like it’s home and gets a lot of stuff off the floor. I think I hung these items on day 2 or 3. If your memory is fuzzy, they were hanging exactly like this at the other house but against Hershey’s chocolate walls.
My stuff looks so different in this house.
And for some reason, I didn’t feel quite settled until I bought eggs. Apparently, having eggs in the house means it’s official. Otherwise, I’m just on vacation at a really cool lake house. But with eggs, I can bake, which means I’m home. We’re lucky to have family visiting this weekend so I think I’ll make chocolate chip cookies. And then unpack my essential sundries so that I don’t have to retrieve undergarments and garlic seasoning from a giant box in my car. (In my defense, I’m almost done unpacking what I’m going to unpack—about 6 more boxes to go!!!)
So, how do you unpack and what’s the one item that let’s you know you’re home?
P.S. Moving sale at my ‘old’ house this Saturday from 9-2 rain or shine. There’ll be something for everyone. And we’ll be selling stuff from both the upper and lower garages. Don’t miss it!
We’re ‘Moo’ved
This could be a tiny exaggeration but this may be the first time I’ve sat down in two weeks. I fear my eyes are permanently blood-shot and my hands ache so bad that I’m threatening to make a doctor’s appointment. And not with myself. All in all, the move went very well. This house in unbelievable. The mornings and afternoons and evenings by the lake are just unreal. Someone pinch me. On second thought, don’t pinch me, I’m aching all over as it is. There’s still a mountain of work to do at the other house—and plenty of stuff to sell or give away. I’m planning on having a moo-ving sale next weekend but I’ll let you locals know for sure.
Speaking of moo-ving, don’t you love my cowhide footstool from IKEA?!?!?! I went to IKEA wholly given over to the idea that Steve could finally get his recliner. I’m not a fan of recliners. Not a fan whatsoever. But the Ecktorp one from IKEA was the least offensive one I’d ever seen and I was ready to lay down my decorating weapons in lieu of reclining comfort. Only when we got there, we found out that it’s not slipcovered. And the only one they currently sell is the one that looks like a bad pair of really blue, blue jeans. (My profuse apologies to anyone who owns this recliner—it’s so comfortable–and under the right circumstances, I’m sure it looks just dandy).
So I used all the diplomatic savvy I could muster and convinced him that the slipcovered non-reclining chair paired with the cowhide footstool was a much better option and insanely more manly and functional. I think it’s my favorite piece. I can’t wait to show you more pictures but it may take awhile…….
because of this….
Who can possibly work under these circumstances?
By the way, I did a whole post the other day on the “24″ extravaganza at Issues Etc and the next day the post disappeared. Just ‘poof’—GONE. It’s in my reader but not on my blog. Has anyone ever heard of this?! I’m bamboozled by the whole thing. Someone tell me what possibly could have happened? Or in my moving daze, did I just dream that I wrote a post on it? But no, some of you had already commented. I’m not crazy am I?