Prone to Wander

why libraries and why bookstores and why books and why read

2012-02-01T17:30:00.000-06:00

For almost half an hour, I wandered within the winding labyrinth, breathing in the smell of old paper and dust. I let my hand brush across the avenues of exposed spines, musing over what my choice would be. Among the titles faded by age, I distinguished words in familiar languages and others I couldn't identify. I roamed through galleries filled with hundreds, thousands of volumes. After a while it occurred to me that between the covers of each of those books lay a boundless universe waiting to be discovered, while beyond those walls, in the outside world, people allowed life to pass by in an afternoon of football and radio soaps, content to do little more than gaze at their navels.
from The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron

(it amazes me that even a library less than two months old smells like a libray...)

booklist- 2012

2012-02-01T17:04:00.000-06:00

a list of books completed in 2012, including books of the Bible:
(because in truth, maybe public accountability will lead to a few less Solitaire and Tetris games and a lot more reading!)

January:
Alone in Majesty by William MacDonald
The Memory of Old Jack by Wendell Berry
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
The Trellis and the Vine by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne
A Praying Life by Paul Miller
Clementine and The Talented Clementine by Sara Pennybacker

(photo credit: Vintage Library Card Bookplate You Print It by relove on Etsy)

32/365

2012-02-01T16:58:00.000-06:00

have I mentioned how much I love the library...?

31/365

2012-01-31T22:54:00.000-06:00

Today I
sent my husband off,
completed a full day of school with the kids,
bought produce,
downloaded new music,
watched two basketball games,
and
gazed at the sky, in awe, yet again.

30/365

2012-01-31T22:44:00.000-06:00

Tap water down here- it just tastes bad.
And we must not be the only ones who think so, because these water vending machines are all over the place.
We fill up the 5 gallon jug for 75 cents.

(but warning- the guy selling steaks out of the back of his truck in the parking lot might look at you funny when you take a photo of the water machine...)

Chesed and Emet

2012-01-29T20:01:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I had the opportunity to share in the celebration of a new marriage at a wedding shower. We guests were asked to share a piece of advice with the newly married couple. At this point in being married, I am certain that I am at the crossroads of "the more you know, the more you know you don't know." The only thing I really know for certain and without hesitation is that God's grace is the merciful and strong thread that holds my marriage together.

I want to tell these newly marrieds, "sometimes it will be hard, but you have to persevere. You have to love the other more than you love yourself, even when you least want to love." But how could that make sense to newlyweds, when everything is shiny and new and glowing? Then this morning I stumbled across an article on marriage, one that gave the words for what I was thinking but didn't know how to say. From now on, I will say, "chesed and emet."

from Renewing Intimacy in Marriage: Closing the Gap Between You and Your Spouse by David Powlinson
SHARE GOD’S STEADFAST LOVE AND FAITHFULNESS

In the Old Testament two Hebrew words are often used to describe God: chesed and emet. Chesed is translated in the Old Testament as “lovingkindness,” or “steadfast love.” It means committed kindness, a chosen generosity, a resolution to do good to another person no matter what. Emet is translated as “faithfulness” or “truth.” When we say of someone, “She was a true friend,” we’re using the word “true” in the sense that the Bible uses the word emet. It’s someone who’s looking out for your well-being, who is genuinely concerned for your welfare (see Philippians 2:20). God is full of chesed and emet—steadfast love and faithfulness—toward you.

Chesed and emet are also used in the Bible to describe human relationships. Most people seek their own interests, and instinctively do things that create distance and destroy intimacy in their marriage. But when you are committed to treat someone with kindness, when you are genuinely concerned for someone else’s welfare, you will start to be and do the kinds of things that actually build trust, intimacy, and companionship. Chesed and emet are what God is fundamentally like towards us. He is a God who keeps his promises, a God of kindness, a God who forgives. And chesed and emet are also the attributes you need to make your marriage deeply joyous and intimate.

29/365

2012-01-29T19:31:00.000-06:00

the most difficult choice at a church picnic in south Texas-
which salsa...?

28/365

2012-01-29T19:30:00.002-06:00

... You thrill to God's Word,
you chew on Scripture day and night.
You're a tree replanted in Eden,
bearing fresh fruit every month,
Never dropping a leaf,
always in blossom.
Psalm 1:2-3 (The Message)

27/365

2012-01-29T19:30:00.001-06:00

bilingual imperatives.

26/365

2012-01-29T19:30:00.000-06:00

at the end of that meeting, I gave thanks, because it seems as it all has worked out just about as well as I could have chosen.

25/365

2012-01-26T09:11:00.000-06:00

watering the lawn,
in January ?!

Clementine

2012-01-24T19:27:00.000-06:00

I have had not so good of a week.
     Well, Monday was a pretty good day, if you don't count Hamburger Surprise at lunch and Margaret's mother coming to get her. Or the stuff that happened in the principal's office when I got sent there to explain that Margaret's hair was not my fault and besides she looks okay without it, but I couldn't because Principal Rice was gone, trying to calm down Margaret's mother.
     Someone should tell you not to answer the phone in the principal's office, if that's a rule.
     Okay, fine, Monday was not so good of a day.

Confession: I love Clementine!
I saw Clementine at the bookstore recently, and then checked it out at the library today.
Think of Ramona, and Eloise, and Olivia.
Clementine deservedly joins those memorable characters in the ranks of spunky fictional girls who will cause you to laugh out loud!

Second and third grade girls are probably the author's target audience. As Clementine would say, Okay, fine. But, I promise, it is a quick and fun read for adults, especially for this girl who tends to get stuck in non-fiction. I read chapter one out loud to my husband, and though maybe he was just amusing me, he laughed too. Now my girls are all taking turns with Clementine.

"The clementine," said the waiter, "is the sweetest fruit, is it not?
We certainly think so!

24/365

2012-01-24T18:37:00.000-06:00

a stop at the library:

Clementine and The Talented Clementine by Sara Pennybacker
On Mexican Time by Tony Cohan

23/365

2012-01-23T21:58:00.000-06:00

Ma Ingalls would say-

"Wash on Monday,
Iron on Tuesday,
Mend on Wednesday,
Churn on Thursday,
Clean on Friday,
Bake on Saturday,
Rest on Sunday."

I'm good for Sunday and Monday.
Wednesday and Thursday?
probably never...

22/365

2012-01-22T19:20:00.000-06:00

let a sleeping dog lie.
(but still, take a picture of him...) :-)

This dog was napping across the street from Iglesia Buen Samaritano in Reynosa, where we worshipped today. A lot of dogs roam about Reynosa, all which prompt my kids to plead, "we need another dog!!"

I think I'll just keep taking pictures...

21/365

2012-01-21T21:01:00.000-06:00

doodlebug.

20/365

2012-01-21T11:33:00.000-06:00

an open-sun-roof-open-windows-let-the wind-come-through sort of day

19/365

2012-01-19T16:38:00.000-06:00

the latest donation to Locks of Love...

18/365

2012-01-19T08:54:00.000-06:00

border crossing at dusk.

17/365

2012-01-17T19:33:00.000-06:00

and when life gives you grapefruits...

make grapefruitade!

(and ignore spellcheck because grapefruitade IS a real word!!)

16/365

2012-01-17T09:33:00.000-06:00

one of the wonders of living in south Texas-
orange trees heavy with fruit, orchards unexpectedly discovered while driving along the way.

I even bought a little juicer!

Hannah Coulter... again

2012-01-17T08:41:00.000-06:00

She takes from the stove a pot of green beans, another of cabbage, a dish of baked pears, a blackberry cobbler, and wraps each in newspaper and sets it carefully into a cardboard box on the table. As she works, her face is preoccupied, deliberative, lighted as if from beneath the skin by a serenity that lives upon her sense of being equal not just to what she is doing but to whatever she has imagined she may have to do. It is a beautiful face, wreathed by dark, heavy hair, radiant from the touch of the sun and her strong blood, the features clear. She is some years past the simple prettiness of her girlhood. Her beauty no longer has its source merely in her physical presence, though that is pleasing enough; it comes, rather, from some deep equanimity with which it has accepted the marks of an extraordinary knowledge of herself, her powers as a person and as a woman, her mortality. That understanding of mortality has been Hannah Coulter's great suffering, as now it is her peculiar gift; she has known and borne and accepted it upon the terms of her womanhood and flesh.
- from The Memory of Old Jack by Wendell Berry

One of my all-time favorite literary characters... I wish I could sit with Hannah Coulter for a spell.

15/365

2012-01-16T09:16:00.000-06:00

Pizza night.

(or maybe we should say "Calzone Night"...)

"Mercies crowd us on every side"

2012-01-16T09:13:00.000-06:00

Sometimes doesn't it seem as a theme or a word sticks to you, and you then see it everywhere you look?
For me, recently, that word has been "mercy."

It grabbed me last week in Matthew 9:13-
Go and learn what this means,
'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.'
For I came not to call the righteous but sinners."

I poked around Strong's Concordance and found that this use of "mercy" is from the Greek word eleos- "kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them;" as God reaches out to sinners, it is a readiness by man to reach out to those in need.

The word, the idea, churns around my mind as we meet with folks in a nearby church this weekend to talk about what it means and what it looks like to go out with the Gospel and serve a community.

And then, lest I forget or think I'm finished with it, it finds me again this morning in these words-
When we recognize God’s mercies, we can only respond with gratitude. And if our eyes are at all open to even a fraction of these mercies, we will be busy being grateful all day long. Imagine the consequences of such a day, busy with gratitude.

And when we overflow with gratitude to our good and gracious and gift-giving God, it follows that we will extend that grace and mercy to others — lavishly. We can do nothing else.
- "God Scatters Pardons" by Nancy Wilson on Femina

And again here-
It is odd that we have reached a point in society where we are embarrassed to talk about the doing of good deeds in a serious manner. It is odd that now and then someone has to say, “Dear Kristen, never be ashamed of doing a good deed.”
- "A Good Deed" by Andree Seu at WORLDmag.com

Yes, "mercies crowd us on every side" and find me serious.

(photo credit: mercy on the wall by ajom on etsy)

14/365

2012-01-14T17:25:00.000-06:00

You lazy fool, look at an ant.
Watch it closely; let it teach you a thing or two.
Nobody has to tell it what to do.
All summer it stores up food;
at harvest it stockpiles provisions.
So how long are you going to laze around doing nothing?
How long before you get out of bed?
A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there,
sit back, take it easy—do you know what comes next?
Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life,
poverty your permanent houseguest!
Proverbs 6:6 (The Message)

(hmm... considering the message above, isn't it a bit ironic these ant hills are surrounding our hammock...?)

:-)

Delurking Day 2012

2012-01-14T08:47:00.000-06:00

Here's a funny thing-
yesterday, Prone to Wander was viewed 200 times.
GO FIGURE!?!?

And since May 2009 when Blogger started keeping track of stats for me..., the blog has been viewed almost 20,000 times.
WHAT?!?

I know for certain of about one handful of people that read Prone to Wander, & I rarely look at the Blogger stats. But today, on National Delurking Day, I'm wondering- who are you?

I hope that when you wander over here, it's a blessing to you. If you came over to my house, I'd give you a drink and a cookie (if my girls had just made some...). But here I just offer you a virtual arm around your shoulder and a hearty "welcome." Today, would you take a moment to say hi and share from where in this world you visit? Unless you can't, of course, 'cause it's sensitive and secret and all that... I understand- I married a submariner... :-)

Don't be shy- I'd love to wave hi back at you!

(photo credit: incourage national delurking day)

13/365

2012-01-14T08:13:00.000-06:00

Taco Pirata,
chips and salsa,
ice tea with lime.

12/365

2012-01-12T21:53:00.000-06:00

a letter!
for me!

(the stamp on the reply won't be nearly as impressive!)

11/365

2012-01-12T21:51:00.001-06:00

Él es la Roca Firme, la Roca de la Eternidad, la Roca de Horeb que está brotando agua de Vida saludable para ti. Él es el Cordero de Dios, el Buen Pastor, el Alfa y el Omega, el Principio y el Fin. El que Es, el que Era y el que Será. El es el León de Judá, la Luz del Mundo, la Estrella de la mañana, la Esperanza de las Naciones ¿Lo conoces? ¿Lo amas? ¿Lo adoras? ¿Es Él tu todo en todo? No tengo palabras para describírtelo.

Él es el Príncipe de Paz, Emmanuel, Admirable, Rey de Reyes y Señor de Señores, el Verbo. El cielo y la tierra pasarán, pero Su Palabra no pasará. Él es la piedra del Ángulo desechado por muchos, el Soberano de los Cielos y la Tierra, el Creador, la Fuente de toda Gracia, la Resurrección y la Vida. Él fue desechado y despreciado,
Varón de dolores, Él es Adonai, El Shaddai, ¿Es Él tu todo en todo?
from Vivir en el Poder del Evangelio, edited by Jerry Cross

What a privilege this life I live is!

10/365

2012-01-11T07:47:00.000-06:00

kale, for Zuppa Toscana

9/365

2012-01-09T21:44:00.000-06:00

Though he is Kama'aina, not Don Ho.
yet.

Downton Abbey

2012-01-09T21:39:00.000-06:00

If it is January, it is Masterpiece Classic on Sundays.
Starting with Downton Abbey.
We.
are.
hooked.

In fact, some of us just took the Downton Abbey: which character are you? quiz...
VERY amusing!
We won't name names, but let's just say, HOW do they know?
Our results:
You are Mr Bates, Lord Grantham’s valet (Brendan Coyle). You are a patient, kind, salt-of-the-earth type. But sometimes your self-righteousness can threaten to engulf you.

Your results: You are Thomas Barrow, head footman (Rob James-Collier). Nothing will stop you in your quest for world domination. Nothing. And certainly not the second footman.

Your results: You are the Dowager Countess of Grantham, Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith). You do not suffer fools gladly. In fact you do not suffer anything at all because you refuse to entertain any form of discomfort in your life whatsoever.

Any guesses on who is who? :-)
If you are watching too, or if you take the quiz, let us know!

The One who knows every detail

2012-01-09T07:32:00.000-06:00

"He spoke of the stars and sand in the same breath (Gen. 22:17). In counting stars God shows Himself to be a God of infinite capacity. In giving each one a name, He reveals Himself as a God of infinite variety.

Surely, He is the God of the telescope. But if you look back at the preceding verse, you will find that He is the God of the microscope as well: 'He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.' (Ps. 147:3) The One who knows every detail of the celestial expanses is vitally interested in His sorrowful creatures. Such personal concern is awesome when you consider what a speck of cosmic dust our planet is in the universe, and how tiny we are, even in comparison to the earth. Yet the same God who counts the stars and gives a distinct name to each one also stoops low in grace to heal the brokenhearted and to bind up their wounds."

"Great is the Lord," Alone in Majesty by William MacDonald

(art credit: Microscope Vintage DICTIONARY art print by memorydust at etsy.com)

8/365

2012-01-08T18:04:00.000-06:00

I wore flipflops today.
That is only significant because:
1. it is January.
2. it was to church.

who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?
:-)

Praise to the Lord

2012-01-08T09:18:00.000-06:00

ready for worship this morning,
finding this on the playlist (o! especially that last verse!)-

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near;
Praise Him in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord, who over all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires ever have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord, who hath fearfully, wondrously, made thee;
Health hath vouchsafed and, when heedlessly falling, hath stayed thee.
What need or grief ever hath failed of relief?
Wings of His mercy did shade thee.

Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend thee.

Praise to the Lord, who, when tempests their warfare are waging,
Who, when the elements madly around thee are raging,
Biddeth them cease, turneth their fury to peace,
Whirlwinds and waters assuaging.

Praise to the Lord, who, when darkness of sin is abounding,
Who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
Sheddeth His light, chaseth the horrors of night,
Saints with His mercy surrounding.

Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him.
Let the Amen sound from His people again,
Gladly for aye we adore Him.

(Words: Joachim Neander, in A und Ω Glaub- und Liebesübung (Straslund: 1680); translated from German to English by Catherine Winkworth, 1863.)

7/365

2012-01-07T17:59:00.000-06:00

inspired by this,
my attempt at craftiness
(of the creative, not cunning or devious, sort...)

6/365

2012-01-06T22:53:00.000-06:00

Somewhere behind the athlete you've become and the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back... play for her.
- Mia Hamm

Five Minute Friday- Roar

2012-01-06T08:47:00.000-06:00

The warning flags fly straight out.
The sand pierces our skin with little stabs.
We close our eyes to squinty slits.
We lean hard and we press forward.
The wind roars.

The sea churns.
Waves white with foam roll on the shore and then back again.
The gulls barely move ahead.
The clouds drift in the distance.
And the wind roars.

The new year waits ready before us.
Dreams and hopes and expectations yet to be realized.
The hills seem tall and steep.
He is our strength and our song,
though surely the wind roars.

Five Minute Friday at The Gypsy Mama:
The first Friday of the new year.

Let’s do it. Let’s just write without worrying if it’s just right or not.

For only five short, bold, beautiful minutes. Let your mind and your words and your heart fly free; wild – no editing, no over thinking.

Won’t you join me?

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – don’t edit; don’t second-guess.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Must: leave a comment for the person who linked up before you – encouraging them in their writing!

OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes on:

Roar…

5/365

2012-01-05T22:09:00.000-06:00

freshly squeezed.
I love living in the land of citrus.

4/365

2012-01-04T21:06:00.000-06:00

these would make the Wednesday kitchen girls laugh out loud!
(will I ever get over missing Wednesday nights?)

1-2-3/365

2012-01-04T08:32:00.000-06:00

I think I'm going to give it a try- 365 photos, one a day, in 2012.
Forgive a couple of repeats as I get started...

1/365
it was the very nicest new year's day- one that I would do again for the next 33 or so years...

2/365
at the end of the day we were completely exhausted and entirely blessed

3/365
I wouldn't have done it that way, but I'm glad that she did.

I'll be archiving the project here at Flickr.

glimpses of new years

2012-01-03T12:27:00.000-06:00

(taken with friends, at South Padre Island, and the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refugre)

new year 2012

2012-01-03T12:15:00.000-06:00

We turn the corner and I see the church parking lot already full. Immediately I wonder- that is not usually the case when you think you are early… We open the door and see the pews filled up, the congregation on their feet. The familiar creed bounces off the walls at us as we scramble to find seats, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins…” Kind folks smile and scoot over and make places for us.

Is there no where better to be on the first morning of the new year than in worship?

Typically I have scoffed at New Year resolutions, those good intentions that all too quickly seem to turn into broken promises and abandoned goals. And yet, this New Year’s Day and the day to follow convict me- THIS is how I want to live. The pastor exhorts us, “Our Christianity shows itself as we actively live out the law of love in this fallen world.” The teaching on the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12) reminds me, again, both how we are to treat others, yes, but also that Christ is the only One who enables us to love others well, to love as we want to be loved. I am humbled because I am broken, but by His wounds I am healed.

We participate in communion, that mysterious sacrament, “a bond and a pledge” with Christ and with each other in the body of believers. On her blog, A Holy Experience, Ann Voskamp writes,
The bread is passed from hand to hand. We share it. We break it. We remember. We sustain on the brokenness of Christ. Could I really not run from mine?

We pass the cup. I swallow down this grace I never get over and never want to get over and I close my eyes and Christ alone washes clean. Christ alone washes clean. We begin the new year the only way we can begin anything — with Communion with God. With brokenness.

The rest of the day follows that communion, fellowship spent with others in Sabbath rest. We eat together, and sit together, and talk together, and laugh together with the ease that only years of familiarity and commonality brings. The next day we travel to the beach and the winds blow hard. We find sand in our ears and eyes and noses and mouths. But the sun is bright and we are not rushed by the usual busyness of life's demands. In those hours, I am content and long for nothing more, and that, that, is how I want to live the rest of the year.

Voskamp continues,
Contentment isn’t a state of organization, a weight on the scale, a state of better: better kids, better marriage, better health, better house. Contentment is never a matter of circumstances; contentment is always a state of communion — a daily embracing of God. A thankfulness for all the gifts – and moments and life, just as He gives it. Trying harder may only bring harder trials and contentment, it won’t be found in the resolutions, but in the revolutions – in the turning round to God.

THAT is my resolution for this year- to find contentment in the revolutions, “in the turning round to God,” in all things for His glory. To love others well. To move purposefully but not be hurried. To be quick to thankfulness and to be instant in prayer. And that, that, will be all grace.

His "I wills"

2011-12-31T12:30:00.000-06:00

When it happens I rarely can explain why. I can hardly put a finger on an exact event or a single happening and assign blame. It’s usually just a feeling that leaves me wanting to retreat, to bury my head in my pillow and cry.
And of course, I figured I am the only one.
Until this week.

Early in the week, I read-
     There are mornings when I wake up feeling fragile. Vulnerable. It’s often vague. No single threat. No one weakness. Just an amorphous sense that something is going to go wrong and I will be responsible. It’s usually after a lot of criticism. Lots of expectations that have deadlines and that seem too big and too many.
     As I look back over about 50 years of such periodic mornings, I am amazed how the Lord Jesus has preserved my life. And my ministry. The temptation to run away from the stress has never won out — not yet anyway. This is amazing. I worship him for it.
     How has he done this? By desperate prayer and particular promises. I agree with Spurgeon: I love the “I wills” and the “I shalls” of God.
And that confession comes from a pastor, from John Piper, he who created the term “Christian hedonism,” he who wholeheartedly believes that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him." John Piper suffers the same unexplainable vulnerabilities as I do?

But as answer to our cry, Piper and I both found ourselves in the book of Zechariah that day. And we both quickly came back to the “I wills” of God in found in Zechariah 2-
“For I,’ declares the Lord, ‘will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst." (verse 5)

“Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,’ declares the Lord.” (verse 10)
And I remember, again, His promises are for me.

I have coffee with a friend later in the week, and I share these thoughts, these Truths, with her. We both find ourselves with tears about to spill over.
No, certainly I am not the only one longing for He who makes all things new.

Relationships are broken and in constant need of repair. Bodies are fragile and hurt. I don’t even know how to pray as I should. And yet, He promises faithfulness.

So, on this last day of the year, I stand ready to move forward, eyes fixed, and yet, echoing those last lines of Revelation,
Amen, come quickly, Lord Jesus.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.
Amen.
And, He will.

zits

2011-12-31T11:26:00.000-06:00

For a very long while, we really felt certain that the folks at Baby Blues had placed a spycam in our house, that's how familiar some of the scenes were to us when we'd open up the funny pages day by day.

But, the kids grow and their parents get older, and now it's Zits- and today it was the teens that were laughing at us, err- WITH us... :-)

Remembering 2011

2011-12-31T10:14:00.000-06:00

Truly, when I think back over the 2011, it seems like a decade of life passed by in a blink of the eye.
That slowly.

That quickly.

So much happened in these 12 months, and yet images of people and places flash by and change at rapid fire pace.

We started 2011 in the canopy and rain forest of Costa Rica. We traveled a bumpy twisty road on a standing room only bus to reach Monteverde. We watched cheese being made by Quaker ex-pats and listened to a European wax eloquent about the declining bat population and marveled at how very dark the sky can be once you journey outside the city. We flew, really- suspended only by cables and ropes, over the tree canopy and walked across bridges through the canopy and hiked on paths under the canopy. And we shared it all with a rare visitor from home, a dear friend who brought mousse and Crest and a cheerful try-anything-once spirit that quickly endeared her as one of our favorite guests of all time.

Visitors in Costa Rica were rare, but so precious! I had the opportunity to guide my college roommate’s parents and their travel companions through the streets of San Jose one day and watch them capably negotiate souvenir prices. Then later in the spring I picked up my college roommate and her family, bleary-eyed after an overnight flight, and saw them leave after a week of travels, confident, with stories to spare. We piled four of our family into a taxi to meet one of my Summerbaby internet pals and her family in downtown San Jose and share impressions of the country in their hotel bar.

Faces of our friends from language school flood my mental album- those who we learned with day in and out, who heard more stories of our families then we realized we knew, all told in Spanish bits and pieces. I hear the voices of our teachers who taught us with such skill and patience. I see the faces of my ESL students who cheered me week by week. I recognize our brothers and sisters at church who unfailingly greeted us with kisses on each cheek and worshipped beside us with wholehearted passion in the most simple of places.

Costa Rican memories are colored with a palette of green, so many shades I cannot begin to describe how they differ. The greens are accented by the sandy browns of the beach and the blues of the sky on a clear morning and of the ocean off the coast of Panama. The scenes are accentuated with bursts of color, from bright flowers and iridescent birds and day-glow frogs, to red taxis and multi-hued signs, and even include the rainbow of painted houses on our street.

As planned, right as the first quarter of 2011 finished, we packed all our belongings in 14 bags, flew out of rainy Costa Rica and landed in sunny south Texas. The temperature was warm and getting warmer. The scenery was brown and would become even more so. We moved a household of belongings from north to south, and once again, we never would have completed it without our church family. We initially floundered in our new place… ready to respond in Spanish, the sun doesn’t rise and set at 5?, the stores are so big..., flush toilet paper?

Through the summer and into the fall, we settled into this new place. We were welcomed by many. We were reunited in brief visits with family. And little by little, we relearned normal.

I traveled this year, more than I deserve. I ate good food and savored sweet fellowship. I knew the comfort and ease of being with true friends. I rested in the unwavering lovingkindness, limitless mercy and unending grace of my Savior, especially through struggles and hurt that come while living in the brokenness of this world.

Highlights?

Sitting on a bus next to Nicki.

Meeting the Kayes, and then the Loews, in Costa Rican hotel lobbies.

Dinner on a Manuel Antonio street with the Hoovers.

Experiencing Central America with my family.

Joining the Youngs and the BEAMM team.

A birthday surprise for Beth.

The first prayer meeting with the ladies here.

An evening meeting the homeless of Laredo.

One near perfect Sunday in Omaha in August.

A return to teaching others to teach ESL.

The arrival of a fearfully and wonderfully made grandson.

My last minute roommate at the WIC conference.

An anniversary overnight at the beach.

Meeting Stella for coffee, whenever, wherever.

Real letters in the mail.

Unexpected email and text notes.

A suprising November morning when hope showed up.

A very slow and lazy Thanksgiving day with family.

The ever present promise of tomorrow- plans to give you a future and a hope

(photo credit: all but the first from the 2011 archives...)

The Gift of Gifts

2011-12-25T08:11:00.000-06:00

O Source of All Good,
What shall I render to thee for the gift of gifts,
thine own dear Son, begotten, not create,
my redeemer, proxy, surety, substitute,
his self-emptying incomprehensible,
his infinity of love beyond the heart’s grasp.

Herein is wonder of wonders:
he came below to raise me above,
was born like me that I might become like him.

Herein is love;
when I cannot rise to him he draws near on wings of grace,
to raise me to himself.

Herein is power;
when Deity and humanity were infinitely apart
he united them in indissoluble unity, the uncreate and the created,

Herein is wisdom;
when I was undone, with no will to return to him,
and no intellect to devise recovery,
he came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost,
as man to die my death,
to shed satisfying blood,
to work out a perfect righteousness for me.

O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds, and enlarge my mind;
let me hear good tidings of great joy,
and hearing, believe, rejoice, praise, adore,
my conscience bathed in an ocean of repose,
my eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father;
place me with ox, ass, camel, goat,
to look with them upon my redeemer’s face,
and in him account myself delivered from sin;
let me with Simeon clasp the new-born child to my heart.
embrace him with undying faith,
exulting that he is mine and I am his.

In him thou hast given me so much that heaven can give no more.

(from The Valley of Vision)

dpp- 24 december

2011-12-25T08:02:00.000-06:00

Adventure indeed!
and a great soundtrack.
and the best detective dog since Asta.

dpp- 23 december

2011-12-23T22:03:00.000-06:00

Three French hens.
(at the Hidalgo Festival of Lights)

Hallelujah Chorus -Quinhagak, Alaska

2011-12-23T07:59:00.001-06:00

Amen! Great job, Quinhagak, Alaska!!
(thanks to Challies.com for the link)

dpp- 22 december

2011-12-22T20:52:00.000-06:00

and in the middle of the party, we left to feed chickens and collect eggs. (it was the best sort of party!)

dpp- 21 december

2011-12-21T22:41:00.000-06:00

The decorations in Roma reminded me of driving through Bloomfield on the way to Durango, of Christmases so long ago.

dpp- 20 december

2011-12-21T16:20:00.000-06:00

... for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
Luke 2:11-12

dpp- 19 december

2011-12-19T17:34:00.000-06:00

This might be the cutest Christmassy crafty gift I've made EVER!
(not to mention, easiest!)

(& if you happen to be living a few miles east of me- shh!! don't show your youngsters!!)
:-)

dpp- 18 december

2011-12-18T20:35:00.000-06:00

Snowflakes
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Out of the bosom of the Air.
Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare,
Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
Silent and soft and slow
Descends the snow.

Even as our cloudy fancies take
Suddenly shape in some divine expression,
Even as the troubled heart doth make
In the white countenance confession,
The troubled sky reveals
The grief it feels

This is the poem of the air,
Slowly in silent syllables recorded;
This is the secret of despair,
Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded,
Now whispered and revealed
To wood and field.

on worship

2011-12-18T09:02:00.000-06:00

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
John 4:24

“True worship is not confined to any place or building on earth. It is not concerned with stained-glass windows, ecclesiastical garments, candles, liturgies, or incense. Rather, in genuine worship we pass from earth to heaven by faith, and there, in the presence of God, we pour out our souls in thanksgiving, praise, and homage to the Lord for all He is and for all He has done for us.”
Alone in Majesty by William MacDonald

dpp- 17 december

2011-12-18T08:55:00.000-06:00

Free wifi and unlimited ice tea refills... not a bad retreat on a drizzly gray day.

dpp- 16 december

2011-12-17T09:35:00.001-06:00

(update: the professional bird guy tells me that it's a mockingbird)

I think it might be a warbler, but it never sang for me and I can't decide. I sent a note to a warbler expert to see.
My husband says he thinks I might be turning into "one of those birdy people." My daughter says, "A birdiac." psheesh! who wouldn't take a picture of that cute little thing? :-)

dpp- 15 december

2011-12-15T20:22:00.000-06:00

a beautiful brand spankin' new library AND amnesty on fines, besides? How exciting is that?!

dpp- 14 december

2011-12-14T22:12:00.000-06:00

sometimes the hassle and conflict of gathering together for the candles and the reading just doesn't seem worth it, and then I remember...
this is why we need a Savior...

dpp- 13 december

2011-12-13T23:10:00.000-06:00

I think that is 20 games, 19-1.
And now, I think, not another game until next year.

phew.

dpp- 12 december

2011-12-13T09:08:00.000-06:00

the food was my favorite, but the fellowship was even more rich. we are blessed.

"veiled glory in a garb of flesh"

2011-12-12T07:35:00.000-06:00

But we can know that, though He emptied Himself of His position in heaven to become a man, He never emptied Himself of the attributes of deity. He did not become God minus some of His attributes; that would be impossible. Rather, He became God plus humanity. He did not lay aside the glory of deity; rather, He veiled that glory in a garb of flesh. If a prince leaves the royal palace to go and live in the slums, his position has changed, but he is still the same person. He can empty himself of his privilege place and veil his true identity, but he cannot empty himself of his personhood. So it was with the Lord Jesus. he did not consider His position with the Father in heaven something he had to hold on to at all costs. Instead, He came down to this planet as a man so that He might die for humankind. But He never ceased to have full knowledge of all things.
- from Alone in Majesty by William MacDonald

(art credit: Nativity relief prints by Eric Gill, in the Tate Collection)

dpp- 11 december

2011-12-11T21:47:00.000-06:00

400 tubas, euphoniums, baritones and sousaphones playing together makes for a pretty impressive sound.

(and who knew that an audience shaking their keys would sound so much like jingle bells...)

dpp- 10 december

2011-12-10T21:29:00.000-06:00

it was the rainiest of days, and as my kids pointed out, my heart was "two sizes too small." But when they laughed at my rant, I had to laugh too (even though I'm right! HA!). And besides, a basketball win, six quick points, time with the best of friends, another win, and soup waiting on the stove, that adds up to a pretty good day.

dpp- 9 december

2011-12-10T09:44:00.000-06:00

because what says "Christmas" like Santa Cougar?
:-)

dpp- 8 december

2011-12-08T22:26:00.000-06:00

if only all of life's mice were so gosh darned cute...!

dpp- 7 december

2011-12-08T07:06:00.000-06:00

The temperature dropped to around 38 before warming up. The girls insisted that it was "freezing" and had me get out the winter accessories. I don't miss the cold, but I sure miss the mitten maker...

You know you live in south Texas when...

2011-12-08T07:03:00.000-06:00

the weekly grocery ad.

(ingredients for tamales, which are one of my favorite foods EVER, but I've never actually made them...)

dpp- 6 december

2011-12-06T22:38:00.000-06:00

Bubbles, the coolest turtle ever.

dpp- 5 december

2011-12-05T23:23:00.000-06:00

there was a POP and a bunch of smoke, and then the oven would heat no more. Plan b took us to the grocery store. She loved the trick candles. :-)

dpp- 4 december

2011-12-04T23:50:00.000-06:00

it has been over a month now, and I'm still amazed, every single time, how many birds there are at that corner...

snowflakes!

2011-12-04T07:12:00.000-06:00

Today the high here at the edge of the US/Mexico border is predicted to reach 85. I'm entirely satisfied with "cutting" virtual snowflakes. It's the best part of snow- all the fun, none of the mess!

Create your own snowflake

DPP- 3 december

2011-12-03T22:29:00.000-06:00

My midwestern friends are sending me photos of snow... this is as close as I get to Winter Wonderland tonight!

DPP- 2 december

2011-12-02T23:15:00.000-06:00

I passed by this little old church half a dozen times before I could finally stop and take a photo. Each time I wondered what it would have been like to worship there back when...

DPP- 1 December

2011-12-02T23:14:00.000-06:00

I really didn't think he'd be the first photo, but really... why not? :-)

December Photo Project (DPP) 2011

2011-12-02T23:11:00.000-06:00

The December Photo Project is back!

A photo a day for the month of December, graciously sponsored by View from the Prairie Box.

And it's not too late to join in the fun- sign up today!

habit- 29 november

2011-12-02T09:22:00.000-06:00

javelina v. ref.
we pick the javelina.

advent

2011-11-29T09:09:00.000-06:00

"...if we barrel toward Christmas oblivious to the reality of our lives, bolstered by too much eggnog and running on adrenaline after late night shopping sprees, senses overwhelmed by too much sugar and too many jingle bells, well, then we will never really stop long enough to remember how much we need a Savior."
Amy Butler

And that is why I look to the advent season every single year- that time of waiting, of looking ahead, of waiting with expectation to the Savior long promised. The words of Isaiah 64:4 remind me, "for from of old they have not heard nor perceived by ear, neither has the eye seen a God besides Thee, who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him."

It seems everywhere I turn, there are reminders that this world will never truly satisfy. I am overwhelmed by the marketing and sales of the season, although tempted by the stuff. It seems impossible to be a peacemaker in a world of broken relationships, as someone is inevitably disappointed or plain offended. The lights shine bright, until they break in the closing of the gate. But despite all that, as I was reminded in the teaching from the pulpit this week, "Christ is the one who comes to bring restoration to the broken."

So at the end of the evening in the days leading up to Christmas, after the busyness of basketball games and soccer practice and choir rehearsal and comings and goings, my family gathers around the table and we take time to be still and focus, on the Christ-child who comes. Be sure, that time is never perfect either. Some are ready for bed. Some think the story takes too long. Some want to be somewhere else, doing something else. It is not about the moment, but rather, the promise.

In worship this past Sunday, we watched a young family light the first candle of Advent, and heard the words, "We light a candle to remind us that Jesus is the Light of the world The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

He comes.

(this year, again, my family is reading Jotham's Journey by Arnold Ytreeide, a story recommended to us long ago that holds us captive even today, and lighting the candles around the advent wreath.)

(photo: advent beeswax candles by mcandles on etsy)

habit- 28 november

2011-11-29T08:14:00.000-06:00

It was all fine until the blue bulb was smashed in the gate... we'll have to try it one more time.

habit- 27 november

2011-11-28T08:40:00.000-06:00

so sad to leave; so glad to be home.

habit- 26 november

2011-11-27T08:22:00.000-06:00

once inside, I was surprised by the light and the music. I could have sat there for a while... introvert at heart.

habit- 25 november

2011-11-26T09:10:00.000-06:00

I took hundreds of pictures, cheered at the Mistletoe Cam, rode death-defying coasters with my formerly veloxrotaphobic son, watched my girls feed the dolphins, and fell into bed exhausted.

habit- 24 november

2011-11-25T08:41:00.000-06:00

smitten! we are quite sure that there are no two little boys as wonderful in the entire world...

"Profoundly different"

2011-11-25T08:37:00.000-06:00

Some of us–whether we have experienced real unfairness or not–look at all of life through this lens of fairness. We are always assessing what we really deserve. We are always aware of other people’s successes or failures. We are always cognizant of whether we get recognized or ignored. We see the whole world and experience all of life through this lens of fairness—always sizing up, always calculating, always feeling like we are owed something by our friends, by our family, and by God.

But there’s another way to look at the world, another way to experience life, and that’s through the lens of grace. With these glasses on you’ll reckon that most days are a whole lot better than you deserve. And on the really hard days, you’ll fight to believe that God is working even this for good. With the glasses of grace, you’ll smile when other people succeed. Instead of experiencing life as a series of disappointments and occasions where you were not given the treatment you deserve, you’ll experience life as a gift. You’ll see grace all around you. You’ll celebrate the grace you see in someone else or given to someone else. It’s a profoundly different way of viewing the world.
- Kevin DeYoung, The Glasses of Grace, 25 November 2011

(photo credit: Vintage Black Rim Glasses photography print by CaptainCat on etsy)

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T14:43:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving is the way out of misery. I know this by the Word, and by empirical evidence.

All of the commands of Christ are not our burdens but our deliverance. Here are but a few:
•Be thankful (Colossians 3:15).
•Love one another (John 13:34).
•Forgive one another (Colossians 3:13).
•Confess your sins to one another (James 5:16).
•Sow generously (2 Corinthians 9:6).
•Look out for the interests of others (Philippians 2:4, 21).
•Cleanse yourself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit (2 Corinthians 7:1).
•Set your mind on things above and not things of the earth (Colossians 3:2).
•Walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16).

What a strangely wonderful way He has of delivering us from the hopelessness and despair of self-absorption. As we press into doing the commands, to actually “practicing the truth” (1 John 1:6), and as we press into “practicing righteousness” (1 John 3:7, 10), we experience our fears, regrets, and hang-ups falling away. We actually get to know Jesus better when we keep His commands:

“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments” (1 John 2:3).

I took my usual walk today, mindful of the holiday, and I thanked God for all kinds of random things, including strong legs to be able to walk and lungs to be able to vocalize his praise.

- Andree Seu, Delivering Us through His Commands, WORLDmag.com, 24 November 2011

Really, I don't think I am patient enough to stay still and type for as long as I could count thanksgivings. But at this moment, I'm thankful to be sitting in a sunny room, surrounded by family, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, with free internet.
And for my God, who is always and forever the same.

Wishing Thanksgiving blessings for all today...

habit- 23 november

2011-11-24T11:47:00.000-06:00

i do love a road trip.

habit- 22 november

2011-11-22T22:36:00.000-06:00

after a nap, I actually accomplished a list-full of tasks. I think we're ready to go.

habit- 21 november

2011-11-21T22:27:00.000-06:00

it was just a little bit disappointing that the customs guy didn't open up the trunk and see them all there and tell us how cute they are...

things that make me say "hmmmmmm"....

2011-11-20T21:26:00.000-06:00

Internet nuttiness.

I checked my email "spam" box, for the first time in a long time. There are the ads for Redbox, and Barnes & Noble, and Petsmart, which don't really qualify as "spam" but I'm completely ok that they end up there. There are the money offers, opportunities for me to make extra cash by doing data entry work, or "earn $$ every single day by just clicking your mouse...," or by putting ads on my blog. No thank you. Sadly, there are the offers to increase the size of certain (ahem...) body parts... NO thank you!!

And then there are the letters from Mrs. Mary Parker, with the title Asahlamaleku. They read something like-
Dear Beloved.

I am Mrs. Mary Parker an aging widow suffering from long time illness.

I have some funds I inherited from my late husband, the sum of 7.5 Million Ponds and I needed a very honest and God fearing person that will use the fund for God's work, I found your email address from the internet and decided to contact you. Please if you would be able to use the funds for the Lord's work, kindly reply me at my email.
Yours in the Lord,
Mrs.Mary Parker

Somehow, I don't think she means it.

habit- 19 november

2011-11-20T21:05:00.000-06:00

it always sounds so small- how do I fit "thankful" on one paper leaf?

habit- 19 november

2011-11-19T21:41:00.000-06:00

just the right kind of Saturday- waking up slowly, football radio on the internet, baking, clean up, basketball, a quick hello, supper from the crock pot, ready for Sunday.

"the perfect way"

2011-11-19T11:55:00.000-06:00

     Do you know what hurts so very much? It's love. Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain.
     There are two things we can do when that happens. We can kill the love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or, Corrie, we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.
     God loves Karel- even more than you do- and if you ask Him, He will give you His love for this man, a love nothing can prevent, nothing destroy. Whenever we cannot love in the old, human way, Corrie, God can give us the perfect way.
from The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom.

(oh the pearls in this book! My oldest kids are reading it as part of their 20th Century history studies and if you haven't read it, don't wait another day!)

habit- 18 november

2011-11-18T23:03:00.000-06:00

for a good part of the day, I felt like I needed to be held together with duct tape too. By afternoon, we both were back up to speed.

habit- 17 november

2011-11-17T15:51:00.000-06:00

baking pies is never a chore. never.

habit- 16 november

2011-11-16T21:05:00.000-06:00

I really don't know why anyone would have cranberries out of a can...

habit- 15 november

2011-11-16T21:01:00.000-06:00

we cheered and the time went by in a flash. it seemed like a good hurdle to get past.

habit- 13 november

2011-11-13T22:09:00.000-06:00

being a soccer mom, well, it can be complicated, as much because of the parents as the girls...

habit- 12 november

2011-11-13T21:59:00.000-06:00

I think we'd all be as happy if our best buddies came over for to spend the night.

habit- 11 november

2011-11-11T21:57:00.000-06:00

shhh... don't tell. It was medicinal. :-)