Safely Home

Many of you are already keeping up with baby Copeland's journey to this world and you know that she has already gone home to be well and whole in Jesus's arms. I just wanted to encourage you to go to the Farley's blog and watch the beautiful video that was put together to remember Copeland and read Boothe and Conor's heart felt letter to their precious daughter.

Rest

My children are mending and I have returned from the retreat that I am so blessed to have been able to attend and enjoy. Not only was the location of the Lodge beautiful, nestled in the rolling hills of Tennessee amidst the wonders of God's creation, but the company that I enjoyed was priceless. I got to be surrounded by women who love the Lord and whose heart's desire is to further His beautiful Kingdom by striving to act out exactly who they really are, princesses of the King.

As I relaxed, and spent time with God away from the normality that is my daily life, I began to see how He is trying to teach me what it means to rest in Him. Having sick kids just brings out the desire that is always lurking under my skin to be in control. Seth has told me before "Man, you are a control freak!" I have always called it being "efficient." When something happens and I am out of control such as in the case of having sick children, I become very stressed and I liturgically plead with God to do something about it, "now...please." Seth will occasionally ask me who it is that I trust and then I have to bashfully hang my head and reply quietly so as not to be overheard, because I realize that my actions have betrayed me. "God." I say.
When I am out of control, I know the Lord is in control.
When I think that I am in control, I'm not. The Lord is always in control. My head knows this. My heart knows this. I need to rest in Him. In His Sovereignty. In His power. In His perfect love. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

When I give over and surrender to the One who I know is in charge, there I find rest. When I let His words pour over me telling me who He is, how He is the faithful One that I can trust, there I find rest. When I praise Him for the work He has already done in conquering the grave and washing me clean, there I find rest.
Today I have started a new thing. Today and every Sunday after, I am going to praise Jesus and thank Jesus and acknowledge His provision in my life, but I am not going to ask Him for anything. Asking can be for the other days, but not for today. Sundays I am going to rest from all of my desire to control and I am going to trust the Lord to keep His promises and provide for me. I am going to rest in Him.
"Fear not for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel,
your Savior;" Isaiah 43:2

A Trip to the Dr.'s and a Trip Away

My kids are still sick today, sicker in fact. I am missing Bible study to take all three of them to the doctor's. I am just hoping we don't pick up anything else while we are there. We've already got plenty of viruses to deal with around here! Unless there is one huge monster virus that causes pink-eye, fever, upset stomach, sore throat, and croup. But I don't think so. I think all three kids went three different places and then proceeded to combine the little germs in to one big crock pot of disease.

Hopefully though, I will be o.k. to go on the Community Bible Study leadership retreat that has been planned for this weekend beginning tonight. I always grow so much at the retreats, and I do not want to get sick and miss it. I also don't want Seth to get sick and not be able to take care of the kids!
This is where we are going. The Lodge at Deer Run. Beautiful.

A Little Inspiration

I got this link off of Courtney's blog. This is a great video. Go watch it!

Emet and the Spoon

The baby is learning how to eat soup with a spoon. It was totally his idea, and I'm half proud and glad I don't have to spoon him anymore (which he actually doesn't let me do very often anyway; we just skip those foods) and half sad because there will be sooo much more mess now for me to clean up! Oh, the joys of rearing little ones!

Heroes Memory Loss

Last night was the Season 2 premier of Heroes, which I have been awaiting all summer. It was a good show, but I realized as I was watching it that I couldn't remember what happened on the Season 1 finale!

For instance, how did the politician guy become all despondent in a little run-down apartment? I thought he was supposed to become President. It seems like I vaguely remember that that didn't happen, but my memory is failing me as to why. Can anyone fill me in?

A Treat

I am home today with two sick kiddos, so I thought we all needed a little treat. I baked them some banana bread from the best banana bread recipe I have ever tried. It is from my mother's recipe files. Yum!


Sour Cream Banana Bread

3/4 cup butter
3 cups sugar
3 eggs
6 mashed bananas
4 & 1/2 cups sifted flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and bananas, mixing until blended. Fold in flour and then remaining ingredients in the order listed. Pour into two greased loaf pans and bake at 300 degrees for one hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean. cool on wire rack.

This bread is especially good with cream cheese!

Update on the Farley's

Today I just want to encourage any of you who will, to go to the Farley's blog and read it. Their daughter, Copeland, was born with Edward's syndrome, which makes living outside of the womb impossible for very long. They have been blessed to be able to bring her home from the hospital, but they realize their time with her is short. I realized that I had been hoping for God to work a miracle and cure Copeland of this disease, but now I see that He has been working miracles. The time that The Farely's have gotten to spend with her is a miracle, and an even bigger miracle, even bigger than Copeland being cured, is the miracle that God has done in Boothe and Connor's hearts, to exhort and praise Jesus's name despite the circumstances because they know the truth of God is above their worst fears. The miracle is in them. Jesus said, "..in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world!" John 16:33

The Tin Forest

One of our favorite books around here is The Tin Forest by Helen Ward and Wayne Anderson. It is a sweet, hopeful story with beautiful illustrations, about not giving up your dreams. Kaleb used to bring it to me quite often for me to read as his bedtime story, then he practiced learning how to read with it. Now it is one of Elijah's favorites and almost anytime I ask him to go pick something out for me to read, he returns with this book. We give it an A+.

A New Find

I have had Norah Jone's album Feels Like Home since it came out a few years ago, but I am embarrassed to say that I had only listened to the first half of the album...until today. I really don't know why this is, I mean, I like Norah Jones, especially her jazzier songs, but I don't often find myself listening to a lot of slower music. And it's also kind of funny that I recently posted about some other folky, bluegrass music and now I'm doing it again, even though I would definitely not call myself a regular bluegrass listener. With that said, when I listened to the seventh track on Norah's album and the familiar, nasally twang of Dolly Parton's voice chimed in, I was thrilled because their voices sounded so good together and I was shamed that I had never gotten through the whole CD before to find this song. So, there you have it. It always pays to listen to the whole album before you stash it away.

What I've been up to

Here's a little sneak peak of some of the things that I have been doing this week. Sorry, though, both of these pieces were commissioned, so they're already sold. Now I'll just be working on an upcoming show, although I'm still open for some more commissions! Have a great weekend everybody!

A Morning of Glory

I have been irritated at the state of our hedges because we have let them get slightly over-grown. I have also been noticing a pesky vine that has been weaving itself unbidden into the hedge nearest the front door. But this morning when I stepped outside, a beautiful sight awaited me despite the fact that "it's not supposed to be that way." The intruding vine had erupted into Morning Glories all over the place! I was immediately reminded of God's mercy and how he can redeem even the most formidable things. How amazing that he can take something neglected in our lives and work a miracle to showcase His glory! "Into Your hands I commit my spirit, redeem me oh Lord, the God of Truth!" Psalm 31:5

Play For Me

My son and his friend from band (who also lives on our street, practiced on our front lawn yesterday afternoon while a group of the neighborhood kids played audience. It was the cutest concert!

Happy Birthday Annalise!

Today is my little sister's birthday. I love my sister because she is so beautiful and kind. She is a good friend to people and she is an incredible musician. She is very creative and fun to be around. She is an exceptional aunt to my boys. Happy Birthday Lisi!

The Be Good Tanyas

The Be Good Tanyas are a group from Vancouver and I really like their harmonies. They remind me of writing and singing with my sister a long time ago...

Too Cool Shades

I am loving these wooden sunglasses from Beklina. Too bad they're $350.

Another Lighting Choice

I keep doing posts about lamps that I like because I am still needing lamps for our bedroom side tables. I thought I had found that lamps that I wanted (see them here) but now I'm not so sure after seeing this phantom lamp from CB2. Ooooh, the decision is hard...but I still have to save up, so that will give me time to decide. Which one do you like best?

The Fab Four

If you knew me in Junior High or High school, you probably knew that you didn't have look far to find Sarah, Mandy and Amy. The four of us were together a lot. We were the four who would set up the tent on my parents deck and "camp out" and then walk to McDonalds for breakfast before we had even slept a wink. We rode around in my maroon Oldsmobile Cutlass that over-heated and stalled at every stop light, we constantly tried to sneak into various pools after hours, and we were not shy about performing singing and dancing routines in the church talent shows. We made up ridiculous fake names for each other and we were always making silly faces that no one else understood except for us. It has been twelve years since I have seen Mandy, and even longer than that since the four of us were together, until last night. Amy, Mandy, Sarah and I got together again for dinner and to catch up and reminisce. It was so great to see all of us together again. A better reunion I couldn't have asked for.




The four of us in Junior High: From the top: Me, Mandy, Sarah and Amy

Mandy, Sarah and Amy last night (I'm behind the camera).

"Bicycle, Bicycle, I Want To Ride My Bicycle"

Yesterday, I went with a friend and my brother's bicycle to go riding at Shelby Bottoms. There are several paved bike paths there, a short loop (about 1.25 miles)that I like to walk with my kids or run and a longer path that is about 10 miles to and back. We rode all the trails and a few dead ends. Soon we will be able to ride across the river (see photo by Dennis Carney). I can't wait for a longer trail! I was so excited to get out yesterday, I think I'll have to save up for my own bike! (But I will have to see if they make bikes with a more padded seat because I am sore after 12 miles on that TREK).

Sax Player in the Family

My oldest son has decided to join the band at school and play the saxophone. He got his instrument last night. He is very excited.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is my Dad's 57th birthday! This is a picture of him with my little bro. He's a great Dad and I love him very much.

Namaste Yoga

Here is a preview of the yoga show that I love. I do it almost everyday.

Mom Styling

I adore the styling of the last half of the new Anthropologie catalogue. It reminds me of pictures of my sweet mom in the late sixties and early seventies. Go Mommy!

The Boys

My big boys got their hair cut this weekend when they stayed with their Mimi and Papa (my parents). They look so handsome. Now we can see their sweet (and sometimes not so sweet) faces!

Practicing Pictures

Many of you know that I recently got a new camera, with which I had so much fun on our trip. Thanks to Nicole on A Little Sussy, I have had some ideas on where to start in improving my picture taking skills. I have been practicing my composition and "the rule of thirds". She is also teaching her class about speeding up and slowing down shutter speeds to capture motion, but I don't know how to that. If anyone can give me a tip on that, it would be most appreciated! These are two of my favorite pictures that I took on Saturday (neither of us).

A Day at the Beach

I mentioned in my last post that we would be flying to Orlando to pick up our mini van. Well, we did, but there were a few hitches on the way. When we arrived, the guy who said he would be picking us up with the car became a no-show and we couldn't reach him on his phone. Apparently they had misplaced the key to the vehicle so they couldn't bring the car anyway. We were stuck at the airport until a guy from the dealership took pity on us and came to pick us up. They finally gave us a loaner car so we could get to the condo we had booked in Daytona. Seth convinced them to bring the car to us when they got the key the next day. They finally complied, thank goodness!
Waiting at the airport for a ride:


We had a few problems the next day too. We got trapped in the condo tower's garage for a whole hour (I thought we were going to die in there) because we couldn't find the button to open the garage door and we couldn't figure out how to get back into the elevators. We did escape eventually, and we enjoyed a rainy, overcast morning on the water. The next thing that happened, though, was that Seth took his phone (it was in his pocket) into the water. I bet you can figure out what happened to it. Salt water and cell phones aren't compatible. Bummer. We got over that one and continued to enjoy our day when we ran into the waves one more time before retiring to the room and Seth lost the key to the condo in the ocean. It was, yeah, you guessed it, in his pocket. Great. We ended up calling for help on the emergency phone in elevator. And we now have a 95$ bill for a replacement key.
Despite all of our setbacks (and there were actually a few more, but I'm tired of writing them) we had a lovely day together on the beach. The ever crashing waves always remind me that despite the fact that "life comes at you fast" our God is never changing. When I am having a bad day, he is still the same, loving me and being sovereign in His plan for my life. "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17





You can see more of my pictures of this trip on my flickr account.

New Car

Seth and I are flying to Orlando tomorrow to pick up our new mini van that we bought on eBay (thanks to the help from my wonderful Father who lives in eBay land). I'm so excited, for one, to go on a short little trip with my husband, and also to get a bigger car! My poor, poor children have had to suffer, cramped up in the back of our sedan. Especially Kaleb who always has to sit between two car seats. So now, seven seats!

Although I am excited about a new car, and true, we did get a good deal on it, I found myself longing to drive the red station wagon in the movie that we watched last night, Volver (which, incidentally, is a good movie.) I don't know what it is about this red station wagon, as I have never before wanted to drive a station wagon, but wants and desires sometimes have no reason. I guess I just liked the way it looked in the movie...

On my heart...

Today I am thinking about the Farleys, whose blog I began reading from a link off of Melissa's blog. We sit in front of Boothe's parents at church but I really don't know them...But somehow I feel so connected. I'm sure the connection is because we share in the body of Christ, because I don't know how any of their suffering feels. Her words are grieving to me and also somehow comforting as they make me yearn for God. All of the details of my life seem utterly insignificant and I just want to focus on Jesus Christ who "being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father." Philippians 3:5
Jesus poured out his precious, perfect life so that I wouldn't have to. He has taken away the sting of death, because his love is so great for me and you that he wanted us to live forever... His love outweighs my agenda, and I'm so grateful that He has opened my eyes to see it.

Melons

We grew cantaloupes in our front yard this year. We harvested three good ones already, but the vine is at it again! There are six more growing right now and three watermelons! I didn't even know about the watermelons. I think Seth just threw out some seeds and they germinated. I hope our melons get to finish their growing cycle 'cause it's nice to just go out in the yard and get the food rather than have to go all the way to the store!

House Guests

My friend Kristen and her sweet baby girl, Zoya, have been visiting from Vail (her husband, Dimitri, was here for a few days too.) They are going home this week and I'm gonna be sad. We have had a great time. I have felt like I have been on vacation. I'll miss you, Kristen, when you leave!

No Spinner Necessary!

A friend of mine uses this salad bag to keep her greens fresh after washing them. I think I'm gonna have to get one because I don't have a salad spinner and washing and drying romaine is not my idea of a good time! You can find one at Silvermark.

The Wedding

Last night was Paige and Jesse's wedding at the Dyer Observatory. It was simple and beautiful and we had a lovely time. These are some of my favorite photos, but it was really hard to choose, so you can look at the rest of them on my flickr account.