a gift

this week our small group was meeting for the first time in about 6 weeks. busy lives and the challenge of getting 8 calendars to match with an unscheduled friday night led us to a drought of get-togethers. so on monday i decided that instead of our usual pot luck style dinner, i wanted to cook the whole meal, a harvest feast, as a gift. i had all the recipes that i wanted to try. and i wanted everyone to just come and receive. using the good china, creating a beautiful centerpiece, lots of candles, and some of my favorite people at our table...it just sounded like a perfect idea.

and then the week began. and what felt like a gift on monday turned into a burden.

how does that happen, that the challenge, the difficulty of carrying out the plan, completely overshadows and swallows up the joy that set the whole thing in motion? as soon as i recognized the shifting in my heart i decided to fight back. to stand firm in the joy of giving the gift instead of collapsing into the earthquake of toil and hassle.

and there was some hassle. like my carrot cake mysteriously exploding in my oven. that was a huge mess. and an enormous inconvenience. but with a little perspective and gratefully having all the ingredients to make another one, i was able to chuckle about it. not a martha stewart moment. more like seinfeld which i actually like better anyway.

the dinner was wonderful. just like i hoped. fantastic food, wonderful friends, authentic and vulnerable conversation, beauty all around, a glorious harvest feast.

busy, busy

i am slammed today, stuff back to back to back. and that's great. it makes me appreciate and depend on the power of the Holy Spirit and recognize how God surprises me with beauty to encourage me in the hard places of life.

like this glorious bush which reminded me of the burning bush. beautiful!

hope your day is full of His power and beauty too.

grateful...

for a God who sees the orphan and for those love them. remembering last year in africa explaining halloween and trick or treating to precious orphans.

me: kids dress in costumes and go to the doors of their neighbors and say "trick or treat" and they get candy.

them: for nothing?

me: right. just for being cute kids in costumes.

them: one piece?

me: sometimes more. and then they go to the next house and do it again.

them: how much candy do they get?

me: ummm, alot.

them: wow.

wishing i was there to give them not just candy but love.

hooray for mondays #2

seriously lame title. not feeling so hooray this morning. but i do have the next of my 3 music faves to tell you about.

jj heller. i listened to her cd painted red repeatedly a year ago while in africa. it was a beautiful soundtrack to an amazing trip. she has a rich, full voice and her song lyrics are thick with meaning. love it.

and now she has a new cd! hooray!

available on itunes.

hooray for mondays!

ok not really. but hooray for great music! i have 3 great artists to tell you about. here's #1:

jason gray

everything sad is coming untrue

fabulous! you will love it.

love the prodigal and the golden boy

available on itunes or jasongraymusic.com

and you're welcome. more to come....

seasons of travel

in life, just like in nature, there are seasons. right now it is fall, although the weather in colorado has been a little summerish. and at the morrison's we are in travel season. for 6 weekends in a row, either david or i will be gone. this creates great upset in the home ecosystem as evidenced by 2 things in david's absence:

1. light bulbs burn out. hard to reach ones. light bulbs that you didn't even know existed. applies to appliances and cars also.

2. dogs go on high alert which creates alot of gastrointestinal disturbances. ie: farting, barfing and generally being skittish and barky.

they might look relaxed but trust me. they could heave at any moment.

when david is gone i catch up on tv watching that he is uninterested in (project runway, weird indie movies), stay up even later than usual reading, and get lots of sewing done. all good.

but not as good as having him home. looking on the bright side, at least i don't barf.

beauty

a summer sunset in colorado...just driving to the grocery store and the beauty of the Creator painting the sky was astounding. i had to quickly pull over and try to capture the beauty with my phone. why? why does beauty, even in the daily occurrences of life still overtake our hearts?

i think c.s. lewis describes it well:

"We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words — to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it."

we want Him. He is lavish in His beauty and in His love.

what have i been doing?

besides the usual ministry activities-speaking at retreats and writing, and the usual home activities-being overwhelmed by laundry and avoiding cleaning, what have i been up to??

• thrilled to display my quilts in the art gallery at greenwood community church

• speaking with david at a marriage retreat

• welcoming annie home from africa

• making interesting art with my His to create group (more about this later)

• baseball! cheering for the rockies!!

• sending michael off to study in germany!

and basically enjoying the summer...lots of dinners on the patio, short trips to the mountains, city park jazz with friends, and keeping really random office hours. happy summer!

happy easter!

as a little girl one of my favorite parts of easter was the easter outfit. this picture was taken on easter sunday 1965. i had on my new easter dress with the stiff crinoline lining, flower hat, white gloves and white patent shoes. i remember waiting for daddy to come out for this picture and twirling. and twirling. and being delighted at having a special daddy and a twirly dress.

easter is my absolute favorite holiday. i still love the easter dress. but i adore a Risen Jesus!

what a Special Daddy we have! what a shocking, crazy way to love us.

happy, happy easter!

good but hard friday, harder saturday

saturday. a day of rest. the Sabbath.

the Sabbath was designed by God to remind of us on our dependence and rest in Him.

that saturday, 1 day after Jesus died, the day He lay still and cold in a tomb, must have been unbelievably hard for His family, His friends.

they must have struggled to remember each word He spoke, like sorting through a massive jigsaw puzzle and trying to understand how they go together. and then discovering this horrible shaped piece, this crucified and dead piece, how does that fit in?

the presence of His absence must have been overwhelming.

how difficult to grieve for Him but also to be so at a loss to understand.

how hard to rest and trust, to Sabbath.

and how very much like our lives. we struggle to make sense of what happens in our lives and just like the first disciples and friends of Jesus what we need is not fuller knowledge but fuller trust.

Easter is at work in the darkness, in the grave, in what appears to be dead and hopeless. the beauty of redemption lays hidden, waiting to explode in it’s Easter glory.

The gospel message says,

"You don't live in a mechanistic world ruled by necessity;

you don't live in a random world ruled by chance;

you live in a world alive by the God of Exodus and Easter.

He will do things in you that neither you nor your friends would have supposed possible."

from Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work, by Eugene Peterson

some thoughts...

outside my window... it is dark and snowy. actually not so dark cause the snow makes things brighter.

i am thinking... about getting in bed and reading.

i am thankful for...a snow day today!

i am wearing... jammies. that’s a given. i am always wearing jammies if i am at home.

i am remembering...things i forgot to do.

i am going...to get my hair cut tomorrow. that raises the proverbial question: bangs or no bangs?

from the kitchen...zip. didn’t make dinner so no dishes to deal with.

i am hoping...that we don’t get more snow on saturday that would mess up michael’s flight home.

i am wondering...what to wear tomorrow.

i am noticing...how much my dog sleeps. seriously. she is a slug.

pondering these words...”Father forgive them…”

around the house...there is a lot of clutter. which i think is a sign of life. my house looks lived in and loved.

one of my favorite things...is a snowstorm! it came so quickly with dramatic impact and beauty and completely rearranged my day. thanks for the fun change God!

austin!

i am leaving tomorrow to go to austin and speak to a MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) group.

i love MOPS!

i love austin. david and i lived there when we met, fell in love and got married. great memories!

i love seeing my friend reenie and staying at her house...despite her recent rodent issues. and i am not talking mickey mouse.

i love shopping on south congress and exploring new knitting and quilting stores.

and i LOVE this:

obsessed with color

i know it's weird. i get a little fixated. on lots of stuff....

the ice from sonic...my converse tennies...silver bracelets...jason gray's song "the prodigal and the golden boy"...carl edwards...my crate & barrel yellow chair...my dog button...iphone apps...cake balls...lost...you get the idea.

oh and colors. i get obsessed with certain colors. i've had pink going on since i was 3 and i got to choose pink carpet for my bedroom(my parents were awesome!) now i have become fixated on these colors:

in case you've missed the almost non-stop coverage, these are the colors of the 2010 winter olympics. i can hardly focus on the events because my eye is just drawn to the athletes little bib things or to the ice rink wall. strange i know.

i must create something blue green. it's calling to me. and when something is calling to me like that, i pay attention. sometimes it is just because it is interesting to me and that's it. (like cake balls.) but sometimes, it is because the Lord has something to say to me in it and i want to hear from Him. that takes intentional listening. i don't want to miss what He is saying.

olympic fashion

this is hands down my favorite olympic moment of 2010.

these guys are the norwegian curling team. fantastic!

curling is awesome. you gotta love a sport that involves a little sweeper thing and a rock with a handle. it looks a like janitorial shuffleboard on ice.

and seriously, the pants are amazing. i love a sport that you can play in jammies.

LOVE IT!

Running on Full

This past month has been crazy busy. On top of my regular 3 Bible studies a week teaching schedule, I added multiple speaking engagements and retreats…I gave 8 messages in 5 days at the wackiest stretch of busyness. Add to that, the wife/mom duties, a few quilt clients, planning for fall Bible studies, support raising and an occasional shower. And then pile on Club Valentino, our 4 night staff/elder dinner theater show (which is a blast but a TON of work).

I should be morphing into the Road Runner with legs that look like a blurry wheel and I should be precariously close to a breakdown. But I am not. Why is that? Two reasons I think.

1. Wisdom…knowing what the essentials are for my survival. Here’s what I need each day:

• Jesus- time to hear from Him, tune my heart to His so my heart and my schedule becomes His not mine. My grip on my limited perspective of my life loosens and lightens when I hear from Him.

• People- connecting with those I love, David, my kids, friends, people whose path I cross.

• Creativity- just a smidge of time to doodle, sew, knit, sing, dance, to see a little beauty and celebrate Him in it!

2. Grace…God gives me freedom to say "yes" to too much or "no" to things I should say "yes" to and then He graciously forgives my goof-ups, makes beauty out of my mess and equips me to do the things He asks of me. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for His grace.

When I rest in these two things, I am at peace in the midst of a crazy busy month! (But p.s.-It is easier said than done though, for I find that I am more inclined to try too do all things through me, than to live out His grace and wisdom.)

looking back

2009 highlights

began kaleidoscope ministry

created two new Bible studies

started the teacher’s lounge

gave the sermon at GCC four times

retired from long arm quilting business

switched to a mac

created art group: His to Create

celebrated 23 years with david

reorganized my studio

mike bought his first car and started second year in college

annie graduated and began work in africa

liza became our 3^rd driver

max is now taller than me

travelled to Africa

loved more, gave more, risked more, learned more, created more

my H2C group at a painting class