Quietness and Trust

The Six-Word Memoirs

2011-09-16T22:22:00.003-06:00

One might argue that economy in writing necessarily causes meaning to be lost. However, Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser have shown that messages can be short on words while deep in meaning. Founders of the online magazine SMITH, they asked the world to send in six-word memoirs. ... Over 15,000 people responded to the challenge. Some notable examples posted on SMITH include these:

"My second-grade teacher was right." - Janelle Brown
"Secret of life: Marry and Italian." - Nora Ephron
"Took scenic route, got in late." - Will Blythe
"Became my mother. Please shoot me." - Cynthia Kaplan [April's note: LOL]
"It's pretty high. You go first." - Alan Eagle

(From Managerial Communications by Geraldine Hynes)

If you had to write a six-word memoir, what would it be?

Jesus was an ineffective communicator

2011-07-20T16:44:00.001-06:00

"...Do you ever think about what an ineffective communicator Jesus was? Think about it. He could have been speaking to 5,000 people every night. He could have been filling hills and shores and city squares constantly. Instead, he wasted his time at dinner with 12 people. Instead, he called individuals out of trees or chatted up one person at the well. And these weren’t powerful, influential people who could have dramatically helped his cause with their networks. He wasn’t connecting with “connectors.” These were sinners, tax collectors and fishermen. That seems counterintuitive to really building a platform. Why did he do it?

Because I think he knew how important relationships are. I think he knew that if you build a platform and when you stand on it no one really knows you, you’re alone. There might be a crowd of people around you, but if nobody knows you, that’s the worst kind of loneliness there is. I think he knew the value of a friendship."

~Jon Acuff

Lessons from a bike (part deux)

2011-06-22T17:41:00.003-06:00

When one is riding one's bike in cottonwood shedding season and in gnat season, it is well to remember these words of wisdom that apply to all of life...

It is best to keep your mouth shut as much as possible.

(Told you I'd be posting these... ;-D)

Sweet summer

2011-06-06T10:14:00.003-06:00

No price is set on the lavish summer
June may be had by the poorest comer.
~James Russell Lowell

Lessons from a bike

2011-05-31T13:21:00.003-06:00

I'm biking to and from my summer college classes this year. At nearly 17 miles round-trip, this means there is a lot of time to think and, as I'm one of those annoying people who can find Significant Lessons in even the most basic of tasks, it is inevitable that I will think of some on my bike this summer. Consider yourself warned.

Here's the first one.

There are literally hundreds of miles of bike paths in Colorado. There are also, apparently, thousands of Serious Bikers in the state, too. To be a Serious Biker, you have to either own a bike that cost more than $500 or be willing to strut out in public in one of those fluorescent, leave-nothing-to-the-imagination biking outfits. (Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about.) At any time of day and in any kind of weather, if you're on a bike path, you can be sure to see solo Serious Bikers and packs of Serious Bikers. By my highly-scientific calculations, about 91.7% of the riders on bike paths are, in fact, Serious Bikers.

So here's the thing...when I'm scraping along (literally) on my $50 big-box-store bike (hey, if you were carrying a backpack whose weight amounts to 15% of your body weight, you'd be slow, too...don't judge), I'm kind of like a steeplechase hazard. Not really appreciated, but there nonetheless, and you have to get by me somehow. Just for the record, Serious Bikers, people like me exist, and we're not going away any time soon (at least not so long as biking is cheaper than filling a car with gold...er...gasoline).

So here's the good part...for the most part, the Serious Bikers are really nice to slowpokes like me. I have never been run off the road and here's the best part - when one of them is coming up behind you, they always give you a little call out, "On your left!" so you know not to make any sudden moves to the left, and everyone avoids a collision. They could yell, "Out of the way!" or perhaps the more polite but less descriptive, "Excuse me!" Or, of course, there's the military favorite, "Make a hole!" But no. In three little words, they let you know they're there, that they're about to pass you, and what side they're coming from.

And that's how it should be in life. (See, I told you I was all about the over-analysis and hyper-spiritualization.) Communicate. Be polite, but be clear and direct. Do not use ten words when three will do. And never run somebody off the road because you were silent when there should have been speech.

Twelve Apostles, Australia

2011-03-19T16:39:00.003-06:00

I have been so blessed to visit many beautiful places around the world. Chantel's blog post today reminded me of one of them...the 12 Apostles along the Great Ocean Road in Australia.

Where I'm From Wednesday

2011-02-23T10:43:00.000-07:00

Where I'm from, families display hundreds-of-years-old doll sets, which have been passed down through generations, every February in preparation for Girls' Day in March.

Winter comfort food

2011-02-03T12:26:00.005-07:00

It's snowing. Again.

I dashed to the post office this morning and realized, as my fingers froze to the steering wheel, that I hadn't set foot outside the house since Sunday. A very good thing, when daytime highs are in the negative range. Today is a warm spell, though...the thermometer registered all of six degrees when I got up this morning! It's snowing again now...

I've been hunkered down in the basement all morning studying calculus. I love my little study area, which looks out over my winter-napping garden. My guinea pig is nearby and talks to me every now and then (usually to demand something...more grass...vegetables...pet me...let me out into my playpen...). The only problem with my study area is that, well, it's in the basement. And, after many days of sub-zero temperatures, the floor is a wee bit chilly. <--colossal understatement

Days like today (and feet as cold as mine) call for warm and filling comfort food, and one of my favorites is rice pudding. We got the recipe years ago from the side of a bag of rice. Living in Japan, the recipe was always the preferred method of getting rid of leftover cooked rice after dinner. We don't eat rice as often now that we live in the US, but it still gets made several times every winter.

Mid-Winter Rice Pudding

3 c. cooked rice
2 1/2 c. milk
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
3 TBSP butter
3/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 c. raisins or chopped dates
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Combine rice, milk, sugar, butter, and nutmeg. Cook over medium heat until thick, 20-25 min., stirring often. (Do not allow to boil hard, or pudding will be grainy.) Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and raisins/dates.

If, by some remote chance, you have leftovers, reheat by putting in a pan on the stove with a little more milk.

We always eat short-grain white rice in our house, and hence, always use short-grain white rice for this recipe. I tried using brown rice once. Don't. It's yucky. (Well, brown rice in general is yucky, but that's another subject entirely...) We get our short-grain white rice in the ethnic food section at our local grocery store. I can't imagine how this would turn out with long-grain rice. (Come to think of it, I can't imagine how anyone eats long-grain white rice, period. Yes, I freely admit I am a rice snob. But I digress...again...)

If your family is like mine and there are people who don't like raisins (umm...::raises hand::), let them serve themselves after you've stirred in the vanilla but before you add the raisins. (We never use dates since this recipe is usually a last-minute creation, and dates are not something we keep in the pantry.)

Also, if someone in your family is on a restricted diet (umm..::raises hand:: again), you can go with a modified version which, in my opinion, is actually pretty much as good as the original.

Substitute:
Almond milk for cow's milk
Maple syrup for brown sugar (the extra liquid doesn't seem to make any difference...yay!)
Coconut oil for butter

Winter comfort food at its finest.

Maple Cinnamon Trail Mix

2011-01-25T13:02:00.006-07:00

I've made three or four batches of this trail mix since the beginning of the year (when I first made this recipe) because all the ingredients are on the wheat-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, soy-free, caffeine-free diet I'm on. It's really simple. You should try it. (Do not be afraid of the loooong explanatory paragraph. That's just me being verbose. The recipe really is simple.)

Maple Cinnamon Trail Mix

(All measurements are approximate.)

2 - 2 1/2 c. rolled oats
1 - 1 1/2 c. almonds (whole or sliced...or both)
1 - 1 1/2 c. raisins

1-2 TBSP coconut oil (or you can use butter, but coconut oil is healthier)
3/4 c. maple syrup
1-2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Put the last three ingredients in a small saucepan and heat until oil is melted. While it's heating, combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Pour the maple syrup mixture over the dry ingredients and stir to mix well. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper, and spread the mixture over it in an even layer. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from oven and stir. Return to oven for 15 minutes, and then stir again. If it's not done at this point, put back in the oven for another five to ten minutes and stir again. Repeat until it's done toasting. How will you know it's done toasting? It will turn a wonderful, golden-brown color, your raisins will start to puff up, and you will smell a rich, maple-y, toasty aroma. You DO NOT want a dark brown color, black shriveled raisins, and a burnt smell. That means it's overdone (duh). Ask me how I know.

I eat this plain as a quick snack, or with almond milk just like granola. I love it either way!

I have been experimenting with soaking the oats and almonds first to make them more digestible, with not-quite-satisfactory results. I mean, it's still fine, but the oats and nuts don't have quite the fabulous crunch that they do when you use them un-soaked. I'm trying to figure out the right combination of oven temperature and letting them dry out before toasting to get the texture I want.

(Learn more about soaking grains and nuts at Passionate Homemaking.)

What can separate us?

2011-01-13T13:15:00.006-07:00

I came home yesterday after six days of friendship, sunshine, below-zero temperatures, laughter, fun, trying new things, and experiencing the grace of God in new and unexpected ways.

I'm always a little sad on days like today. Just me, myself, and I at home feels quiet and lonely after nearly a week of being a part of a big family tripping over each other in a mountainside dollhouse. I miss someone's laugh. I miss another's hugs. I miss special facial expressions, and favorite phrases, and inside jokes, and the many hands that make a load both light and fun in the doing.

But I am comforted.

The day before we all headed our separate ways, scattering across the state and the country, I read Romans 8 in my devotions. Verses 38 and 39 have always had special meaning for me on the path God has taken me in this life, and He is using them afresh in my heart today.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Yes, the house is a little too quiet today. Yes, I am lonely for these dear ones that I love all the more in every time we have together. What I am clinging to today, though, is the fact that I will never, never, be separated from God and His love. He is here, today, right now. He is my Friend, my Brother, and my Helper. What's more...He loves me.

I can't ask for a greater promise and a greater truth than this.

Cooking for the soul

2010-10-25T14:06:00.001-06:00

I love my new kitchen. Seriously. But...I haven't used it much yet. After we moved, it was under construction for so many weeks. By the time it was finished, I was in the throes of preparing for a month-long vacation, and cooking unfortunately ended up near the bottom of my priority list. A lot of days, it was cold cereal for breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner. One of my goals for this fall is to get back into my healthy eating habits.

To that end, here is the spinach frittata I made for lunch. The recipe called for goat cheese, but, since I don't usually keep that stocked in my refrigerator (*cough, cough*), I used Swiss instead. I also more or less halved the recipe (it's hard to make half a recipe when it calls for nine eggs...), which still made plenty. These things are best consumed while they're fresh, in my opinion. (And yes, we do use 1970's olive green and gold china for everyday in our house... Hee...)

Amid all this cooking, I have discovered something. I think I knew it before, but I forgot. Cooking is, quite simply, good for the soul. You take a bunch of unrelated ingredients, mix them up, and something yummy and nutritious (hopefully) results. Kind of what God does in our lives...puts a bunch of seemingly unrelated events and circumstances together, mixes them up, and in the end, it's all good.

The View from My Window

2010-10-20T21:58:00.004-06:00

One of the things I'm most thankful for in our new house is that it has a walk-out basement. I can see our yard and my garden from my desk and from my sewing workspace. The "mushroom life" (as my dad called it!) in our previous house was just so...mushroom-y. I am loving seeing the leaves change outside my window! I also love the natural sunshine that streams in all morning and early afternoon.

October

2010-10-09T16:10:00.002-06:00

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn't it?"

~Anne Shirley, Anne of Green Gables

New House Progress

2010-08-18T10:09:00.008-06:00

We have been living in the Big Pink House for two months now. Six weeks ago, a demolition crew appeared at our door at barely 8AM to begin the process of remodeling our kitchen. We are finally, almost, nearly done. Care to see?

First, let's all remember the BEFORE (cue dramatic music):

Notice the worn, light oak floors, pickled wood cabinets, clashing, heavy dark granite (which we learned is called "Ubatuba"...heehee...), and little counter space considering the size of the kitchen. Also, the only oven was a microwave-sized wall oven barely large enough for a cookie sheet, much less one of my sister's giant cake pans or a Thanksgiving turkey. Most of the island was covered by a barely-functional and impossible-to-clean glass cooktop.

In progress, the entire kitchen was gutted to the bare walls

And now for the AFTER:

Cherry cabinets with a cranberry glaze, light-colored granite, and refinished floors. I'm also so happy about having a new refrigerator that DOESN'T make dying moose sounds (as my sister called them).

On the other side of the kitchen is the new gas range and full-size wall oven

Obviously, there is still some work to do. The light that used to be above the eat-in table will not always dangle from the ceiling like that. ;-) One day, I hope we will get rid of it entirely and put in pendant lights above the island. Also, the holes in the wall behind the sink? Those aren't staying, either. ;-) We haven't picked out tile for the backsplash yet, but hopefully that will happen soon.

Drinking smoothies like it's summer

2010-04-15T12:46:00.003-06:00

I love a smoothie for lunch on a summer afternoon. It's not quite summer here yet, but I'm drinking them this week anyway. (My motivation was that e had some spinach in the fridge that I knew was going to go bad.) I'm typing this and sipping at the same time...mmmmmmm...

Here are my highly-technical ingredients:

♥ A couple spoonfuls of plain (non-sweetened) yogurt
♥ About 1/2 can of coconut milk
♥ About a cup of fresh spinach
♥ A large drizzle of maple syrup
♥ Three frozen bananas

Blend the first four until the spinach is all blended, then add the bananas. I like to add a nice little dollop of coconut milk on top to make it pretty. I'm all about pretty food.

How to Get Home Projects Done {When You are Really Busy!}

2010-04-07T10:02:00.004-06:00

I am a regular reader of "The Inspired Room" (and I've combed the archives there more than once since we bought our new house!). Today's post is How to Get Home Projects Done {When You are Really Busy!}, which was exactly what I needed to hear. In the midst of research papers, exams, being self-employed, and fulfilling my ministry responsibilities, the just the idea of getting any arranging/organizing/decorating done in the new house has begun to make me feel tired. It doesn't help that I am a (recovering) perfectionist, and want everything to be done and "just right" (as Goldilocks would say) all at once. Melissa's post today helped bring me some perspective, and not just for home decorating but any projects I have going in life.

Where I'm From Wednesday

2010-04-07T07:00:00.000-06:00

Where I'm from, getting from the parking lot into church on Sunday requires a short walk through a traditionally-landscaped Japanese garden.

2010-04-04T06:32:00.000-06:00

He is Risen!

Moving...and the beginning of adventures in remodeling/decorating

2010-04-01T13:48:00.004-06:00

My parents signed the papers yesterday, making this house officially ours. Our current plan is to continue living in our current (paid-for) house while we do renovations on the new one, and move into the new one only after we have either finished remodeling the kitchen or we find renters for our current house (whichever comes first). Not only is the house peachy-keen (er...not so much) on the outside, but it is a lot of shades of peach on the inside. Now, we have nothing especially against peach, but this is a bit MUCH.

On my way home from dropping my sister off at work this morning, I picked up some paint chips and color idea booklets at Home Depot. I think I have *almost* convinced my family to give me free reign to decorate and choose colors. Almost. ;-) Of course, I will want their input.

I have only been to the house once, when we went for a second showing with our real estate agent. That was about two months ago. I really want to get over there to see what is coming up in the garden! Maybe this weekend...

Where I'm From Wednesday

2010-03-31T15:28:00.000-06:00

Where I'm from, you can get a balloon with ears for free, just because you're cute (and blonde).

Where I'm From Wednesday

2010-03-24T15:27:00.000-06:00

Where I'm from is beautiful.

Where I'm From Wednesday

2010-03-17T15:23:00.000-06:00

Where I'm from, a family outing in spring means dressing up to match your sister and the cherry blossoms, and going for a walk in the park.

Where I'm From Wednesday

2010-03-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

Where I'm from, cherry blossoms line the ocean inlets, and fishing boats go out every day for a catch.

Read the original post

Where I'm From Wednesday

2010-03-03T15:21:00.000-07:00

Where I'm from, there is a park with cherry blossoms and a castle on the hill.

Where I'm From Wednesday

2010-02-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

I'm from a place where the copious shoreline and dramatic tidal distances provide lots of opportunity for several generations of families to dig clams for their evening meal. Japan may be industrialized, and the wealthiest country in Asia, but the old traditions live on.

Where I'm From Wednesday

2010-02-17T07:00:00.002-07:00

I'm from a place where the department stores have rides and games on the top floor (or on the roof!), and you can ride around the circle on a bullet train, sitting on Daddy's lap.

Where I'm From Wednesday

2010-02-16T10:54:00.000-07:00

I seem to be addicted to blog series. My wordless weekends are pretty well neglected. Nonetheless, I am always thinking up new ones.

I had a remarkable childhood. Wonderful, really. I want to share my roots with you. Every Wednesday (Lord-willing) I hope to post a picture of something special (or normal, if you're looking at it from my perspective) about where I'm from. I'm looking forward to it. I hope you are too.

Reconciled to God

2009-12-24T14:16:00.003-07:00

I think Christmas time in America is ironic. (It's ironic in Japan, too, but that's another story entirely...) In a day and age when it's not "PC" to be a Christian, when nativity scenes on government property are banned, and shop employees are instructed to use the innocuous "Happy Holidays," there is one strongly Christian part of Christmas that seems to have escaped the religious police...Christmas music. I was at the mall last Sunday for a final foray into the madness, and all the stores had "O Holy Night" and "O Little Town of Bethlehem" mixed in with "Jingle Bells" and "Santa Baby."

Christmas music is possibly my favorite piece of the puzzle that makes up this most wonderful time of the year. The season doesn't truly feel like Christmas until my favorite CD, "An Evening in December," gets dug out of storage and put into a CD player. But...I'm also guilty of being mindless about the gems that are Christmas carols. It's so easy to get caught up in Christmassy feelings when singing in church or at home, that I forget to listen to the familiar words coming out of my ownmouth.

Hark! The herald angels sing!
Glory to the newborn King
Peace on earth & Mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled

What marvelous words! What a marvelous truth! Christmas time has been all about marveling ever since the beginning. Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the magi, Anna and Simeon were the first to marvel at this gift, Immanuel, God with us. This Christmas, I too am marveling at God with us...God and sinners reconciled.

Souls and synapses

2009-11-19T13:51:00.002-07:00

I have just one week of Anatomy & Physiology 201 left! It's hard to believe...where DOES time go, anyway?

Was just trotting along on the treadmill (a desperate attempt to keep myself awake long enough to actually, you know, study), and I came across the following in the chapter about the central nervous system:

Researchers in the field of cognition are still struggling to understand how the mind's presently incomprehensible qualities might spring from living tissue and electrical impulses. Souls and synapses are hard to reconcile!

Amen!

Living or watching life

2009-11-12T16:44:00.001-07:00

Look at them--(a wave toward the marvels of Grand Avenue) all of those glamorous people--having adventures--hogging it all, gobbling the whole thing up! You know what happens? People go to the movies instead of moving! Hollywood characters are supposed to have all the adventures for everybody in America, while everybody in American sits in a dark room and watches them have them!

-Tom in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams

The start of 30 before 30

2009-11-09T14:18:00.006-07:00

Two friends of mine who are a little further into their third decade than I am were discussing their "30 before 30" lists last Sunday. During the course of the conversation, one of them asked me what's on my list.

Umm...problem. I don't have a list.

Both of them were scandalized.

This may come as a surprise, but I'm not a hugely enormous fan of lists. I tend to put enough things on my "To-Do-Today" lists to last me an entire week. Disgusted at the end of the day with my seeming inability to accomplish this reasonable amount in a 24-hour period, I give up on to-do lists for a whole week or two. At the end of that time, I realize that I haven't yet gotten done what was on my original list. Filled with good thoughts and determination, I make a new one, containing all the undone things, plus some new ones for good measure. And so the cycle goes.

I realize, though, that lists can be good. A reasonable list keeps me on track. A just-slightly-ambitious list motivates me to push just a little harder.

Considering my tendency to slump into the hummmdrummm, I am thinking a "30 before 30" might not be a bad thing after all. Especially since I have less than 4 1/2 years before that fateful event. (And HOW did that happen, I wonder to myself? I can't really be THAT old, can I?)

So...I am considering creating just such a list. I know I don't want to get to the end of my life, only to discover a lot of my time was spent watching sitcom reruns on TBS.

Here's the plan...over the next two months, I plan to write down things that come to mind that I have always thought "Wow, that would be fun to do!" and compile my list near the end of the year. At the turn of 2010, hopefully I will have a workable list...in which I am already planning to include things I've already done...thus to encourage myself and, you know, keep it workable. There is nothing quite like a workable list to keep me kinda-sorta on track. We'll see what happens from there.

In the meantime, I will continue working on tying up the loose ends of my life. Do you have those? That one project you've been working on for a few months that just has the really boring part or the really hard part or the really confusing part left, but that you feel like you have to finish before moving on to something else? I have a bunch of those. Lord-willing, by the end of this year, my loose ends will all be tied, and I will be eager and ready to face a new year.

Care to join me?

Wordless Weekend: Sanzoku in Autumn

2009-11-06T07:00:00.005-07:00

Fall 2005

Obsessed with death...and life

2009-11-01T20:32:00.003-07:00

A visitor from a foreign country who arrived in my neighborhood in the last week might be stunned by this culture's apparent obsession with death. Just down the street, there is a house with a yard full of gravestones. Across the street, my neighbors have a skeleton hanging in their tree in the front yard and a coffin on the porch. A visitor from another culture who has never been exposed to the American holiday that is Halloween could indeed say this culture is obsessed with death. Why? they would wonder. Why this celebration of death? Why this focus on the gruesome? Why this obsession? What's wrong with you people?

As I sat in my church's Lord's Supper service this morning, one of the brothers brought up the point that the same visitor might ask the same questions of us in that meeting. You're celebrating the body and blood of a dead man? You're singing songs about His suffering? You're meditating on how he was beaten and crucified? Why are you obsessed with death?

...but they simply had some points of disagreement with him about ... a dead man, Jesus...

They aren't new questions. Why celebrate this dead man, Jesus? Why the obsession with death?

The answer...

... whom Paul asserted to be alive.

We aren't obsessed with death. We are obsessed with life. He came, He died, He LIVES that we might have life, and have it abundantly. By proclaiming his death, we proclaim His Life. By celebrating His death, we celebrate His life...and ours.

(Scripture taken from Acts 25:19)

A Day in the Life

2009-10-24T17:47:00.002-06:00

YLCF is doing a blog carnival this week, and this is my contribution...

*****

It's Friday morning, a few minutes before 7 as my alarm clock beeps. Anyone who has ever been around me in the morning knows I am *not* a morning person. Never have been. It's the way God made me. ;-) Thursdays are my late class night, and I don't usually walk through the door until 10:30PM...last night, true to form, I wasn't in bed until after midnight. I'm tempted to shut the ol' alarm clock off and go back to sleep for another half an hour, but there are things to be done. Instead, I groan in the same key as the floorboards above me that my mom is still stomping around on (she leaves for work at 7:30), and take a few minutes in bed to read my Bible (I'm in Matthew...what about you?), and a chapter of The Bravehearted Gospel by Eric Ludy. Hearing my sister emerge from our shared bathroom, I roll out of bed and head that way for my turn.

Bed made, clothes on, face applied, and hair done, I finally hurry upstairs at 9AM to help my sis finish getting her lunch bag put together. She knows more than to expect any conversation from me...I don't feel a part of the human race until I've had my tea in the morning. No time for breakfast or a leisurely tea sip, I brew my cup for the morning in my Japanese Starbucks mug, and we're out the door at 9:15. I don't usually skip breakfast, but this morning, we're going to try something new. Having seen dancing cows on streetcorners yesterday, my sister has told me that Chick-Fil-A has free breakfasts on Friday. I've never been to Chick-Fil-A for any meal, breakfast or otherwise, so I'm eager to check the place out. (And I feel compelled to mention also that I eat breakfast "out" so rarely, that I don't even remember when the last time was...probably a couple years ago...) Thankfully, there's a Chick-Fil-A on the way to my sister's job, so we stop there to pick up two of their cinnamon clusters, and I eat mine and enjoy my tea as I finish the drive, dropping my sister off at work.

After meeting her new co-worker, I head to our church. I am teaching one of their "creative home nights" this Monday...ten ladies in my group will be making gingerbread houses. I have never taught anyone to make a gingerbread house before...I always figured it was pretty intuitive. Anyway, we are assembling the houses from kits (horrors! ;-D) ahead of time. I meet two other ladies, and we spend the next three hours trying to figure out how to get very lopsided pieces of gingerbread to stay up long enough for the royal icing holding them together to dry. I chat for a few minutes with the church secretary about a babysitting situation that came up last Sunday, and then it's out the door to head home.

On the way home, it occurs to me I should stop at the fabric store. Now, I rarely need a valid excuse to stop at my favorite designer fashion fabrics store, but I actually have a reason today! This evening, one of my sister's former co-workers is coming over and we are going to design her wedding dress. I want to check what Denver Fabrics has in stock, so we can do some preliminary fabric discussion. I manage to make it out of the store without buying anything (an amazing feat for a fabric addict like me!), and, not being able to think of any more stops I should make, arrive home around 2 o'clock.

It's time for lunch! I'm in a hurry, so it's a bowl of shredded wheat while I fill out an online student opinion survey for my school. I grab some frozen hamburger out of the freezer to defrost for dinner, and then I do a little house cleaning to get my workroom, which doubles as my living room and computer room, ready for my customer tonight (and while I'm at it, I tidy up the kitchen, bathroom and my bedroom).

In the middle of a cleaning tornado, my guinea piggie starts begging for her afternoon vegetable, so I take a break to feed her and watch a program on the DVR. (Yes, I watch TV mid-day!) Then it's back to cleaning, which ends up taking much longer than I expected.

It's 5:30, and all the cleaning that's left is to vacuum the upstairs kitchen. I get dinner started, tossing my still-frozen hamburger in a skillet and digging out a can of refried beans, chopping vegetables, setting the table, and generally running around like a chicken with its head cut off. ;-) My working family will be home and hungry soon, and my customer is coming around 7PM.

My mom comes home, and promptly leaves again to pick up my sister from work while I finish dinner. It's 6:30 before we all finally sit down. In days past, we usually ate every meal of the day together, but now between three full-time jobs and my school schedule, we're thankful to have three or four dinners together per week.

My customer calls around 6:45...she won't be able to make it until 8:30. I am both bugged and thankful about this because I know I won't be ready for her at 7, but it also means a later evening than I had anticipated.

We all work together to clean up from dinner, and then I get to work on a couple mending/alterations projects I have for other clients. I don't particularly enjoy alterations and mending (to put it mildly), but at this season of life, I am taking whatever sewing jobs I can get. Right around 8:30, my customer arrives, accompanied by her 16-year-old son, which surprises me. He turns out to be a quiet boy, though, who spends our appointment talking to my guinea pig and looking through my sister's cake photo albums. Meanwhile, Leslie and I thumb through my pattern books. She doesn't know what she wants beyond a 50's style, tea-length dress, but she says she'll know what she wants when she sees it. Thankfully, she sees it after only a few minutes of looking through my 500+ vintage patterns, and "it" happens to be one of my favorites! We set a date to meet to go fabric shopping, and they leave around 9:30.

Knowing I need to have my mending and alterations jobs done before Sunday, I get back to work. These things always take longer than I expect, and after fighting my sewing machine tension for a while, and ripping out a couple things and re-doing them, it is 11PM, and I am ready to be done for the night.

After a quick shower, I crawl into bed and thumb through my most recent High Country Gardens catalog while listening to the end of my current Out to Canaan audiobook CD. It's 11:45PM when I shut off my bedside light, remember a few friends "as brought to mind" in prayer, and finally go to sleep...

*****

Care to share a day in your life?

Sentimentality

2009-10-20T15:53:00.003-06:00

Are YOU a sentimentalist? (Maybe I should make a Facebook quiz on this! Lol!)

Sentimentality is indulgence in emotion for its own sake, or expression of more emotion than an occasion warrants. Sentimentalists are gushy, stirred to tears by trivial or inappropriate causes; they weep at all weddings and all funerals; they are made ecstatic by manifestations of young love; they clip locks of hair, gild baby shoes, and talk baby talk. Sentimental literature is "tear-jerking" literature. It aims primarily at stimulating the emotions directly rather than at communicating experience truly and freshly; it depends on trite and well-tried formulas for exciting emotion; it revels in old oaken buckets, rocking chairs, mother love, and the pitter-patter of little feet; it oversimplifies; it is unfaithful to the full complexity or human experience.
~Perrine's Literature

Am I a sentimentalist?

Guilty.

;-)

Seasons of the Soul

2009-10-01T07:00:00.002-06:00

It feels like the last three years have been a time of transition for me. I'm still not sure where I am or where I'm going. But...after the hot, lazy days of summer, the change in the air and the change in colors always makes me feel energized and hopeful for something. Something more. Something better. Just as I know that the seasons will change in nature, I choose to believe that life as it is now is only a season. Perhaps it is a season that will last for the rest of my life. That's okay. One day, the season will change forever, and I will be standing on the hills of home, experiencing the light of my Savior's face. What a marvelous day that will be.

As the azure skies of summer
Give way to autumn’s cold
‘Til all signs of life are buried
Under winter’s dormant cold
And the kiss of spring awakens
The hidden life it holds
So life fulfills its cycles
Such are the seasons of the soul

The season in the rain will end at last
The season full of pain will surely pass
The reason will be plain someday when love reveals its goal
Such are the seasons of the soul

Oh, you never dreamed you’d be here
Oh, you’re sure this can’t be right
And you feel you’ve been forgotten
Left alone here in the night
But the darkness hides a treasure
Forming diamonds from the cold
So pain contains a promise
Such are the seasons of the soul

The season in the rain will end at last
The season full of pain will surely pass
The reason will be plain someday when love reveals its goal
Such are the seasons of the soul
Such are the seasons of the soul

Like a child
In the womb
Like the Son of God
Concealed within the tomb
Light will come
Once again
Oh, the dark is just the middle
Not the end

The season in the rain will end at last
The season full of pain will surely pass
The reason will be plain someday when love reveals its goal
Such are the seasons of the soul

The season in the rain will end at last
The season full of pain will surely pass
The reason will be plain someday when love reveals its goal
Such are the seasons of the soul
Such are the seasons of the soul
Such are the seasons of the soul

~Unknown

A brief paper on holistic Christian education

2009-09-25T13:30:00.002-06:00

I'm taking an English Lit class from Liberty University Online this semester. Our first assignment was to write a (very!) brief paper in support of or opposition to one of the first week's lectures. This is mine...

**********

What is Christian education? Is it “reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic” with a little Bible study added for good measure? While a Christian education involves all these disciplines, learning them is of little or no value if what is learned is not applied and integrated into a Christian’s life, as discussed in Lesson 1. Indeed, a Christian should regard every concept and image he encounters, both in a scholastic environment and in daily life, as an opportunity to grow in his understanding of the world and its relationship to God.

Paul’s direction from the second book of Corinthians explains how a Christian can take what he is learning and use it as a tool to further his spiritual life. There, Paul instructs the believers to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. This means that whatever enters the mind, including that which comes through non-Biblical sources, should first be examined carefully under the light of the authority of Scripture, and then be responded to in obedience.

A truly holistic approach to Christian life and education requires that Christians be willing to approach all of life as an opportunity to learn and apply God’s will in their lives. In his letter, the apostle James warns believers not to be like a man who, having looked at himself in a mirror, goes away and forgets what he looks like. The apostle encourages the believers to take what they have learned and act upon it!

The educated Christian thoughtfully examines every concept to which he is exposed, integrating into practice that which is true, while rejecting and refusing to practice that which is false. An educated Christian remembers what he has learned and is changed to be more like Christ.

**********

Now my job is to go over the other students' papers and write a response to one of theirs. I think I'm going to respond to the one that says we can learn "new truths" about Jesus from extra-Biblical literature. Hopefully, I can manage to be kind AND truthful!

Back and gone again

2009-08-18T16:35:00.002-06:00

Just yesterday, I returned from the HomeschoolALUMNI national reunion in Larkspur, CO. In just a couple of hours, I'm heading back to the classroom to start the school year.

I discovered last semester that full-time school and blogging don't really mix very well for me. When one adds to that the fact that I am also being employed full-time as a homemaker, and will continue working part time as a seamstress, I don't see too much blogging going on in the coming months. Maybe *some* blogging...just not too much. ;-)

Happy end-of-summer, everyone!

More menus...

2009-08-10T14:36:00.003-06:00

Because I know you (all three of you!) are always dying to know what will be on my dinner table all week...teehee...

Sunday:
African peanut chicken
Lime-pear jello
(And yes, I know Sunday is already over...the chicken was so-so, the jello was definitely two-thumbs-up!)

Monday:
Beef enchiladas
Taco salad

Tuesday:
Fried chicken fingers
Mashed potatoes
Melon-cucumber salad

Wednesday:
Italian stew
Spinach salad (recipe TBD...I was going to make a garden salad, but someone was giving away spinach at church yesterday, so I brought home a bag)

Thursday-Saturday:
I will be out of town, so the family will have to fend for themselves! ;-) There should be some leftovers...

A week of menus

2009-08-03T17:43:00.007-06:00

Here's what I'm making this week...what about you?

Monday:
Honey baked chicken
Red rice
Tomatoes vinaigrette

Tuesday:
Green bean pie
Mandarin orange salad
Leftover honey chicken

Wednesday:
Homemade pesto (with basil from our garden!) on pasta
Italian sausage
Garden salad

Thursday:
Scraps (hehehe...I'm actually going to a picnic this night, so the rest of the family will get to dig up leftovers whenever they get home from work...)

Friday:
[I'm not cooking this day because my parents are going out for my dad's birthday.]

Saturday:
Japanese sauteed ginger pork
Lettuce & Tomato
Sekihan rice

Sunday:
African peanut chicken
Lime-pear jello

Ooh, pretty!

2009-07-31T09:00:00.004-06:00

I've mostly given up on blog giveaways, mostly because I never win. Hehe... But! This one is just to pretty not to try for. The ladies over at marie-madeline studio are giving away this delicious quilt!

Isn't it lovely? I have never been brave enough to venture into quilting, but there are so many talented ladies out there making beautiful ones, and I'm excited about the chance to win this one! Pop on over to their blog for your chance to win it, too!

Tempest in a teapot

2009-07-30T18:00:00.000-06:00

It was time for afternoon tea. The table was laid with delicate china and delectable treats. As the guests and their hostess were enjoying the repast, their discussion turned to a controversial topic. One guest became very agitated and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

After an awkward silence, another guest laughed nervously and remarked, "Well, he's gone."

"No he's not," the hostess replied, "that's a closet."

How often I do the same with God. Our "conversation" isn't going well. He isn't listening to my side of the issue. I get up and storm out, but all I'm really doing is going into the closet. I'll have to come out again sometime, and He'll be there waiting for me.

Wordless Weekend: Flowers and Water

2009-07-24T18:00:00.003-06:00

A bit of history

2009-07-17T11:38:00.000-06:00

For Mother's Day this year, our church did an historical wedding theme. They asked the ladies of the church to wear their own wedding gowns, or their mothers' and grandmothers' gowns for a "fashion show" of sorts. There are quite a few newlyweds in our church, and I think the ladies had fun getting their gowns out again to wear. Many of the...ahem...more mature brides aren't quite the same size they were 20 or 30 years ago, so many daughters wore their moms' gowns. (I was one of them. :-))

There were three truly antique gowns, all in incredible condition. The one you see above was purchased by a Denver bride at the Denver Dry goods store in 1914! It was modeled by a *very* petite lady from our church. This incredible gown is still in pristine condition, and complete with its box of tissue-wrapped underthings, handbag, and shoes, which actually fit the lady from our church!

The gown has the most lovely bead work down the sleeves and all the way around the underskirt. The sleeves also feature an intricate pleating pattern.

Made mostly of light, sheer cotton, it also has accents of fine cotton net, and the underskirt is in champagne colored silk. The back of the gown has two fabric rosettes at the waist.
The bodice is accented with lace and a beaded medallion at the neckline.

Pure loveliness!

The modern brides in their strapless, a-line gowns were, of course, all lovely and blushing in the remembrance of their special days not too long ago, but there is just something so alluring in a soft, elegant gown with timeless embellishment.

Finished pillows

2009-07-14T15:23:00.004-06:00

I got the pillows all finished this week...I was waiting until our JoAnn's coupon went into effect to get the 18" pillow form, but then my mom discovered one under the guest bed! Heehee...

I had a minor disaster with the 18" pillow...I tend to get a leetle crazy with the serger and not pay attention to what I'm doing and... But! I think I satisfactorily solved the problem, and no one (expect me, of course!) should be able to tell.

Sewing projects of the day

2009-07-13T15:34:00.002-06:00

I just finished altering four pairs of pants for a 92-year-old customer (and I thought my serger was a goner for a minute there, trying to cut through all those layers of elastic at the waist!), and now it's on to the fun project...a tote bag! I know lots of you make these all the time, but I've never made one. Here's my fabric:

It's vintage-y fabric that I inherited from my grandma who passed away nearly 20 years ago. The solid blue is for the outside and the plaid is for the lining. I'm thinking of using one of the embroidery patterns on my sewing machine to stitch a motif on the outside to dress it up a little. This is the pattern I'm using.

A garden full of thoughts...or something like that

2009-07-07T15:59:00.003-06:00

There is something about gardening that it teaches me in many, many ways. Some ways are more profound than others. Some are simple life lessons.

The simple life lesson of late that I have discovered is that yes, April, you are in fact a flake. Sad, but true. Just ask anyone to whom I have ever owed money. ;-) This is my third summer as an American gardener, and I have at last come to peace with the fact that I am best suited to about 95% perennial gardening. I am just too much of a flake to deal with fussy annuals every year. Plants that are hardy and sprout themselves every spring are The Thing for me.

There is a garden center about 10 minutes from my house that has been family owned and operated for over 60 years, and all their plants are grown with organic fertilizers and no pesticides. Yayness! The only sad thing is that they are only open from March to July. Whoever would've thought that a planting season could end in July?! Not this sub-tropical baby. The garden center's last day is this Saturday, and all their plants are buy two, get one free. Can't pass up them sales, eh? My mom and I bustled over there bright and early this morning to partake of the saleness. I built up my perennial collection with Scabiosa, Canterbury Bells, Asters, creeping Phlox, and a big fat Echinacea.

I really really really wanted one (or, more specifically three...it WAS buy two, get one free, after all) of their delicious rosebushes, but I restrained myself. I have absolutely, positively, incontrovertibly no place to put one more rosebush, much less three. They were the most delicious climbing roses, too. ::sigh:: But...another thing I have learned in my gardening endeavors is that greediness when it comes to plants is just as unhealthy as greediness in any other area of life. Buying plants with no appropriate place to put them just makes me end up with a jungle of poor, weak, pathetic plants and less money in the bank. It's far better to buy only what you know you have space for and have a few beautiful, healthy plants. And so it is in life in general.

Isn't gardening educational?

What I'm doing today...

2009-07-06T14:53:00.003-06:00

Several months ago, we had custom draperies made for our living room, dining room, and kitchen. I now work for the company that made them :-), but today, I'm doing a bit of freelance work, using the scraps that were leftover to make matching pillows for our living room. Figuring out how to use every square inch of remaining fabric was good exercise for my brain! I have a medium-ish sized piece of luscious gold silk and a small piece of multicolored stripe to use, and, if my figures are right (!!!), I should get three pillows out of it.

Summer in Williamsburg

2009-07-01T18:00:00.001-06:00

You may remember my Colonial-style Christmas decorations from last year. Colonial-style Christmas decorations are wonderful...at Christmas, of course. But as the months warm, the blood starts rushing to my green thumb (or something like that...). In any case, I start thinking about my garden. Yesterday, The Gardens of Colonial Williamsburg arrived in my mailbox (from paperbackswap.com, which I WILL shamelessly plug in probably nearly every blog post about books, since the only "new" books I get are from that source...you can still click in the link on the right to join yourself!). I know it's definitely too late this year to start a new garden plan, but it is so delicious to look through the illustrations and photos in the book and dream of changes I might make to my gardens next year! I know I'll never have a strictly traditional colonial garden...the climate difference between mild and humid Virginia will exclude plenty of plants from my high desert garden, but I know there will be principles and ideas I can include. That's the fun of it anyway, isn't it? To take elements from things you love and change them to suit your style or situation?

Book Review: Smart Women Finish Rich

2009-06-24T11:24:00.010-06:00

Once I got past the slightly worldly title of this book ;-), it was definitely a smart investment of my time to read it! Not just for career women or singles, this book is really useful for every woman from the stay-at-home mom whose monetary income is $0 all the way to the CEO of a company. It explains money management for the perspective of a woman. We all know that men and women look at things differently...that's Biblical! David Bach explains to women how to manage their money (or get on board with their husbands in managing their family's money) in a way that is consistent with what women value. My favorite chapters were the ones on putting your money where your values are, the latte factor and what to do about it, and using the three-basket approach to financial planning.

Every woman should read this book, even women who are happily married and taken care of financially. Understanding your own or your family's finances really will give you peace of mind. I feel a lot more qualified to make smart financial decisions now, and I have already started implementing some of the suggestions from the book. More are to come in the future.

The book is really a fast read, and definitely worth your time.

(I got my copy of Smart Women Finish Rich from Paperbackswap.com. This free service allows you to swap books with other people around the country. My sister and I have gotten lots of great books through the site...click on my referral link over in the right column --------> to go to the site and sign up. I'll get a credit for referring you, too, and I will love you forever! ;-D)

First roses of the summer

2009-06-17T17:42:00.002-06:00

We've had several weeks of thunderstormy days, but today felt like summer! My "Peace" roses celebrated by opening in a panoply of buttery petals! Both bushes are obscured this year by several "Malva" plants I had in the bed last year. I didn't realize they were perennials, and this year they're taller than my second-year rosebushes. Oops...I keep telling my mom that eventually, the roses will be taller. Until then, I'll just cut all the roses and bring them inside so we can see and enjoy them! I am so pleased by how vigorous "Peace" and her sister are this year. I can't say the same for one of my third-year rosebushes. It has produced the loveliest blooms for the last two summers...six-inch blossoms with a damask fragrance that would fill the house, but all the canes died this winter. All I have left is the new growth. We'll see if it survives the summer.

Spring is here

2009-05-12T13:03:00.002-06:00

The first cut flowers of the season...stolen from the pots on the front porch.

The Closer I Get to the Cross

2009-04-11T16:07:00.004-06:00

There is safety in the distance, out of sight and mind,
And life is unexamined out of fear of what I’ll find.
But once again in solitude, my soul is unfulfilled,
So I press through the crowd and I step toward the hill.

The closer I get to the cross, the more I clearly see
The holiness of You and the sinfulness in me.
There’s a beauty in the agony that draws me to this place.
The closer I get to the cross, the more amazed I am by grace.

There are times I want to turn my head so I don’t have to face the truth
Of everything You’ve done for me and what I’ve done to You.
But here my eyes are opened and it breaks my heart to know
Just how deep the roots of all my failures go.

The closer I get to the cross, the more I clearly see
The holiness of You and the sinfulness in me.
There’s a beauty in the agony that draws me to this place.
The closer I get to the cross, the more amazed I am by grace.

Draw me nearer, nearer, Blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died.
Draw me nearer, nearer, Blessed Lord, to Thy precious bleeding side.

The closer I get to the cross, the more I clearly see
The holiness of You and the sinfulness in me.
There’s a beauty in the agony that draws me to this place.
The closer I get to the cross,
The more amazed I am by grace.

~By Palisade

Sew, girlie, sew!

2009-01-27T20:44:00.002-07:00

I few months ago, I was able to purchase an industrial sewing machine to help me in my job and home business. I'm using it tonight to make a couple of pillows for my job, and I thought I would take a break to introduce it to you!

I am so thankful to know how to sew! It is great to have a flexible job so that I can work and go to school at the same time!

A Williamsburg Christmas: The Buffet

2008-12-20T09:51:00.003-07:00

This is the buffet in our dining room. There is no fireplace (and hence, no mantelpiece) in our house, so the buffet gets to have the garland! I realize the Christmas Cactus really doesn't fit, but Christmas Cacti are persnickety creatures and don't like to be moved, so it had to stay. Oh well...we aren't actually in Williamsburg, and our 1950's GI tract house said it was okay if it wanted to stay in the dining room. Now if only I had lit the candles for this picture...

A Williamsburg Christmas: The Oranges

2008-12-19T13:12:00.002-07:00

I love these pomandered oranges! The cloves and citrus are such a nice addition to all the pine and cinnamon scents in the house.

A Williamsburg Christmas: The Door

2008-12-18T15:42:00.005-07:00

This is the wreath I made, inspired by the photos in this book. It's a pre-made balsam wreath to which I added Red Delicious apples, key limes, lotus seed pods, and pine cones.

And yes, it is hanging on the inside of the front door. It hasn't gotten above freezing (or much above zero, for that matter!) since I made it, and the book cautions against putting fruit decorations out where they might freeze. Oh the joys of living in the Rockies instead of the balmy, humid southern east coast!

On Monday, we finally gave up on putting it outside, and moved it from its holding place on the coat closet doorknob to the inside of the front door. I think I rather like having a wreath on the inside...we get to enjoy it so much more, especially since we never actually come in the front door! (Check back tomorrow for more decorations!)

Christmas in Williamsburg

2008-12-13T18:10:00.005-07:00

Last year at around this time and after seeing several specials on the subject, my sister and I decided we would spend Christmas 2008 at Disneyworld. Silly us. :-) As this Christmas drew closer (like, around sometime in August), I decided we should go to Colonial Williamsburg instead.

However, as the good Governor Gumpas would have objected, had he been around when I menitoned the idea at breakfast one morning...it was quite out of the question...an economic impossibility.

I was determined to do something beautiful and historical, though. So far, I have spotted three of our neighbors whose idea of Christmas decorating is to erect inflatable figures of The Grinch in their yards, not to mention all the others who have a variety of other "Christmas" characters well-lit and inflated in their yards. I wanted something lovely and elegant and real. After browsing around Paperbackswap, I settled on two books about decorating at Williamsburg.

Ever since Thanksgiving, I've been collecting fresh fruits and greenery whenever it was on sale. I purchased a fresh balsam wreath, a 25' red cedar garland, and a large bag of Red Delicious apples at Costco. Sixty key limes came home from Sunflower Market for only $3. Four bags of pine cones for $2.50 each from Michael's. Five pounds of oranges arrived from the grocery store for only $1.

A little thing called Operation Bridesmaid Dress (more on that later) had kept me from doing any decorating until today, but I finally managed to get my wreath done this afternoon. I think it's rather nice, if I do say so myself. Hopefully, the blizzard tomorrow will let up enough for me to get a picture of it hanging in its Red Delicious glory on the front door tomorrow. The garland is primarily to decorate the front door, and whatever is left of it will go on the piano and the buffet. My sister will be making pomandered oranges to arrange in pyramids for the tansu and the piano. Then it's only a matter of finding spots for the 18 candlesticks we discovered we own. (I always knew it was a lot...just not quite *that* many...)

As of now, I'm off to eat a hot bowl of oatmeal for dinner (yum), and then I will be hanging pinecones on velvet ribbon in all the windows...

2008-12-11T09:17:00.004-07:00

The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. Take joy!
~Fra Giovanni

And she's back...

2008-08-26T16:16:00.004-06:00

My poor little blog has been quite neglected of late, hasn't it? I just finished taking a killer (there's a genteel word for you...) modular class, and now I'm looking forward to getting back to real life.

As an apology for my absence, I extend to you friendship with my little guy, Toby. Is he not the cutest?

Wordless Weekend: Take Time for Tea

2008-07-12T16:23:00.000-06:00

In the Garden

2008-07-09T19:29:00.007-06:00

I've been learning all about dry country gardening since my family moved here a year and a half ago. It's certainly different from where I grew up in Japan, which is semi-tropical!

In Japan, the perfect, balanced garden has three elements. Trees of the evergreen variety, rocks, and water. Flowering perennials and annuals are traditionally found only in vegetable gardens, although most Japanese homes will have several pots of bright blooms on their front stoop. Still, Japanese homes and yards are not designed to accommodate flower beds and so, I always had to follow the rest of the population and limit myself to what could be grown in a few containers.

Though American life has been full of challenges for me, one thing I'm liking very much indeed is that there is space for a few garden beds. Figuring out when it's safe to plant things has been tricky...to the point that the sweet peas I planted are just now beginning to bloom.

Oops.

They are the flower of the month of April, after all. Next year, I'll plant my seeds earlier. Thankfully, it has been cool enough that they are doing quite well, and I have a sweet little bouquet in my room, just freshly picked after dinner.

Kindred Spirits

2008-07-08T16:43:00.008-06:00

I had the chance to meet the lovely Laura from Quietude and the lovely Cheri from A Joyful Handmaiden this week. Laura's fiancé was gracious enough to let us borrow Laura for a couple hours to go fabric shopping! Mind you, three days earlier, before I had any idea I'd be meeting people at the fabric store, I had no intention to buy any more fabric. I've been trying to be on a fabric buying (and vintage pattern buying!) fast. But...I fell under irresistible temptation, and bought some anyway.

It was so much fun to meet some more lovely ladies from the internet. I've met quite a few now, and it's always been a lovely experience. Lord willing, I will see these ladies again sometime!

Past and present, cars and memories

2008-07-02T22:19:00.005-06:00

My parents are leaving at zero dark thirty (as they say in the military) tomorrow morning to drive to Omaha for my mom's 40th high school reunion. They are, in fact, driving my dad's mint condition 1962 Chevy, which will make its debut as a parade car in the 4th of July parade in Omaha. The Chevy just turned over 300,000 miles a couple weeks ago, which, in car years, I suppose is rather like a very important birthday, and so it had to have its picture taken.

Because of the upcoming reunion, my mom dug her high school yearbooks out of the garage to carry along on their trip. I was browsing through them, giggling at the big hair and bobby socks, and noticed that nearly every friend note scrawled in the front mentioned "Those great water balloon fights!" When I asked my mom about that, she broke into a riot of laughter, explaining that over the summers she would go out with her friends in her car (a convertible, no less...oh the jealousy...), and have water balloon fights with other high school friends in their cars. Car water balloon fights! Can you imagine?

Wordless Weekend: Signs of Summer in My Garden

2008-06-27T18:39:00.004-06:00

Special friends

2008-06-20T21:32:00.002-06:00

I'm so looking forward to this weekend, for I will see some dear girls who I haven't seen in far too long. One (who only lives two hours away) I haven't seen since December, and the other since March 2007! We're all mutual friends who know each other from various places on the internet, and we've all met each other, but we've all three of us never been together before.

It's hard when your best friends live many miles away, but the times you do meet are that much sweeter!

Corgis, cottages, and a beautiful life

2008-06-18T21:57:00.004-06:00

I just heard that Tasha Tudor has died. Growing up on the other side of the world, I had only heard vague mentions of her on Christian ladies' message boards, but then about five years ago, I happened to be channel surfing through our five channels of Japanese TV, and stumbled across a special about her. It was a Saturday night, and I should have gone to bed, but instead stayed up until 10 o'clock, enchanted by the story on my screen. The narrator was a quiet, Japanese voice, only snippets of which I could understand, but in showing a year of Tasha's life, divided into spring, summer, fall, and winter, I saw a glimpse of life simply and quietly lived.

The fact that I remember a television program five years afterwards has made me realize that her story moved something in me. Tasha Tudor lived without running water until possibly only 10 or 15 years ago (I can't quite remember), and I think at the time the TV show was filmed, she still didn't have electricity. Yet hers was a life filled with the simplicity and beauty of a well-tended cottage and garden, and in that, she was content.

In Tasha Tudor, I saw the delicate elegance and dignity of a quiet life, and I was stirred to aspire to the same. As life becomes more and more busy with responsibilities and problems and questions, the longing for such a beautiful life grows more in me with each passing day. May it truly be my ambition to lead a quiet life.

Wordless Weekend: A Glimpse of Home

2008-06-13T22:11:00.001-06:00

Literary Meme

2008-06-12T21:38:00.000-06:00

This is my first meme on this blog! I haven't done memes on previous blogs too much, but this one looks fun! Thanks to Janna from The Joy of Home for tagging me!

Who is your all-time favorite author and why?
This is a hard one! Sad to say, but I haven't read as widely as I wish I had. Growing up on the mission field, we couldn't really afford to order lots of (heavy!) books, so my choice was limited. I would probably choose Lucy Maud Montgomery. While I do enjoy "heavy" books, I find Montgomery's to be pure delight. I appreciate that her books are true-to-life and honest, but I also like that they're simple and, well, quiet. I also feel like I understand her more since visiting PEI in Canada last year. Seeing the places that inspired her and shaped her life made me appreciate her all the more.

Who was your first favorite author and why? Do you still consider him/her to be among your favorites?
Among the books I *did* have to read when I was growing up were the "In Grandma's Attic" books by Arleta Richardson. I loved the simple, straightforward writing, and read the books over and over. They are definitely books that I will share with my children (if I have any!).

Who is the most recent addition to your list of favorite authors, and why?
Prior to 2005, I had never read a book by Charles Dickens, but I have come to love his work. When I first started reading his books, I was so bored for about the first half of the book, but when things finally start to fall into place, I can't put his books down!

If someone asked you who your favorite authors were right now, which authors would first pop out of your mouth?
C. S. Lewis, Charles Dickens, Jane Porter, Jane Austen, L.M. Montgomery. L.M. Alcott, Regina Doman.

My Tagees:

Jessica: Reflections of a Princess

Rebecca: flowershop girl

Keri: Quaint & Quirky

(That's all I can think of! :-S)

Rules

Link to the person that tagged you.
Post the rules somewhere in your meme.
Answer the questions.
Tag six people in your post.
Let the tagees know they’ve been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog.
Let the tagger know your entry is posted.

Wallpapers and Drawer Knobs

2008-06-12T21:31:00.000-06:00

My dad finished building me a sewing workstation for my room last month, and I've been trying to decide how I want to decorate the furniture ever since! I finally made a decision today, with this wallpaper from American Blinds and these knobs from Anthropologie.

Now I can't wait for it all to get here, so I can use them! Then I can pick out fabrics and shelving and finally have my room organized!

A Week of Menus

2008-06-11T17:57:00.000-06:00

My friend Jessica (Reflections of a Princess) sometimes posts her menu for the week. Maybe I'm odd, but I like to hear what other people eat. Here is what my week's menu looks like:

Wednesday: Better lasagna

Thursday: Sweet & Sour Pork Chops

Friday: Yakitori (Japanese grilled chicken)

Saturday: Chicken Fried Steak

Sunday: Steak (it is Father's Day, after all!)

Monday: Chicken Fricassee

Tuesday: Scraps (as Father Tim would say)

Wordless Weekend: Hobbiton

2008-06-07T15:00:00.001-06:00

(One of my favorite things about the All That Is Good blog is their wordless weekends. I thought I'd join the fun!)

All Dressed in White: The Irresistable Rise of the American Wedding

2008-06-02T22:32:00.000-06:00

I had a lot of fun with this book. It is an historical look at the birth of American wedding customs and how they have evolved over the course of America's history. Carol McD. Wallace draws some very insightful and deep correlations between a culture's views of meaning and goals and how that effects wedding customs. She shows how that which is done in the most intimate and personal of events (a wedding) is a reflection of what is believed and lived in the the culture at large.

Speaking as someone who grew up outside American culture, this book helped me to understand why Americans do what they do in weddings, and why American weddings look the way they do today. Ms. Wallace's perspective was informative for me personally, as well as very affirming for many of the things I have felt but not understood or been able to articulate about the "American White Wedding." Overall, I couldn't put it down!

I wouldn't recommend All Dressed in White to very young ladies as it does discuss some mature topics, although it does handle them in a tactful, delicate way. For anyone interested in planning or participating in a meaningful wedding, or the history of wedding customs, it is a must-read.

The Pinks are in bloom!

2008-05-28T14:20:00.000-06:00

Happiness...

2008-05-23T12:37:00.000-06:00

From Elizabeth Goudge (1900-1984)...

She had long accepted the fact that happiness is like swallows in spring. It may come and nest under your eaves, or it may not. You cannot command it. When you expect to be happy, you are not and when you don’t expect to be happy, there is suddenly Easter in your soul, though it be midwinter.

My ambition

2008-05-22T15:13:00.001-06:00

In 1997, I was introduced to a thing called the internet. A friend of ours was going on a two-week deployment, and left us his computer to play with during that time. As a little missionary girl whose only contact with the world outside the mission field and her church was her few snail-mail pen pals, being able to e-mail and IM and participate in message boards was...exciting. Later, we got our own computer, and my world opened up permanently.

I was quite the little board butterfly (and this was even before the days of blogs!). I had to reply to every thread, and chat with everyone who popped up on IM, and reply to every e-mail within 24 hours. But...internet social circles are like any other social circle, and soon I was wanting to be noticed by all the "important" people in my little internet world. My ambition was to be the "important peoples'" best friend, and to be seen as an important person myself.

In a world wide web of links and backlinks and hat tips and member rankings my ambition now is, by God's grace, moving closer into alignment with God's desires. His Word that is speaking to my season of life right now is from I Thess. 4:11 - "...make it your ambition to lead a quiet life; to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we commanded you."

Does having a blog align with minding my own business and working with my hands? Maybe not. ;-) I have been so encouraged by other ladies online who are doing those things, and who blog about it, though! You will find some of them in the links in the sidebar. My goal for this blog is to share my ambition with you, that perhaps you may be encouraged the pursue the same.