fountain pen messes

Refilling fountain pens...

the outcome is well worth the mess!

 

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in the bookbag

Here are my favorite reads of late:

1) The Wisdom of Stability by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

A meditation on the beauty of staying put in a world that's on the move, and a consideration of the ways God uses constancy of place and people to accomplish His work. As I read this, I find myself grateful for the place where I live and the people who have shared it with me these many years. The book has reframed some things for me.

2) Creative Lettering by Jenny Doh

This beautiful primer is a collection of samples and alphabets by lettering artists. It includes instructions for how to letter the alphabets and suggested art projects to go with them. Tasty!

3) The Complete Photo Guide to Cookie Decorating by Autumn Carpenter

Includes thorough supply suggestions, recipes, and instructions for accomplishing a variety of cookie forms and decorations, including flood icing, painted and filigree frosting, decorative buttercream frosting, candy coatings, and fondant. This book answered some questions I had about cookie decorating, and I've done my fair share of it!

4) Color Recipes for Painted Furniture and More by Annie Sloan

Don't know if I'll use this one for practical purposes, but it sure is fun to look at.

 

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sorting beads

I have been all into beading lately. I love the texture of beads,

the vibrant colors, and the delicate sheen. Unfortunately, sead

beads have a way of traveling. My whole collection of chartreuse

and blonde beads fell out of their containers into a much bigger

container last week, and completely mixed together. Once combined,

they're not all that easy to tell apart! So I sat down tonight and sorted.

As I was sorting beads, I realized that much of my life these days

feels very similar to this process. I spend so much time chasing

down mundane details that roll away quickly as I approach. This

isn't a new sensation, either. Perhaps I'm just the kind of person who

is always sorting beads. My attempt to start a cottage business has

been that way -- slow and precarious, picking through minutiae.

Beautiful things happen here and there, but not in a Type A person

kind of way. Rolling little balls of color around tonight, it dawned on me that

this is not such a bad way to live. If I can accept my turtlish

tendencies and stop trying to be a jack rabbit,

maybe I'll be able to enjoy myself more along the way.

 

 

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i know this is gross, but...

my first batch of kombucha molded!

Apparently adding fruit to the mix is supposed

to happen after the brewing process is complete.

my favorite dishcloth

As I mentioned before, I have been maintaining a few

obsessive pursuits so far this year. Here's one of them:

I was introduced to the wonderful world of handmade

dishcloths by my friend Hannah a couple of years ago.

She taught me that cotton is the best yarn for these

things, since it is more absorbent than acrylic as well

as less scratchy (I hear acrylic yarn can make for good

kitchen scrubbies, since it is slightly more abrasive).

I had seen the sort of homemade dishcloth pictured above

and didn't much care for the way it looked. But I liked

the idea of having something to wipe down kitchen counters

and then toss in the laundry, easily washing out all the

germs and bacteria therein.

So I started with crochet. I enjoyed all the lovely colors

available. I tried single crochet, double crochet, half

double crochet, scallops around the edge, etc. They looked

great! Unfortunately, these all came out rather dense. The

tight weave, in fact, only thickened up in the laundry,

making them very difficult to get dry between uses at the

sink. So I moved on to a Granny Square pattern.

This one had more open spaces but was even thicker than

the last, taking me back to (you guessed it)...

the trusty knitted dishcloth. It's stretchy,

springy, and just the right thickness. When it

gets all bent out of shape, we know for sure

that the time has come to toss it in the wash

and grab another one off the shelf.

If you'd like to try your hand at this, find the pattern here.

Just be warned: it may take you down a long and winding road!

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new years fortune

 While I don't adhere to the prophetic power of

fortune cookies, I do find them highly amusing.

This one that came to me last week, though,

has me wondering if I should take it personally.

This fortune, however, is one I can really grab hold of.

I will start a new exercise... tomorrow.

before and after

 

Eric and I spent the last part of the summer (I know --

it's still August. But school started on the 2nd, so summer's OVER

already. Can you believe it?!) giving our bathroom a makeover.

We tore up linoleum, painted the concrete, put in new baseboards,

painted walls and cabinets, and replaced most of the fixtures & towels.

We're really enjoying the renewed space. Yay!

Have you done any renovation projects lately?

 

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sabbatical meditations

 

I have discovered that the word "sabbatic" (at the root of "sabbatical") means:

"of, relating to, or appropriate to the Sabbath as a day of rest and religious observance."

 

The Hebrew term "Shabat Shalom" is a greeting meaning "peaceful Sabbath"

which people would exchange on their day of rest: "peace while not working".

I suppose these two ideas are the goal of our summer.

 

I have never experienced such a prolonged period of not working.

I sometimes feel antsy and distracted, thinking about the future

or just about what I could do next, or I've delved into researching random ideas.

Sometimes I manage to just relax and chill out, or to sit still and listen.

 

Mostly, I've slept. I sleep and sleep and sleep some more.

There have been energetic moments and good time with the family.

However, since the kids went away with my parents this week,

leading to another layer of sabbatical removal of responsibility,

I've realized how thoroughly exhausted I am.

 

"Those who live in the shelter of the Most High

will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty."

(Psalm 91:1, NLT)

 

Eric seems to be slightly more energized than myself, but he is also laying low.

The words that resound around the edges are "wait on God."

I've contemplated what this waiting would look like.

 

"Wait patiently for the Lord.

Be brave and courageous.

Yes, wait patiently for the Lord."

(Psalm 27:14, NLT)

 

In daily life, waiting is very straightforward. You wait for the bus.

The way this is practiced is by moving your body to the correct geography

(i.e. the bus stop) and then staying put -- not moving too far away from that location.

 

I think we have stepped into this initial form of waiting. We have moved ourself

out of work and all of its locations and expressions (excepting the mundane elements

of daily survival). We are waiting. We are not sure what form our bus will take.

 

There seems to be another layer of waiting on God which has to do with listening

in stillness. I trust that God will take our meager efforts at this and speak loudly

enough for us to hear through all our distractedness. It seems that this kind of

waiting may extend into our return to normal life. Hopefully that normal life will be

somewhat different from the way we left it as we take hold of our days more dependently.

 

"Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord.

Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly."

(Psalm 5:3, NLT)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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corvallis highlights

 

Here is a small sampling of things we enjoyed in Corvallis.

First off, I may have mentioned that the park was just minutes

from the house we were staying in. We played a lot of basketball.

There was a cherry tree in the back yard.

A cherry tree!

We headed out for coffee most days (where the kids opted for mango

smoothies) and played board games a lot -- mostly Ticket to Ride.

We headed to downtown Corvallis several times for shopping

(the kids discovered a rock shop that needed multiple explorations),

and for eating pizza, hot dogs, and gelato.

 

There was also the beauty of walks and drives in the rain,

the sound of rain on skylights in the middle of the night,

spending time with friends from home while away from home,

listening to dance mix late at night on long stretches of road,

watching more movies than usual, and the quirkiness of

cooking for four. All in all, it was very quiet, restful, and refreshing!

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home again, home again, jiggity jig

After a beautiful time away (more to come on that!), and a 3-day road trip

back through the redwood forest and the central California coast, we arrived

to Tucson in the wee hours of the morning yesterday. This photo takes place

in front of one of the massive trees we drove past. Just standin' there on the

side of the road!! The road, in fact, was nestled into this magical forest glade,

where moss or clovers were clinging to every surface. Moments from this spot,

the trees gave way to reveal the ocean, and then back into the woods again.

That was just day one! Anyway, we absorbed a great deal of beauty

and were greeted by rain upon our return, which reminded us of the

beauty of our home in spite of this month's 100+ degree weather.

I'm grateful for the trip, and it's good to be home.

 

on song

We're absorbing a lovely dose of rain this week in the Northwest,

restoring our spirits for an impending return to the desert heat.

One of the ideas that emerged from the recent sermon series on Hebrews

at The Village was that of knowing our calling so we would not drift away

from Christ & the true gospel. The idea here was not the general calling of

people who follow Christ, although the Bible certainly says a lot about this.

What we were looking to do was to know our individual callings, as found

in answer to such questions as the following: what are my spiritual gifts?

what was it about God that I most loved when I first met Him? how did He

awaken my heart? what am I doing when I feel most connected to God?

If our salvation is the source of our calling, as Paul's was, then we should listen

back to the initial call of Christ we heard and find our vocation. From that we can

tell our story and proclaim the truth about God's grace to us.

Hebrews 2:1, "We must pay the most careful

attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away."

Our task as a church was to help each other diagnose this root of salvation

and what it might look like to live it out, turning away from disbelief.

This led to a string of exciting conversations for me, as I had opportunity

to explore my own life and the beauty to which God was inviting my friends.

The interesting thing that surfaced in many of these conversations, and in

conversations in different contexts as well, is how many people have

experienced passion for God through music -- as children or teenagers,

in groups or alone, through dancing or singing or playing an instrument.

Most of the friends I talked with about this were unsure of how to proceed

with this aspect of their calling. Many of them had completely discarded or

sidelined it. They don't seem to be in a place to perform in public settings or

to be part of leading music on a large scale. Does their musical

past lead to the present? Is it something to offer other people, or did

God give it to them primarily for connecting with Him in an intimate way?

These are questions I have been asking as the leader of bands at

The Village. I wonder what my role might be in helping people integrate

the musical part of their vocation into their lives and maybe more into

the community at large.