birthday nephews!

nick turned 3 and kris turned 1, and everyone adored their adorableness.

this is when they were singing to him - i LOVE how much he hoved it

"Hey, bring more of that white stuff down here! And make it snappy!"

a house in boxes

have you ever thought about how strange it is to pack an entire house into a thousand tiny cardboard boxes? there's an uncanny metaphor in there somewhere, but i don't know what it is. i just know it feels mostly strange and impossible.

my parents finally sold their house and moved. it was a long day of bending backs and using reluctant muscles, but there was a very colorful and tatooed team of gentlemen there to do most the dirty work, represented by a company called Rational Moving. i took a fancy to that name and found a bit of irony there. but they indeed helped carry the hours with a fair bit of organization and humor.

it was a lot of work for a HUGE blessing, and as is always the case in God's world, the timing was perfect. now they have a beauitful, comfortable place they call their own, without stairs, and with a view of the lake, access to pool, billiards, and gym. and we kids and grandkids get the new-found benefit of going over to "mom and dad's", complete with our own pool towels. :)

old house

first meal in their new home - we're so happy for you, mom and dad!

(to come: more pics of the new place)

Grandpa

Grandpa went Home to be with Jesus yesterday. It was his 88th birthday. July 11 became a new birthday, a more real birthday than he has yet known.

He was a loving and gracious man. He loved his family more than anything, save one. He loved his Lord. His love for his Savior was seen every minute. His entire life was spent waiting and longing for Christ to return. It was not wasted, though. He was busy planting a group of three trees. He watered, nourished, and watched that small cluster of three trees blossom and grow into a small grove. He was blessed to witness that grove become a small orchard. In time, the seeds that Grandpa planted, by God's mercy, and in the Spirit's care, will grow to become a healthy forest, bearing fruit in testimony to His gift to us.

Grandpa, we thank you for your life, for your love, and for the memories you leave behind. Most of all we thank you for the love of Christ that you showed to us. Your legacy is one of Christ-centered living and loving. May the apples we branches bear fall close to the tree.

Your kindness and generosity is only exceeded by good looks and charming personality.

We love you. See you in Glory.

when in Portland...

do as the toursits do.

see multnomah falls. notice the beauty. feel the spray. have your picture taken. offer to take someone else's picture. hike to the bridge. notice the height. return to solid ground. notice the kitsch-y gift shop. become content with your own junk. eat an ice cream.

literary hunger

in the past two months, i have read more than i have in the last two years! it seems weird to me, but i'm starting to understand why. after four years of sometimes savoring, sometimes trudging, but always faithfully assimilating contents and contexts of books, i have spent these last two years mostly not reading.

i didn't mean to...that is, i bore no grudge against black words on white pages. it is rather that i dove wholly into the domesticity of life that i so longed to fulfill but couldn't because of school duties. In a typical college five-day stretch, What Evolution Is (among other books) might have to be read and understood, chapter 7 and 8 of Matthew translated from the Greek, and two chapters of my thesis turned in. and then there was three days of choir, and twelve hours to put in at the mortgage office. i frankly don't know how we got through it, except that it was the mercy and strength of God Himself.

all that to say, graduating college left me satiated academically, socially, and spiritually, but ravenous for all things domestic. oh, to have time to: shop, cook, bake, clean, and then enjoy the home and husband for which i've done all these things! You NSA-students-turned-wives out there, these sentiments may ring true for you too! and so, diploma in hand, what was one of the first things i did with my fresh education? i picked strawberries and made jam - two years of jam - and it was one of the most delicious, fulfilling things i have ever done!

it has been in tasks like these, and others more mundane but equally wonderful, that i have been employed these two years. and then, one day two months ago, i plucked a book off the shelf and started to read. and read. and read. and then i plucked another one. and then another. and now, as i felt six years ago when i first arrived at New Saint Andrews and sat down to read City of God, i feel as though my world has been enriched ten fold and my soul is dancing.

so, what have i been reading then?

The Raphael Affair - Iain Pears
Out of the Silent Planet - C.S. Lewis
Perelandra - C.S. Lewis
Leepike Ridge - N.D. Wilson
The Garden and the Dragon - N.D. Wilson
In the Time of Noah - N.D. Wilson
A Great Mystery - Peter Leithart
Martin Luther - Paul L. Maier

i am also deep in the middle of

That Hiddeous Strength - C.S. Lewis
Building Her House - Nancy Wilson
Living the Sabbath - Norman Wirzba
Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Graham
The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment - Jeremiah Burroughs

word and picture, story and metaphor - it's God's magic.

(remember, comments are open to ALL now) :)

our thankful-for-such-a-country breakfast

organic, cage-free, hormone-free eggs
real pork sausage
homemade buttermilk bran muffins
summer fruit and cream, fresh from farmer's market



joe worked 4:30 am - 10:30 am, then 1:00 pm - 5:30 pm, then 8:00 pm - 11:00 pm. a 13 1/2 hour day. but we managed to have a super yummy breakfast together and watch half of Patriot Games. :) and we were thankful.

thoughts in red, white, and blue

Happy Free -to- Own -a -Lawnmower -and- Read -Leviticus -and -Run -for- President- of- the -Water- District Day!

joe and i will celebrate by:

a) helping my parents pack their gorgeous house to move into another gorgeous house. praise the Lord for this providence!

b) taking a walk down Lockwood Lane because there is no parking left

c) serving coffee and other hot beverages to 573 people before the fireworks

d) watching the fireworks explode over a suburban housing developement from coffee cat's picture window

and, here's what i woke up thinking this morning. we have no idea how many small privileges we enjoy because we live in a "free" country. we can't see them all because we acclamate. we've been there, done that, gotten the t-shirt. but there's a danger that comes with having it all. we've had our countless freedoms for so long now, our lazy, selfish generation thinks that this is what life is, complete with ipods and toaster struedels. we better stop and notice, and give thanks for, what we have been given. no thing lasts forever.

Ecclesiastes wakes us up.

Lord, we thank you for the million tiny gifts you give us through this country everyday, which we have forgotten to praise you for. fill our hearts with gratitude, and help us to see your goodness to us in this. and then, convince us that the showy delicacies of this world can't compare to the weighty, pungent glories you have planned for us with You.

introducing...

mr. and mrs. seymour!

there they were, in a wooden gazebo, in a rain storm, in portland. there was lots of potato salad and pickle relish and bowls of curious fare that only a potluck can offer. there were summer dresses dampened from the swelling rain drops and flip flops muddied up good. and, it all was ideal, because it was a wedding day for two people who cherish rain and potluck and portland.

zach seymour took sarah jane wallace to be his wife last sunday. there was no gown, no flowers, no bridesmaids or groomsmen. but there was the Word of God, and two people who came to make a covenant. it was a very real, very no-nonsense ceremony with beautiful vows and a congregational praying-over of the bride and groom. and afterwards, a rejoicing - a party.

thank you, zach and sarah, for inviting us to witness the joining of your two worlds...for letting us into such a deep moment. we cherish you, and promise to cover your future with joyful prayer. may your life be sweet together, in Christ.