365*, Silly

This Mommytography assignment was easy, as we have plenty of opportunities for silly pictures in this house.

Here is Noah in his wild PJs. I bought them extra-long since he is in the middle of a growth spurt, but he uses the extra length to goof around.



And though this picture is poorly lit and out of focus, it shows another silly thing that Noah has been doing lately. He has been sleeping in the linen closet so that he won't have to share a room with Caleb. Needless to say, we are in need of a little more brotherly love around here.

365, Week 11 Retreat

This week I had a special blessing. I got to get away to the mountains for a personal spiritual retreat.

Here is the little cottage I stayed in:

From Retreat

My room had a "The Lord is my Shepherd" theme and had a real feather bed. The kitchen cottage had this neat window with blue bottles:

From Retreat

I spent most of my days sitting by the fireplace in the big lodge with my Bible and journal. I also consumed quite a bit of chocolate.

From Retreat

From Retreat

The Lord's presence was all over this place. The owners have built it as a special ministry for those who need to get away and rest. I came away very refreshed and with a strong sense of what the Lord is teaching me. One of my prayers for the weekend was this one by St. Anselm (who was the Archbishop of Canterbury over 1000 years ago):

Holy Comforter - do enter by Your mighty power into the innermost sanctuary of my heart, and of your goodness dwell within, making glad with the brightness of your glorious light the neglected corners inside and make fruitful by the visitation of Your abundant dew the fields that are parched and barren with a long continued drought.

Pierce with the arrows of Your love the secret chambers of the inner man. Let the entrance of Your healthful flames set the sluggish heart alight, and the burning fire of Your sacred inspiration enlighten it and consume all that is within me, both of mind and body. Give me drink of Your pleasures as out of a river so that I take no pleasure hereafter in the poisonous sweetness of worldly delights . . .

Graciously grant me that my littleness may be pleasing to Your greatness, my weakness to Your strength, according to the multitudes of Your mercies, through Jesus Christ my Savior, who lives and reigns with the Father in the Unity that is of You, world without end. Amen.

The sun came out the last day I was there and I wandered around and took a few more photos.

From Retreat

From Retreat

From Retreat

From Retreat

From Retreat

From Retreat

Life Without Limits

"Life Without Limits" tells the story of Nick Vujicic - a young man who was born without arms or legs but has gone on to be a motivational speaker (and surfer!). I found his story to be very inspiring but the book itself to be a little repetitive. It read more like a great speech than a great book, and I think if I heard the message delivered in person it would improve tremendously. So at the risk of sounding mean by giving a below average review to a guy with no arms and legs, I'm going to say that I wouldn't recommend the book but I would recommend going to hear Nick Vujicic in person (I have not heard him in person, but I have heard several who have, and they were beyond impressed).

I'm afraid I couldn't help comparing this book to another I recently read called "Breath." It was written by a woman, Martha Mason, who spent over sixty years in an iron lung. The similarities were striking. Both met their difficulties with a great attitude and a profound faith. The difference was that Nick spent time learning to skateboard and surf, and Ms. Mason's passion was reading. The difference in passions and maturity is evident in the writing. "Breath" has a superb literary quality. Of course, her life was a lot longer and she had a lot more material to include in a memoir. And to be fair, Nick's book is not described as a biography or memoir - it's simply a motivational book. Perhaps I'm just more a fan of biography.

At any rate, both of these books gave me lots to appreciate about the little things in life like being able to use my arms and legs and breath without a machine.

Gray Matter by David Levy, MD

I recently finished this fascinating book about a brain surgeon that brought prayer into his practice. I found many things about this book intriguing - first of all, that a guy who was originally a car mechanic changed gears (sorry for the pun) to attend medical school and become one of the best surgeons in his field. I also found his own journey of faith followed an equally unique path.

David Levy was very real and open about his fears when he first felt led to pray with patients. He didn't know how they would respond or what would be the reactions of colleagues. What about if he prayed and there was a bad outcome? These were all very real concerns, but David overcame them with radical obedience.

It was truly inspiring to see both the change that it brought about in him as well as his patients. And it humbled me to pray more in my daily occupation of being a Mom and teacher to my children. If a highly-trained brain surgeon feels the need to continuously ask God for help, should I do any less?

365*, Week 10 Swinging

Today was a beautiful day! Noah was swinging in the backyard with a neighborhood friend, and I went outside to snap some photos.

For some reason, the kids enjoy swinging while standing on a board. I tried lots of angles trying to get a good shot. I think my favorites are the ones taken from up above.

Watching them play brought back memories of when I used to play with Sandy, the little boy next door. It's sad when you get a little older and it's not as simple to play with members of the opposite gender.

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

365, Week 9 - Noah's Haircut

We had a momentous occasion for photos last weekend when Noah got his first haircut in several months. He really likes to wear his hair long, and we have indulged him for the most part. However, he had some very bad behavior while Dad was out of town - calling his mother a stupid idiot repeatedly was the milder of his offenses - and he knew he had some serious punishment coming when Dad got home.

So among other things, he received a haircut against his wishes. I will say that he took it fairly well - he knew it could have been far worse. Funny thing is, the rebellion seems to have gone away with the hair.

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

From Noah's Haircut 2011

365, Week 8 Our Old House

Well, I finally reached my limit. Not my own personal limit - I reached that long ago - but I reached the limit for how many photos I could put on my blog without paying for more space! I ran into a few glitches when trying to add the space, so it put me a little behind with my blog posts.

Here are some photos I took a few weeks ago when Terry, Rebecca and I went to visit our old house that has been added onto numerous times since we sold it eleven years ago and is now on the market. This house was originally built by Terry's grandparents as a "lake house," and it remained pretty much the same from 1960-1994, when Terry and I first built an addition on the back.

You can see that it was a pretty humble house:



But what you can't see in this picture is the beautiful lake view behind the house. And after we added on, it looked like this from the lake side:




We had lots of great times in this house. It was a great house for entertaining even though it was quite small, and we had 30 or more college students meeting at our house every weekend.

Here's what the house looks like now. It's hard to appreciate the difference if you were never in the old house. The new version has an additional fireplace, an additional two bedrooms, an additional bath, etc. In fact, it is almost double the size as it was before. The kitchen had blue linoleum countertops and plaid wallpaper before. Now it's modern with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. There certainly was no spiral staircase when we lived there, but now it's got one that goes down to a "man cave."














But the basement and the waterfront hadn't changed much.









It was a very strange feeling looking around a place that had so many memories yet was so different. Terry and I both said that we would buy it back now if we could. I'd also love to buy back those sweet years when my children were little.