Meditating on Isaiah 65:19, Spurgeon writes,
"They weep no more, because all fear of change is past... That same joyful rest remains for us. It may not be far distant. Ere long the weeping willow shall be exchanged for the palm branch of victory..."
Monday, August 23, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
The Avalanche
I love living with my in-laws. Partly because they are two of the most awesome people on the planet, and partly because they let me help restore their hundred-year-old house.
When we moved into the back "apartment" of their home, we got to pull up the carpet, rip the wallpaper out, and paint it a lemony yellow. It's fun to experiment using someone else's walls. I just had to try it - and I love waking up to the sunshine shade - and now I want to try it in a bathroom when we get our own house.
For a few years now I've been developing a color palette for our Someday Anchor's Rest, built subtley around a ship theme, with white, red, and turquoise. Maybe seafoam. I don't want porthole windows and I refuse to use a single seashell, but I wouldn't mind an antique ship's helm lying around like some people keep old wagon wheels, and maybe if my curtains billow a little like masts it wouldn't be so bad...
The first photo is the current state of the kitchen. Notice how far I got stripping the old wallpaper? And the now-window-that-once-was-wall? Andrea likes the warm earthy tones in the second picture; we will see how it turns out! We picked up a design book and a pile of color samples, and while Brett ripped out more ceiling I made a collage out of the elements Andrea liked best. Her inspiration and centerpiece is the Carl Larson.
During all this, Norah wanted to express her creative side by drawing a face all by herself:
Norah's First Face!
When we moved into the back "apartment" of their home, we got to pull up the carpet, rip the wallpaper out, and paint it a lemony yellow. It's fun to experiment using someone else's walls. I just had to try it - and I love waking up to the sunshine shade - and now I want to try it in a bathroom when we get our own house.
For a few years now I've been developing a color palette for our Someday Anchor's Rest, built subtley around a ship theme, with white, red, and turquoise. Maybe seafoam. I don't want porthole windows and I refuse to use a single seashell, but I wouldn't mind an antique ship's helm lying around like some people keep old wagon wheels, and maybe if my curtains billow a little like masts it wouldn't be so bad...
...the semblance of our future galley?
This past week, however, my hands began to itch for a project, and Andrea had often mentioned how she had always wanted to remodel the kitchen but it had never really happened. Our bedroom sits directly above the kitchen, so I decided that stripping and painting would be no sweat, and Brian and Andrea were celebrating 30 years of marriage on August 23rd, so what better gift than a bright new room?
Little did I know what I had begun. As I picked ever-so-slowly at the wallpaper (which had cemented itself to the wall so permanently that hot water, DIF solution, oatmeal, and putty knives combined had little effect on removing the stuff), I discovered that underneath was a hodge-podge of surfaces around the kitchen. Brian took a look and within minutes was prying away at wallboard, trim, and plaster. Suddenly my project is taking on a slightly larger scale. A simple coat of fresh paint turned into a pass-through, new walls, new ceiling, and new countertops.
Little did I know what I had begun. As I picked ever-so-slowly at the wallpaper (which had cemented itself to the wall so permanently that hot water, DIF solution, oatmeal, and putty knives combined had little effect on removing the stuff), I discovered that underneath was a hodge-podge of surfaces around the kitchen. Brian took a look and within minutes was prying away at wallboard, trim, and plaster. Suddenly my project is taking on a slightly larger scale. A simple coat of fresh paint turned into a pass-through, new walls, new ceiling, and new countertops.
photos courtesy ASJ
The first photo is the current state of the kitchen. Notice how far I got stripping the old wallpaper? And the now-window-that-once-was-wall? Andrea likes the warm earthy tones in the second picture; we will see how it turns out! We picked up a design book and a pile of color samples, and while Brett ripped out more ceiling I made a collage out of the elements Andrea liked best. Her inspiration and centerpiece is the Carl Larson.
During all this, Norah wanted to express her creative side by drawing a face all by herself:
Norah's First Face!Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Campfires and Faceplants
Sometimes I would like to go a month (a year?) without internet or television. To find out if I would get more out of life. ...Funny that I'm writing about this on a blog, no?
We went camping last weekend for the second time as a family. Once we save up for a house, we will go camping on a regular basis. Highlights were the camping smells, the cool fresh air, fire-cooked meals, and just being together with no distractions like work or computers. Norah got to play with little cousins, Ryott, Eliah, and Ava. Then she fell on some rocks and her mouth filled with blood, and I was amazingly stoic on the outside while frantic on the inside, and thank goodness her little tooth was still rooted (though loose) and no worse injury than a very fat lip. We put ice on it, and Ryott's teething OraGel, and she slept all night in the tent as though nothing had happened (of course I woke up several times because I couldn't forget that something had). And I'm so glad it wasn't worse. We survived our first traumatic experience, and we are all the wiser and stronger and calmer for it.
The weather is turning cooler it seems. What a relief. This week I am stripping wallpaper and going to the county fair.
The real problem is self-discipline, I believe. Limiting myself to only 1-2 hours per week of either media. I like to read the newspaper; I just like reading about my little cousins in Australia and Sweden more.
We went camping last weekend for the second time as a family. Once we save up for a house, we will go camping on a regular basis. Highlights were the camping smells, the cool fresh air, fire-cooked meals, and just being together with no distractions like work or computers. Norah got to play with little cousins, Ryott, Eliah, and Ava. Then she fell on some rocks and her mouth filled with blood, and I was amazingly stoic on the outside while frantic on the inside, and thank goodness her little tooth was still rooted (though loose) and no worse injury than a very fat lip. We put ice on it, and Ryott's teething OraGel, and she slept all night in the tent as though nothing had happened (of course I woke up several times because I couldn't forget that something had). And I'm so glad it wasn't worse. We survived our first traumatic experience, and we are all the wiser and stronger and calmer for it.
The weather is turning cooler it seems. What a relief. This week I am stripping wallpaper and going to the county fair.
Friday, August 13, 2010
The Wrong Kind
Others apart sat on a Hill retir'd,
In thoughts more elevate, and reason'd high
Of Providence, Foreknowledge, Will, and Fate,
Fixt Fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute,
And found no end, in wand'ring mazes lost.
Of good and evil much they argu'd then,
Of happiness and final misery,
Passion and Apathy, and glory and shame
Vain wisdom all, and false Philosophy:
Yet with a pleasing sorcery could charm
Pain for a while or anguish, and excite
Fallacious hope, or arm th'obdured breast
With stubborn patience as with triple steel.
--Paradise Lost, Book II
Too often my hope and patience are of the the wrong kind. Better to despair or rage with impatience than have fallacious hope or triple-steeled patience. Extremes must haunt me though, for to quote Jack London: I would rather be ashes than dust.
In thoughts more elevate, and reason'd high
Of Providence, Foreknowledge, Will, and Fate,
Fixt Fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute,
And found no end, in wand'ring mazes lost.
Of good and evil much they argu'd then,
Of happiness and final misery,
Passion and Apathy, and glory and shame
Vain wisdom all, and false Philosophy:
Yet with a pleasing sorcery could charm
Pain for a while or anguish, and excite
Fallacious hope, or arm th'obdured breast
With stubborn patience as with triple steel.
--Paradise Lost, Book II
Too often my hope and patience are of the the wrong kind. Better to despair or rage with impatience than have fallacious hope or triple-steeled patience. Extremes must haunt me though, for to quote Jack London: I would rather be ashes than dust.
Listmania
Coffee brewed. Husband sent off to work. Dough mixed. Cookies and Bread baked. Dishes washed. Daughter breakfasted and dressed. Caterpillars fed. Camping menu planned. Laundry folded. Blog written... whoops! Better do that now.
Norah observes the Black Swallowtails feasting on parsley.
My brain thinks in pictures, but I have trouble remembering unless it is written down, so my pen writes in lists because it is efficient. I liked the idea a friend discovered of using her birthday as the start and end of a year of resolutions, so I am blatantly copying her with my own goals. Here are seven things I'd like to accomplish before I turn 27:
Here are a few other lists that have been rumbling around in my head. The first is my parents' homeschooling lesson plans from my childhood, which my family found and gave me recently.
Norah observes the Black Swallowtails feasting on parsley.
Save up for a house of our own
Lose 15 lbs
Make a dentist appointment
Finish three craft projects
Go to the Boundary Waters
Join or start a bookclub
Keep a prayer journal
Lose 15 lbs
Make a dentist appointment
Finish three craft projects
Go to the Boundary Waters
Join or start a bookclub
Keep a prayer journal
Here are a few other lists that have been rumbling around in my head. The first is my parents' homeschooling lesson plans from my childhood, which my family found and gave me recently.
And here's a page out of a book Brett gave me, along with roses.
Friday, August 6, 2010
27 years ago today
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Endurance
"I've always been dissatisfied, I know that. But lately I find that I reek of discontentment. It fills my throat, it floods my brain. And sometimes I fear that there is no longer a dream, but only the discontentment." - John Adams [to Abigail Adams in 1776]
July in summation:
Molten red skies at 4AM. Sultry, endless cornfields. Value Place birthdays. Walmart shopping with siblings and cousins. Lightning and rainbows over the hotel where Brett gave me a ring. 48-hour fast. Guitar hymns and praise songs. Watching Inception. Reading Paradise Lost.
Now the heat is torturous. If Samuel Beckett wrote a play about my life it would be called Waiting for Fall. Or maybe just Waiting, period. Waiting Very Impatiently. Now I begin to see how children can be an idol. For me it is an unsatiable desire. Yuck, that makes me shudder.
"For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, withough hypocrisy.
"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom."
"Behold, we count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful."
James 3:16-17, 4:8-9, 5:11
July in summation:
Molten red skies at 4AM. Sultry, endless cornfields. Value Place birthdays. Walmart shopping with siblings and cousins. Lightning and rainbows over the hotel where Brett gave me a ring. 48-hour fast. Guitar hymns and praise songs. Watching Inception. Reading Paradise Lost.
Now the heat is torturous. If Samuel Beckett wrote a play about my life it would be called Waiting for Fall. Or maybe just Waiting, period. Waiting Very Impatiently. Now I begin to see how children can be an idol. For me it is an unsatiable desire. Yuck, that makes me shudder.
"For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, withough hypocrisy.
"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom."
"Behold, we count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful."
James 3:16-17, 4:8-9, 5:11
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)