BRD is 29

A few glimpses of Brett's 29th birthday at the Portage.

Brett has a freakishly long eyebrow hair.

My mom sent a package from CA which arrived today!
Norah fits perfectly in the box.

Brett's breakfast burrito.

Norah

Reagan

putting up lights in below zero temps

voila!

the crowning present: a new band saw

birthday peppermint fudge

Mission Trip: Minneapolis

At the end of our four-day trip, our team of five filled out evaluation forms and wrote ourselves letters recounting what we experienced while it was still fresh on our minds. Two weeks later we were able to give our group report to our church body and share a slideshow of pictures. However, there are many more who supported us personally through prayer and giving who have not yet heard the story. Following is my brief attempt to recap our short-term mission trip to inner-city Minneapolis, Fri July 26th - Mon July 29th, Anno Domini 2013.

Our trip was a whirlwind and yet so full of grace. Not only did we deepen our relationship with the Lord and with each other, but we learned about some great mission opportunities and devoted disciples less than 75 miles from our front door here in Owatonna. We were all challenged in different ways and we were each given the opportunity to use our own gifts and talents.

Friday we helped with cleaning and maintenance projects at Akina Community Church, which is made up mostly of Ojibwe Native Americans. Saturday we met an InterFACE worker who was serving Nepali-Bhutanese refugees in her neighborhood, and we helped survey refugee families, learn about their needs, and provide resources for them and their children as they adjust to their new homes, jobs, and language. Friday and Saturday nights we participated in Street Level evangelism downtown and were able to share the gospel and engage in many conversations about Jesus. Sunday we taught children's Sunday school at Akina, went on prayer walks for Tibetan families, and sorted clothes and served a meal at the Marie Sandvik Center for homeless and needy. On Sunday night our amazing Bethany Global Team Leader, Alison G, introduced us to several people groups compiled in the book Operation China, and some missionaries and students she knew personally involved in reaching these locations. Monday we helped at the Salvation Army day camp where many of the kids spoke Spanish, doing gospel-oriented crafts and helping construct their VBS set. Throughout the trip we were able to eat several delicious ethnic meals, hear the testimonies of wonderful brothers and sisters, and mutually encourage one another.

You can view a few photos from our trip here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/i68tzp8y7cd84wr/4nVWZjI_uP

I cannot help but love learning, especially about other cultures and people. I must confess the incredible glimpses of the Nepali/Bhutanese families--from the jovial grandfathers to the hospitable new mothers to precocious six year old Nischal--held me rapt and goaded me to petition God for Linda's work to be fruitful. I don't really have words to convey the beauty and receptivity that these people have. I'm just struck by it. I'm struck by the magnitude of diversity that exists in our world, and the magnanimity of Christ's people serving Him in the alleyways and front porches and living rooms, around the world and right here in Minnesota.

heat wave

Cicadas are in full swing and the tomatoes are ripening. We leave for Battle Lake (Viking Camp) tomorrow. It's finally summer, just in time to turn to fall ...AKA The Best Summer Ever. My mother sent me an apron kit for my birthday, and today I finally got around to sewing it together. Norah obligingly took my picture, then wanted to wear the apron her nana once gave her so we set the camera on the window sill. I messed up one of the pockets--actually just made it too small--but I may still add it, along with a few real buttons. Bring on baking weather!

365 til 30

Now has begun the final revolution of my twenties. I am incredibly excited! A lot because of how close we are coming to being debt free, which is such a huge orientation of my life now. Simply reflecting on the past five years is enough to give me pause: anything could happen in the decades to come. Greater grief and deeper joy. I'm not guaranteed another day, but I am still resolved to seize the moment every day that I am given, be it sweet or sorrowful, messy or marvelous. ordinary or extraordinary.

July 17th was abundantly blessed.

the lay of the laundry

Last Saturday we scored some sweet deals at a local city-wide garage sale, but I think the front loading washing machine will go down in the record books.

We thought we'd hit one last sale before leaving town, but as we meandered up the driveway the people having the sale began to box things up (good sign #1). I cut my finger looking through a box of picture frames, snagged a few vintage shoelaces, and dug a tall green mug out of the free box. Then Brett came up to me and pointed out a washing machine that I had barely even noticed, with a masking tape price tag that said $50. “What if we offer them $25?” Brett said under his breath (good sign #2).

I considered the idea. I'd always wanted a decent front loader. My machine at home worked perfect, I'd underpaid for it, so I could probably sell it for at least $50 and come out on top. What did we have to lose? (The Kicker: Nothing.)

the reason they practically gave it away

We drove home a few minutes later with our new maid/entertainment. We plugged it in and realized the door latch (striker) was broken, but Brett quickly ordered a replacement part for $7.50 + shipping. The piece came five days later, and we sat down to watch our steal of a deal in action.

I love my low-cost life. Wasting money/energy drives me nuts, superfluity baffles the heck out of me, dryer lint is dumb, technology tends to confuse me, the sun's rays and oxygen delight me, low utility bills mean more money for books, Laura Ingalls did it, there is so much gosh-darn S P A C E in this house for clotheslines when it rains, and the smell of summer breezes is basically heaven. Go jump in your piles of steamy, industrially-dried clothes; I'll take the sweet scent of fresh cut grass, backyard bonfires, juicy garden strawberries, and bare feet.

colorado = red

It's the First Day of Summer and our first day back from our trip to Colorado. In the car on the way home Norah sang "Mary had a little baby and Jesus was his name" to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb - and I had never before considered the implications of that song before! Brett really helped me brainstorm and process my story plot and we listed to some good music driving across the plains.

We saw some awesome sites, heard good teaching, tasted delicious food together, and shared tears and laughter with most of my siblings and my dad. Now to catch up on housekeeping.

Norah at Red Rock Amphitheater

the galley

THIS.

West Galley

Northeast Galley

Northwest Galley

Took two years and three months to achieve and still isn't finished. Note the south/sink is unpictured, but that's a whole 'nother story. I love the stories of this Portage! I like the beginnings and the endings and the middles. The ending are so especially meaningful after what came before them, though. Like the floor discovery a month after we moved in:

'neath leveler, plywood, and three layers of laminate lies shining hardwood like buried treasure

open

shut

Then there is the story of What To Do About Awkward Corners where the ancient brown refrigerator full of mold used to block the teeny tiny up high windows (see West Galley photo above). We tried a cupboard, but we needed a place for Kaya's kennel, so a card table covered her bed until the glorious day - last Saturday - that Brett built a counter to my exact specifications!

I have been waiting so long to write this post, and even though there is trim that still needs painting, floors refinishing, and the fridge (why does refrigerator not have a D but fridge does? why?! why?! why?!!) still seems far too big and bulky and always half empty besides, I am positively smitten with my little hub of homemaking.

Look how close I've come to my inspiration! Look what I want to turn the south/sink corner into! Look what you should get me for all the rest of the birthdays of my life!

People have been asking if we have any big summer projects, and I would totally love to get a functional garage door or sliding glass doors for the north porch transformation dream, but ya know what? I have a pretty kitchen galley, so I don't care about those other things. At least for today.

sanguine splendor

Tulips, Year 3.

Last year was quite a different story.

other days

Some days, like yesterday, you have a nasty sinus headache and feel like your life is a total failure. Fortunately, the sun goes down and the searing affliction fades, and with rest your  normal work can resume. Other days, the absence of misery puts a spring in your step, and you can tackle your massive organization project with joie de vivre!

The North Porch: stuff to save, sell, & salvage

Outside of North Porch...

Fireside Porch inspiration?
(wood stove instead of fireplace)

splendid to find

“Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think.
It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”
L. M. Montgomery

Sarah, Millie, myself, Rachel

 

snowatonna

The wild dreamer part of me wonders if someday we will adopt a kid and find out he/she was born during Owatonna's May Day Blizzard of 2013. Kid, if you are out there somewhere, you are INCREDIBLY special!!! I can't wait to meet you.

Yesterday was so surreal. Sure, we got snow on May 1st and put hot chocolate in the May Day baskets we made, and Norah tasted the snow off the swing, sandbox, and slide (a mere three days after we were outside in swimsuits and cooking over the firepit). But in my five years of marriage, the snow has never stopped Brett from going to work - and that includes the crazy DC blizzard in 2010 - and on May 2nd he did try for five hours anyway, to no avail.

Instead of our usual work, we walked through 15" over to Brenda's, put together a puzzle, took pictures and marveled at the fallen branches, made snowcreatures, passed stories of green and gardens on to our children, laughed, went to the National Day of Prayer service, sang about alabaster cities, and ate waffles.

Brett and I went to bed last night thinking, "WOW. Don't want this day to ever end, it'll never come again."

This morning I woke up to more freshly falling snow. It's still a snowglobe out there as I type this, with my hot chocolate and cinnamon roll. Narnia, Groundhog Day, "Don't they know about second winter?" - all the jokes apply. I just revel like Hannah in 1Sam 1:27, " the Lord has given me my petition which I asked of Him," and I devote this snowy day to Him, as though it were my last.

the book of life

Today is May Day

...and it's blizzarding.

When we basically had zero snow last winter, I seriously doubted the shortage would ever be remedied, but I'm finally beginning to feel that my hopes are within reach. (I should apply this lesson in other areas. God is not fair but He is just.)

Snow melts, flowers fade, children grow up and fly away. So dig in and savor the good, and know that eternity will last forever and we have been given each moment for a reason. Grieve, hope, rage, laugh, but thank the Maker for this beautiful messy Story.

beat with you

Five days away from my husband and daughter, scrapbooking five years of life together, and we chat on the last day:

R: My heart wants to beat next to yours.
B: I misread that, thought you said your heart wants to be with mine.
R: Pretty much.
 ...
R: Anything in particular you want to do when I get home?
B: Beat with you.

beauty and the mess

Only a little snow left, patches and puddles. Since two years have transpired since we got our home, and we have only 10 items remaining (five of which are optional) on the 77-item list I typed up that first month, an update is in order.

In December 2012 my sister Abi helped me paint our crumbly, cracked, stained, smudged, and crayon-scribbled EntryWay/DiningRoom. After months of deliberation, the perfect color finally dawned on me: a roasted coffee chocolatey brown. Behold, the transformation:

BEFORE - white-ish walls, different furniture

DURING - Abi paints over the color we did not like

...facing west, only the top edges left.

 (Drumroll, please:)

AFTER

AFTER in regular light

AFTER with enhanced colors

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty stoked. You can still tell that the trim is mid-stripped, exactly the same as it was when we bought the house. We hope to strip and refinish all the trim eventually (one of the five non-optional items left) as well as refinishing all the wood floors which need it pretty bad. Super exciting, and yet so easy to put off indefinitely. Besides, I've got summer gardens and trips and markets and celebrations to keep me busy.

Technically, shouldn't this room be called the Mess Hall? I definitely had to excavate the mess before I took this picture (as you can also see in the 'before' pics). It's also the entryway where coats, boots, bags, mail, and all manner of cast-offs get piled on a daily basis. But I'm open to suggestion, especially if they sound tidier.

“O, how this spring of love resembleth the uncertain glory of an April day”
- Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act 1, Sc. 3

will you rail or revel?

E Rice Street, pre-dawn

Owatonna snowfall totals (just a few):
December 9th, 5" on Brett's birthday
February 22nd, 6" on Ryott's birthday
March 5th, 9" Winter Storm Saturn
11/12, 12/20, 2/3 we had little more than a dusting,
and today, 3/11, we had another 2 to 6 inches.

Seasonal depression has long since set in for many, and the complaints are rampant. How am I to respond? Sympathy would be dishonest. Comfort has little effect. Time is relative. My truest reaction is jubilant thankfulness! I have waited so long for so much, and we all must learn patience and contentment and steadfastness in our own way. I am learning to still trust God when He says no to what I want most. I mourn and embrace the end of winter like a long and satisfying book, and look eagerly for an epilogue.

Then I remember that there will be a sequel.

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree

Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.

                                     -Robert Frost

february friday

Could there be a better day??! I think not.

Today is February 22. Birthday of George Washington, Ryott Daniel, Dex Wray Wilde, and Oliver Lightly. How I love all three dear heroes-to-be; how thrilling to have them in my life and watch them grow and be friends with their mums. Certainly they make up for any son God could have given me! More wonderful still, today we have gotten the biggest snowfall of over SIX inches of fluff!!! (Okay actually that still sounds sort of pathetic after my experience with blizzards, but there are Some Things that I will not be sad about!) And it is Friday that I get to be home with Norah, Brett gets both overtime and off early, and life is at our disposal.

Psalms 147:16
He gives snow like wool
Job 37:6
For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth’
Proverbs 31:21
She is not afraid of snow for her household,
    for all her household are clothed in scarlet.


(Here is something I started to write Jan 13th)

This bright year, 2013, excites me in my bones. Though I am wont to burst into tears while singing, reading, or driving. God has taught me a new thing: That my desire is right, but the fulfillment may not ever look the way I expect it to. You would think I would know this already; I'm just that resistant to His way and insist on having my own!

“I can do all things, and no purpose of mine can be thwarted” (Job 42:2)

five revolutions

The weekend of our fifth anniversary.

Photos by our dear friend Katy Snow.