Current Obsessions

(Lots of Linky lovin' on the page! Click on the pictures to be transported!)

Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Coffee
Delicate fragrance of orange blossoms, with a clean, smooth, elegant finish. Imogen Heap
Speak for Yourself - Angelic sounding Emo

Rockford Coffee -

At the Cusp of 7th and Main

Superfood Micronutrient -

Green fruity Goodness

Down Comfort -

snuggle down in!

Bare Minerals -

Amazing and wonderful

Moleskine. Thoughts, scribbles, anywhere, everywhere.

The Visitation

Grama came!

What more do you need?

~ One night not long ago ~

~ 3 Nights ago ~


~ 2 Nights ago ~

Look at that sunset beginning behind us!

(yes Tof can lift and carry me... and yes he has cornrows... but look at that sky!)

What other forms of manipulation do you need to see before you come visit?!?!

As He Becomes Clear

I love music! (Why do you think I married a musician?) I don't spend hours hitting the rewind button trying to get a lick down just right, but none the less, there is nothing that brings me to my knees quicker or lifts me to the throne of God faster than a song.

I am a dancer at heart. Always have been, always will be, even when I'm 80! So, I love things that get me stirred up a and set my feet to groovin', but 2 artists have an uncanny ability to render me helpless. A puddle, if you will... Their lyrics - My prayer.

Chris Rice questions, yet praises still. His very human cries for belonging, feelings of worthlessness, and forthrightness with his tendancy to wander validate my own heart, yet don't leave me to wallow there. He never finishes without retelling me that "God is Big Enough", that "He still wants to hold me and use me", and that He "races to meet me and bring me back to life".

Bebo Norman is the other one. I get teased about this one all the time. Everyone thinks I like him because he is handsome. Have you listened to his lyrics? He breaks my heart. My knees bend in submission to the Spirit's whisper that invades the hardened shell as he sings. He is handsome - get over it and see his heart. I happen to have a dangerously handsome man of my own with a voice that melts me quite effectively.

This morning I cried. I turned on my playlist on Rhapsody and went on editing photos. By the end of the first song, first chorus I was useless as God spoke and I repented -again- for my indifference and self sufficiancy. Here's it is (prepare to be jello):

Disappear Bebo Norman
On a day like this I want to crawl beneath a rock

A million miles from the world

The commotion that never seems to stop
And on a day like this I want to run from the routine

Run away from the daily grind

That can suck the life right out of me
I only know of one place I can run to…

CHORUS:

I want to hide in You

The Way, The Life, The Truth

So I can disappear

And love is all there is to see

Coming out of me

And you become clear

As I disappear

I don't want to care about earthly things

Be caught up in all the lies

That trick my eyes

They say it's all about me
I'm so tired of it being about me

CHORUS:

I want to hide in You

The Way, The Life, The Truth

So I can disappear

And love is all there is to see

Coming out of me

And you become clear

As I disappear

2Co 3:16 Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are--face to face!
2Co 3:17 They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it!
2Co 3:18 All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.

As He Becomes Clear...

Speak Memory

It's been awhile. Forgive me . Life seems to get the best of me. I've been reminscing lately. Being here, being in ministry, seems like the underside of reality. Like real life is actually on the flipside of the life we are living. I reread some journals, some prophesies, poems, & stories from the wilderness years. They still hit like lightning in my spirit. God speaks so clearly and to the heart of me, even though this is 10 - 12 years later. I have much to learn, much I still need to have spoken as I dream.

Here are some excerpts from Sinai:



"The ability to question, the ability to take a skeptical position is absolutely central to my unerstanding of myself. It is very important to experience doubt. I think faith without doubt is either just nostalgia, or a kind of addiction." ~Mary Gordon



"Do I actually believe in the death sentance that was proclaimed of me (self) at Salvation's Endowment? Am I trying to tame what needs to die?"



"The only reason judgement exists is for forgiveness. When I know what I am being forgiven of (because of judgement - the law), redemption becomes valuable."



"When God bestows His annointing oil upon you, it will not matter whether they understood your dreams or not."



"As much as music was a part of David's life, as much as he loved it, and as skillful as he was at it ~ it was NOT what he was annointed for. BUT the annointing came as a result of a heart; a heart developed in the pouring out. The release in song."



"Dreams are questionable. Vague & allusive. But should a man, who has been established in reputation as faithful & trustworthy, who dreams a dream be considered quetionable as well? Only a Dreamer recognizes a Dreamer's value and a dream's worth."

"I am a history writer. There is history yet to be written."

"Am I in to win, or just to play?"

"The stronger I feel about something, the more it is loved, the more time, honor and devotion is dedicated to it. We become like what we focus on; where our delight is directed."

I know. It's all simple. It is just hitting me again. I'm so glad He speaks life - it makes it that much easier to die.

Big Picture Friday

Minda asked me to roll her hair in rags! She hasn't ask me in ages.

She was all bouncy to match thes yesterday.

Here she is reading one of her favorite poetry books.

13 can be so fun!

Room With a View

These two mamas and their fawns have walked by our house the last few evenings...
I watch them from my bedroom window.

I never tire of seeing the deer, or watching
the sun rise and set over the mountains to the east & west of us.

It's a Date!

We take Cassia to College Group on Monday nights and then James and I head off for some Crunch and Munch! (We crunch on one another and munch some food)

Today's date consisted of Rockford Coffee (who serve Cafe' Vita coffee, and have an amazing house chai!), and The Naked Noodle for dinner. (don't you feel naughty just saying the name?!!)

We wore our warmest togs, argued over signficant and insignificant issues, ate 'til we felt we would burst and came home more in love than ever.

The End

Seahawks lost today. This was James and Tof's response when the Bears kicked a 50 yrd. field goal in overtime to win the game.

Poor Fellas

Big Picture Friday

We found out this morning what it means to run out of Propane when it is -25 degrees outside. Never having lived in a home heated by propane before, we will chalk this one up to experience, and having experienced it, will not likely be making that mistake again!

Adieu

We had some new friends over to ring in the New Year!

A Little Food

A Little Festivities

A Little Dancin'

A Little Twisted

A LOT of Dishes!

My pipe is out, my glass is dry;

My fire is almost ashes too;

But once again, before you go;

And I prepare to meet the New:

Old year! a parting word that's true,

For we've been comrades, you and I -

I thank God for each day of you;

There! bless you now! Old Year, goodbye!

RW Service

Happy New Year Everyone! I look forward to sharing it with you!

Ya Gotta Get Up, Ya Gotta Get Up....

It's Christmas Morning!

God is so faithful to me. Even in my lack, He brings joy and sweetness to this day.

The kids woke one by one. I had been up for an hour before the first one peeped around the corner. I woke James with coffee. Sleepy smiles, hugs & kisses ensued.

It was just what I needed.

We had our time of gifts. Then we drew, played and napped before heading to Pastor Steven's and Stacey's for dinner and games.

I love being in th grip of the grace of God!

Here's some highlights!!

Pastor James at candlelight service.
Santa left one of his Reindeer outside my bedroom window!
Called up ~ They wait til we get cocoa made and James Taylor crooning out the carols.
Huh? Oh!
Stocking goodies are always a favorite!
Prayer
Grama Judy's traditional breakfast! Christmas Casserole (sausage, eggs, cheese), pear halves, cinnamin bread, & OJ! Couldn't have our first Christmas away from them without bringing them into our celebration somehow.

Tofer rolls the butt, Minda takes the midriff & Cassia goes for the cranium!

Team Montana and the Hallelujah! Snowman!

What a fun holiday we had!

(I have been trying for several days to post this, but blogger wasn't cooperating... Sorry it took so long.)

Fa La La La La La

This is as far as we have gotten with Christmas this year. With the saga of selling a house, having just moved into our new home, losing my Daddy suddenly & traveling back for his memorial service, the movers leaving my mixing bowls and baking stones behind, and the general lack of funds that goes along with moving - we haven't bought a single gift, baked a single cookie or pie, or sent out a single card. Getting into the Spirit of it all is alluding me.

We're done with school tomorrow until next Wednesday.

I'm amazed, and a bit bugged, at how much of who I am is still wrapped up in what I do. My lack of organization, getting things done, or writing our fun, snappy Christmas letter ~ is affecting how I feel about the Salvation of God coming to earth. I can't see past my own exhaustion and loss.

This is so much harder than I thought it would be.

Pictures of Home

"Home" - Great Word ~ Great Feeling ...

We are unpacked! We are feeling settled! Friends are beginning to trickle in regularly! These windows hold the most breathtaking view of the Bitteroot Range!

The house is older. We kinda love its odd quirks though!

Home at Last

In our front yard Wednesday Morning!
It seems magical, this whole idea of coming into a Calling. As if it should only be a dream, or like you are playing and it will all end when you are called for dinner.
Being in Montana and waking up to a world covered in white, and more snow softly falling helps with that etherial feeling.
Furthr add to the equation the fact that we are in a home that overlooks the Gallatin Valley, with the Bitteroot Range and the Tetons beyond that and I become just plain overwhelmed.
BUT it doesn't end there. God called us to a people who love us. He has given us opportunity both to give and be given into. We have been embraced. We have been esteemed. We have been humbled. It is no small thing when you find yourself in the center of God's palm.

I need to be there. In the midst of all the blessing and fulfillment, I was blindsided.

My Daddy died. It was sudden. Unexpected.

Life seems so odd. To be living when others aren't - can't. It would be so much easier if it all ended at once. Yet life is good.

There is still a song sung over me. His song. Undeserved, but lilting and enveloping, ... and carrying.

We are expecting friends soon. Christmas and it's celebration of hope and it's gift of life are coming on their heels.

Life is without Daddy ~ But not without Papa. God is a Father to the Fatherless. That is me now. He sets the solitary into family. This solitary daughter has found family and home in Montana - set into it by a loving Papa.