Light for the Lost Boy

Andrew Peterson.
How I wish I had a better sense of recall.
I think we first discovered him through the online program Haventoday.org
How often have I and my beloved been served up true blessing by the widely diverse and oddly well-timed contributions featured here?
(a rhetorical question that can be blissfully ignored btw:)
It was a series on Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas, complemented by a music video of Petersons' Dancing in the Minefields that had us first sitting up straight and taking notice.
Imagine that for starters - a marriage referenced as a dance of two in a minefield.
Newlyweds will balk and quickly proffer disgust at such a notion.  Been there, done that.
The seasoned longer-serving couples however will smile at its quirky truth.  Been there, doing that.

We fell in love with his gift for getting to the heart of the matter in song and story and even made a road trip to Valparaiso, Indiana last year so we could listen to him live on stage.

I'm here to tell you he's done it again with his newest album:  Light for the Lost Boy
But don't take my word for it.  Click the link and decide for yourself.
You are urged however, to take your time with it, to listen carefully to the words, to let them steep slowly in your soul.

Andrew Peterson is equally gifted as a writer - working on book four of the fantasy adventure series Wingfeather Saga.   I couldn't put them down, now joining the throng who wait eagerly for the conclusion of the story.
(truly? does it have to end?)
To be so doubly gifted seems almost cruel to the rest of us.
Conversely, the rest of us can simply take up and read or take up and listen - finding ourselves a place of respite in a crazy world and a peace to pass on to those around us.
Well, I call it a peace but it is perhaps more aptly termed a restless sense of grace.  Such as you might eventually discover in reading Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy or least this commentary of same: A Sudden Joyous Turn


When I look at you, boy
I can see the road that lies ahead
I can see the love and the sorrow

Bright fields of joy
Dark nights awake in a stormy bed
I want to go with you, but I can’t follow

So keep to the old roads
Keep to the old roads
And you’ll find your way

Your first kiss, your first crush
The first time you know you’re not enough
The first time there’s no one there to hold you

The first time you pack it all up
And drive alone across America
Please remember the words that I told you

Keep to the old roads
Keep to the old roads
And you’ll find your way
You’ll find your way

If love is what you’re looking for
The old roads lead to an open door
And you’ll find your way
You’ll find your way
Back home

And I know you'll be scared when you take up that cross
And I know it'll hurt, 'cause I know what it costs
And I love you so much and it's so hard to watch
But you're gonna grow up and you're gonna get lost
Just go back, go back

Go back, go back to the ancient paths
Lash your heart to the ancient mast
And hold on, boy, whatever you do
To the hope that's taken hold of you
And you'll find your way
You'll find your way
If love is what you’re looking for
The old roads lead to an open door
And you’ll find your way
You’ll find your way
Back home

Enjoy exploring this artist as we have.
I think it's time for another road trip with my beloved.

Deeply Loved

I wear these cloth fibre bangles every day to remind me.

And I'm reading a book called Deeply Loved by Keri Wyatt Kent.

Through many recent conversations, I have discovered 

I am SO not alone with these fears and doubts of mine.  

Keri's book is subtitled 

"40 ways in 40 days to experience the heart of Jesus"...from page 2

Augustine asserted, "God loves each of us like an only child."

You may not believe that.  Or perhaps, you do believe it 

on an intellectual or theological level, but you don't feel it.

You have never, or perhaps only rarely, 

experienced that deep love.

But what if he was right?

******

This is my much needed Advent 'activity'.

Fathers & Sons

This is son Joey.  He is a great uncle who is now also a daddy!

This compact little bundle pictured below, so cozy and warm within, sure took his time emerging from the womb.  

But emerge he did.  As it so invariably happens.  When it was his time.

Beckett Alexander is the newest man-child in the family.

A beautiful first born son to our second born son and his wife.

Friends and Family swarmed in, delighted to hear the details of this life-altering experience.

And life altering it is.

We are all changed again, in ways yet to be measured and defined.

I watch my beloved with this bundle and remember a time long ago (was it truly so long ago?)
In my minds eye, I see this staid and stoic man dancing around a delivery room with his own man-child in arms.
A feeling monumental stirs inside me but resists words.
Ppft! Hate it when that happens.

Little Beckett Alexander with the big hands and feet? ~ ~ It is a great privilege to welcome you to our world.  You are here with us according to a grand plan and purpose of God.

As grandmother, I am now supposedly old and wise enough to wait patiently for this to unfold.
If I default in my penchant of ploughing headlong, may it be in the area of prayer.
In the stillness and beauty of this summer morning reflection, I earnestly desire that it may be so.

The Newest Mr. & Mrs. in our family

Photo credits to Amy of Asher Images, family photographer extraordinaire.

Used without permission (sheepish grin)

Our baby girl is off on a honeymoon with her new husband.  Of course with her new husband.
"Honeymoon".
Why that term strikes me as strange now is interesting. 
I never thought about it twice when I ventured on my own, nor when we delighted in seeing four other married children embark on theirs.

Google defines it thus:
One early reference to a honeymoon is in Deuteronomy 24:5 “When a man is newly wed, he need not go out on a military expedition, nor shall any public duty be imposed on him. He shall be exempt for one year for the sake of his family, to bring joy to the wife he has married.”
Originally "honeymoon" simply described the period just after the wedding when things are at their sweetest; it is assumed to wane in a month. The earliest term for this in English was hony moone, which was recorded as early as 1546.


... a period of time when things are at their sweetest ~ assumed to wane in a month. 


Harrumph!


Not to worry.  Many marriage veterans including us, have and will continue to mentor our little newlyweds regarding this profound mystery as it has been called, to pray for them, walk the road with them, offer counsel when requested and perhaps otherwise :),  to enjoy this blessing with them and finally, get them reading  SACRED MARRIAGE.  
(a gem of a book/devotional we discovered only two years ago and heartily endorse to everyone regardless of where they show up on the marriage spectrum). 


We eagerly anticipate their return for a variety of reasons:

• to hear about the marvels of their meanderings of NYC ~ if it is  even possible to meander in such a place.
• to witness ones children establish a new family home of their own and finally...
• to have this infernal publication ban of their wedding photos lifted once and for all so that we might share the occasion with you!

Pentecost 2012

Our school is celebrating Pentecost with an exciting array of song and scripture.
It will feature the grade 8 class accompanying On the Day of Pentecost with various instruments including a stunning new pair of timpani purchased from the proceeds of our latest CD "Great Hymns of Faith".
Naturally, the program also features the sweet sound of about 100 other CCS students from Kindergarten to grade 8 who never fail to inspire and bless those who hear them.
An orchestral ensemble will accompany us and a small but wonderful adult church choir will add a bit of 4part harmony to a few songs.
Here's our signature song - it'll give you an idea of what to expect on May 25th in our church.
Join us if you can, the blessing of such an event is always best shared in community.



Yeah.  It doesn't seem to be working for me either.
Perhaps the Getty's are looking for ways to curb the piracy we call sharing.  :)
Google Holy Spirit, Living Breath of God.
It's our premium Pentecost song.

May the song in your heart put a spring in your step today.

Maternal Musings

Today, in a sunlit spare room upstairs, I spent an extraordinary afternoon with the contents of small ordinary looking box.

In a corner of that room, lie two very large rubbermaid totes filled with memories of my mother.  

Totes filled with precious personal things too sacred to discard -- things that need to find a new home somewhere and which by some nebulous design, became the assignment of this first born daughter. 

Me.  

So ill-suited to the task.

I wondered if today would be the day.  

In one entire afternoon, I managed to rifle through just that one little shoebox sized container, discovering (among other treasures) this well-preserved professional portrait taken in the late 1940's in Rotterdam.  

That's my mother in the middle - parked between her parents and brothers.  

The lighting is perfect and the pixels so crisp I can almost see the colour green of her eyes.  

And then it struck me.  How surreal this moment was! 

....to finally begin the process of picking through my mom's things and 'randomly' start with a box that she had, as first born daughter, kept of her own mother's memories...

The newspaper obituary, the funeral service program, old family photos, hand-written letters & cards of condolence from her church family and abroad...  

All perfectly preserved and protected for the sake of posterity - for such a time as this? 

I am oddly without words sufficient to describe the feeling of this experience. 

At once tingling the spine & nourishing the soul.

The post concert review...

Unredeemed
Places
where grace is
Soon to be so amazing
They may be unfulfilled, they may be unrestored
But when anything that’s shattered is laid before the Lord
Just watch and see
It will not be
Unredeemed




If you were blessed to find yourself one of the Saturday night crowd at Redeemer, you already know the thrill of watching Alan Hall play that grand piano, evoking the holy fervour and sound of an entire orchestra.  A 'pentecostal Methodist' from Tennessee they said.  :)
Oh yeah, and THEN some!
And you'll know beyond all doubt that as suggested, watching Jacob Moon on his guitar is worth the price of a whole row of tickets.
And those voices!?!  Power of titanic proportion.
The song Unredeemed was my favourite of the evening.  I thought her story behind it and the sharing of it on stage was every bit as powerful as the song itself.
I am so thankful for the ministry of good music and excellent musicians who will 'lay it before the Lord' for the benefit and blessing to a broken world.

The Princess and the Pea(nut Butter).

The basement Rec room is nearing completion.
Many have asked (and in truth, we have often revisited the conundrum ourselves)
"why exactly would a pair of empty nesters in a cavernous space think to add more square footage of surface to dust and vacuum?"
Indeed, this is a fair question.
There is a well-considered, long-winded answer and then ---
there is the more obvious and simple one rendered by photo:

 A sleepover exclusive to the junior grand-daughters.

A boom box still under grandmarmie's control :)
 

 A growing stock of Value Village dress-up clothes.

 The pseudo glass slippers.

And there you have it.
Our unapologetic 'do it again in a heartbeat' reason for the thing.
Frivolous
... and SO much fun!

A Floridian Family Fest

           Here's just a few things one finds to do with a fabulous
                               family fest in Florida!

Hanging out in the pantry

Neil Diamond singing "Beautiful Noise".  A fitting tribute to our reality here :)

Sunday Dinner round table...

Knitting a new pair of Lacey Look socks on a pair of 2.75 circular turbo needles.
FYI  Turbo defines the make of needle and in no way references the handlers' speed.   

With fear and trepidation, I'm about to start the heel gusset.  But the inevitable emergency situations can be most definitely MUST be handled via email by my sister/knitting counselor-mentor.

The pool Beautiful.  It is SawWeET!

     Breaking out of the tried and tired,
experimenting with new recipes.

In a terrific environment to boot

Unpacking a shipment of barstools for our rental home.

Beloved says when we finish setting up the basement rec room back home, 

we're doing the smart thing:  Shipping in some big boxes from the grocery store and calling it done!

                                           Shell shucking

                                         Leapster Explorer

Morning walk on the golf course, 

Scavenging for grandpa's collection

A highly popular past-time!

                               Fancy nails with polish and art deco

*sigh*  

Curious George & Green Eggs and Ham 

never seem to lose one ounce of appeal

                                                      Sunsets at the beach

                                             Pelican imitation