LIfe's A Dance
On Saturday, during Fisher's baseball scrimmage, Rye was feeling like a "pin-cess"... and so she danced, the way she likes to do.
A little after this, I had to set the camera down and join her in a waltz. She insisted. She likes to have a dance partner. If life is a dance, I say she's got the right idea... :)
Thirteen
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| Happy Birthday Chandler! There was a birthday celebration at our house this weekend... Chandler turned 13....my, time flies! |
Chandler Brice
Today, Chandler is officially a teenager... where does the time go?
We will save all the expected parental sap, sadness and shock for a place more private than this- but it must be declared that we are blessed to have such a nice young man for a son...
...indubitably.
HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY CHANDLER!
We Love You!!
Jamela Rachel
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| JAMELA RACHEL |
My little sister is 25 today... or a quarter of a century, as she prefers to think of it... ;)
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| J-aguar |
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| A-micable |
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| M-usical |
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| E-clectic |
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| L-yrical |
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| A-rtsy ~~~ |
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| R-eflective |
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| A-unt |
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| C-olorful |
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| H-uggy |
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| E-ffervescent |
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| L-lama? |
~~~
Happy Birthday Jamela!
Dallas Wiens
I am an unabashed prowler of library recycle bins- I especially look for magazines, because I like to cut those up - mince words if you will...
On a good day, I will happen across a stack of The New Yorker
(leave that Yankee/Reb stuff at the door...I LIKE The New Yorker, ya'll...)
In a recent back-issue of one such 'library adoption', the February13, 2012 issue, I read the article 'Transfiguration'.
It is the story of Dallas Wiens, one of the United States' first full face transplant recipients.
Dallas lost his face when he was struck by an electric volt---while painting a church.
Dallas lost his face when he was struck by an electric volt---while painting a church.
In the article, Dallas gives God glory and proclaims his life one of transformation- from one who was living life for himself, to one who has submitted his life to God.
Dallas says he knows he was running from God and he believes God took his face to save his life...
I'm including a video taken at what appears to be Dallas' former school, prior to the transplant surgery- it is rather long- but in it, Dallas speaks with the students about his accident and encourages them that, no matter what seems to be hard or bad in their lives, God is standing right beside them, waiting on them to turn around, into His embrace...we could all use that reminder sometimes.
If you don't have time for the entire video, this segment begins around the 14mm
There are some other great videos and photos on Dallas' site.
Especially precious are those of him with his young daughter-before and after the accident.
Especially precious are those of him with his young daughter-before and after the accident.
I can't help but wonder if I could travel through such extraordinary circumstances and still have good things to say about God. Of course, I love to believe I would... but in my humanity, in humility, I think...wow, I don't know... sometimes I pitch a such a hissy fit (to God) over the silliest stuff...I've got a long way to go on the whole long-suffering lesson, I assure you...
What about you? Do you feel like your faith would be shaken if God asked you to surrender the very basis of your identity? Do you worry that admitting you would be shaken invites God to do bad things in your life? Are you running from God; living life on your own terms?
Do you really want things to come down to an end where losing your face is a mercy?
Don't you know that losing your identity in the image of the One who formed you is the beginning of measureless Grace?
Don't you know that losing your identity in the image of the One who formed you is the beginning of measureless Grace?
There, but for the Grace of God, go I, indeed.
31 Status
The folks at 31 Status want give Proverbs 31 a modern translation, live that translation out loud and encourage young ladies to choose likewise . I'm just learning about this group - (thanks to looking for more material by Janette...Ikz) but it resonates with my Titus 2 leanings.
Perhaps we'll have a 31Status Chapter start up in our neighborhood....
On Waiting...
This artist/spoken word piece aired on Wretched recently... it captures well what I'd like to tell those who wait...and for those who should've but didn't? Our God is greater... He really is. He is a God of Mercy and Grace and Restoration. He can mend the broken and restore what the locusts have eaten... if you allow Him to. Look for more by Jeanette Ikz in the near future- I like her.
JEDI School
This video is from before we moved ... back when Aletheia held JEDI Classes...I hadn't had time to flip it around (it was filmed sideways) until this morning:
Atomic Alarm
We watched a documentary on atomic bombs.
Riley found it shocking.
The Big Kids found her hilarious.
Chandler grabbed the camera (excuse my unpainted barn) and hit rewind on the video a dozen times in order to capture and re-capture her reaction.
It was a blast.
;)
Slugs & Bugs Bonus
I mentioned Slugs & Bugs in the last post- they're quirky.
('...but if you don't mind your momma, they just might come and eat you...' ~mm1:37)
Time Machine
Moving here has been good for my soul in many ways- but, given my 'transient' disposition in life thus far (36+ moves, my friends), one of my favorite aspects about this island is that it has been a part of my life from an early age... it's a little like moving home, and a lot like starting fresh, too.
I have been scanning in a roll of film that I made copies of last time I visited my parents - some of it is my earliest memory of Fernandina (though I am told I came here before I could crawl well)
The other pictures, some of you dear to my heart will recognize right off... the Cousin Playroom, the Nazarene Church... some sort of Family-Get-Together-Involving-Lap-Trays @ Idlewylde... and for the handful of you that have no idea why that blue carpet on the church porch is important... stay tuned!
BOB Made Me?!
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| Rye All Ready For Church |
If you click over, you'll find a link to songs designed to help teach even the little tykes responses to catechism questions, as well as a printable checklist of catechism questions.
What I liked most about this article & printout, in contrast to the other materials we have used in the past, is the inclusion of tots...
Rye will be 2 in November and we are already beginning to teach her.
She can respond properly, and she has, but lately she has begun to tap into her sense of humor and has learned how to be...um, precocious about various things.
(She feels no need to be sassy about "What does the letter A say?" I guess theology has an affect on us all, no?)
Including Question #1.
(She feels no need to be sassy about "What does the letter A say?" I guess theology has an affect on us all, no?)
The child knows she's funny and has already learned to play into that...(Heaven help us)
Sometimes I ask her "Who made you?" and she just grins and shakes her head "no" to engage a little tug-of-war before offering the correct response "God made me!"... but the other day, after I asked her, she paused a moment before declaring
"BOB! Bob made me!"
And she laughed.
Which leads me to Slugs & Bugs (& Lullabies)...
Some of the songs are as offbeat as my precious baby girl, with all the nutrition of a *VeggieTale®.
They're to be thanked for this alternate God Made Me song
(which is lodged in my brain...and isn't that the whole point afterall?):
Baby Blackberry
Itching to blog a little, but it must be prioritized.... in the meantime :
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| Blackberries. Baby. |
SOLITUDE
By Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,
But has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will answer;
Sigh, it is lost on the air;
The echoes bound to a joyful sound,
But shrink from voicing care.
Rejoice, and men will seek you;
Grieve, and they turn and go;
They want full measure of all your pleasure,
But they do not need your woe.
Be glad, and your friends are many;
Be sad, and you lose them all,—
There are none to decline your nectared wine,
But alone you must drink life’s gall.
Feast, and your halls are crowded;
Fast, and the world goes by.
Succeed and give, and it helps you live,
But no man can help you die.
There is room in the halls of pleasure
For a large and lordly train,
But one by one we must all file on
Through the narrow aisles of pain.
Aletheia: Begin Again
The sun rises on the first day of school...
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| 2012-2013 school year |
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| Chandler Brice ~7th Grade |
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| Logan Aleece ~ 6th Grade |
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| Fisher Kai ~ 4th Grade-ish |
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| Riley Wren ~ Boss of Everything/Yearbook Photographer |
Labor Day 2012
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| Kites Soaring Outside of Sliders to Welcome Labor Day Guests |
Went to Sliders.
RELAXED.
That is all.
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| Labor Day 2012 |
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