Big, Big, BIG Announcement...

Today, November 21st, 2009, my beautiful daughter Sarah became engaged to Jonathan Howe. He took her out on a date, and proposed in the most romantic way. He purchased a stunning ring for her, getting every detail right, artist that he is. Impeccable taste in women and jewelry.

Hannah and Justin came over, and we all eagerly awaited Sarah and Jonathan's arrival back home, and they were glad and gracious to share the moments with us. I joyfully share them with you~

Um, I sort of wrote the words. I did my best.

Presents from Hannah, all tied up in ribbons...

Our family's chalkboard wall - keeper of many happy moments!

They're HOME!

Proud, proud daddy. Emotional moment. Jonathan is a man of God - that is what matters intensely to him.

THE ring. Wish you could see the gallery...simple, elegant, yet unusual and beautiful.

Giddy couple...

Hannah, beginning the season of engagement for her sister with a hand written, hilarious, dramatic rendition of her own...

Listening and snuggling...

Dad absolutely must now have "the apple talk". Jonathan was laughing so hard he couldn't speak.

Telling her Mima and Granddaddy the big news...

Sisters forever...best friends forever, too.

Arranging the massive amount of flowers Jonathan got for her today...

And tonight, I discover (with delight, I add) that tomorrow I will be hosting lunch for about 14 people - Jonathan's family, our family. And so it begins! Whew. Two weddings in one year. I don't know when exactly they will get married, the date has not been set, but yeah...these daughters of mine are my double portion - I've had to do everything in two's for the last twenty-two years, and my heart is beyond glad.

If you are near and dear enough to come along for the ride, please fasten your seatbelts, and keep your hands and arms inside at all times.

Precious friends, the words of a poem come to mind:

"Grow old along with me

The best is yet to be

The last of life for which the first was made

Our times are in his hand

Who saith, 'A whole I planned,

Youth shows but half; Trust God: See all, nor be afraid!'”

So here we go. Are you ready? I'm so glad you are here with us! This is going to be great!

Grace+Good Friends=Good Times

The doctor (l) and pastor (r)

Inside the Tennessee Theatre

Ceiling detail

More detail overhead...

The orchestra, preparing for gorgeous renditions of Haydn, Mendelssohn, Wagner and Strauss

Happy birthday, dear Cheryl!

Big grins, handsome faces...

Grace+Good Friends=Good Times (me n' Cheryl...isn't she the cutest??)

Random but Sweet...

I'm being sweetly bitten by the redecorating bug. That is a very, very good sign. You see, when I am in my happy place, I find myself full of creative ideas and creative energy, and there is always a project brewing. All of last year, and some of this year, I had no interest in my surroundings. How unlike me.


As my heart and mind have been washed and renewed again and again with the gospel, as I've shaken off negative thoughts and negative influences, the Spirit of God has restored my soul over and over this past year. The results are so far reaching, I have found my prayers radically altered, the hours spent in the study of Scripture multiplied, my family relationships transformed, and this gospel has touched even the place in my heart given to hearth and home...embers gently breathed upon, everything set to rights, aired out, and refreshed. The fire now burns cheerily again, and the emotional surfaces gleam, and I discover that I still really do...really, really do....love interior design, I love my home, and its atmosphere is still incredibly important to me.




This shall be a mixed blessing for my husband, who fortunately is very handly with tools. Because I very much want to repaint my kitchen and dining room, get a new couch and a couple of comfy arm chairs, shop out a round dining room table, and I'd absolutely love to add some steps and a sidewalk to my front porch, and finish my kitchen cabinets (a project begun 6 years ago).



On the evening of December 6th, 2003, Tim and I spent our first night in our new master bedroom. God had done what only He can do, and so we'd been able to purchase the home we had been renting for over ten years. The Lord also enabled us to renovate and add on to it. The home got spruced up, painted (a total palette change), and everything from windows to roof to siding, all but the oak floors got replaced.


That was six years ago. I'm ready for more changes, here and there.



Therefore, just for fun, I'm sharing a few pictures from my digital "idea folder". (If I run across something I totally love, I save it to this folder, without analyzing it...not yet. I'm waiting until the resources come in to make the changes I want to make, and then I will analyze my idea folder and choose a workable design scheme...)

Call me crazy, I just love the simplicity of that Christmas tree...

And this bedroom...

See the red? Beautiful!

I also love the craziness of this creative space...

The idea of a sewing area in a closet is a workable solution for me. I don't have the space, even when kids all move out, for a dedicated sewing room...

I so need steps to my front porch. (You have to walk up my adjacent driveway and enter my front porch from the right side...)

The ideal home office...full of old, fully functioning objects and natural light.

Bigger isn't necessarily better. This is my "dream house"!

Someday, my kitchen will have a center island exactly like this - simple and old. Isn't that so do-able??

Bringing in More Sheaves - a Harvest of Thoughts of Gentle Gratitude

in keeping with this month of harvest and Thanksgiving, I am incredibly grateful for...


the free gift of grace, the courage i've seen in one man to preach it regardless of what it costs him personally, the courage i've seen in one church to walk in the revelation of it regardless of what it costs them, the courage i've seen in faithful friends to embrace a pure, New Covenant gospel...knowing full well that it means that satan has declared war upon them.



the overthrow of the tyranny of my own ability to perform. the rule and reign of Jesus Christ who said


It.

Is.

Finished.


the epic drama of the cosmic battle between good and evil, human effort and grace, flesh and spirit...only the God of story could weave such a captivating masterpiece, narrated from genesis to revelation to right this very moment...


seasons of harvest, bare limbs of trees, the aesthetic of winter as the earth reveals her "good bones",


23rd wedding anniversaries, friends in texas and scotland, hearing the voice of a trophy of grace via skype all the way from cambodia just today, the miracle of email, the 'block' feature in facebook, and the blessing of old fashioned pen and paper mail,


hope that maketh not ashamed, chanel purses, the designer barbara berry, the composer schubert, target stores, the kitten heel shoe style, and being a girly-girl.

missionaries in columbia, tim's kind brown eyes, new construction going on at my church, my teacup poodle's smooshy mustache - all crooked and cute at the moment, doctors, nurses, and chiropractors, teachers and engineers, and home makers who are the most brilliant of them all.

whole grain pasta, pine nuts, the revelation of the gospel found in the book of romans, friends with november birthdays, having a house full of musical instruments, and the fact that i still believe in speaking in tongues and that God heals today - even instantly...

...for having been instantly healed of a migraine the first week of august, and never again having another migraine headache since that day.


that we've managed by the grace of God and against great odds to not become cynical and jaded, for my grandma's antique furniture, cute reading glasses, and for still caring whether or not my reading glasses are cute.


books, coffee, and a friend who dearly loves both. sparkly crystals on jewelry but not on my jeans, the knowledge that cute swarovski crystal studs are just as an "authentic material" as diamonds and no one but the inauthentic care about the difference in cost.

a throne of grace to which to run in time of need, knowing my need, having my needs met according to the riches of His glory by Christ Jesus, not by my own education, hard work, or morality...

...that i hold in very high esteem education, hard work, and clean living, because this sort of life beautifully adorns the gospel of the God i serve.

the fact that my husband and son just now got home, and i know both will kiss me hello...

Coming to Harvest Church...

Our college/career age small group begins this comprehensive Biblical curriculum this evening:




Got a gigantic pot of chili on the stove, and the Frito's and sour cream ready. Candles are lit. Small group begins at my house in less than half an hour.

And so the Truth Project, Harvest style, begins.

Underlined Bits

I don't underline and highlight only spiritual books or my Bible. I also underline and highlight any beautiful thought, any well turned phrase, from any good book.

I received four (gleefully count with me...one...two...three...four) books by Glady's Taber for my birthday this year, from someone in North Carolina. I thought I'd gotten three - but another one came in the mail today, and I vocalized my delight.

read: I squealed, ever so briefly.

The writing of Gladys Taber will make you feel as though you have been on a vacation. She is hard to categorize, but she usually is found under the heading of "nature writers". When I read her, I can feel my shoulders relax, and my heart unwind from its cares, as I am transported to a little farmhouse in New England, surrounded by Connecticut countryside and cocker spaniels. Now that I've joined the ranks of dog lovers, I can relate to Taber on that level as well.

Here is the lovely thing. A ministry friend of mine from New Jersey also took the time and effort to send me a blissfully long excerpt from one of Gladys Taber's books...for my birthday, arriving on my birthday.

This is the sort of writing I underline and highlight. I had bought one of Taber's books for someone, way back early-spring, and I put it away to give to them this Christmas, thoughtful friend that I am. But this person has lost touch with me, and so...their loss is your gain.

I gift you, this evening, with an ever-so-brief respite from the stresses of the day. The first person who emails me (email address is on the left side-bar) and does not mind sharing his or her address privately, via my email, gets the book I had saved as a Christmas gift. It shall be your gift, from me. I'll pay to ship it to you wherever you are, even Australia. (hint, hint) If you have ever lived in, or wished to live in a historic, cozy home...if you enjoy dogs...if you enjoy the countryside and creation....if you enjoy great writing...you will love this book.

If you want more where this came from, I can't give you any of my birthday books. But you can go to your favorite used book website and purchase one of Gladys Taber's "Stillmeadow" series of books. Enjoy this excerpt!

"Now in November, the leaves spread cloth of gold and red on the ground.
The open fields take on a cinnamon tone and the wild blackberry canes in the swamp are frosted purple. The colors fade slowly to sober hues. The rain falls with a determination in long leaden lines, and when it stops water drips from the eaves.

The voice of the wind changes, for winds are seasonal too. Summer winds blow soft, musical with leaves, except for thunderstorms. Hurricane winds scream. In blizzard time the sleet-sharp gale has a crackling noise. But now the wind has a mournful sound, marking the rhythm of autumn's end. The first beat of winter is not yet here, and country folk tend to spend extra time doing chores or puttering, just to be out of doors.

When Indian summer comes, nothing indoors seems important. I must carry my breakfast tray to the terrace and eat in the wine-bright sun. There is always a haze on the hills, making them dream-like. Eternal summer shines from a soft sky. Perhaps it is such an enchanted time because it is a promise that another summer will come, after winter goes.

In the evening we go outdoors again to be sure the moon is where she should be. The night is cold, but it is not yet the cold that chills the bones. The stars seem very close, some of them seem to be blossoming in the bare branches of the sugar maples. Night is a vast dark sea with the moon a distant light in a mysterious harbor. Stillmeadow seems a small ship to be in such a limitless ocean, but how steadfast it looks under the tall spars of the giant maples! Light shines through the small-paned windows, and I am extravagant enough to keep the house lighted all over just because it looks, in my eyes, so beautiful glowing in the dark."

~Gladys Taber, The Stillmeadow Road - November

"Where?"

If you're reading this via my blog (as opposed to Facebook) please scroll down and hit the pause button on the music playlist on the left...many thanks.

Where are those pastor's wives...those women? I pray I am counted in their small but powerful ranks - those who stake their entire claim on the Pauline gospel of Jesus Christ. Those who have actually studied the whole counsel of God, and discovered "He who was from the beginning". Those who put no confidence in the flesh. Those pastor's wives whom truth has set free. Those who actually swim upstream, not because they are disagreeable or divisive, but rather because they refuse to water down the gospel. Where are those women?