back in the day

i sat in the bookstore totally delighted by this adorable cookbook

the cover called my name

i mean, i just know i'd love to hang out with griff and cheryl

heck, i'd love to work in their awesome bakery in savannah if it weren't such a long commute

i sadly put the $25 book back on its perch knowing i would go home and order it from my favorite perch for much less

{by the way, i love supporting my local bookstore --even if it is a chain--but their prices are often double amazon's...and amazon usually ships free. come on, barnes and noble!}

anywhoo, i am waiting patiently for my little cookbook to arrive

and then i'll have to figure out which meals will be replaced by cupcakes and s'more pie and nanna pudding and hummingbird cake....

up, up...

and away!

we'll fly right through monday...tuesday...wednesday and then

M A R C H

{that glorious, wonderful, spring-is-here-even-if-it-snows month}

just the thought of floating into March this week has me singing a happy tune

back off, winter

i see colorful balloons on the horizon!

*picture from here

l e n t (take 7)

this lent, i'm embarking on a pretty long journey using this book

a dear blogging friend invited me to join her and, at last count, there are 5 of us ("the council") who will help each other out along this sure to be (at times) uphill-with-the-wind-in-our-face-and-the-rocks-crumbling-beneith-us path

some of us will deviate from the author's journey

{and that's a good thing...no cookie cutter approach here}

this weekend i cleaned and organized (we're starting with possessions) like we were moving to africa for the rest of our lives (well, maybe to canada).  i'll deliver over 200 books (dear Lord) to a friend who reads a lot and sends a lot of books to her pen pal prisoners (i've got the coolest friends).  our wedding china (i never liked) went across the street to my friend who told me "i was just telling my sister 'i don't have any good china'. material, old bedspreads went to a crafting neighbor.

i think this will be it for blogging about it.  i want to do this for the right reasons.  

me and God.  i have way more then i need and continually add to the piles.

7, here i come.  i think that's jesus ahead waving and grinning to beat the band.

his laughter puts a spring in my step as i run to meet him

*

So, what's the payoff to living a deeply reduced life? It's the discovery of a greatly increased God -- a call toward Christ-like simplicity and generosity that transcends a social experiment to become a radically better existence. -j hatmaker

rustic church

perhaps it is because i am aging (the whole from dust to dust thing) or maybe because i'm basically a t-shirt and jeans kinda girl
maybe it's because i love LIGHT (always have) and open spaces

or maybe it's because my childhood roots grew down deep into the soil of a country riverbed
but i have always preferred worshipping God in the simple places

the calm organic & earthy vs the flashy crystal & marble

the kind of church where i think to myself "jesus would love this place"

image: flikr, learning junkie

which is why i loved attending a wedding last fall in a barn-turned church with the pulpit made of a big old oak tree stump {we raced by those benches because we were late}

and why i will always remember christmas eve 25 years ago in the temporary barn-like building (we sat on hay bales with candles providing the light) before the towering new structure was completed

and why i loved this church in gretna, nebraska with a man-made ravine running down the sides of the center aisle


isn't it stunning?


and i think, the more i get to know jesus, the more i realize christianity can be stunning in its simplicity


i mean, sure, there are some hard things...heady things


but the basics of our faith?  


love God, love others, jesus saves, encourage each other
live simply so others may simply live (i'm working on this one...thanks, mrs. dunbar)


is stop-me-in-my-tracks stunning in its simplicity


i'm thankful for barn churches and haybales and glass churches on the prairie


these places where i half expect to turn a corner and see jesus in the flesh


{google images}

tim

we received bad news yesterday about a friend recently made

a selfless, loving, gentle, handsome, kind person

an unexpected gift...a beautiful friend!

G O N E

without warning

and i wonder as i sit here sipping coffee

and reading happy blogs

and checking joyful facebook status messages

and catching glimpses of happy tweets

if, in a moment of weakness (and we all have those),

that he believed the lie that

every.one.else.is.happy.all.the.time

as i suit up to face the day i am reminded...again

i must ( i must!) move gently through this world speaking encouragement

freely sharing my smile to every soul who crosses my path

judging less, loving more

LOVING MORE

{that's it, isn't it?}

because everyone...every one...is fighting some kind of battle

me-n-him

photo: the passion of the christ

"so how do i love someone i should love...someone who needs God?...when the person is just so unlovable?"

"you keep your eyes on jesus and love him. let jesus worry about the rest."

and now that i think of this song...

i might have added "he makes beautiful things out of the dust of our hearts"

me-n-him. him-n-me.

that's all he asks of me

because anything else, everything else

flows from there

and beauty is made

*

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind. Luke 10:27

reflection

this year has been a year of physical change for me

so much so that when i just ran up the stairs i didn't recognize myself in that mirror

the other day my good pal, christine (hi C!) said 

you're a totally different looking person then when we first met

way back in summer, i wrote about protecting this house

and it's been a good cycle...

cleaning this house on the inside (healthy foods, exercise)

and decorating this house (darker hair, longer hair!, new glasses)

my new house feels stronger...and looks a little more lady-like

(well, not today because i'm cleaning)

who knew protecting my "house" could cause such a physical chain reaction?

{but i am kinda disappointed the woman in the mirror wasn't someone here to help me clean...}