For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies

Remember when I said I was going to print more photos this year? Well, I'm just getting on that. And while poking around the internets on Wednesday, I realized you could upload THOUSANDS of photos to Flickr using their new Camera Roll. This is good news. My photo library has about 25,000 photos. So I needed some serious help in the uploading department.

It's taken a few days, for a few hours at a time to upload half of my library. But it is a really smooth process using their uploader. Flickr's website, however, is a bit slow and has a few more bugs. But, this Camera Roll is in beta testing, so it's bound to have some issues.

But, enough about software.



What struck me while going through all of these photos (all 12,000 plus) was the vitality of in each frame. They are infused with a sense of wonder, hope and curiosity.



The beauty of the earth, the glory of the skies. Of missing teeth and snow days, of porch sitting and creative awe.

The color and vibrance of daily living.

These are the things that make our days. The fabric that our memories are stitched on.

So now, more than ever, I want to unlock these memories from the box that is my computer and make them come alive again with our storytelling, paper them on our walls, write down who we were in those moments and write about who we became because of them.



I want to earmark how we felt, what we ate, who we sat with and how we loved each other while we made these precious memories.

And I will sing while I'm doing it, because you can hear that song too, right?

For the beauty of each hour
   Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
   Sun and moon and stars of light:
Christ, our God, to Thee we raise
This our Hymn of Grateful praise.

Quiet Things: Filled with Light

I have really enjoyed daylight savings. I got up early and took time to knit and read. This song came floating in on my Pandora station. It sounds like waking up to me, like rebirth. And falling back, the gift of an extra hour feels like rebirth too. Like, resetting the clock.

It was brisk, clear and sunny today by 7:15. Oh joy for autumn light, shining through the window as I filled thermoses with warm soup and I cut up oranges for lunch. I said a little prayer of gratitude as the kids ate breakfast and waited for the bus. That fall sunlight never ceases to amaze me.

And now, the house is really quiet. Our black lab's deep breathing is the only sound I'm hearing. And I am really grateful for this time in life, time to take a step back and enjoy the things that Christ has for us: love and family, good food, beautiful friends, amazing coffee... we are filled with light.

New Rhythms, New Adventures

I do this every season don't I? I stop, look and listen.

And then we adjust our rhythm to fit the needs of now.

This new space, season is so different from the rest of our life changes because we took a leap. We tried to be brave and we took an opportunity that seemed like the hand of the divine was holding it out for us.

With our glorious friends, we bought a coffee shop. The coffee shop.


It became our joy and responsibility. And, for a bit there it took tons of energy and passion to get it up and going. But it was all out of love. And the passion and energy are still going.

This place, this coffee, this community, the deep conversations, the continuing connection-- it's what life is about.

So, if you've wondered where I've been. It's been here. A three house walk away from our own backyard.

Our beloved coffee shop is now a place we too call home... well you know, it kind always has been.

Weekending: Instagram Style

This weekend started early in the week. We've been soaking up the summer and visiting all of our favorite places. You can follow our summer adventures here.

Summery smile!

Front yard baseball season.

Quiet morning painting, reading, crafting, pbs watching.

Eric's breakfast creation.

Kite flying.

Kitchen table studio.

Sketchbook Saturday Morning

Dock jumping.

Sunset swimming.

After church brunch.

Visiting Bob's Drive Inn, playing old maid.

Summering: At Home

We had a glorious vacation. But we've been home for a month now and we are reveling in summer on the plains. It's taken a bit of time to settle into summer-- but we have. Here is a little visual list of what we've been up to!

This little man turned 6. "Mom, take a picture of my eyeball!"
He loves wearing my glasses.

His presents all wrapped and ready for him.

Bike riding in the evenings.

Playing in the sprinklers.

Fourth of July face painting.

Truman watching fireworks.

Visiting the Farmers' Market.

Swimming Lessons

Sparklers! Truman's first time!

Jumping off the dock.

Weeeee!

Riding their bikes to John and Bonnie's House!

Truman took all his cowboy gear with him!

Birthday baseball game.

Eric's birthday.

Good read, good thought, good listen: a list for the weekend

Hello and good morning. It's not a holiday here, we're all up to our daily activities. Kids are with their glorious caregiver, we're going to work. But, I did sleep in a little and I will wear flip flops to work. That makes it feel like a holiday!

I have a few more images for you from our trip, but we'll have to wait until the weekend to look at them together. What a joy! I brought home thousands of photos. I am thinking about combining them into something. Any suggestions?

For the weekend here's a little list of things I'm loving right now:

Good coffee: Every morning, I am grateful for the Old Factory Coffee shop. We even took a huge bag of their coffee on our trip. A little bit of home on the road.

Good photography: I'm taking Erin Little's class and I've been shooting manual for a few days now. Eeek, really? Me? Shooting manual? She's patient, kind and explains the hardest concepts like an artist. Thank goodness.

Good read:  I just finished reading Wendell Berry's The Wild Birds. About membership, community and family.

Good thoughts: Huge list of easy steps for sustainability. It's inspiring, every little bit helps.
And Wendell's own list of Rules for Sustainability.

Good listen: And finally, a rare reading from Wendell Berry. About Arthur Rowenberry, one of his Port William Membership characters.

The Great American Road Trip

Hello Dears,
We are back from our Great American Road Trip. We took two weeks off of work, rented a little SUV and drove in it for 91 hours total! Our main destination was to California for a family camping trip, but we took the opportunity to introduce our kids to some of the most beautiful sites in the country. We opted for back roads and smaller highways, we used a paper atlas instead of a GPS and we found little greasy spoon diners for our road food.

We drove through 9 states, visited 7 National Parks, read 7 chapter books, ate ice cream and went swimming 10 times and we came home full of love and happiness.

Look out for a few more photos over the next week-- I'll be reliving every moment as I upload and edit them!

Adventurous Soul: Nature Frames My World

I recently saw this video transmitting it's way across the web (via). Each landscape and season has it's own wild, raw beauty. And it's all out there beckoning to be taken in. I am so grateful that camping season and the national parks have been calling us out of our wintery hibernation.

 I know I feel the most alive among the trees, mountains and fresh air. This summer we'll be spending the better part of two weeks sleeping in a tent and visiting as many national parks as we can fit. More details to come but my heart is so looking forward to it!





Revelation, a Visual Poem. from sebastien montaz-rosset on Vimeo.

Newsday on a Tuesday!

My brain is kind of confused about what day this is-- but I'm glad to be back in the swing of things and refreshed.

We spent the long weekend camping. We needed a break. A break from everything. I think more than anything we all needed some good food, sleep, fresh air and physical exertion. Funny. I already know this is what we need, I just need to remind myself once in a while.

Before this weekend, we had a crazy crazy few weeks. My family visited and it was so good to have them! Then two weeks of running around... plus the Isabel had swimming lessons (She passed Level ONE!).

And when we got to our destination, it as if we went from running crazy to a complete stop. And um... it didn't go well. I think we spent the day and a half detoxing the crazies out of our life. But once that detox was over-- we finally had a really good trip. I feel so bad for our camping neighbors who heard,"Truman, lay down. Truman, it's not time to get up yet. Isabel, no more crying..." Grr... I digress. We made it, and we have some great memories too!

*********
I just want to let you know a couple things:

Revisiting Sanctuaries is FINALLY going to start. Sign ups are now through Wednesday, July 13th. It starts July 18th. Please join us! If you want to see what the class is about you can read an excerpt here from Rhythm of the Home.

Rhubarb Sangria--- amazing, I posted it over at What am I Cooking?


*Um, yes, I haven't uploaded my pictures yet. This photo was from our last camping trip!