Monday, March 7, 2011

Wanderlust

I dream of a vacation where we pack up our family car, prepared for anything.  No plans.  No destination.  Just load up our family, an Atlas, and drive with a spirit for adventure.  Windows down, of course.


For me that's been the beauty of this blog.  I had no set plans, just an idea of a space where I could share and struggle and grow.....become.  You joined me along this journey and off we went.  You could go anywhere and you choose to be here.  Thank you for that.

And one of these days I'm gonna sit down and learn a bit about html codes.  I am.  You'll see.  For now, I'm one-change-at-a-time-ing it.




be·com·ing
[ bi kúmming ]

NOUN
1. any process of change.
2. (Philosophy) (in the philosophy of Aristotle) any change from 
the lower level of potentiality to the higher level of actuality.

ADJECTIVE
1. showing somebody to advantage: attractively suitable for somebody's appearance.
2. befitting: appropriate or fitting for somebody.



Maybe it's my need for clutter-less spaces.  I'm a big believer in few words rightly spoken.  Less is so often more.  And "Becoming" pretty much sums up "Buds & Blossoms: The Art of Becoming," dontcha think?

Maybe it better defines my intention for this blog.

I am very aware, we can become most anything.  If we want to be a doctor, we can work hard through schooling and good grades.  If we want, and we start down the path, we can become President, or we can become a teacher.  We can become a world traveler, a tennis enthusiast, a hard worker, a health-nut, a truth seeker, a do-it-yourself-er, a restorer of people, a marathon runner, a friend, a human rights activist.

But we can also point our feet down other directions, establishing our becoming down darker paths.  We can choose to see the grass greener in other places and shake off our marriage vows.  We can choose to see ourselves as victims in life and become embittered at the world.  We can choose to repeatedly give in to our urges and so become angry, fraudulent, manipulative, a home-wrecker, a liar, a person unafraid of using others to advance in the world.

Cue blog name change.

I hope to grow increasingly lovely.  I hope you hope for that in your life, too.  That we'd be willing to make hard choices and sacrifices and keep at it.  That we would develop and struggle and stretch.  And that all the while we would grow more flattering, more attractive, more suitable in our own skin and dreams and abilities and passions.

Things are changing at our house...


My little man turns one on Sunday.  How is this possible?


I'm decluttering my heart, too.  More than anything, I want Jesus.  I want to be moving closer to Him all the days of my life.  To grow more suitable and appropriate and lovely in this one wild and precious life He has given me.  That I will have lived my life well.
May our roots grow down deep in His love.  May we trust Him to be our Road Map.  And may we set out, hearts ready for the adventure of living life with Him, growing more lovely along the way.


Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Things to Love

Today, I woke up, and as I remembered, I jotted down things that made me smile.  Here's a few...

springtime lilacs in my bedroom...


looking for new recipes...

a made bed...'cuz mosta the time it's not...


Si's big morning smiles...

rainy days and rain boots and splashing in puddles...in our pajamas...



Eden's fake hiccups and Si's fake laugh...

grapefruit and my dad's yummy veggie omelets...



Eden wearing her sunglasses today, even though it's grey and cloudy.  My girl's got HOPE...

Si's sweet dance moves...and that both my kiddos are always ready to get down...

having my hubs home early...

highway driving...

Colbie Caillat...

fun earrings...

laughing with my kids...they have the most infectious laughter...


picking out fabric for my grandmother's chairs to be reupholstered...



the way Silas lays his head on my shoulder when he's tired...

sun that finally waves to us at the end of a day...

my friend Melissa - and that we get to celebrate her life today...

new books...

Thanks for the Voskamp intro, Sara!

clean jeans...

making homemade marinara for the first time...

hot Snickerdoodle coffee (holla Wi-Lake!)...


finding stickers everywhere...my slippers, toys, our dog...

and, okay it wasn't today, but that PS 22 made an appearance at the Oscars last night.  No joke, I want to be Gregg Breinberg when I grow up.  Check it 1, 2, 3.

Try it!  Spend a day and write down the things you smile about.  And do share...I'd love to hear what you love.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Bluebirds in the Soil

(A harmonica makes a good song great.  Just sayin'.)

Home again, home again, jigga-jig-jig.  And it's good to be back, but it was a really wonderful time.  Our kiddos little love tanks got filled up - grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins...lovin' on them, bouncin' them, tickling and laughing with them.  It filled up my momma's heart pretty full, too.


 We felt so much safer with Edie on board. 



And never mind what the weather is doing outside back here at home...



There's a bluebird in my heart.

And it's singing it's little heart out, promising the spring that is coming.  Of warmer, jacket-less, barefoot, diggin'-in-dirt, lemonade-sippin' days...just around the corner.

We planted herbs today, in honor of that promise.






Winter does not stay.  And I'm reminded of something my grandma used to say: "No season, good or bad, lasts forever." 

I find great comfort from those words in these days of transition and waiting and snow.  I get impatient.  We are still looking for a house.  We are still asking God to heal Kate McRae.  We are still waiting for warmer days.  We long for the promises of spring...of new life.

But we will never be here in this place again.  And I want to make the most out of this place, this time.  Pointing my feet...and hunting more marrow to suck out of this season.  Knowing that spring is coming...and so we hope and we plant and we wait and we enjoy today.

And when he sings to you,
Though you're deep in blue,
You will see a ray of light creep through,
And so remember this,

life is no abyss,
Somewhere there's a bluebird of happiness.
Life is sweet, tender and complete,
when you find the bluebird of happiness.

Edward Heyman & Harry Parr Davies, Bluebird of Happiness, 1934

Friday, February 18, 2011

Snapshots of a Lovely Day

Apparently I really did send some of you sunshine.  'Cuz it's been 65 and sunny back home.  And today, it's been snowing.  In Redding.  California.  Snow sticking to palm trees.  Seriously, give us our weather back.  Well, guess I told you I would send sun your way.  And, baby, do I deliver.  Anybody want a car?

Not much to say tonight.  But yesterday, we enjoyed a day trip to San Francisco and Berkley.  It was sunny.  And the drive was lovely.

















We stopped in Berkley for lunch, old stompin' grounds for my Father-in-Law.  (And seriously, how fun is it to throw in old phrases like "old stompin' grounds?")







Shed layers in a local (indoor) rainforest...





Aunt Mel is so fun! 

...and then headed for the airport to send our sis, Mel, back home to New Zealand...and to her new hubs.  They've only been married a few weeks.  I know they were so ready to be together again.  We weren't quite ready to let her go.


After hugs and showers of "we'll miss you"s, we waved and went on to Fisherman's Wharf.  I'm sure I looked like a crazy tourist snapping photos, but it was gorge...















Ames could totally take him.

And then signora-ed the city for the drive home.


A truly lovely day.