What's in a Name?

Ecstasy (n)- 2. Excessive joy; rapture; a degree of delight that arrests the whole mind; joy may rise to ecstasy. (Websters 1828 Dictionary)
Doldrums (n)- A sate of inactivity or stagnation.(Dictionary.com)

Friday, October 24, 2008

A Forgotten Summer Adventure

In all of my photo e-journaling about this summer, I forgot to blog about one very consuming adventure. In mid June we spend about two to three weeks painting the church in preparation for the wedding. Well, actually, it needed to be done with or without nuptial ceremonies, so we figured it was a good excuse and gave us a deadline!

Our church building was a meeting house constructed in 1840 and we wanted to keep the historical authenticity of that era. Rhonda set to work and with the help of the ladies, picked a few "historically correct" colors. Our goal was to restore the church and make it a welcoming place for people to come and hear the gospel.

First, the pews needed to be sanded....

Next, the holes in the walls (and there were many, many, many!!) needed to be mudded (don't know if that's an actual work) and sanded.


Don't the walls look simply gorgeous, darling!
After that, our warm, yellow paint went on the walls- doesn't it make you think of the sun on a mild summer day.....


We were also in need of some serious caulking on the walls! Thankfully Sarah was up for the job! (get it, up for the job! yes, I know...) Some of us were getting in the way (mostly clumsy red-heads) so they sent us outside to do some yard work. I got a chance to use a weed wacker for the first time! Hip hip, hurrah!

Although, we did have a bit of a problem getting it started....
....Katie came to my rescue! Thank the Lord for friends!
Here, Hannah has put on a brave face! Raking can be quite treacherous! And yes, there is a story behind our odd looking paint. We chose a brown that was to have a hint, A HINT mind you, of purple in it. It went on a lighter shade of purple and then faded into a purplish maroon. We were a bit scared. People started referring to it as the "Barney purple paint" and George called it black raspberry. Finally, Rhonda got a better version of the same color, but it was floor paint, instead of whatever it was before. Huzzah for Rhonda- she fixed that worry!
Well, as you can see, the paint fumes were starting to get to some of us, so we headed outside for some fresh air and to rejuvenate in the sunshine!






It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. It wasn't really physically exhausting, but it was a lot of repetitive motion and you had to keep talking or musing on something else or you would go a bit batty- as you can see in the above pictures!! We got to tent out for a few nights- even in the midst of a rather frightful thunderstorm! But it was a lot of fun. Due to the warm June weather, we also went swimming in the lake just about every evening, which was also nice.
Stay tuned and I will show you the results of all the time and energy put into our lovely church.....















Saturday, October 18, 2008

Happy Birthday Natasha!



Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.


~ Proverbs 31:30




Happy Birthday, Tasha! You are such a lovely young lady!

Friday, October 17, 2008

Happy Birthday Mom!



She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.

~ Proverbs 31:27


Happy Birthday Mom! I love you!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Photos

Finally, after three months worth of pictures, I downloaded my photos onto a disc and they are now in my computer! Yay! Thankfully, my generous sister allows me to load them onto her computer so that I can burn them, since my own computer is rebellious!! So, I will be doing more photo posts of the past few months very soon, but for now I will give you a preview! Enjoy!

Have you ever seen an odder looking bunny?
Ehtan Chick, adventurer
Bumpin' up and down in my little red wagon...
Family photo!
Mi casa es su casa!
Someone drank their iced latte a bit too fast!!
Mt. Tumbledown at the top
There seems to be a scary, girl-eating-man-shark in the water! Oh MY!

Three happy hikers!
The joy of cowboy boots!
Disco moment
Miss Rena making fun of herself!!

Haley's doing great driving those steer!
Sheep fashion- coming to a Walmart near you!
This is what happens when you housesit with someone for a week!
Bear hugs at Perry's Nuthouse!


"Hmmmm....I wonder what's in here!"
This picture reminds me of a port town in England. I love it!
My parents, wonderful parents.
Dad and I in a ditch!
I hope you enjoyed this little preview! Come back soon for more pictures and more adventures (at least they were adventures to me!)





Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Dreams

Everybody has dreams. Some people have bushels of them, while others have only one or two. Whoever you are and wherever you are you have dreams. Romantics call them reveries or phantasms of the future, Visionaries call them ideals or visions for their posterity, while Realists call them practical aspirations or goals. You pick your fancy.


I blend in somewhere with all three. I have my romantic revelries, my idyllic ideals and my realistic regime for the future. I want to be married to a pastor and live on a salt water farm and spin my own yarn, press my own cider, churn my own butter and recite Tennyson to my flock of 25 children (how's that for romantic!!). I want to be the funnest homeschool mom and go on all sorts of outdoor adventures with my children and teach them all about life and what it means to be children of God. I want to adopt as many children as I can (especially little girls from China) and have as many as God will give me (how's that for visionary?). I want to keep healthy, serve people around me and prepare myself for whatever lies in the future. If it is wife and motherhood, than I will be growing in that area through daily helping my mother with her tasks. If it is singleness, then I will still seek to serve my parents, but also take time to learn and build my piano studio (there's the practical).
I'm often tempted to sit and daydream about the future or reminisce the past. It can be addicting and then I become of no use to anyone! I think daydreaming can be a very dangerous thing. The more we think about something, the more our heart becomes set upon it. In this case, I believe we neglect to guard our hearts. We often think of that verse in context with romance or relationships with the opposite sex, but I think also applies to our aspirations for the future. The fonder we grow of an idea, the more we take possession of it and then, we simply expect it to happen, regardless of what the Lord desires for us.
When this happens, we begin to set our stakes on the treasures of this world. And that is not what God wants for His followers. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and thieves do not break in and steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:19-21) Attachment to the things of this world means attachment to the world itself. We want to yearn for the things of heaven. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. (Colossians 3:2) Letting go of these prized dreams can be a hard thing. There is a portion of the book Peter Pan (or maybe it's only in the movie, I can't recall) that has stuck with me, because it sort of applies to this whole thing. Mrs. Darling is speaking to her children about their father, who they think is cowardly. She assures them that he is very brave, because he has a store of dreams in a drawer and they sometimes sit together and pull them out, one by one, to look at them. Even when it gets harder and harder to shut the drawer, he still does. It is rather like what we should do with our dreams. Keep them in a drawer and give God the key. When it's time for those dreams to happen, if it ever is, we can let Him pull them out and place them in front of us. That is my aim. My mother challenged me, on my birthday a few days ago, to set some goals for my life. Not the new year resolution type of goals like losing 10 pounds by April, but goals that would be of lasting value. Letting go of our dreams and not expecting to have our rights met, because when you really think about it, what rights do we actually have, is something that will bring a lot of relief and joy. So one of my goals is to exchange my dreams for God's. To let Him write the script of my life and not resist any longer. I want my actions to have "the seeds of eternity" in them, as Amy Carmichael said. So, I am putting my dreams in a drawer, giving God the key and waiting to see what happens. Through doldrums and ecstasies, I'll be waiting for His plans to unfold!




Friday, October 3, 2008

Bored Pilots

The video is dedicated to my brother-in-law as a warning, just in case he ever decides to pilot a commercial plane. Enjoy!