March Mudness

There needs to be more mud on these boots... oh well.

Reminiscence :)

I was just thinking about Olivia's birth today... When mommy got home from the hospital, we had all been watching "Rudy"... which, today, I could only tell you was about football. We were nearing the end when they pulled in the driveway, and to this day, no one has seen the last scene and a half of that movie.  It was a nice day... October 3rd.  And I remember not being able to wait for my turn to hold her, and when it finally came, I cried because I was so happy.  I loved babies... I still do, and I couldn't believe that I was holding my little darling sister.  

Chloe and I would lay Olivia on our bed when she was still days old, and we'd dress her in her little pajamas, and then we'd just smell her... There's something gloriously mysterious about the way a baby smells.  :) 

Anyways... that was then. This is now.

Olivia's bottom left. :)

Don't get me wrong, I'm still thankful for her... it's just amazing to me to watch them grow and develop characters like... hers.

Wordsworth

                                   ...And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man;
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things. Therefore am I still
A lover of the meadows and the woods,
And mountains; and of all that we behold
From this green earth; of all the mighty world
Of eye, and ear, -- both what they half create,
And what perceive; well pleased to recognise
In nature and the language of the sense,
The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being. - Wordsworth, Tintern Abbey (excerpt :))

I am not quite sure what the entire thing means, but I can sense what he's talking about... If that makes any sense at all.  Whenever I look at the sun when it hangs like a burning globe in the sky in the evening or the morning, I immediately think of this passage... and this passage makes me think of the beauty of the earth, and if the earth is this beautiful, how much more so our Creator?

It's so beautiful - the entire poem is beautiful.  I really enjoy reading Wordsworth. :)

Hello

Hello all my fuzzy blog readers.

I am sorry for that, please forgive me.

I am back from...Lewisburg Pennsylvania.  I had a marvelous time.  Lewisburg is nestled in the mountains. I don't know what the mountains are called, but the sweet refreshing air was so... um... refreshing. And it's the kind of town where you drive ten minutes in any direction and you'll most likely be in the country or something. It was so lovely.  At night, I could look out the window and actually see a star-filled sky. I might be able to see five in Cleveland.  Oh, and I saw the big dipper for the first time in my life. And I could see the mountains from the window.  Altogether, it was a refreshing, calming visit...oh, I was visiting my grandma.

I thought you should all know that it is raining right now. Real raindrops from the sky! I woke up, and I heard the rain on my roof, and I felt a thrill run through my body. I'm sorry that y'all have to put up with my... uh... oddities, because I know that I have written about the rain over and over again on here, and you have had to read it. But where else would I ramble?  I've loved it ever since I can remember.  When I was extremely little, I used to say it rained because God was crying.  But then I learned the moisture rises and forms clouds and the clouds drop the rain or something like that...  but it's still fascinating to me to watch the rain.

I'm a little restless because I want to find something worth posting about and I"m not quite sure where to find it...

"The sober person lives deeply. His pleasures are not primarily those of the senses, like the pleasures of the drunkard, for instance, but those of the soul. He is by no means a stoic, on the contrary, with a full measure of joyful anticipation he looks forward to the return of the Lord but he doesn't run away from his task." ~ William Hendrickson

I'll just end with that, and perhaps this post will have been worth reading. :)

Hold Your Horses!

I'm going away.

To the land where dreams roar.

To exist in an epoch of... of... scratch that one.

Okay, nevermind. This just is not coming out the right way. Ah well, I tried.

You probably won't hear from me for a week or two.  I don't know why I'm warning you, but I thought I would anyways, because I have a whole bunch of random pictures that I wanted to do as a last post. You know, in case I get killed or something.

Spring is coming, by the way.  Today was in the 60's.  I hope everybody got out to get their Vitamin D.  I stayed inside and cleaned my room... but the windows were still open.

I could say something like, "my lamp is blue, and my books are red" but that is completely unnecessary, however true.

This is my sister. And me. I can't wait till summer. My sister does wear glasses... sorta.

Why do I post pictures of my brothers eating black beans and rice? I don't know.

But it is cute that they sit in the same chair.

And that they love each other.

This is my daddy.  My daddy paints houses... sometimes.  He paints them in his sleeveless Pittsburgh sweatshirt.  And he gets cuts on his forehead. :(  He looks like a hard working man. :D He IS.

Oh look. A tower.  The sun made all the stone buildings look golden and sandy that day.  This is in Bath.

That's my sister. She's not posing.

This has a cute story.  We knew that this young man was going to do something very important... because he walked in the bus station.  He stood against the wall.  He checked his watch.  He walked in circles.  He sat down.  He stood up.  He looked out the window.  He checked his watch. Etc.  He was carrying a small leatherbound book or journal, and half a dozen pink roses.  Think me crazy, but it was so sweet I had to get a picture of him... and try to do it while he wasn't looking.  He was waiting for a very special person. It was sweet when she got out of the bus.

Oh look. There's me. Oops. That's a bad picture.

*sighs*  I love Autumn in the cemetery.  I love it when the leaves are this red.

We do the same sort of routine when we go to the cemetery.  We always go to see this statue, because it's one of our favorites.  And Chloe and I sit there and dream.

And we have a contest... whoever gets to the pillars last has to be Samson.  Since I was the designated photographer (bad choice) and since I was so enraptured by the... uh... graves... I was the last one. Oh well. I didn't even try that hard to break the pillars, as you can see.

I miss him.  He's been visiting Nana for a week.  I miss all his little theological remarks and questions... He used to bounce on my stomach as a baby as hard as he could saying: "Doctrine, doctrine!"

I'm on the phone... "Hello?" "Oh, hi Ruby this is Luther!!"

Talk about timing!

The Desk

You aren't allowed to make fun of me. I forbid it.

Ever since I was a little girl, I always dreamed of having my own desk.  I dreamed of doing my math at it.  Maybe the desk would help math be more interesting, because to me, a desk was absolutely romantic and idyllic.

But I never really got a desk.  It remained as a sort of childish dream.  And a few days ago, when mommy and daddy said they thought I needed a desk, I grinned and smiled like a baby.

I was so excited.

The desk that I was to have belonged to my great uncle when he was young.  It was an old-fashioned roll-top desk that had three drawers on the side, a draw inside, and a drawer "beneath" so to speak. I. was. so. excited.

And I got that desk! My aunt and uncle were kind enough to bring it when they came to visit.  It has a little chair, and it's just perfect! It's not big, but I feel so nice and cozy when I sit down at it.  And the thing I love about it is that it belonged to my Nana's brother, that it's old and old fashioned, and that it's not perfect in its appearance.  This is my little idyllic desk!

I just had to tell you all that, because I am so excited to have a desk to do stuff at!  I can hardly wait to fix up the corner of my room where it's going to go, and put stuff in it... and... :D I'm happy.  God is so good.  Even though he's made me wait a few years for this desk. :D


 

Kind and Merciful God...

King and merciful God, 
we have sinned in your sight,
we have all wandered far from your way;
we have followed desire,
we have failed to aspire
to the virtue we ought to display.


Kind and merciful God,
we've neglected your Word
and the truth that would guide us aright
we have lived in the shade
of the dark we have made,
when you willed us to walk in the light.


Kind and merciful God,
we have broken your law
and in conduct have veered from the norm;
we have dreamed of the good,
but the good that we could
we have frequently failed to perform.


Kind and merciful God,
in Christ's death on the cross
you provided a cleansing from sin;
speak the words that forgive
that henceforth we may live
by the might of your Spirit within.


Kind and merciful God,
bid us lift up our heads
and command us to rise from our knees;
may our hearts now be changed
and no longer estranged,
through the pow'r of your pardon and peace.


Bryan Jeffrey Leech, 1973 (Traditional Swedish melody)


If nothing else, these words should humble us.  We are constantly straying, and yet God is always merciful to his beloved... such wretches as we are, we don't deserve such mercy and kindness!  It should make us bow our heads in submission... That he can be so perfect, and we cannot be anything but sinful... and yet, we are cleansed by this perfect God, that we may dwell with him in eternity.