Beautiful Foundations

For three years our humble home has been suffering some terrible foundation problems. It has been such a helpless feeling watching our beloved home crack and move these past few years. We have consulted 2 structural engineers, spent thousands upon thousands of dollars for foundation work that travels 3/4ths the length of the house and have heard the dreaded prognosis: "We have not hit bedrock!"
For all you unfamiliar with fundamental foundational terminology, this is bad news for any cornerstone. You can put all the piers you want in the ground, but if you do not hit something solid, the ground will shift, the piers will move, and the house will too. I hear the growing pains at night... yet I love our home.
The problem resolved to no ending... a 150 year old pecan.
I have a tree thing. I love this tremendous tree to the side of our home.
Over the past 10 years we have seen it house an owl, various red winged hawks, squirrels, a possum and Texas pecans. It is a great tree, yet its roots are under our house and when it grows, our house moves... What a tremendous analogy for life...

Remember this church song from when you were a kid?
The wise man built his house upon the rock . . . The wise man built his house upon the rock, the wise man built his house upon the rock...
And the rain came tumbling down
Oh, the rain came down, And the floods came up . . .(repeat)
And the wise man’s house stood firm.
The foolish man built his house upon the sand . . .
And the rain came tumbling down.
Oh, the rain came down, And the floods came up . . .
And the foolish man’s house went “splat!”

What I have learned from this little ditty is that the wise and foolish man will both have the rain coming down.- Trying to wash it away. They both will experience a shift in their home, the growing pains of life.
With this economy, the wise and foolish will face economic issues. In regard to sickness, the wise and the foolish will face sickness. What is the difference.- The third stanza...
So, build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ . . .
And the blessings will come down
Oh, the blessings come down, As your prayers go up . . .
Build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ.

This song comes close to home literally. All shall have adversity! ALL, holy and unholy, rich and poor, healthy and sick. No one is immune to problems. Yes, we live in a land of wealth, of Facebook type postings, that front all is well... yet underlying the positive postings, all have some sort of issues brewing.
For the past 3 years we have been dealing with foundation issues. From the outside no one would know the walls have crack marks. That the tree is the underlying problem.
See, I love trees. I have a tree thing. There is something magical about trees.
Our wedding had reference to a tree. To signify the planting of a tree, to grow roots, to build a family. A poem that symbolized new life to Mike and I went like this:

Ah! Up then from the ground sprang I
And hailed the earth with such a cry
As is not heard save from a man
Who has been dead, and lives again.
About the trees my arms I wound;
Like one gone mad I hugged the ground;
I raised my quivering arms on high;
I laughed and laughed into the sky...

We just celebrated another anniversary...16 years together,and how blessed among women I am to have him in my life....And though we have had our share of adversity, and the complexity of life will always be, though financial, mental, physical or other.... one deep truth will remain. This...
"For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit..." Jeremiah 17:8
Thank you God for the Tree of Life....that in YOU our roots are planted firm, that you are our bedrock and our cornerstone, that will not allow us to move, with no fear of what comes our way! Our hope is in YOU.

Beautiful Splash

This song playing is 'Hoppipolla' by Sigur Ros, an Icelandic band. 'Hoppilla' means jump or skip when translated to English. Mike loves this band and we have been playing this song for about 3 years around our house. I recently heard this song on the Disney movie promos for 'Earth.' The other day I ran across the lyrics and it metaphorically collides with what is happening in life around here.
So many people are 'jumping' with their faith. Our friends moving to Africa to establish a school, my mom is on her way back to China to share the love of Jesus, individuals stepping out on short term mission trips. Leaping into roles for the Lord never transversed. Roles in which they must take a 'leap' of faith requiring action. Sometimes scary unknown action, as they have no idea where the land will take them. But as this beautifully ethereal song plays and the words outline the jumping as an adventure, jumping with 'no boots on' (for God.) Perhaps the landing gives you a nose bleed, ... we as Christians get back up. The music is not one of fear, but evokes hope. The same hope we have in our Savior Jesus Christ, when we jump, we know that our adventure is in Him- the Hope of the World. Thank you God for the leaping of faith into puddles completely drenching us for you. Smiling, we take a deep breath and jump, splashing the Living Water.

Brosandi Smiling
Hendumst í hringi Spinning round and round
Höldumst í hendur Holding hands
Allur heimurinn óskýr The whole world a blur
nema þú stendur But you are standing

Rennblautur Soaked
rennvotur Completely drenched
Engin gúmmístígvél No rubber boots
Hlaupandi inni í okkur Running inside us
Vill springa út úr skel Want to erupt from a shell

Vindurinn The Wind
og útilykt af hárinu þínu An outdoor smell of your hair
Ég anda eins fast og ég get I breathe as hard as I can
með nefinu mínu with my nose

Hoppípolla Jump into puddles
Í engum stígvélum With no boots on
Allur rennvotur(Rennblautur) completely drenched(Soaked)
Í engum stígvélum With no boots on

Og ég fæ blóðnasir And I get a nosebleed
En ég stend alltaf upp but I always stand up

Og ég fæ blóðnasir And I get a nosebleed
En ég stend alltaf upp but I always stand up

Beautiful Stand: Miss California

Carrie Prejean, USA runner-up and favorite to win Miss America, had to answer a question at the Miss USA pageant by self-proclaimed gossip "queen," Perez Hilton. "Vermont recently became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage," he said. "Do you think every state should follow suit, why or why not?" Her reply...
"I think it's great Americans are able to choose one or the other," she said. "We live in a land that you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And you know what in my country, in my family I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody there, but that's how I was raised and that's how I think it should be, between a man and a woman."
She gave her opinion. No biblical scripture reference, no harsh words toward the 'opposite', just her opinion. Then the media thrashing began. Perez Hilton, on his video blog, called Carrie Prejean such offensive words that the 'beep' went on and on for editing reasons. On his blog he states that she lost because she answered the question wrong. Admitting that he scored her a zero on that question, he gloats with the knowledge that he had the power to make her lose. He continues to blast her publicly and many of the gossip press have joined the band wagon for her opinion. Ironically, which is what they do freely daily.
Miss Cali could have taken the safer road and just answered this question in a P.C. way, but she answered honestly.
The Miss America Pageant is run by business mogul Donald Trump. Of the current judges he hand picked to judge the pageant were a self-proclaimed drama 'queen,' and a Playboy Bunny. I am unsure what credentials they possess to judge a pageant. A pair highly unlikely to respect women, why judge them in a contest?
The only shining star wasn't the winner, but the runner up, Miss Cali. What is she saying about all of this? That she is not sorry for what has happened and is blessed and thankful this happened to her. Thank you God for Miss Cali. Keep shining and thank you for making a stand.

Beautiful Spring and Screen Door

I wish every day could be like spring. New birth; renewing of the mind; to begin a new, ... there is something about spring. Not only for the newness it brings, but for the memories of past springs. Spring days are warmer, longer, and sweeter it seems.
We have kicked off spring the past 2 years at a Christian Camp in the Hill Country of Texas which is God's country in my opinion,- rugged beauty intertwined with green springs of water and star lit night skies. Mike spent the final night of our stay in a hammock outside our cabin, enjoying an activity we can not in the suburbs- the night air, stargazing, bull frogs bellowing, and the beauty the country affords.
This year I had a memory while at the camp kitchen that brought me back home. It was the familiar sound of the screen door. If you have had an experience with a screen door, you know the sound of the rusty spring expanding as the door is opening and the anticipated THUMP, THump, thump of the door closing. My grandmother had a screen door that opened into her kitchen. Her house was the most comfortable place on earth filled with Christ, delicious smells, peace, and love. In spring time, the door was propped open to expose the screen door for cooling the cooking kitchen. Wonderful smells escaped through the screen into the backyard where I was playing. Also, the sounds of laughter and love poured out of that screen door and this is where I knew I belonged. I have promised myself, on our next home, it will include a screen door with a rusty, screeky spring that opens and closes with a big THUMP, THump, thump into the kitchen. So that when I cook my homemade pies, and we laugh as we are all together, the smell and love will escape out into the backyard for the kids and grandkids to smell and feel.
Spring time...a time for new babies, new growth and renewing memories... Thank you God for this time of the year and for screen doors that opened precious memories in my mind.

Beautiful Balance Beam

As a mom of girls on a competitive gymnastics team, I found this a great analogy. Turn off the sidebar music and dare to watch. More to come about this speaker Francis Chan. I am reading his book, 'Crazy Love' and can tell I will be up all night completing this. Thank you God for the truth.

Beautiful Bath

When I was younger, I thought spring break was invented by a tired student. I now know it was invented by a genius of a teacher. After a long, cold, wet (I volunteer for car pool duty), and fulfilling week, I came home and had a relaxing bath to kick off my celebratory week of teacher free bliss. Candles, music... the works! It was peaceful, calm, and lovely. I came out of that bath a new woman! My mind centered, the stress melted away, and the cold chill from car pool duty dissolved. Calgon knows what they are talking about.
As I am writing, my girls are bathing in my whirlpool bath with bubbles and jets full blast. Giggling and playing, they have bubble beards on their face saying, "Look mom, I am Santa." Just watching them in the bath is therapeutic.
Perhaps if the men and women on Wall Street, in the White House and the other world leaders would start their day with an relaxing warm bath the world would be a nicer place.
Just think about the shower people. They race in, allow the streams of water to pulverize them as they take maybe 2 minutes to soap, rinse and repeat. Showering is a task with a means to an end. Emerging from their very untherapeutic dousing, the race is on to take on the day without even a thought of taking a moment to enjoy.
Bath people linger longer in the warm pools of luxury. By drawing a bath, tub people are saying that bathing is not just a task but a lifestyle.
You can pick out shower people. They are the cranky, sour, type-A surrely ones. This is because they were beat up by streams of water first thing in the morning.
The bath people are the laid back, let's roll with the punches type.
I aspire to be a bath person, especially since I married a bath kind of a guy with a last name that means bath in another language. May we all take longer baths and become nicer people.
Thank you God for bubble beards, spring break, long lingering baths and for a care free week.

Beautiful Locks

Elise's hair grows at what I call: The Chia Pet Proportion. This is her second time in 2 years to donate hair to the organization called Locks For Love.
I have been telling her that a cute spring cut would be perfect for her, but she declines telling me she wants to continue to grow her hair out. My worst long hair nightmare is when I envision us in some Wal-Mart bathroom and her hair touches the potty...So when she impulsively told me she wanted to get it cut, I raced to the nearest hair salon. The lady that came out to cut her hair had pink hair- a bonus for her. And off went about 10 inches of blond hair. I keep wondering when her hair will turn dark like her mom and dad's, but she continues to grow the perfect color of a wheat field. Thank you God for golden locks, pink haired beauticians and Locks of Love.