We search for peace. Today at my front door, a JW promised it. The Waldorfish classrooms our kids will be in this school year strive for it. But where's it really found? May I find it not in the world made, but in the One who made it and the One who redeemed it, and may I live in it and pass it on.

Colorful and cheap new frames as the kids don't take as good care of things as we wish they would (from zenni optical online)

We're going to a lemonade tea today, the meet and greet for the kids at their new school which starts next week. Friday is a meet and greet for the parents. Praying God will be in this new step for our family.
Ernie will also be taking a CPU--chaplaincy class/practicum kind of thing. And Lethei and I might sign up for mama baby yoga (just kidding, I think, but maybe . . .).

Today we went to the Devonian Gardens just outside Edmonton. The very most interesting exhibit was the butterfly house with glass cases full of chrysallises and butterflies of all sizes and colors flitting around in the greenhouse among all the trees and flowers.

The kids found it fascinating to watch one fight its way free of a cocoon.
Keep it up. Fight the good fight. We're rooting for you. Think of the beautiful ending.

The boys just inherited Ern's race car track. And boy, is it exciting. Meanwhile, the girls got a Barbie dollhouse some other older girls grew out of. Talk about a boon. Needless to say, sleep is slow in coming tonight. And I'm not so sure these "back to school presents" will encourage studiousness.
But the best gift, the very best gift, well, it's what I'm going to have my teen class sing about next week, new life through the sacrifice of Christ. It's really something to be excited about. This excitement, hopefully, lasts, and inspires us in everything we do, sleeping and waking, working and playing.

We went to a friend's sweet sixteen birthday party at the park tonight. She has such a promising future ahead.
And the few days before we spent with Ernie's folks in Medicine Hat. The kids camped in the backyard one night, the boys went to a shooting range our last morning, Ern's dad took us kite flying and car racing (he and   we had walkie talkies to compare mileage:).
There's joy in the everyday ordinary and less so, the smile of a friend or family member, grilled fish, homemade lemon meringue pie, knowing what isn't said, just being but not forgetting that what is is just a shadow of what will be.

I play with them, read to them, have them work with me, discover and create. What I am in their lives is hopefully an encouragement, and example and a teacher. I pray that they see God at work in me and that they grow to be men and women who care about others, who care about Him and His way.
And I know it won't happen without grace.

I Can Do Seuss

At the end of the day, what's w/ that you say, "I did it my way"? The real way, the right way, a higher way, I'd say, would be of more worth at the end of the day.

This weekend, we enjoyed a youth concert at Concordia College. Some kids from our church were in it.
After each number, Lethei asked, "Is there another show?" and at one point she took off her sock and made it into a "microphone" and tried to join in.
The other kids had fun too.
There's just something about music that connects with us in a deep way, especially music that is well done, that is full of of challenging harmonies and rhythms. It has a life of its own and it speaks of life beyond the seen, beyond the tangible, and even more real.

When Ern gives the boys work to do like helping him fix up his "new" car, not only do they really enjoy it, they brag about it and seem to feel truly useful, though they do also sometimes angle for some kind of payment as well. And sometimes such a thing is in order. And sometimes it's just about contributing to the family you're privileged to be part of.

My boys have a great example of working, loving, learning, helping, and grace-growing in their dad. When he takes them places or does things with them, when he talks to them, plays with them, they receive even more than they know, more than they understand, and more than what will just impact them in the present. What they get is truly priceless.

Daddy`s Girls

This morning Ernie took Lukas biking while this little one (and the middle two) was stuck at home w/ me. On the way out the door, Ern was stopped by Lethei asking to come too but Ernie said he would take her later, as she would not be able to keep up with him and Lukas. He suggested she read (look at) books while she waited. While I was on the phone with my mom, Lethei got a chance to talk and told Grandma all about being left out. She did not mention either to me or to Grandma that Daddy promised her a turn later. But when she finally got her turn, she had a grand time and told me all about it.
Yesterday, Lici went over to church to watch The Little Princess because it is on VHS and unlike the church, we have no VCR. She wanted Ernie to watch it with her (it is a story about a dad and a daughter) and he did watch some of it, but spent the rest of the time in his office, she told me. At the end she got upset because she had trouble figuring out how to turn it off, and Daddy saved the day. She loved the movie, loved the dad in the story, and loved watching it in close proximity to her dad.
My girls are eager for approval from their dad. Knowing that he likes them makes them glow, makes them more secure in their otherness and more appreciative of his. Being daddy`s little girl gives them time to be little girls, not so anxious to grow up, but protected, treasured.
And some other time I`ll write about how they`re my little girls too:) (and about the boys).

Awash w/ color, walking grace, won't let it go, for there's music in the water, sunlight in my soul.  I walk the path and listen to the wind. I hear its voice at last, as trees bow their heads, the leaves share their secrets, the mountains grasp cloud beds. I pull it all in my lap and realize in the beauty the thing I lack, not the need to hold it but to find myself held, so that I'm spilled out in the cloud burst to soak it up again, blessed by the One guiding me home.

This fairy princess of mine wants to hide in the bushes and trees and flowers, loves skirts and dresses and flowing locks, but also has a hankering for urban concrete.
May she find a spot on earth that is unearthly.

This beautiful thing
that in this life of shadows--you are more than--you are known, you are named, and you will stand with those of the past, present, future, who know the sweet joy of forever's reality,
not fragile ups and downs but true belonging--
you are named.

I'm with my little nephew
marveling in life,
what a gift it is,
how amazing that there's a new little someone looking out at the world through those big gray eyes. I got my first opportunity to meet him and he was already two months.
I wish we lived close to all our family.
I wonder what the future holds for him.
May he see beyond the seen.

Sew My

So, my folks gave me this sewing machine, and I decided to be Maria from the Sound of Music and whip up some outfits out of the curtains--is it a musical motif, to make clothes out of curtains, think Enchanted also--but I used no pattern and haven't sewed anything really since high school; therefore, the results left something to be desired. Uneven arm holes were just the beginning of our problems.

I would never wear mine in public.
Maybe next time I'll use a pattern?
In the meantime, we're going to have to get some blinds.

How fun to explore, to see the world from a different perspective. What's it like to be a bird, a beast?
Yet how wonderful to be exactly who you are
made in the image of God, with a brain and a heart and a spirit full of potential.

Never happy, always fighting, looking for, something more than what they see,
is it only they who are so striving, is it also me?
When I focus on the transient, I shouldn't be surprised that I'll always fail to be satisfied.
Help me to look up and keep my gaze steady.
So as an example, I'll be ready.

Today we moved into a forest and made a bears' cave our home, fought and befriended wild animals, soared on an eagle's wings, inherited a castle filled with magical creatures and artifacts, and    we may never come back to real life again.

 I love you, you sweet soft, you sparkle, what, who, you are, this precious present wrapped in curls and small fingers and toes and laughter and imagination.

I love you, you solemn soul, the deep shine smile, the warm hug, the tough tender little man dreamer.

I love you, you curious, twitching explorer, protector, defender.

I love you, you beauty-seeker, life-eater, singer, writer, insatiable, needy flower-butterfly.

I love you, you oak, you joking, simplifying, striving, still, strong, quiet, fiercely loyal, faithful loving lover.

I love being part of you, as wanderer, seeker, hopeful, empty-full wife, mother.

Whisper a hope that you will decide to try again, to care, to dream, to fall toward Him, who gives you wings.
Listen, hear, in the quiet and crowd;
know the voice not spoken aloud.
In sacrifice a life given, redemption is such that you've all to gain when you learn to trust.
When it seems complex and you feel fear, you forget in simple, wisdom may come. You peel back the layers to the One.
Listen, hear, in the quiet and crowd;
know the voice not spoken aloud.
In sacrifice a life given, redemption is such that you've all to gain when you learn to trust.

Tracie Peterson's Touching the Sky has a fairly interesting plot but its dialogue feels stilted. I didn't really like even the main characters all that much. Laura seems a prude though her defense of her sister later in the book does make her somewhat more endearing. She also seems rather patronizing. I think it a bit unbelievable that her family would neglect her so much, even forgetting her birthday in favor of her sister and that they'd all except her be so oblivious to Malcolm's true nature. It also seems a little strange that she would marry so quickly after counselling her sister so much against it, though the author does give some explanation as to why she would do so. I found the book generally to drag on a bit for me. The historical details such as the language of the fan were rather lost on me. I am afraid I found the concept silly and hard to relate to, but others might enjoy it. All in all, I would never rave about this book, but again, the plot does have appeal.

After another long overnight drive, we're back in Edmonton. We had a nice vacation, some reading, lots of driving, some playing, loving, trying to be an encouragement to family and friends, to be a light, both there, and on the road, and back again.