jamming with sage

I think I had my favorite memory of the week tonight.  Juls, Sage and I took a trip to the store to pick up ice cream (blue bell!), laundry detergent and aloe vera cure because our entire bunch got burned.  Sage asked if we could play the Jams - really loud - all the way there and back.

So we did.  We turned up Coming Home as loud as we could, rolled down the windows, and I jammed to one of my favorite songs and looked up at the stars and felt the Georgia breeze on my hot face.

I'm coming home

I'm coming home

tell the world I'm coming home

Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday

I know my kingdom awaits and they've forgiven my mistakes

I'm coming home, I'm coming home

Tell the world that I'm coming home.  

home.

Home is growing brighter and cozier and more winsome as Christmas break slowly slips by.  When I first got back, I was at an utter loss.  Instantly the social aspect, stress, and constant to-do lists in my life disappeared.  I put down my suitcase, hugged my family, looked at myself, and thought, "Self, what are you going to do for the next month?!"  Mom, in her efficient ingenuity, came up with a boat-load of ideas: sew a dress, crochet a blanket, clean out the garage, read...

Slowly, I am making a new routine, and I think it shall be splendid.  I am working my way through the Lord of the Rings trilogy - I am hooked.  I also want to read two John Piper books, two by C.S. Lewis, and a scattering of other books.  I think I will clean out the garage - my first semester of college drained my wallet while my back was turned.  I'm going to hang out with old friends, read even more, and play lots of games with my family.

Tonight was exquisite.  Mom spent four hours in the kitchen this afternoon, preparing a first-rate meal and baking special cookies.  All of the sisters came home.  We sat around the table laughing over old memories and telling new stories.  After supper, Mom, Rachel and I played a delightful game of Settlers of Catan.  Rachel and I vied for longest road. Rachel and Mom fought neck and neck building cities.  At present, we are all in the living room, and there are two platters centrally located on the ottoman: one full of biscotti and the other piled with Mom's special cookies.  They have names like "chocolate-mint dreams" and "cat kisses."  Audrey is curled up in the big leather chair, submerged in an Agatha Christie.  Occasionally, a laugh or an "Oh I just love Hecule Poirot!" emanates from her direction.  Merrill and Dad are discussing information Merrill has gleaned from a book she found lying around: The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Cults, Sects and World Religions.  Rachel is working on something on her computer.  Mom is checking Merrill's math assignments in the corner.  George Winston's December is floating around the living room, making us all feel serene and full of thanks.  The embers are glowing hot in the fireplace - in a few minutes Dad will put more wood on the fire.

I make everything sound so perfect and ideal...because it is.  My house is so full of peace, and love, and we are all so thankful for each other, and life, and Jesus.

I love my family so, so much.

a lovely break

What a lovely fall break this has been!  I am on a farm in Boscobel, Wisconsin, surrounded by rolling hills and trees with orange leaves and cattle and barns.  Here, I have found a little piece of home. The scenery is different, and the people are different.  But in little corners I have found aspects of where I live:  cattle calling across the pasture for their calves, a brilliant sunset, worship music coming from the piano, and most of all, peace.

This morning, I met one of my best friends (and her sister!) for coffee and a spontaneous thrift store run.  I love it when you don't think you will see someone for months, and then suddenly it happens that you will see them right away!  It was lovely.

Tomorrow, we go back to Hillsdale.  Back to class, and homework, and people, and stress.  I am very much thankful for these few days to take a deep breath, relax and remember how good God is.

autumn.

Autumn in Hillsdale is not like autumn in my little home town.  This morning I woke up, put on a black dress and teal jewelry, and drove to church through an army of trees, lining each side of the road and peacefully but forcefully proclaiming their agenda of beauty.  The colors here are brilliant: a merry green changes to a vibrant orange, which fades to an amiable yellow.  It is everywhere: above my head, below my feet, and slowly drifting in between.  Outside of my dorm room, there is a wide, grassy area surrounded by trees bursting with this vitality.  It's the kind of place where you want to walk to the very middle, spread your arms, look up high with your eyes squinted shut, and spin and spin.  And then when you are done spinning, you want to sit down on the grass, cross-legged, and simply bask in the warmth of the October sun.  Autumn in Hillsdale is gorgeous.

Autumn at home is completely different.  There are a scant amount these beautiful trees, at least right were I live.  Instead, autumn is field upon beige-colored field of dried corn, waiting for a John Deere-green machine to methodically make its way up and down, back and forth, capturing the ears of yellow corn that are hidden in all of the expired verdure.  Autumn is a tow-colored puppy barking gleefully at a deep blue tractor and bright red grain cart rolling into the yard.  The beauty isn't just peripheral: inside that green combine is a dad who works until 1am to get the field finished before the thunderstorm comes.  When the puppy finishes barking, she races off to find her jolly ball, in the hopes that Mom will take a moment out of harvesting in her garden to play a little fetch.  The girl getting out of the blue tractor is my sister--helping Dad here and there by moving the tractor and grain cart from a finished field to an expectant field.

I wish I were home to drink it all in; to watch the beauty of a summer of hard work rewarded unfold before me; to give the puppy some love; to sit and laugh with my sister about anything.  Instead, I look up at brilliantly-colored leaves floating down, and am reminded that wherever I am, God is good, and He is beautiful.

(picture by Mom.)

oh, happiness!

There are some days when I simply can't contain my excitement over how good God is and I want to run and shout and spin and throw my hands up and laugh and prance and grin all at once.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

-Romans 6:23

Knocks my socks off.

Hard or frail
Rich or poor
All in need
Need fear no more

Such a thing to give away

Oh, happiness
There's grace enough for us
And the whole human race

-DC*B

a good day

Snippets of summer today...

::sitting out on the front porch for an hour sipping coffee and chatting with Mom::

::driving with the windows down, the radio blaring, and my hair going crazy::

::seeing a freshly-cut alfalfa field with rows of bushy, green hay drying::

::sitting on my horse while she grazes and I chat with my sister::

::watering Mom's garden while she's gone::

--

"Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all."

1 Chronicles 29:11

so much spring

It is HIGH time for a blog post..."good grief" is just about all I have to say on that score.

It's spring in Nebraska.  Here are four reasons why and some odds and ends.

Cows. 

 Every spring, we bring our herd home for calving season.  Seeing calves frolicking out in the pasture with a gigantic blue sky stretching all around leaves me in awe of life and God's beauty.    

Dandelions? Dumb reason, but true.  And I like how I edited this picture. =P  

My graduation in a mere two weeks.

Uh-huh.  I have begun the mad scramble to get things ready.  School finished up (big job!), invitations mailed, food planned, room cleaned, house cleaned, dress altered, jewelry bought...

I am pretty excited to graduate. Ok, more than excited.  Thrilled.  Ecstatic.  

Mother's Day. 

I love my mother very much.

(Was somebody planning when they put Mother's Day right around graduation time?)
-----

In light of the ensuing graduation party which is accompanied by plenty of delightful house guests, I have begun the tedious, vicious, but very rewarding process of cleaning out my room.  This is a more major cleaning than throw-the-clothes-in-the-hamper-and-make-the-bed.  I started with sorting through my books. I had three lofty stacks of books sitting atop my bookshelf, but through cleaning off old school books and such from my other bookshelf, those stacks are now down from lofty to just tall.  Sorting through, smelling, skimming, and organizing one's 220 books is an automatic mood-adjuster.  I adore every one of my books and get so happy spending time with them!

This is rather sad, but because I am moving to Michigan this fall, I have an extra desire to construct a memorable summer.  I'm planning to work, ride my horse, swim, scrapbook, and meander my way down an extensive reading list (which became more extensive yesterday after I realized I had yet to read many of the books on my shelves) for sure.  But I also want to fill the beautiful summer days with lovely little spur-of-the-moment things that bring joy.

-horses-

-Audrey and I at a baseball game-

"We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit."

Romans 5: 2-5

progress

Remember my friend Hastings? The stalwart figure stood for weeks in our front yard--fat and plump and healthy.

I ran out and snapped a picture of him today...

Decapitated. Armless. Emaciated.

This brings me great joy.

Janae

we're buddies

who take silly buddy-buddy pictures

because when we attempt to take nice ones, they never turn out. See?

I like this buddy a lot.

Ok, I'm done sapping. Sorry about that.

(I guess it's just a sappy day or something.)

Mom & I assembled a snowman

His name is Hastings, in honor of my current literary love.

the murder on the links.

"Now I am old-fashioned. A woman, I consider, should be womanly. I have no patience with the modern neurotic girl who jazzes from morning to night, smokes like a chimney, and uses language which would make a Billingsgate fishwoman blush!"

I'm addicted...how I am ever to get through my January reading list when all I can read is Agatha Christie! I just finished up a delightful Miss Marple, and I am currently devouring a Poirot...

*great sigh of contentment*

skating

snow day

Last night and today it snowed so much, the community college cancelled classes. Merrill and I curled up on the couch and watched it snow...and snow...and snow. After naps and homework, we ventured outside for a little fun.

Here in Nebraska, hills are sparse. So Merrill and I make do with what we have...the manure pile!

(captions above pictures)

MJ trekking up Mount Everest

Doesn't this look adventurous? (Not so much.)

MJ decided to try a new route down...

...which didn't turn out so well.

"OWW...My butt hit a manure chunk!!"

We had fun. I love snow days.

a sewing day...

...with Sara...

Mistyn...

and Lori.

=)

City '09

Where I have been? July 19-24 I was in Lincoln attending City on a Hill, a youth leadership conference. While there I learned about hot topics for Christians today such as evolution, homosexuality, abortion, and the death penalty. I have never before been filled with so much information in one week's time. Someday I will write what I think about these topics, but for now I am still processing everything I have learned.

Along with discovering so much information relating to the Christian worldview, I also learned about how the Nebraska Legislature works. We divided up into two groups, and each group was presented with a bill. Then each group divided again, being either for or against the bill. On Wednesday we walked to the Capitol to present the bills and discuss them. Some of us were the senators on the committees, while others were testifiers. Then, the next day, we went to the Warner Chamber where we all debated the two bills. Not only was it delightfuly fun, but we also got to learn hands-on the process a bill goes through in Nebraska. I loved testifying and I also enjoyed being a senator debating my bill.

There is so much more I want to say and write about City, but it takes a lot of time for me to get my thoughts on paper in a presentable way. Hopefully you will be hearing more soon!

summer fun

Thank you for the backyard pool, Mom!

My little sis

Cousin Sophie

(pictures courtesy of Mom)

Flying

After taking two separate flights out to San Diego and two back, I was sure. I didn't like flying. My head hurt, my ears hurt from listening to the guy next to me (he thought I was some sort of remote exotic just because I was homeschooled), my leg room was the size of a peanut butter jar, and my hand clutched a barf bag. I did not like flying.

Yesterday I changed my mind. Being crammed into a jet like a sardine in a can with two hundred other people is not fun flying. Real flying is being in a little four-passenger plane with your charge nurse at the controls.

Yesterday, Tim took Mom and me flying. In this plane:

Once we were in the air, Tim's voice blared into my headphones: "You'll have to show me where you guys live, because I'm not exactly sure." My first thought was "we don't live in Columbus." But then I realized. Who cares where we live! We're flying 120 miles an hour!

It was fascinating. We flew above Columbus for a bit, while Tim pointed out a few different things. Then we zipped over the Platte River, down to our hometown, and then on to our house out in the country. Mom had called Audrey, so she was outside waving. After circling around our house several times about 500 feet above it, we went on to the little town where Tim and I work.

Approaching our house

Tim even let me fly for a few minutes. That was cool. I followed the Platte and then made big circles over Columbus. It was fun to turn and try to keep the same altitude at the same time.

Thanks Tim!

(all photos taken by my mum)