Filled To The Brim

                                                             

Sometimes I wonder what I do. Okay don't get me wrong...I have lots to do...every day I seem to have things that I didn't get to that day... Duties or details that somehow went unnoticed...

                                                                  

It really seems that life would be empty were it not for the details that stitch it together...

The details sew the tapestry into days...days become weeks..than years...

There is the details in a day that demand attention. Such as meals, laundry, phone calls....


                                                                           

                                                          bedrooms...

                                                    homemade pizza...

than there is the more subdued side of details that I can; or can not give thought to, 
such as the birds outside my window...the song on the radio,
 or the way the scarf you wear brings out your eyes....

                                                                                                                                 

So I have decided I won't let the details daunt or overwhelm me....

                    blanket fort in our rec room..constructed by two ambitious girls who come here after school....

                                                     

                                             flowers from a thoughtful hubby

I'll remember that God designed each detail; they make my life mine....each a gem of grace from the Giver of life.



                                                                      

                     my two youngest girls enjoying the spotlight on our back yard ice rink...

    I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. 
                                        John 10:10

Soft Silhouettes

Saturday's silhouette is soft, unhurried...
                                                       

        Words like stay or still preside.

                                                                     

Echoes linger and the essence of everything is hushed..

                                                                

    I am oblivious to time's message...

                                                 

                                       this pic happened as I played with my camera the other night...

                                                          thought it suited this post...

                              Just here...now.

                                                                           

I love Saturdays. Somehow after the hustle and bustle of a school/ work week, it feels like a long exhale....especially in the winter....
Today the weather was muted also. 

                                                                                   

                                                                      

Gray fog blanketed the horizon...trees clung to fragments of frost and ice, just a slight breeze and it would be gone....I step softly through it all....library....groceries...cleaning...skiing....
Simple, Sacred prelude....
to the real day of rest....

                                                              

Stealthily and perpetually settling and loose lying...

(Robert Bridges)

Being and Seeing

This past week has blessed us with some stellar winter weather....(and that isn't an oxymoron.:)

I have grown to love winter.....dare I say it, and the frigid temperatures which induce a slower, more comfortable pace. 
Sunshine and  crystal clear blue skies were the theme for a few days this week.

                                          

                     treetops glistening and golden...
My favourite kind of day to be home without commitments and  head out and  on my cross country skis....                                       

                  my shadow and I are inseparable...:)

                                          

our horses...Sunrise and Jetta

a look back to home...

along the forests fringe...

I see the whisk of a tail as a deer disappears with in...

to be and see; two understated blessings in life....

An Everyday Spectator

      the sun's rays radiated something she understood all along...                                 

I have heard it said that to gain a clearer perspective sometimes one needs to give distance to the situation.
So I became a spectator of my own life.
The mornings that I start early at the cafe where I work, have presented me with this startling privilege.          
                                            

I am gone before my hubby and chiluns are even out of bed so when I arrive back home in the early part of the afternoon, 
I am left to surmise what may or may not have all taken place in my absence.
Somehow they do not feel the need to raise window blinds or make beds....(or put the milk away...)
           their time has been allotted for a speedy departure.
                   

I almost feel like an intruder as I walk in and discover life's play by play scenes and the stuff that comes  with it...
the good, bad and wonderful middle. (or muddle I like to call it)
                        

The every day muddle looks beautiful, and I know without a shadow of doubt that I belong here; in the every day muddle... 

                                 lunch while I write this:)

It is the removing of myself from it on occasion that helps me grasp the beauty and breath that it richly contains.
                                              

                               
                                     

                   

              Things come suitable to their time....(Enid Bagnold)                                                        

Unearthing My Word

                                             

One of my favourite things to do is to take something that is tired or discarded and  find fresh purpose for it......

Whether it is seeing someones eyes light up by a smile or a kind word or two.
or in creating vignettes  or re purposing furniture around my home.
                                     

 Maybe it is in  painting a wall a fresh,new colour,  placing flowers on my table....
 or in something as simple as using up what is in my fridge to make a tasty supper.
                                                                                   

As I contemplated my word for this year, the word revive kept coming back to me..... Revive.....restore to life, or give new strength or energy to.
The other word that kept recurring was light.the natural agent that stimulates sight and makes things visible.

                                                               

                      Revive......Light.....
Two words to carry hope and potential in a dark, desperate world.

So here in my small sphere of knowing I choose to emphasise these two words through out my year.
Reviving light...restoring energy and purpose.
                                           

                 Rejuvenating and renewing life as best I can.. 
                             in a worn out and weary world.
                                   

    the photos in this post all come from this book....
                 a Christmas gift from my daughter.                                       

Releasing The Embrace

                                     

My word for 2014 was embrace. Now before I can embrace 2015.
 I must reflect on the past year and some of the embrace. There was much held, much change. Change seemed to be the common theme, the one constant thread weaving my year in an endless embrace.

The year began with flying. For the first time I took a 'real'flight and escaped the harsh Canadian winter for a week. It was a blissful holiday, but I happily flew home to where I belonged.
                                               

I had a terrible car accident in February a minute from my home in a blinding snow storm. Youngest daughter and I still tremble when we remember the incident and God's Divine protection to us.

Another change  happened  in March, my sweet mother in law neighbour moved away, to live with her daughter. Although I supported the decision  I mourned the loss of her presence next door.
The winter passed in a flurry of projects and wedding plans.
Spring took  it's sweet time- testing my, and all of our  patience....but it came,the barn got painted and fields were planted and the wedding happened. 
                                                                                              

                                       myself,Brittany,hubby...the blessing kiss...

I embraced the highs and lows of this roller coaster ride. It felt as if my hair was still  blowing back as I walked down the aisle with my soon to be new son in law.
                                            

                                            

As the school year drew to a close my second youngest graduated grade eight, and my youngest graduated from 'our little school' we've had children at since 1998.
 I embraced this bitter sweet knowledge with as much poise as I could, knowing it is the brevity of seasons that make each one poignant.
 I embraced another ending also as  I decided the time had come to end my six and a half year stint as lunch duty supervisor at our school. I wanted to let someone else have the wonderful opportunity of working with the children.

I embraced freedom. Most of the summer was spent with my two youngest. I took advantage of spontaneity and moments I have learned to seize. 
                                             

Prioritizing time with hubby whether here at home or riding with him on his motorcycle or chatting more often.

I also embraced disappointment and acceptance of relationships I can not change. I embraced grace more often, not only for others but for myself......
                                          

I welcomed second daughter home from year long inner city missions for a few short weeks before she headed away again to school.

I embraced floundering for a while. I knew to flounder recognizably can be a form of progress. 

                                      

As fall fell and days shortened, I felt peace. My garden was my sanctuary ....lavender, zinnias and gladiola soothed my soul. I read good books and cultivated memory's plots.

                                      
In November I fell into a little part time job at a cafe close by. I embraced the change it brought to my every day routine. Most of all I embraced the fact that God is never too busy to listen to our prayers or to care about the things that we do.

As I consider this year I am awed and humbled at all that has  happened. I glance back now with 20/20 vision.....2015 is blank to my sight. but I trust the One who has written out my days to bring it to completion.
                            

                           all the days ordained for me were written in your book                           before one of them came to be.                                      Psalm 139:16

my new word for 2015 is still obscured...waiting to see what it will be...