Little Angels Everywhere

And Elsa is officially crawling.

Homecoming and Saturdays at the Park

We got all dressed up to welcome Mommy and Sister home!

With the crisp mornings and warm afternoons, the weather just beckons us to visit the park. Daddy, Heidi and Elsa went to a park a little further away so Una could get a good walk. Mommy was at the PPC Christmas Program rehearsal.

We had fun too!

My heart is so full right now. God gave me an exquisite weekend with beautiful weather, old, faithful friends, and the precious memories of His hand so carefully forming my life. Thank you, husband, for considering it a priority for me to go, for taking such good care of our sweet Heidi and giving me total peace of mind about her. More to follow.

Hummingbird Music Camp

So to cap off the Weekend with Daddy, Heidi and I hopped, skipped and jumped to the Hummingbird Music Camp in the Jemez mountains on a beautiful Indian Summer day.


The friendly proprietors are generous enough to let the public visit their property when camp is not in session.


We hiked, got muddy, and ate a picnic.



Daddy even landed a rainbow trout and Heidi loved poking its eyes. God is good.

Now its time for a bath before we pick mommy and sister up from the airport!

Weekend with Daddy

While Summer is away, Heidi and I are spending lots of time outside during these gorgeous New Mexico autumn days. We spent Saturday at the Pumpkin Patch with my adviser and his girls.

Heidi is perfecting her tricycle skills. Tomorrow may include an outing to Explora and possibly another attempt at catching some fish.

There Where I Found Him

Camp really does change lives. And I'm so thankful that I will be returning here this weekend to celebrate how He changed my life. Yes, I know, it's not "camp," it's Jesus, but what I'm trying to say is that Jesus definitely uses camps.

I came to Tapawingo thinking it would just be another camp job with lots of fun, a few silly rules, and perhaps, if the campfire burned high enough, a slight ebb of spiritual cynicism. My first memory is of Miss Kim demonstrating with trusty Miss Jen how to catch a bat with a coffee can. I knew from that moment that this was no ordinary camp. This was where I began to understand spiritual discipline. This little island is where I found the love of Christ and the fellowship of the saints. And, as if that weren't enough, this is where I have had some of the most wonderful experiences EVER.

I just don't get why no one wants me to re-enact my fitness fairy skit.

From Two Years Ago: Reconciliation

Painting by Tamara Paetkau

We know Esau was the bad one. But he did one thing right in running out to meet his brother.

The Prodigal's father ran out to meet him. He didn't wait to hear what the terms were. He didn't wait to hear his son apologize.

Joseph didn't just give his brothers the food they needed, though he easily could have refused it, and justly so. He didn't wait for an apology.

He didn't just say, "it's me, look at me now," or say, "it's cool, see you later, good luck with that grain issue."

He actively, persistently pursued reconciliation between his brothers and himself. He didn't worry about whether they ever wanted to see him again or what their spiritual state was, or whether they had repented. He longed for their fellowship again.

I heard about a church who lost a member to adultery. She wanted to to live with her boyfriend and knew she had to leave the church to do so. The church laid down the discipline. She was not a member in good standing.

But the elders of the church visited her regularly; they stood at her door and knocked. They called her, they reminded her that they loved her; they begged her to come back, not just to their church, but to come back to Christ.

And one day, she came back. No one stood in corners and whispered. No one hesitated. They ran out to meet her. They shouted out praises to Heaven. They loved her. They welcomed her back.

Behold, Christ stands at the door and knocks.

Almost ten years ago I wrote a letter to my parents. I said I was sorry for everything. I was living 700 miles away at the time. They got in the car that night and drove to where I was. They ran out to greet me. I was Home.

Tender Mercies

Husband is dealing with another deadline--once in awhile I take to the kitchen when he's working at night and bake something fantastical. Like these cookies.

And then I figured out that with our netflix account we can play movies instantly on our computer. So I can watch while I "work in the kitchen," which means it takes twice as long but is also twice as much fun.

Yesterday I went with the girls to pick up our produce box, the location of which is next to the world's weirdest ice cream store (I scream for ice cream). It's like a flea market, a children's museum, and charlie's chocolate factory whipped into one place, filled with every retro, germ-filled toy imaginable for a kid to play with. H1N1, anyone? Of course we had to go in and get Heidi some gummy bear topped ice cream before lunch.

To top everything off, the owner started playing a movie as we sat down to eat: Tender Mercies, starring Robert Duvall from like way back in the 80s. It was maybe the last thing I would ever expect to start watching in such a setting. Between trying to mop up spilled ice cream and germexing Heidi's hands, I was able to catch the plot of the first moments of the movie, and since the themes kept lingering in my mind all day, I played it in our kitchen while making cookies.

Tender Mercies is essentially the Walk the Line of 1983. However, if the two films squared off in a final "best redemption story ever in the category of substance-abusing, second-time-marrying country singers," Tender Mercies would take the cake, hands down.

I haven't read enough about the screenwriter of this movie (Horton Foote) to know whether he is a Christian, whether he meant the film to be a study of Irony, a deepened, expanded character piece (which won Robert Duvall his best actor academy), or a truly heartfelt story of redemption. Somehow he accomplished all three.

I could say so much about what I saw in this movie. The character who impressed me most was a widow, Rosa Lee (Tess Harper) whose line coined the film's title, "Tender Mercies." At one point in the film she says matter of factly, " I thank the Lord each day for His tender mercies towards me." To the faithless, her line falls flat. The film is filled with desolate, harsh images and events, moments of great fear, darkness, and doubt. That's why I really wondered where the screenwriter's heart was. But for each picture of despair, there is an accompanying one of hope in the film. For the sinner, there is a saint. For the childless, a child. For the fatherless, a father. For the widow, a husband. For the lifeless, a New Life.

This movie is one of the few I've ever seen that contains a baptism. Another great line from it: "Do I look any different? Not yet."

The things that happen in our lives have certain shapes. We need just a certain thing at just a certain moment. The Tender Mercy is always there, in that moment, New Every Morning. A thing, a voice, a picture, that just fits into that need, and when it comes, we know that it's an answer to prayer.

My blogging is less and less in proportion to the number of times I've caught Heidi jumping on sister or pulling Una's tail. New things happen every day that remind me of my ineptitude for this calling. Some small, some major. I just need to remember to be thankful, so thankful, for His Tender Mercies towards me.

And everyone should watch this movie.