Monsoon Season

We were told that there is a monsoon season here. The onset is pretty unpredictable, but once it begins, one can expect rain every afternoon. It faithfully arrived a couple of weeks ago, and it has been a nice break from the long, hot, glaring days of earlier this Summer. And because the sunshine doesn't let something like a daily thunderstorm get in its way, we have been privy to many rainbows and sparkly windows. Sun shining in the rain is at the top of my favorite kinds of weather, so I am considering myself especially blessed these days. I hope that you, too, are amidst a season of blessings!

Because I Can't Pin It

I came across this article a month or two ago... and stumbled on it again tonight. I could read it everyday and still find it humbling, inspiring and completely relevant.
My job as a mother has been heavy on my heart. For so many reasons. But more than anything, God is moving in me. I just know it.
Everyday, a new wave of memories and remorse swells in, only to be washed away and cast into the depths.
It's grace. I could get all Jesus freaky on you right now... I will stop there. The undeserved, relentless miracle of grace through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. That's where I am right now.

Where we are, where we are heading

Well, I'm just as quiet and buzzing with overwhelm as ever before. But I like this place.
It's good. My husband as soldier is even more fun/awesome looking/steady/strong than ever. Of course, I am so anxious to live with him again, to share all the funny little things of life. But it's mostly not as hard as I thought it would be and occasionally a million times more difficult than I ever thought it could be.
Our boy is magic. I feel like I rarely say good things about him. But he's sort of like a meteor or something. I'm never quite sure how to process, not sure how to express who he is to me, how much I love him. Only that I am so blessed to be his mama, that every day through my sheer helplessness I am drawn even closer to our Creator who truly is the only one able to empower me with the patience, judgment and wisdom required of the enormous job of parenting. Brady aside, he is the smartest, funniest, most passionate, and adorable person I have ever met.
Here is good. We are blessed beyond words by our accommodations right now. It's ridiculous. And that's the small part. Getting to know Maryl and Ernie even better has been so much good. When we decided on this arrangement, there were so many factors- but mostly I wanted to do what would make for the best transition for Edward, and they have shown him (and me!) such bottomless patience and love. And a realness I adore... a realness I will forever strive for. They live what they believe and they practice what they preach.
2 weeks from today- Lord willing- we will be in Phoenix, catching up with Alex and Maggie, acquainting ourselves with their 100 lb puppy, "Banksy". And spending October weekends visiting Brady in Ft. Huachuca, AZ with a trip to Portland in between.
Tomorrow we start work on Edward's Halloween costume- a pirate this year. Year 2.5 of preschool is good so far. I'm harboring some paranoia about a stomach virus that took out half the class today- praying that we are either spared or it hits and clears before the trip. I won't lie, I immediately ran to Jungle Jim's to stock up on probiotics.
I'm currently obsessed with Pinterest
And Brady called tonight to tell me that he is 99% sure (or at least as sure as you can be without having been given orders) that we are going to be stationed in Ft. Carson, CO. Part of me is thrilled- it's exciting, new, beautiful... apparently he is the envy of many classmates (who have been assigned to upstate NY- brrrrr and Kansas, snore....) and we even have friends who know the area well when we have a bazillion questions. But... there's the reality that we are not playing a game. I am still in a weird way, not really realizing that we are doing this. Really, really. It's just a business trip, a uniform, it still feels so far away, this military business. But it gets closer and closer. And I hear the sun just shines and shines there... and I know that we are being taken care of. Step by step, we're not alone, we don't have to figure it all out. We don't have to be anything more than be who we are today, He will work it out for our good. He is so, so good.

Happy Easter!

Our God overpowered death. The grave could not contain Him.
I so love a good redemption story, and there is none better than this.
Matthew 28
Mark 16
Luke 24
John 20

Hope your day is filled with sunshine and joy!

This is What 4 Looks Like

Happy Birthday Pi Baby!

On the Nightstand

I just finished Crazy Love. It's been on the list for over a year. Glad I finally made the time. It's good. It's quick. And it's a lot of what we know, but can never hear enough, and rarely, if ever, grasp.


Only on chapter three, and not as easy to get into as Crazy Love. But there's real meat here. So many assumptions of church-culture long struggled with- the language, the standardized processes, the measure of success- he challenges. He lays it down in a way that is not for the faint of heart. But even when it's hard to hear, it's so good and so right for it to be said. The cynic in me makes me think that the only people that will read this already agree with his thesis, and that would be unfortunate. But still.Glad he took the time to say it. Hope that it has opened a dialogue in the church.

The overwhelming messages I am facing in this season is that being in a sincere relationship with Christ requires a response. It is not enough to believe in a philosophical sense, and leave it at that. And God hates leftovers. HATES them. Don't sacrifice your one eared goat. He wants the first steaming hot helping.

Merry Christmas!

I will never even begin to fathom the mystery of this birth. But I am eternally grateful for the love and grace that came of it.
Wishing you a very merry Christmas!