Stars & Stripes

The world by plastic card keys

Room 423 has an inhabitant sleeping under the desk.

 



 

Room 424 has a person trying to get shut eye when the sun is up.  Hence pillow over the head.

 

Mirror image. 

 

Different reactions to the in-car movie.

 

Looking good for an interview.

 

Arranging some furry friends.

 

Another photo?

 

 

Walking the hills

. 

 

Messy sunlit girls.  Precious sisters.

 

 

Enchanted spring.

 

 

When holes have significance

 

Usually holes indicate emptiness, missed substance and depression, but this hole was remarkably different.  This hole was chosen in the vulnerable spot of the tree to house something even more susceptible to danger.  What really amazed me was the symmetry of the circle.  I can hold a power drill  and get something shaped like a moon winking or a pancake missing a bite, but a perfect circle is often elusive.

 

 

My precious children keep their eyes on the hole...a hole of significance and worth.

 

Waiting

 

Waiting 

 

 

This hole on outward appearance is dark and cavernous, but it is hole that will contain life and the vibrancy of red.  The holes in our lives might be there for a purpose that we have to go back to the Tree.  The Tree that held holes from a nail pierced man.  The Tree that Christ's red bloodied. His act of submission to the ugly and piercing should make us gasp in remembrance.  But for the holes in his hands, feet and side, but for the holes in the Tree on Calvary, we would never enter the nest of new life. 

 

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

 

In ornithological terms, Matthew 11 might say: Little birdie, open your mouth like a gaping hole and watch me feed you till there is no longer a hole in your belly. 

 

 

I have a son named Bob

At the end of the day, our kids often congregate outside on the lawn.  When our kids are outside there is a magnetic force that pulls the neighbor kids near.  There are three new sets of neighbors in our cul-de-sac.  One of the neighbors is from Australia.  Emily and Jane already asked the little girl of the house if they sleep backwards since they are from the Land Down Under.  Another neighbor brought a kangaroo with them (I was convinced it had to be the Australians).   It wasn't.  The last neighbor doesn't have a kangaroo and isn't from Australia, but he does have a metal leg.  Maybe he isn't a war hero, but that's what I'm thinking.  Well, back to the child I didn't know I had. 

Alex knew that the Australian family has a son named Alex.  Well, yesterday evening a boy with a heavy accent was in our yard.  My Alex introduced himself to the boy as Bob to prevent confusion.  Really, why Bob?  Well, Fritz comes in the house at dinner time and says to my Alex, "I don't even know that boy."  The boy with the heavy accent wasn't "Alex".  He was the cousin of another neighbor and I bet he is over from England for the birthday bash of his eight-year-old American cousin.  It is all so confusing and comical at the same time. 

Paper Pregnancy

I have had four fairly easy pregnancies.   I never experienced morning sickness or nausea.  God then gave Ben and I a desire to bring another child into our home.  This paper pregnancy has left me weeping, tired and hungry.  I weep for the days that stretch into the distance and our child is continents away.  I tire from the forms, bureaucrats and checks and double checks.  I hunger for the future when our child will be established in our home.
  
There is something more intentional about a paper pregnancy.   You wake up and don't think about a healthy breakfast...you think about the healthy, life-giving words you can write on your applications.   When your not quite showing, you still wear your tight jeans and favorite shirt.   You are hesitant to tell too many people in case your child is miscarried and you never bring him home.  But then there is the magical moment when you can't see past your growing belly and you know everyone knows you are pregnant.  There are people that want to know all the details and pat your stomach.   There are those that hurry to open doors because you are obviously pregnant.  And there are those that count kids as they file past and wonder how you can be pregnant again.  Despite the gawkers and the talkers, you take solace in the fact that this pregnancy was as supernatural as your others.   And then one night your water breaks when you least expect it.  God delivers the child born in your heart at 1 a.m. on a Tuesday.  But unlike most pregnancies, your child is a prisoner in the NICU and you can't bring him home till the doctors sign off and the governments give permission.  So you wait and you pray and you wait some more and you pray some more.  All the while trusting that when your child comes home, God will do the healing as only He can do.   

To have faith you don't have to understand the process of how you get somewhere or be assured of a positive outcome.   Faith is not blind, faith sees where human eyes can't.   Faith sees God.  And God is Sufficient.   I was told by someone through this paper pregnancy that I am naive and think that we won't have any troubles.  How little that person knew my God.   God doesn't promise a life of ease or pleasure, but he repeatedly says if you are to follow me you can expect it to be difficult.   But God doesn't stop there, he whispers in your ear when you are an emotional wreck and your ankles are swollen like watermelons..."I love you.  You have value to me.  I go with you.  Do not be afraid."

A new favorite blog I follow is richfaithrising.blogspot.com, the author so succinctly sums it up:
"There are stories after stories of how adopting isn't easy. But it was the Spirit that took precedence over the flesh."

What is a flipper flapper?

Jane is.

She is not just an ordinary flipper flapper, she's a skilled flipper flapper.  If you think it has anything to do with the making of pancakes, sorry to disappoint you.  I am pretty sure a flipper flapper is a six-year-old that finds joy in arranging numbers. 

 

Jane calls sudoku "flip"  due to this book.  Flip is her new favorite pastime.

 

 

Fritz and Jane helping me with puzzle #205. It wasn't as hard as #160 which was on the board for a couple days.

 

Solved! Jane added "w"s for winner

 

 

The flowers cry out

  Luke 19 indicates dead rocks can talk, so why aren't we listening to flowers?   


³⁸ “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

³⁹ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

⁴⁰ “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”


 Our purposeful Creator filled creation with pictures of his redemptive plan.  How personal God is that he writes us love letters in the flowers in our trees.  There is a story there that will make the hardhearted weep and the wretched whole.  A white blossom pierced and smeared with blood immortalizes the sufferings of Christ, but it appears only around Easter. Coincidence? I think not.  How God pursues us as he gives us eye-catching flowers year after year to make us mindful of his completed work.   We are courted by the Creator.  We are truly a people without excuse.

So I love this legend...
At the time of the crucifixion, the dogwood had reached the size of the mighty oak tree. So strong and firm was the wood that it was chosen as the timber for Jesus' cross.
To be used for such a cruel purpose greatly distressed the dogwood. While nailed upon it, Jesus sensed this, and in his compassion said. "Because of your pity for my suffering, never again shall the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used for a cross. Henceforth, it shall be slender, bent, and twisted, and its blossoms shall be in the form of a cross–two long and two short petals.
"In the center of the outer edge of each petal will be the print of nails. In the center of the flower, stained with blood, will be a crown of thorns so that all who see it will remember."

from "Sower's Seeds Aplenty: Fourth Planting," # 29, p. 22

The Land of mixed-up stories

 

Foxy Loxy and the jail wagon.  Envision who you will in it.

 

 

Explode on impact and sparkle down.  Glinda, the good fairy of the North.

 

 

Prince Caspian sailing the Dawn Treader.

 

 

 Bilbo Baggins in the castle of Helms Deep.

 

Mirkwood River in the background.

 

The girl from the Seven Sneezes before the trouble began.

 

 

Stages were meant for dancing after you built your house of sticks.

 

 Little Red Riding Hood sure is looking good.

 

My tall lady attempting to be Cameleon, the spy, and blend into the wall.

Curious George in the dinosaur skeleton at the Natural History Museum.

One of these things is not like the other

April Picks

 

 

This was a surprising documentary about individual farmers across China's map.  I think the title "Every Seventh Person" piqued my interest.  Did you know that every seventh person in the world is a Chinese farmer?  I was touched that one of the aged farmers was elated that the days were gone when they use to cook their food in their chamber pots.  You have to understand he said this while he sat in a ramshackle shanty with the crudest of furniture and devoid of luxuries.  Puts a little perspective on life.  There were many radiant faces and many farmers expressed dreams that their children would gain education and would have the privilege to not work the land. 

 

 

Another fascinating glimpse into the new China through the eyes of 9 young people with varying education and ambitions.  If you liked the British Up Series, this is an abbreviated Asian version.  Life, love and character are explored.  Businesses are started, relationships end and new ones begin.  Real life is full of hard decisions for these nine. This documentary was candidly filmed, and still somewhat stoic to life's upheavals and heartaches.  From my protected living room where I find it hard to imagine my mother being kidnapped by human traffickers or my husband to be living alone in a far continent for three years due to economics, the individual story lines were gripping and often bittersweet.  

 

 

Though not a film, this thin book was just as captivating.  After the first chapter or so, this was a tremendous read.  Full of earthly nonsense, it was packed with calm, mountain moving power.  The Lord is doing a mighty work in the Middle East.  The dead are raised to life, the infirm are healed, and the Muslim clerics are seeing visions telling them about Jesus.  I love that God's ways are so unusual and how he uses a man stricken with a terrible disease to love the unlovely... enemies of Christ.  There is no doubt that the vicar's heart bleeds and beats with great joy in shepherding the faithful and persecuted body of Christ. 

 

 

This book was a stark contrast to the Chinese farmers' acceptance of a hard life.  The author becomes a little girl again and relives her harsh childhood which was surrounded by luxury yet impoverished in the things that matter most.  Her emotional scars are still fresh and vivid.  She writes full of pain and still some unforgiveness.  Her perspective is not redeemed by the healing power of Christ.  It was an interesting look into China before the Japanese occupation and growing up in troubled times. 

 

 

Aging before my eyes