21 Thursday Feb 2013
Posted in Inspiration
Tags
art, design, Giuseppe Verdi, italy, posters, quotes, typography
This Giuseppe Verdi quote has very much made my day (and my mother’s, too, I might add.)
Typographic print available from Splendid and Sound.
29 Thursday Mar 2012
Posted in Inspiration
Tags
…a daring adventure or nothing.” An excellent reminder today.
Helen Keller quote letterpress poster via Happy Deliveries on Etsy
28 Wednesday Sep 2011
Posted in Devotional
“The disciple living by grace rather than law has undergone a decisive conversion–a turning from mistrust to trust. The foremost characteristic of living by grace is to trust in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.
To believe deeply, as Jesus did, that God is alive and present and at work in human life is to understand that I am a beloved child of this Father, and hence, free to trust. That makes a profound difference in the way I relate to myself and others; it makes an enormous difference in the way I live. To trust Abba, both in prayer and life, is to stand in childlike openness before a mystery of gracious love and acceptance. [...]
To be alive is to be broken. And to be broken is to stand in need of grace…There is a beautiful transparency to honest disciples who never wear a false face and do not pretend to be anything but who they are.
When a man or woman is truly honest (not just working at it), it is virtually impossible to insult them personally. There is nothing to insult. Those who were truly ready for the kingdom were just such people. Their inner poverty of spirit and rigorous honesty had set them free. They had nothing to be proud of.”
-Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel
05 Friday Aug 2011
Tags
cleaning, clutter, decluttering, downsizing, Home, house, housework, minimalism, minimizing, moving, quotes, sorting, william morris
We had to move around some furniture this morning. Aveline’s crib had been near the wall of windows in our bedroom, but yesterday she discovered she could reach through the side of the crib and mangle the mini-blind slats (don’t worry, the cords have been safely tied up for a long time now.)
Swapping the position of two pieces of furniture seems simple enough, but now everything is all discombobulated. Cluttered. I’ve been on a mission to get rid of excess stuff, but honestly, I struggle with it. Not with the idea of getting rid of things, but with the actual sorting. If I’m totally honest, I would admit that when it comes to sorting, I am pretty lazy.
I love the idea of minimalism. In theory, I hate clutter. In practice, I live with little piles of clutter. But I get so STUCK when it comes to sorting piles of small things — especially when they are interesting. For me, it’s the ziploc bags of ticket stubs and maps and letters and greeting cards that stop me in my tracks. I just really have a problem getting through the stashes of paper ephemera. I get bogged down, finding myself distractedly reading that one card my uncle wrote me for my high school graduation or reminiscing over the train ride from Barcelona to Paris. Gah!
And the stickers left over from addressing wedding invitations? The six pathetic pieces of cardstock left over from my last scrapbooking project four years ago? Get a grip, Gina! I don’t need these things to remind me of those memories. I’d rather have the space in that basket on the shelf for something actually beautiful or useful.
I am going to tackle the bedroom this weekend, with this William Morris quote in the forefront of my mind: “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”
Because really, laziness is the only thing keeping me from a clutter-free house.
06 Wednesday Jul 2011
Posted in Devotional
Tags
devotional, Free Download, Further Along, josh garrels, Love & War, lyrics, music, quotes, Thoughts, video
If you haven’t downloaded Josh Garrels’ brand-new (FREE!) album “Love & War”, what are you waiting for?!
“Farther Along” – Josh Garrels
“Farther along we’ll know all about it
Farther along we’ll understand why
Cheer up my brothers, live in the sunshine
We’ll understand this, all by and by…
…So much more to life than we’ve been told
It’s full of beauty that will unfold
And shine like you struck gold my wayward son
That deadweight burden weighs a ton
Go down into the river and let it run
And wash away all the things you’ve done
Forgiveness alright…”
13 Friday May 2011
Posted in Baby, Devotional, Poetry & Words
Tags
aveline alenka, baby, bible, devotional, jeremiah, life, quotes, sunshine
it’s friday. i woke up to grumpy little noises, an impatient baby reminding me she hadn’t eaten in three whole hours. i picked her up and walked into the living room — right into coral-colored sunshine. the rays had painted a bright swath down the middle of our living room, and were dancing happily against the edges of the window. i smiled. it’s been a long time since i thought a morning was actually beautiful. mornings and i aren’t the best of friends, but lately, we’ve grown closer and closer. i’ve been seen all the shadows of the sundial over the past four months. sunsets, sunrises, and all the faces of the in-between moon.
it’s beautiful, this life. this wild, great, unpredictable life. and it’s so full of hope. this morning i read jeremiah 46:26: But fear not thou, O Jacob my servant, neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
there’s so much comfort in those words. i read them over again, as the coffee filled the air and aveline leaned her velvety cheek on my shoulder. fear not. be quiet and at ease. none shall make you afraid.
happy weekend, dear friends. be filled with hope today, and face–without fear–whatever the day brings you.
02 Monday May 2011
Posted in Devotional
“If there is any meaning in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, it is this: that there is a God who create us, and who loves us so much that he would stop at nothing to bring us to him. And I really suspect that of all things that we want to know, the only thing we really need to know is that we are loved. And if Jesus means anything, he means that you are loved. I hope you know that. And I hope you stop worrying about all the stuff that you don’t know, because I don’t think it amounts to a hill of beans.” -Rich Mullins
28 Thursday Apr 2011
Posted in Devotional
Tags
how great is this?!
i laughed, but it’s so true.
image via rarrar press/rebecca ann rakstad on flickr
26 Tuesday Apr 2011
Posted in Devotional
Tags
bebas, design, devotional, love, lyrics, quotes, saltwater merchants, travis oberg, typography
currently listening to travis oberg and the saltwater merchants. we once saw him live at bloom coffee+tea…he was amazing.
02 Saturday Apr 2011
Posted in Baby, Devotional
Tags
aveline alenka, baby, devotional, family, hope, joy, life, lyrics, quotes, rich mullins
i just adore my little family. we are unbelievably blessed. when i look at her bright eyes, i can’t help think of this beautiful rich mullins song:
“O Eli
There’s a sanctity in your innocence
A certain beauty and no uncertain strength
That brings me to the faith
I don’t know if I
If I am climbing to or falling in
But it comes like grace from your tiny hands
When I hold you in mineAnd I pray that the eyes
Of your heart
Shine bright
With the hope to which you’re called
And may you know with all the saints
The height ~ the depth ~ the width ~ and the length
Of the love of GodO Eli
There’s a joy in your sweet abandon
Like the cowgirl ballerina
Leaves that ride
The wild and holy bucking wind that the sky
Sent through you to blow away these walls I’ve built
Walls of selfishness and walls of guilt
That leave me free to be a childAnd I pray that the eyes
Of your heart
Shine bright
With the hope to which you’re called”
11 Thursday Nov 2010
Posted in Poetry & Words
Tags
i can’t even begin to tell you how much the (very newly discovered) music of josh garrels has blessed me this week. take a moment to listen to jacaranda tree.
image via joshgarrels.com
“Sitting on porches
Since Friday while the sky
Tilts like a watery glass
We wait for downpours
A drenching joy
A carnival sky
But what I don’t say
What I can’t say
Is that with this joy
Comes a mourning
Something left behind
Blue lined, teary
Mingled
I move on
All things will change
We wait for the rain
And the promise remains
Live life fully
Peeking through fingers
Slung in our hammocks
Cocooned
Skimming the water
Trapezed above time
We glide like slingshot angels
Belly up and
Floating we see
The promise in the sky
Up to Orion’s ribs
We climb this tree
And listen
For our pulse
All things will change
We wait for the rain
And the promise remains
I flung loosely
Into that world
I stayed heavily
I’ll be a Jacaranda Tree
In Indiana
I say
Greenhoused and sung to
I pray light will
Leak from our pockets
We’ll be drenched, overcome
At night the fireflies
Streamers at our sides
Silent flaming arcs of hope
All things will change
We wait for the rain
And the promise remains” -Josh Garrels
20 Thursday May 2010
Posted in Poetry & Words
Tags
30 Saturday Jan 2010
Posted in Devotional
Tags
13 Sunday Dec 2009
Posted in Devotional, Travel/Moving
“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.” -Corrie ten Boom
i needed to hear that word, last night, as i was labeling boxes and stacking them in the living room. we’re only maybe three or four boxes into this process, but the tears did come. the tears and the worry and the sense of displacement. and then in that moment in my mind, i heard the perfectly husky voice of rich mullins, singing with reckless abandon into an old cassette recorder, singing,
“You did not have a home / birds have nests, foxes have dens / but the hope of the whole world rests / on the shoulders of a homeless man.”
and I was reminded that the Son of Man had no place to rest. and then i saw a message from my daddy, and he said, “i am so happy to hear you have a place to rest your head.”
and i have courage and hope to press on.
“for you have not as yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security, then it shall come about that the place in which the Lord your God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you.” -deuteronomy 12:9-11
“the Lord takes by it’s corners this ol’ world and shakes us forward and shakes us free to run wild with the hope.” -rich mullins
i am running wild with hope. and the sky is about to rain.
30 Monday Nov 2009
Posted in Christmas, Home, Marriage, Northern California
Tags
autumn, Christmas, Home, marriage, northern california, quotes, Thanksgiving
dean martin & frank sinatra christmas station on pandora.third day’s christmas offerings. the elliot yamin christmas collection. todd agnew’s do you see what i see?
lots and lots of cranberry sauce. more pumpkin pie. coffee in the air every morning.
the hint of fireplace smoke. the aroma of a brand-new douglas fir. wool pea coats and tall boots. the smell of leather and josiah.
fighting the sunday night blues. dreading the lack of sleep monday morning brings, and the exhaustion which ensues. dreading lots of things at work this week…the tyranny of the corporate and the urgent.
purposing to be anxious for nothing and thankful for everything. trusting. knowing the new mercies each day brings and trusting the One who holds me in His hands.
not waiting, but redeeming the time, hoping, persevering. knowing He does all things well. living with purpose.
To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
3To grant those who mourn in Zion,
Giving them a garland instead of ashes,
The oil of gladness instead of mourning,
The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting
So they will be called oaks of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified…
The desolations of many generations.
7Instead of your shame you will have a double portion,
And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion
Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land,
Everlasting joy will be theirs. (Isaiah 61)
