An Acrostic for the Day...

You will find this picture on my coffee cup.

It makes me laugh every time I look at it. Why...because it's awesome!

Think back to when you were in school.

Back in the day...the dizzle.

Did you every have to make an acrostic poem using your name?

I currently teach second grade, have for a couple years now...and haven't done this.

If you're not familiar with what I'm talking about...take your first name, write it vertically, and use each letter to start a word that describes yourself.

For example:

Well Dressed
Awesome
Dude
Excellent

Granted...three of my words sound like they may come from the script of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure...there you go.

Your turn...which means I will probably put some more thought into this and hopefully I can come up with something quite awesome...excellent...dude!

Be...

"Abandon your plans of escape & BE where you are. Plant gardens, live & live well. Breathe deeply. Be present, be now." -Kyle Lake, 10/30/05

These are some marvelous, yet simple, words.

Be.

Many of us spend our moments in our past or the future.

I'm guilty of this.

There are times when I'm with the small child and I should be just enjoying...being together...being.

Instead I've wasted incredible father-daughter time because I'm thinking about something that has either happened or something that may or will happen.

So profound...be present, be now.


I leave you with this quote...read it again...take it for what it is:

"Abandon your plans of escape & BE where you are. Plant gardens, live & live well. Breathe deeply. Be present, be now." -Kyle Lake, 10/30/05

Rhythm...

How often do you find yourself...watching something off the DVR like The Office...chewing on some ice from Sonic...blogging...at 12:37 in the AM?

Crystal is now brewing up some hot tea...getting settled in to finishing catching up on The Office.

I know you may be thinking...how awesome is this...how can I achieve this lifestyle...what do I need to do in order to find myself doing these things?

Well...it's pretty easy.

Just do it.

It doesn't have to include these things...you could find yourself doing projects that involve the aesthetics of the home...playing Wii...watching a movie...discussing the latest SNL short (have to give my props to the ground)...whatever.

As this posts...I will more than likely be sleeping, or should be anyway...in preparation for the new week of school.

We had a short respite...something that rocked the rhythm of everyday...humdrum...the routine.

Though it was due to illness, it was quite amazing...the timing...the rest acquired during these last few days.

Essentially we did these things, not in any particular order:

Movies.

Games.

Late nights.

Meals with friends.

Cleaning.

Reading.

Sleeping.

Trick-or-Treating.

Not leaving the house unless it was absolutely necessary.

Now...these are only a handful of the things accomplished during our impromptu break.

Also...you could find yourself doing any number of these things at any given time (except for Trick-or-Treating...it'd probably be best to leave that one for around Halloween...but, I'll leave that up to you).

What I'm trying to say with all this is that we settled into a easy, flowin' rhythm. Time doesn't necessarily have to dictate...rule us.

Life goes by way too fast to be preoccupied with time.

I'm not condoning the irresponsible wasting of time...a practice I've also been known to have some skillz in...but...to use our time wisely so that there is time in our day for our families...friends...things we like.

I need to remind myself of this since I'm just about to enter a new season of life...as a girls MS basketball coach.

It's amazing what one year absent from the coaching world will do...it's been awesome...what I needed, but now I find myself in the stages of mental preparation.

I leave you with this:

Enjoy...be.

You Are Not Naked...

This is a link to a blog post from Jonathan Acuff and Stuff Christians Like

Funny...Satirical...Thought-Provoking....

#512. Thinking you’re naked.

Posted using ShareThis

The Hardest Part...

Investigate my life, O God,
find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
get a clear picture of what I’m about
Psalm 139:23

Conflict

Confrontation

Confession

Honesty

Reality

Acknowledgment

Sin

These are words that pierce...hurt.

Hard words.

Scary words.

Necessary words.

The Current Rotation...

What are you listening to these days? New stuff? Old stuff?

Here are the albums that are in heavy rotation in my vehicle, on the iPod, and even one via vinyl:

Stockholm Syndrome - Derek Webb
The pic above was taken at Blueberry Hill where D Webb and the incomparable Josh Moore rocked it the other night. The album is a crazy departure from the old D Webb...a lot of synth...progressive...amazing.

Church Music - David Crowder* Band
This album, like the D Webb album, is another major departure from the usual for the DC*B. Like the description above...a lot of synth...progressive...amazing.

Hope Rising - Fee
More rockin' tunes for the Church in general. Soaring guitars...delay...awesome.

What have you been listening to lately?

Anything worth sharing...?

OMG...

We, the little babe and I, were watching The Neverending Story today (I know...awesome right?) and I skipped the part where Atreyu's horse got lost in the quicksand...you know you cried when that happened.

I turned it back to see Atreyu struggling in the mud...looking for the big turtle (I can't remember what the name or purpose was...especially since we didn't finish watching it due to Sarala's Halloween Party) and Sarala asked me what happened.

I told her that Atreyu had lost his horse in the mud.

Sarala then says:

He lost his horse!? Oh...my...gosh!

Love it!

The Journey Has Begun...

I am sitting here...winding down after driving home from the airport.

It has been an amazing evening and I'm glad that Crystal, Sarala, and I got to come along for the ride.

We helped some of our dear friends welcome their new baby boy into their family tonight. Another amazing adoption story.

I was honored to do video for it all and...out of respect for our friends...won't be posting pictures until I've given them the clips and photos I took. It was awesome to celebrate the arrival of a baby boy, from half a world away.

It was especially amazing since Crystal and I went through this ourselves....

I am crazy-happy for them...and am excited for the journey that saw its beginnings tonight.

Taken Back...

I am not a big fan of country music. Never have been...probably never will be. Now...I can listen to some...good music is good music.

There is a reason though...why I can't, notice how I didn't say don't...but can't listen to it(I can't like it as Sarala would say).

I was reminded today of why I don't...and can't...listen to it.

I was driving back from Fred-town and was wanting something different (I've basically had two albums in rotation in my vehicle, which are both fantastic albums by the way: DC*B's Church Music and Fee's Hope Rising).

I figured I would see what was playing on the radio. As usual...the stations were fuzzy...Z107-7...not in the mood for thePoint (a lot of the newer stuff sounds strikingly similar)...JoyFM...B104...the hit station out of cape.

There was one station though...that always comes through. We depend on it for news, weather, sports scores...and...kickin' country. Good ol' J98.

Since it was Sunday afternoon...the playlist was comprised of older stuff.

The music instantly took me back to when I was younger.

We would spend time on the rez...which is the reservation for those of you who haven't heard that before. Whenever we traveled that direction...northeastern MT...Ft. Peck...it felt as if you were stepping back in time...heading into isolation.

Now..the only station that come through up there played country music. I always made sure that I had my Walkman on me...remember those? Yes...but sometimes I would forget and...being a smaller child...usually didn't participate in conversation. What would I end up doing? Listening to the radio.

Mind you...again...it wasn't necessarily current stuff so it actually felt as if we stepped back in time...that we were disconnected from the modern world.

I was transported back to those days as I was driving on 72 back to AV.

I don't really miss those days....

Music...Smells...those are primarily the things that trigger memories for me.

How about you...anything triggered lately?

Some Sunday Night Thoughts...

Lately, the reality of how my actions could match my thoughts...has been applied to the bigger picture....

Am I doing everything I could be doing?

Could my talents....experiences...identity help others?

Could they help to a greater degree?

Can I be doing more?

If my answer is yes...now the hard part....

Why aren't I doing these things?

I have to consider how my possibilities will affect Sarala...how they will affect my family. Though some of my thoughts place us in other parts of the country...I like it here. Sarala is growing up in an amazing community.

It's scary out there and something I try and not worry too much about...but...are my fears hindering some cool things that God has got going on?

I'm going to finish with this:

The journey thus far has been an amazing experience filled with joys, challenges...but ultimately God's presence being a constant...it will always be an amazing journey, irregardless of the twists, turns, bumps....

Right now though...the focus...tomorrow night...we get to celebrate the arrival of a beautiful baby boy with some dear friends of ours....