He's truly all boy!

*please click on the turtle so you can get a good idea of how colorful and cool he really is. (Sorry I'm so obsessed.) did you know they can live up to 70 years?! and also, the tempertature of their nests when they are born determines whether it will be male or female! crazy! also, i found out that this particular turtle is the only turtle native to Idaho. It's called a painted turtle. ok, ok, i'm done with the turtle lesson.

I'm Actually Embarassed

Iced-Double-Tall-Macchiato-style-latte with Caramel Drizzel.

I'm such a hopeless, coffee snob.

Parenting Boot Camp

This last weekend, KC and I had the pleasure of watching some friends' children while they were out of town.
Our future flashed before our eyes as we went from our one child to four! It was a lot of work, and I have realized just how selfish I can be only having to care for Colson. It was good training and provided excitement for little Rumreys to come, Lord willing.

A Walk on the Wild Side

(www.unc.edu/~sstaff/images/cturtle.jpg)

Colson and I were adventuring through our wetland-backyard when we stumbled into this cool turtle. It's called a Western Pond Turtle, and it's cute. God is very cool! Colson of course can't decide if it's a turtle or a dinosaur, and he was much more interested in throwing rocks in the pond rather than looking long at it.

I love our mommy & boy outings!

Kitchen Woes, part 2

Last Night, as I thought I was heating up frozen peas on my stove-top, I heard a loud cracking noise. The dish that holds my butter was on a burner close to the peas; it had broken into 3 pieces, and was now smoking as the butter was obviously melted and oozing out onto the burner from underneath. I had turned on the wrong burner, and the butter dish paid the price. Next thing I know the butter caught on fire and smoke and flames were blazing out of my stove! Good thing KC was there as I was all in a flutter. He calmly got off the phone, grabbed a heavy dish towel and put the fire out! Praise God for objective men!

***Unfortunately, I was unable to capture the fire event on camera. In retospect, I suppose I could have taken a picture of of the broken butter dish, but what can you do? It's in the trash now. ***

Chesterton on Babies

"When we look upon lives so human and yet so small...we feel the same kind of obligation to these creatures that God might feel...



But it is the humerous look of children that is perhaps the most endearing of all the bonds that holds the cosmos together...They give us the most perfect hint of humor that awaits us in the Kingdom of Heaven"

-G.K. Chesterton-

He will Swallow up Death in Victory!

Isn't it perfect that we celebrate Christ's Resurrection in the Spring? When life emerges from below, birthing and bearing forth vine and fruit. In this we are pointed so clearly to Jesus, who is life, who did die, and was buried, and indeed rose again from the dead! Creation orchestrates the life of Christ and the blessed hope we have of sharing in his death, and therefore, his life!

Happy Spring

The following passage is from Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, after Frodo and
Sam were rescued from Mount Doom and the ring was destroyed:

"'A great shadow departed,' said Gandalf, and then he laughed, and the sound was like music, or like water in a parched land; and as he listened the thought came to Sam that he had not heard laughter, the pure sound of merriment, for days upon days without count. It fell upon his ears like the echo of all the joys he had ever known. But he himself burst into tears. Then, as a sweet rain will pass down a wind of spring and the sun will shine out the clearer, his tears ceased, and his laughter willed up, and laughing he sprang from his bed.

'How do I feel?' he cried. 'Well, I don't know how to say it. I feel, I feel'--he waved his arms in the air--"I feel like spring after winter, and sun on the leaves; and like trumpets and harps and all the songs I have ever heard!'"

Blissful Domesticity

Colson will be 2 this summer (which in itself I can hardly believe) and I have been meaning to put together a scrapbook of his first year. I have accomplished the first page, and I'm very excited. I just hope this excitement can continue for the whole 12 months. I feel like such a MOM right now.

Creation Poetry

In honor of Spring and new life, here is a poem:

Paradise-Un

In the beginning God, unaccompanied,
And unmanned, made light.
Adam as yet unimagined.

Then the world unwound
From heaven. The day unbuttoned
From the night. The sea unearthed

And the earth unfastened
The grass and the trees unhusked
Their seeds. Adam unhastened.

God created he him, Adam unfallen,
Unpinned from the ground.
Unhitched Adam. Adam unbound.

And in order that Eve could uncage,
Adam unribbed, and both undressed
and were unashamed.

But the serpent (more subtle), unheard
From until now, unlocked and unappled
Eve, and Adam unabled.

Then the unthorned got thorns
And the unthistled thistles, the earth
Untoiled until then.

Adam unparadized -- a song not
Unsung, of life's uneasying,
And Adam undone.

Catherine Wing

Memory Lane

I'm going way back here folks...to the ol' days of elementary and high school in Mulino and Molalla. There's no place like it. :) I googled images for "mulino" and "molalla" and here are some photos I found. I was truly disappointed there were no pictures of my elementary school. I know this shouldn't mean much to most of you reading this, but I was having a moment of nostalgia and couldn't help posting. According to these pictures, I should be a country girl, I guess it's in my roots!

Kitchen Woes

I thought I would be a sweet wife and make our favorite cookie. They're lumpy, oaty, chocolaty, gooey, and all together delicious. I guess we'll find out what they taste like with egg shell to garnish. As I was putting an egg into my Kitchen Aid I dropped half of the shell in while the mixer was running. I heard a very distinct "crunch" and I couldn't switch off the mixer before it had turned a few times through the dough.. As you can see, I did my best at picking out all the large pieces that I could see. As I was gathering the dough into balls I was still running across pieces of shell here and there. My efforts have been spoiled! And I could not start again because that was the last of my butter. What would a cookie be not laden in butter?

Bon Apetite!

that's our boy

Principle of First and Second Things

"Worship of beauty for beauty’s sake, or art for art's sake, will destory
not only the true worship of God, but also true art."

-Peter Kreeft-

The Best Hub

Yes, I am a blessed woman.

Presenting Arlow!

This is Arlow. He's a black bird owned my our friends Clay and Elissa. We're truly "birdwatching" this weekend. Colson is fascinated by him and tries to kiss him through his cage. He creeps KC and I out by saying "Hey! Arlow, be nice" and "Good Birdy Birdy". He's incredibly articulate, but it's a bit freaky to have a bird in your living room talk to you. Isn't he cute?

God's Presence with Us

At church Lord’s Day, Douglas Jones preached a sermon that taught me to see the presence of God, not just in Spirit, although certainly that is so, but in a much more tangible way: in imitating the Trinity to one another. Christ is with us in His Body, the people of God, His Church. We are one people, many members of Christ, brought into the body, grafted into the life of the saints and connected to our head, Jesus Christ. What does this mean without relationships? What does this mean without accountability and loyalty and love for to one another? And how can this be done without the Trinity?
In our American churches there is no lack of talk about the Trinity, no lack of affirmation in this doctrine, this life of God. But where we lack greatly, is our ability to see how the Trinity ought to transform our lives. This three-in-one relationship is meant to be imitated in our callings, whatever that may be: father, mother, friend, spouse, boss, brother and sisters in Christ, etc. This doctrine is meant to teach us how to live beautifully amongst one another, imitating the ultimate relationship between Father, Son, Spirit. Imitating unity, maturity, loyalty, honor, graciousness, submission, sacrifice; and it teaches us what it means to truly love, as defined by God himself, for He is love and He is three-in-one, He is relationship perfected.
Doug Jones points us to the Trinity for the example of how this is done. We are to imitate and join the Trinity, to be the Trinity. We are to incarnate, here on earth, the Trinity before our eyes, to behold its glory and relationship amongst ourselves. And in this we are to manifest a community of loyalty and love: a community of sacrifice, of comfort, of beauty, of confirmation of who we are and where we’re going as the people of God. May we behold the goodness of the Lord by imitating the Trinity and presence of God to one another: to be like the Father, creating and confirming (Mt 25:21), to be like the Son: present, living sacrifices, never forsaking and fiercely loyal, and lastly, to be like the Spirit: comforting, completing, beautifying, prophesying, and giving our voice to one another. We are to be the Trinity and thus behold the goodness of God.

Anne Bradstreet

I love, love, love this poem written by Anne Bradstreet in the 1600s. Not only do you see the fruit of her marriage in this poem, she raised eight children.

To My Dear and Loving Husband

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye woman, if you can.
I prize thy love more then whole mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor aught but love from thee, give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay,
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persever
That when we live no more, we may live ever.

no easy way of putting it...

Because I posted that we were expecting our second child, instead of leaving any readers wondering about that journey, here's an update from my journal:

My heart was broken when I saw the picture of my baby that wasn’t growing, whose heart was no longer beating. I sank low, deep into the pit of grief and loss. The tears came. But the tears were not all my own. There’s something healing about two broken hearts grasping each other and not letting go. What an extension of God’s hand, KC was to me, and I pray I served the same for him.

What an experience, like none I’ve known. A pain I’ve never felt, a foreign feeling of loss and grief – deep in my head and deep in my bones. But through these tears, emerged a thankfulness and newness for the life that’s been given to me, the beautiful life surrounding me now. My strong, supportive, loving husband – my precious little boy so full of life and joy: how do I deserve even this? How, God, have you allowed me to experience even these two amazing gifts as my own blood?

My heart beats with thankfulness – and while the pain of our loss is not gone, the healing that has deepened in our souls has changed me into someone whose eyes have been opened to see such blessing, that I have no right to own, here in my home, here in my arms. And to think that when we get to see our Savior, we’ll embrace this beloved child that once we lost.

Today we're going to get out and enjoy the sunshine. It might be almost 60 degrees today. I'm aching for spring and summer: for long days and dinner outside, for capris and evening walks. (sigh)

Andy McKee - Art of Motion

If any of you folks out there are interested in hearing and seeing some amazing acoustic guitar, check out this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddn4MGaS3N4&mode=related&search=

KC and I and Colson are loving it.

Samwise

I love this quote from Sam near the end of The Two Towers.

"You fool, he isn't dead, and your heart knew it. Don't trust your head, Samwise, it is not the best part of you."

A Lesson in Aesthetics

Tractors and fire trucks and choo choos and books: Every day my life is steeped in adventures of little boy. Full of mischief and activity. Forts and tunnels. Singing and chasing, kisses and swords. Playing ball and eating cookies. Discovering dizzy and leaping from heights into my safe arms. Giggling and tickling, tackling and hiding. Storytelling and imagination. I feel as though I’m being pulled into a little-boy-wonderland as I experience childhood through the life and play of this little boy.

Now, as I end this post in order to tackle the ever-growing mound of laundry, how can I transfer this spirit of playfulness, this joy and aesthetics into the daily tasks of doing? For this is the goal of my life: service to God acheieved in playfullness and obedience, and done in a way that takes captive all my senses and yeilds them in this kind of living...this kind of full-of-life living! Spirit of God, help me to sense the world in a way only one indwelt by you can.

Things Made New

I've decided to break off and start my own blogging adventure....with no promises to be: 1). entertaining , or 2). faithful.

This decision has come because KC has dropped the blogging ball and I didn't want to continue posting (as sparse as it is) as the "paper boy".

So hence, here shall lie the musings of my life as God has called me to it.