Beached

How did I get here? What am I doing?
I was made to dwell deeply in the depths of the sea.
There the water is cold,

And the comforting dark

Brings me peace by withholding

A life lived just by sight.

How could I leave it? What was I thinking?

It was rumors of pressure-less living that drew me.

I felt buoyant up top -

A great whale with no weight,

And the light sparkled e'er - 

Thus my life lived in shallows.

Why did I stay there? What was so tempting?

I was carefree, I thought, to live warmed by the sun.

But the storm that appeared

I never saw coming.

I was lost and unsure -

Deep depths never have storms.

How did I get here? What am I doing?

I've learned warm, buoyant sparkles bring with them high prices:

To be weightless means tossed,

To see sparkles means surface,

And I long for cool depths

As I bake on this beach.  

~~~~~~

"Whoever comes to Me and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great." - Luke 6:47-49

Life Lately

Gather in closely, dear readers, for I have a profound observation to share with you all:

Three and a half weeks can fly by like there's no tomorrow!!!!

You have quite possibly never noticed how a busy schedule can whirl your life away through days, weeks, and months, leaving no time for blogging, little time for picture-snapping, and copious amounts of material for memory-making. The midst of spinning to and fro - this is where friendships are proved, goals are made and met, and where priorities become defined. My past almost-four-weeks have run according to this theme, and I cherish every moment from the decision I was facing in the previous post onward. Now that I finally have a moment's peace, however (although I cannot help but ruefully observe that it doesn't come until nearly midnight on any given day), I am happy to provide the requested "update".

Since May 12th I have...

1. Celebrated a graduation.

*sniff* my li'l bro is all growed up! On May 10th, Ben graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Doesn't he look spiffy?

yes, I know you're distracted by my adorable sunglasses,

but do look at Ben in his boring black robe & funny-yet-impressive

square hat, too.

2) Celebrated a birthday.

Has anyone seen my cane?? My candles read "49," and I was assured this was entirely logical and intentional - not a result of over-estimating my age or having only "4" and "9" candles. Old lady or not, it was a fab birthday, with friends, cake, "The Princess Bride" (thank you, Mr. & Mrs. J, for putting up with me! :p), and a day-before birthday dinner with my parents at a delicious pizza place!

                       dad an' me :)                                                         wood-fired pizza, baked by...Mario??

stinging nettle pizza - call me crazy, but I liked it!

3. Attended an opera!

Pirates of Penzance, to be exact. It was our annual find-something-to-dress-up-for-and-enjoy-an-evening-in-Ptown night. Great singing, great laughs, a fun tramp to a crepe food cart, and dessert at Pix- we enjoyed ourselves immensely!

 the whole gang!

                             besties                                                                       a piece of Portland at sunset

4. Enjoyed Slimification!!

They say it's not a word, but it is. "The are of being slimed," to be precise. While running three miles. And bouncing through obstacles. And slipping down water slides. Pretty much the best race ever. That's all.

 pristinely pre-race

slimey sequels

5. Hosted the "King's Daughters' Tea"

As a final conclusion to our wee girls' Bible study/handwork class, we hosted a tea! Outside, in the sunshine, it was just lovely...breeze blowing, barefoot girls, and fancy dresses: these things are good for the soul. They recited their memory chapter (Psalm 27) for the mums & grandmas, and had their handwork books/pages set out for admiring!

6. Held my Studio Recital!!
These kids...all I can say is they make me proud. Hard work, cheerful souls, beautiful performances - I feel so blessed by each one of these musicians. From the 5-and-a-half-year-old munchkin who proudly played "Mary Had a Little Wolf" to my advanced students whose music swept me away, the recital left me grinning and amazed at the capacity God has placed in these kids to make music. They are so precious to me...

many pictures = enough time to grab a camera and take them

which I didn't have

so I bummed this picture off of dad's phone

and it's all I've got

but aren't they a fabulous-looking gang of music-makers?

7. Made a Trip to Seattle!
Because we could. And we like each other. And the sun was out, and official responsibilities had ended for the summer. So we did! :) Rode the Ferris Wheel right on the water for the first time ~ it was a beautiful view, but my camera informed me that his "batter was exhausted" before I could take any pictures of it! :)

8. Ran Away to the Beach for a Day!
It was cloudy (it always is) but warm-ish and still bright! We picnic-ed, walked to haystack, bought saltwater taffy, patronized the best coffee shop in the world, drank bubble tea, and still made it home in time for Rachel's orchestra rehearsal! :D

everyone knows you bring flowers on your beach picnics, right?

 

 

Besides these 8 things, getting ready for an upcoming trip, raising sponsorship money for a race to benefit Pathways Pregnancy Center (thank you to everyone who contributed!!!!), getting together with friends who have just returned from trips and friends who are about to leave, taking Rachel's graduation pictures, getting a new bookshelf (hooray!!), and starting work at a tea room, I pretty much have just sat around twiddling my thumbs for the last couple weeks. I'm sure you know how that is. Just the story of my life, lately...

Until Monday, dear readers!

Opportunity

A year ago we dared to dream.

We built our castles - built them high,

And while we spun them out of reach,

We searched for stairways to the sky.

Each took his different, questing way,
Our paths together, yet alone.

"Impossible," we would not say,
But "Courage," through the world we roam.

Today, quite unexpectedly,

My feet have found the cloud-built stair.

Is this my castle? This, my dream?

These steps could lead me anywhere.

These steps - they could lead anywhere.

{photo credit}

The Make-Over of a Fashion Failure

Once upon a time, there lived a little laptop. Her name was StarDaughter (known affectionately as "Dottie" by those who loved her), and she...how do I put this politely?...she just didn't know how to put outfits together correctly. On her best days, she came to work looking like this:

And on her worst days...you just don't even want to see it! I think everyone would agree that blackonblackonblackonblack just isn't the right style for her, but how do you just tell someone that? I finally worked up enough courage to broach the subject of identifying her personal beauty profile, and she jumped at the chance to get some advice from me (you all know what extensive fashion training I've had). First, we went over her proper color palette. 

Then, one sunny, Saturday morning, Maddy and I began to work our magic. I asked Madeline to assist me because, while I unquestionably hold the best eye for color combinations, Maddy is my top fashion consultant. Naturally, the two of us wore our most inspiring designer clothes to give Dottie confidence as we began work.

After opening her eyes to how revolutionary bright colors can be, I gave Dottie a couple weeks to adjust to her new wardrobe hues before completing her look with some snazzy accessories. With her new style sense, Dottie has become an entirely new laptop, finally free to live the life of which she had always dreamed.

World, meet StarDaughter. The most fashionable, most colorful, most Hawaiian laptop on the earth!

News: The Good and the Bad

Almost every class we have, I get a new giggle from my Littles. These past few days have been no exception, as we've color-coded and labelled sentence structures, simultaneously learning whatever tidbits about Martin Luther's life I can convey without prepositional phrases or too many adjectives. Upon being informed that they have a test tomorrow, Zachary and Madeline (hereafter called "The Wise Ones") asked for me to print off a couple practice sheets for them. Forgoing our reformer theme (because I couldn't think of new facts right away), I hastily typed out a couple pages and went about my merry way. On the way upstairs this evening, however, I spotted Maddy's practice page:

The good news is: some amount of information from her sentence analyses is getting through. The bad news is: it's all getting dreadfully tangled up with Jane Austen & Lady Catherine de Bourgh.