moonlight farewell

the orchestra serenaded us with 'moonlight sonata', the soft glow
of candlelight winked at us, and the delicate pink dogwood
branches bowed to us from tall crystal vases.

excited conversation peppered the ballroom like champagne
bubbles, for this was a joyous occasion celebrating the season's
young debutantes.  the two most precious ones belonged to us.

my brother in law bemoaned the fleeting childhood of our daughters,
and i took a sip of water to give myself a moment to blink back hot
tears.  one minute, we are their world, and the next, the world is their
oyster. . . and we are just the sand.

having passed through this valley four times before, though, i tried to
comfort us both with the knowledge that while the pulling away is
painful, it makes the reunion sweeter.

love,
lea

"do not hide your face from me when i am in distress."
psalm 102:2

beauty

i was a plain, introverted little girl, content to be left alone to read

black beauty or little women.

imagine my surprise when my gorgeous mother applied the tiniest

bit of mascara to my pale, puny lashes before the annual church

choir banquet!

it was the most amazing experience to see my pitiful caterpillar

self transform into a choir queen.  i actually did win that title at the

banquet.  what kind of church has a choir queen?

as wonderful as it was to be a butterfly for the moment, i had to wash

off all my beauty before i went to bed.  back to being a caterpillar.  

well, at least i still had black beauty.

his song to sing has a moving video about beauty.

hans and i decided that we wouldn't speak of our little girls' pretty

faces, because we wanted them to be confident in who God made

them to be not in how He made them appear.  we worried that if we 

extolled the outside, they might neglect their inside.

"your beauty should not come from the outward adornment . . . 

instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of

a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."

1 peter 3:3,4

however, even with our good intentions, when the girls hit high 

school and discovered what ignorant, annoying people we were,

we threw out our principles and shouted desperately, "we think

you're beautiful!"

love,

lea

revised from november 2, 2009 for sabbath rest.

"a rose by any other name . . .

. . . would smell as sweet."

welcome to 'friday pretties'
where are all the blogs are
pretty and all the visitors
are prettier.  if you sashay
on over to joyce's you
will even see the prettiest.

"i am the rose of sharon."        song of solomon 2:1

"and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose."    isaiah 35:1

love,
lea

overwhelmed and unhappy?

last night i spent time praying for some sweet young moms who
are exhausted and emotionally wrung out.  fatigue is such a thief
of our contentment and ability to handle even the smallest chores.

almost every challenge can be dealt with better after a good
night's sleep.  my epitaph will read, "man, could she nap!"

if athletes and astronauts need their rest to perform their best, how
much more should moms? what's the big deal about bouncing a
ball or flying around in space?   we have these dear little ones who
deserve our clearest thinking and most loving care.

"it is vain to rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread
of anxious toil; for He gives His beloved sleep."
psalm 127:2

"but how am going to sleep if the baby is up all night, and i
have a toddler awake most of the day?"

desperate times call for desperate measures.  we have to sleep
whenever they do and finish our chores when they are awake.
on weekends, let our precious husbands get up with the baby.

tell them you will reward them for every extra hour's sleep.  :)

love,
lea

the fox and the hound

once upon a time there was a little westie, named jackson.  he was loved
by his humans but a bit bored with them.  they fed him and walked him,
but he longed to chase something with a tail.

so one day, he sneaked out of the fence and found his kindred spirit.

they frolicked in the meadow, and jackson had the time of his life, but
he never felt completely safe with his new playmate.

even though his special friend really liked him, he also seemed to want
to eat him.

"the Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made."
psalm 145:9

love,
lea

so long, louboutin!

hallelujah!!!  the only good sign of the shaky economy is that
8 inch stilettos are OUT and 1.5 inch 'kittens' are IN.

not that i ever wore the incredibly leg lengthening louboutins,
but i was tempted for a second and thought about asking for a
pair for last year's anniversary.   until i tried on some.

it brought back memories of having my blood drawn.   the
rubber band around my arm and needle in my vein was not
nearly as uncomfortable as squeezing my feet into the torturous
stiletto.

stiletto:  classic italian switchblade with an automatic trigger.
uh huh.  and both made by men, reminiscent of chinese foot
binding.

having made the painless decision not to wear them, i was surely
diminished by  the other girls who  did.   i was frumpy  by any
standard in my puny pumps, but the playing field has now been
equalized.

leg by leg . . . or shoe by shoe.

"vanity, vanity, all is vanity!" ecclesiastes 1:1

love,
lea

there's something niggling around in my brain.  it's so empty in
there, it's more like a rattling, really.

a couple of months ago, i wrote about warning kids of the dangers
in hanging with the cool kids, and someone commented that the
cool factor is in blog land, too.  at first i thought she was kidding,
i mean, doesn't a cool blog kind of sound like an oxymoron?

there are some, though, that are sort of inaccessible to the rest of
us.  i visit them, because, well, they're just so darn cool, but rarely
leave a comment, as that would sort of be like ellie mae clampett
leaving her calling card for karen walker.

in my mind these women are all dressed in stella mccartney, listening
to paul mccartney, and gossiping about heather mccartney.  how
surprising when one of them posted a photo of herself!

i was expecting audrey hepburn, but instead the poor old thing
looked a lot like . . . me.

now i'm no great shakes to look at, as evidenced by the fun
dolphin photo.  well, that is actually the 'after' photo.  the
dolphins threw a fit when they saw how gorgeous we were.

they were all "take off that make up, slick back your hair, stuff
your wet suits to make you look chubby, and squint your eyes!"
so insecure.

the point is, it's more fun to be ourselves and try not to judge,
"for in the same way you judge others, you will be judged."
matthew 7:2

i'm feeling bad about the stuff i said about the dolphins.   they
were really super nice.

love,
lea