Right around this time, our spring-season birthdays start appearing in a flurry of cakes & gifts & celebrations!
Amelie Belle was born on a spring day, a few days after Grand-poppa’s birthday. We celebrate them both just as spring has sprung. Then April happens and things really heat up! Bailey-Baby and Stormie have celebrations. Then we have Tara, Stephanie, Gemma May in May with Gavin, Tredessa and DP just as spring is about to turn in to summer.
Ten peeps of our family-of-20 happen in this one little season.
Then there is Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, May-Day, last day of school, and the sun shines bright in blue skies while flowers emerge in full color and the green grass starts its’ wildly renewed growth as lawnmowers criss-cross over subdivided lots creating an emerald plaid any leprechaun would be proud to wear.
No wonder I love spring so much!
Plus there are those other people we love, from our families of origin (like my Mamala in early June). And ~ who remembers what I was doing on Stormie’s birthday (April 15) last year very early in the morning??? That is right! I was helping birth baby-boy Wryder of Holyoke. Now – I didn’t do much of the birthing work – that was his mom, but I sure do think that kid is handsome! He and his sweet sister dropped by for a few minutes Saturday afternoon and I got dandelions. :)
LOVE these people – so glad they were all born to be in my life!
My little brother, Tim, just had a birthday Friday. I called him “the gorgeous one in the family” and he acted surprised. Please. He’s a handsome fella and he knows it. Plus – he is an excellent Elvis impersonator. I will try to share video with you sometime on that.
Joey was 3 1/2 and Timmy was 1 1/2 in this November 1964 photo.
And tomorrow is Joe’s birthday. He was my first younger sibling and has been my most enduring friendship. I wish he were here today with his guitar and we were singing and reminiscing on life because no one else on earth shares as much early-life history with me. He knows where the bodies are. I mean, there was my mom, but Joey saw things from my eye-level. And I will always have the Joey-Joey-Joey-Joey down in my heart.
Here is a song for you, Joe-Joe, to say I LOVE you on your birthday! “May your party never stop”
And the years go by
And we don’t know where they went
We just let them fly
‘Cause they were all heaven-sent
We’re on borrowed time
And we still owe half the rent
For soaking up the sunshine
‘Til we’re dead gone
We will laugh until we drop
Here’s your birthday song
May your party never stop
Singing on and on
We go stumbling down the block
Soaking up the good wine –Chris Trapper
Speaking of blizzards –
Must be Springtime in the Rockies because is was hot-hot-hot yesterday and today – sleet and snow. Good grief.
But just beyond the white, dancing flakes, where the birds frolic and sing anyway, I see the pink blossoms of the flowering pear tree just next to the sunny yellow, forsythia. I am not deterred in my springtime hope…Oh it is true:
“See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.
The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.” ~Song of Solomon 2.11-13
It’s the season of celebrations and many birthdays. It’s the season of singing.
Light as air, soft as the Pillsbury Doughboy, sweet as cotton candy, and pretty as a sunny, April day – oh, yes, that is you, little bundle of love!
The day you came was a miraculous, divine, lovely day, indeed. You came strong and healthy and full of life and I got struck by the invigorating trail of your refreshing, buoyant arrival. I had stars in my eyes for days – new, beautiful, dark-haired, ravishing beauty. Oh you made life so happy!
Now, sweet little baby girl – you’re one. You’re one in a million. You’re one of a kind. You’re one of three sweet sisters and one step ahead of us now that you know you can be. You’re one happy little girl and you’re one contented baby. You’re one big blessing to us all and one of the babies we like to brag about. You’re such a special ONE!
My blessing on you, Baby-Bailey~
Photo by Stephanie
Oh, Jesus – you see this girl and you see the delight and joy she has brought to our hearts. Watch over her always. Protect her. Be her nourishment and Healer. Feed her from Your table of goodness. Walk with her. Talk with her. Share Your secrets with her.
We give her back, out of gratefulness and deep love, to You, Savior of the world! She is Yours and we give her to You to teach and lead and guide and love and lavish good things upon and oh, do please dance over her with rejoicing!
May all the days of Bailey’s life, all the days that were written in Your book, Lord, before she was even one day old – may they bring You a smile, may they bring you honor, may they reflect Your glory ever and always. May she receive from Your abundance, just as we read about in John 1.16, ONE gracious blessing after another ONE gracious blessing after another ONE…and so on. I know it pleases You to love her even more than we do. So, do – and let it be evidenced her whole life through! AMEN!
Bailey-baby, your Nonna is wildly in love with you. I am just crazy about you and I will always be on your side! {love x 1000, Nonna}
“Tomorrow I hit my life’s halfway mark.” – said by Dave on Saturday afternoon about turning 55 on Sunday. Yes, he plans to make it to 110. No kidding.
22 + 33 = 55 (You were 22 when you married me 33 years ago).
Forget the speed limit sign. You’re 55 and just hitting your stride!
I love that your big sister reminded you that in the Bible, the number 5 symbolizes grace. And I love that she said since you’re 55, it must mean double-grace. Immediately I thought of one of your all-time favorite passages from Zechariah. It is such a word of courage, such a call to remember, “‘It’s not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord.”
And the confidence that passage inspires goes on to challenge the mountains that seemingly stand in our way, sometimes, “Who are you, mountain – you’ll become a molehill,” and the man of God will get to finish what he started by the power of the Holy Spirit and he will get to place the capstone on the whole thing with people all around rejoicing, shouting “Grace! Grace to it!”
“For who are you, O great mountain [of human obstacles]? Before Zerubbabel [who with Joshua had led the return of the exiles from Babylon and was undertaking the rebuilding of the temple, before him] you shall become a plain [a mere molehill]! And he shall bring forth the finishing gable stone [of the new temple] with loud shoutings of the people, crying, Grace, grace to it!” Zechariah 4.7 Amp.
It’s the cherry on top promise. It’s the star on the Christmas tree. It’s the king of the hill scenario, that finishing gable stone story.
And it is your story. It is your revelation.
Remember years ago when we attended James Ryle’s Grace-Grace-Grace weekend in Boulder Valley? We found out grace really had nothing to do with unmerited favor (that’s more like mercy), but that grace was
“The empowering presence of God enabling us to be who He created us to be and to do what He created us to do.”*
Grace is God’s presence and His power and I love that you have always understood the grace of God and so been able to receive it and walk in it and share it freely.
So, 55 years ago
A teen-age girl gives up a baby. For 5 days you were in a Topeka, Kansas hospital, motherless, fatherless, it would seem to the staff. But I know that is when you first encountered Grace, His power, His comforting Presence and must be why you know Him so deeply that way.
Then they came for you – the Rhoades family. They signed papers and took you home, then moved you to Colorado and raised you for me.
I didn’t know, the summer of our big Colorado vacation in the early 70s that you were living here in Denver, all brown-skinned and dimpled, being prepared to be my husband. You had no idea those same June days that some stringy-long-haired tourist from Iowa, in a station wagon with her family was being prepared for you, to be your wife.
Maybe we passed you, madly pedaling your bike through the neighborhood. Maybe I saw your super-short, good Baptist-boy haircut. Maybe you saw me flash the peace sign out the rolled-down window (something I wasn’t allowed to do) and thought me rather sinful?
All I know is, you have been the gift of grace* to me. You have spent all the years preaching the message of it, reminding me time and again that I can’t earn it and I don’t even have to try. You have graced me with your love and your presence and you have opened the door for me to live in the Grace of God, not churchy-ness, not religiousness (my fall back every time), but in His empowering Presence.
It happens, the bad with the good…
I once saw a bumper sticker that said, in other words (if you get my drift), “Dung happens.” And I remember thinking, “No kidding. This bumper sticker speaks the truth. Dung does happen!” And it was in a season to which I could fully attest to it. Dung had happened. Lots of dung.
But then, we saw another bumper sticker. It spoke of what you have nurtured in our family through love and sweat and tears and sacrifice and more love and and tending to. I see this, now. And this is truer than true, the truest of all things, this bumper sticker: “Grace happens.” And it does, freely, abundantly, time and again. Grace happens!
Grace does happen. I am living proof. Our family – those wonderful 5 we got to raise together: aren’t they just so beautiful? Aren’t they darling human beings? Don’t they just make you want to burst with pride and thankfulness? They’re all so pretty and so talented and passionate about so many cool things. I look at them and I am in awe. Thank-you, honey, for these children, for the ones you hinted to me about when you proposed marriage in 1981, for when you told me, “I want you to be the mother of my children.” I had no idea how amazing that was going to turn out to be, to get to be mommy to the children of grace, grace.
Tristan, Dave, Jovan, & Ryan
And hasn’t Grace, His holy Presence, so graced us yet again with the 4 who have joined us by marriage (so far…one to go)? Aren’t they the perfect additions? Aren’t they all just people we would have chosen for our babies, anyway? And didn’t Grace show up and bless these unions? He did! Aren’t we just unworthy of this, yet graced anyway?
And now – we’re practically mush, aren’t we? To see these 9 and enjoy them so, so, so much. Gifts – just *boom* happiness pouring-sparkling-raining like a summer shower straight from heaven.
For all you were born to do and for all you were born to be (Psalm 112 and Psalm 128 man of mine), these 9 have been added to you. Added to you.
You are no longer a baby in a hospital nursery in cold Kansas of 1959. You are Dave, Jeanie’s husband, her lover and hero. You are dad, who checks in making sure everything is ok, who prays for and is prayed for and who leads his family beside peaceful waters; you are a spiritual father to the sweetest ones (others the ages of our own tribe) who respect you and honor you in the gates and who seek that supernatural fathering you possess; you are grandpa, poppa, grand-poppa – pouring mercy, love, peace and grace on the next generation – making an impact into the 22nd century from where you stand today.
That beautiful baby boy, once alone, has been increased and Graced beyond measure. And all the people who know you and love you now are cheering you as mountains become molehills, as barriers are blasted through as you finish everything you have started with strength: Cheers-rejoicing-yay!-Blessing-Grace and more Grace!
Happy Birthday, my best friend and love, my husband, and the grace of my heart.
She likes Doc McStuffins. She even has a tiny lab coat like the Disney character. She is lots of sugar and loads of spice. And she will give you candy-medicine if you ask and a band–aid to make everything better. And now she is 4. Today!
She dances, she creates, and she sings. She loves to sing! She does Kickin’ It moves in her sparkly princess attire and isn’t afraid of boys, even when she’s in her high heels, which is a lot. Ah, she is one of a kind.
Four! Teeny-tiny with gargantuan personality ~ 4!
Curly-headed sweet-pea, your Nonna sure does love you. I am so glad we are getting school time together. You work hard you snack big and when you are gone, Grand-poppa and I always laugh when we find your wad of gum somewhere in the house, for it is always in whatever place you were when you decided you wanted to move on to something else and it’s just like an Easter-egg hunt for us! *surprise* :)
And so I bless you, Amelie Belle. I bless the day you were born and the charmer you are. I bless and encourage your song-sing, little girl, sing with your might! I bless your silliness and happiness and I bless your intensity and strength. I bless your drive to do big-girl things and be as fast and accomplished as all the bigger kids and I bless that soft sweet place that melts in to my neck when it’s time to cuddle and snuggle. You are such a good hugger, what a little love! I bless you to be a deep-lover and giver.
I know you feel things so ferociously, you sense things beyond your years and while you are saddled with what some people think is a hardship, being the “middle child,” I bless your place in your family, especially! For middle children are surrounded by opportunity on either side. You’re not “stuck in the middle,” you are flourishing there, rising above limitations and shining like the sun. You’re a go-between, an ambitious little girlie, able to keep up with your big sister and help mommy and daddy with the baby. You’re right in the center of the family action and you were the perfect little girl for that job! So, thrive, baby girl
And, oh my sweet Amelie {which means industrious, laborious and eager!}, love Jesus! Love Him! Love Jesus because He first loved you! Love Him because He saw you being made – before any of us could have imagined you. Love Him because He died for you. And live for Him, too. Make Him happy. Make Him smile. Be you and that ought to do it. It does it for me!
Here is a verse for you, my Belle-baby {Belle, meaning beautiful, which, of course, you are}:
How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who brings good news,
the good news of peace and salvation,
the news that the God of Israel reigns!
The watchmen shout and sing with joy,
for before their very eyes, they see the Lord returning to Jerusalem. Isaiah 52.7-8 nlt
Dear son-in-heart, holy man, my daughter’s forever-lover and husband, wholly-qualified daddy to my 9th grandbebe (and a bunch more of those, if you please), and an honoring son to me…
What a fruitful, blessed and rewarding year you are living! Good heavens, my boy – let’s take stock:
1.
You became a daddy just before Christmas to a baby girl whose cuddles and laughs and coos and smiles are generously bestowed on all passers-by and her divine jabbering remind us that~
“God, brilliant Lord,
yours is a household name.
Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;
toddlers shout the songs
That drown out enemy talk,
and silence atheist babble.” Psalm 8.1-2 The Message
You have this happening in your household. We’ve got us a little worshiper in Evangeline Lilly.
Could you ever believe you’d have such a lovely daughter? Way to go, Ryan! This baby is so sweet, so so so sweet and happy. She is joyful, safe in her daddy’s household!
2.
Then – you have this wife who loves you so much she prayed for God to give her three ways to party you up for your 30th birthday, one for each decade! That is love and you are celebrated.
When I see my daughter’s clear, smiling eyes, I know she is well-loved and she is loving well. Aren’t you the luckiest guy? You got Dessa!
“Tredessa is more precious than rubies. Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. …” ~From Proverbs 31 (may or may not have been paraphrased by Dessa’s mom)
3.
Plus you got ordained last Sunday, you and Dessa ~ recognized as church leadership! God has seen and watched and smiled and He’s been making a place for you in His courts, a place to serve alongside Steve and Missy Crowder and serve the Family of God at Highway Community in Boulder.
“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in obedience to me and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.'” Zechariah 3.7
This is a good thing and you are up for it because of how you love people, how you support the lead pastor and his family and because of what God created you to do and to be.
1984 and 2014, both very good years
So grateful for the day of your birth and for all the days that led you to us, Ry. And so thankful to see all God is doing in you and through you as you turn 30 years old, with so much life ahead!
I want to pray a blessing on you, but I want to tell you, first, my favorite Ryan memory from this past year.
I bet you think you know what it is. But I bet you don’t know.
It was just an ordinary weekday, almost a year ago. For some reason you were off work and came here during the day and you came and sat and talked to me about the hard things and decisions, and you, ever-so-gently, challenged me on some things – just the way God does. The way He does it when He corrects, but you actually leave feeling better because you know He straightens you out because of His great love towards you, His zeal for your heart. And you were asking me thoughtful, thought-provoking questions and you were so careful with my heart, so careful not to bring pain, and you listened to me (gave me the gift of time) – it just blew me away.
When you left, I was more aware than ever that you truly love us as your family, and you actually take the time to pray for us and think about us and check in on us. God has given me another son in you, Ryan. I am so grateful.
That other thing…
See? I bet you thought I was going to talk about how amazing you were in the birthing room, didn’t you? And how can I talk about this past year without saying: yes! You were an incredible labor coach and support and excited daddy at Eva’s birth.
My mom always talks about the way you danced with Tredessa at your wedding, how she saw your delight just surround your bride and she tells me, “I’ll never forget how he danced with her with such love.”
And while that wedding dance was joyous and romantic and beautiful and love-filled, it pales compared to the dance in the birthing room, as the time drew near and the labor intensified, to see you reach for Tredessa and say, “Let’s have a contraction,” as if you’d just asked her to dance. And she’d lean in to you and the two of you would sway to music that had welcomed the Presence of God right into that room and Eva’s arrival was just a little closer each time. It was a beautiful way to welcome your darling baby girl!
Very first daddy-daughter cuddle
Ok, I love both those things. And everything about you. Aren’t we the lucky ones to have you?
Blessed is Ryan, who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments! Ryan’s descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in Ryan’s house; and his righteousness endures for ever. Light rises in the darkness for the Ryan and his household; for the Lord is gracious, merciful, and righteous. It is well with Ryan for dealing generously and lending, who has conducted his affairs with justice. For the righteous men like Ryan Faaland will never be moved; they will be remembered for ever. Ryan is not afraid of evil tidings; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady, he will not be afraid. Ryan has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures for ever; and his life is exalted in honor. (Ps. 112:1-9, ever-so-slightly paraphrased by the m-i-l from the RSV)**
Now – In Jesus’ Name, I ask Him to bless you with the blessings He gave us in the Word, birthday-boy and mighty man of valor. I ask the God who is delighted by you to be as full of joy over you as you were as a groom taking your young bride…and continue to be! Trust God all your days, Ry, and walk in the integrity of godly royalty. Just put aside what man thinks, don’t let people’s poor opinions ever weigh you down, just obey the voice of God.
Ryan-it’s clearly evident you possess the character of a gatekeeper in the house of the Lord, so keep His gates and be a man of rest. Be increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man! Be strong and brave and valiant and God will see your works and hear your prayers and answer you in the day of trouble.
This is the blessing promised to a man who respects the LORD:
“You will enjoy what you work for and you will be blessed with good things. Your wife will give you many children, like a vine that produces much fruit. Your children will bring you much good, like olive branches that produce many olives.” Psalm 128
So enjoy – find great joy in the things you have worked for and joy in your family. Again I’ll tell you, channeling my inner Paul the Apostle: Joy! Rejoice! Be joyful!
You have my love and great respect. Happy Birthday celebration! With love from the {m-I-l}!
**NOTE: This is the traditional Sabbath even blessing a wife speaks over her husband. Just in case, Dessa. :)
Just LOVING this fun, upbeat, YES!-Christians-do-have-a-reason-to-rejoice-and-be-the-happiest-people-on-the-planet song! My FAVS are the dancers that kick it off (you’ll see them throughout), the altar-boy (he has got the joyful moves), the dad dressed like Woody , the little kids on the bus (keep watching past the end), and “the chin!” O:) But the puppets – oh the puppets are so great, just praising Jesus right along with all of creation!
“Let it be known
That our God saves
Our God reigns
We lift You up, up
Let it be known
That love has come
Love has won
We lift You up up, up – oh”
Let it be Known!
Warning: you’re gonna wanna get up and dance! It’s fun!
On this Beautiful Day of Consecration
Today we are off to Boulder where Tredessa and Ryan will be set forth as leadership in their church (Highway Community, Pastor Steve Crowder), ordained to love and lead God’s people with the team there. AND Evangeline is being dedicated. With gratefulness to God for the gift of her, we give her back, we bless her little life with the promise that we’ll always point her to Jesus. Love you, Baby Eva!
Evangeline: post bath happy
How appropriate then, today’s song of such astounding and wonderful news. For our baby girl’s name means, “Messenger of Good News.” So, in that spirit, everybody now:
“Let it be known that our God saves
That our God reigns
Let it be known, let everybody know
That love has won, love has come!” -Worship Central
And on the matter of this springing forward ~
I like because it has the word “spring” in it. But this morning, I fear, the spring is stuck and the minutes are just flying right by at a much quicker rate. How is this possible? Please, some one, fix this!!!
TIP: Holy-guacamole! My best Kitchen-Tip-of-the-Week (or maybe the year…since I don’t actually ever share kitchen tips)
Because I may or may not actually be in the kitchen very much these days.
If you happen upon a 4/$1.00 avocado sale, you must take advantage, you just must! Even though avocados don’t “last,” they can be mashed and frozen for Guacamole at a later date. And you should be eating regular and copious amounts of guac. Really. You should.
And – when it is time to cut them in half all at once during that 3-minute window of perfection and you have a mountain of avocado halves in your biggest bowl to smash – attack with your handy-dandy pastry blender. In just a few seconds, no kidding – seconds, you’ll have perfectly prepared avocado. You can leave it chunky or blend until it’s creamy smooth, but the pastry cutter works so fast you’ll wonder what happened!
And speaking of avocados, I saw this hilarious thing on Pinterestlast week and I actually for real LOLed!
TIP: Hanging up now.
I always {at least try to} turn my phone notifications completely off when I am in a meeting or with anyone who means anything at all to me. At least I believe in that.
But lately, I’ve been getting really sloppy at this, because – well, isn’t everyone else checking their phone round-the-clock these days?
The truth is, I have found I can actually turn it off or put it away for 90-minutes and it’s a proven fact I am not really that important anyway. The universe goes right on spinning and the world doesn’t fall apart and the few texts and calls I may miss without my eyes on my phone haven’t been life or death.
I don’t mind turning my phone off and just leaving it off for people who warrant my time to begin with. And I really feel warmly towards people who do the same for me ~ a surprising sweetness to my heart.
TIP: My Favorite TED Talks
First of all, I super-duper love TED Talks. I have been exposed to some really fascinating ideas and seen things in the world I didn’t even know were happening, buildings I thought were only fantasies, possible solutions to world problems that have awed me – what a time to be alive!
TED “is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, under the slogan ‘ideas worth spreading’.” – Wikipedia
The talks were meant to bring together people from the three worlds of Technology, Entertainment and Design, thus TED.
The problem with TED Talks, according to Professor Benjamin Bratton, who actually used the TED Talk platform to slam the TED Talks, said TED more likely stands for “middlebrow, megachurch infotainment,” and he believes that the 18-minute or less talks are way over-simplified and are “making our best and brightest waste their time—and the audience’s time—dancing like infomercial hosts.” Yes. maybe.
To me, though, they are like magazine articles or short papers. I learn maybe a little something, get my mind expanded, discover valuable information I can use.
I watched the whole Chew on This Ted Talks series twice on Netflix and found it fascinating, as the various speakers sometimes even contradicted each other on the topic of food, supply, world hunger, the moral issues for carnivores and vegans. I liked that it made me think about what they were saying and helped me form opinions about food issues in the world in these disconcerting times.
I admire intelligence and thoughtful propositions. And even though I totally believe and see life much differently than many of the speakers do, most of them manage to enlarge my awe of God and confirm my delight in His Word and all He is and will ever be. Because ideas come from the Father of Lights!
So here is a list of 7 TED Talks I like in no particular order.
This one is seriously one of my favorites! It’s barely over 3 minutes long, but has been viewed by almost 3.5 million people. I got such great understanding about the strength of what I bring to organizations I work with by watching this. I love innovative, courageous, visionary people, I’m drawn to them. And when I spot them, I want to be on their train, breathe the air they breathe and bleed the blood they bleed! :) And I bring courage for others to hop aboard, too. I am a Deborah to a Barak, I’m Barney Rubble to Fred Flintstone, I’m the Lone Ranger’s Tonto. This video actually helped me see that my leadership role in being a first-follower is vital, not secondary. I love cause and vision and being in the middle of creative chaos. Visionaries are the most exciting people on earth and getting to be a propeller as a first follower, I am finally understanding, is my life’s work.
This guy can tell a story and this talk just makes me laugh, a really fun watch! He is a psychologist exploring the idea that instead of working get happy, happiness will actually increase our productivity. The idea of “Escaping the Cult of Average” that we’ve been creating through science is awesome!
This is one I just watched recently. I knew it! We do things, we believe things, we buy things, we give our lives to things from the inside out. This is about the heart and soul of WHY. I don’t live by reason alone (though I use my brain fully), I follow my guarded heart…
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4.23
We know body language is “readable” and you can tell so much about a person’s frame of mind from it, but I love that the research shows it isn’t just about reading what is, we can actually power-pose to create a completely different reality, encouraging ourselves through our own body language. And it is very simple!
She is a gamer. I didn’t think I’d get much from this one, but she makes a great case for the good in games and relational connectedness through them. It gave me great hope for my grandchildren’s futures, as we watch interaction becoming more and more digital, or cyber or whatever it is? :) This talk comes with a bonus – potential to find healing through a game AND you get 7 1/2 minutes added to your life just by watching her talk! No kidding!
Mama mia!!! This one is fascinating! This is a woman who is actually a real-life brain scientist and who got to experience and study her own massive stroke as it happened.
More than 10 years ago God began to reveal to me how wholeheartedness, a characteristic I loved reading about in the life of Hezekiah, was not another word for workaholism, but actually the antidote to working oneself to death. I bet God wishes I had wholeheartedly pursued more understanding about it. I do. But I never forgot and wondered…I use the word “wholehearted” a lot (as a user name on many websites, and it’s even my personal email name), but it still seemed mysterious to me. In the middle of the night earlier this year, I felt compelled to discover something new about wholeheartedness, just sensing it was time to flesh out the next thing about it, and ran across this woman {what a delightful surprise}, this TED Talk and wow – LOVE! Brene Brown says all the things I am still trying to find the courage to say. Shame sucks. Being wholehearted is being courageous and having the courage “To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.” This TED Talk, well, it has helped my daily existence on the earth. I’m even in a book-club reading Brene right now. :) WATCH!
That’s enough TED Talks for today. But there are more. Oh yes, there are! :)
Brene Brown on being a wholehearted person of “ordinary courage” from her book, The Gifts of Imperfection
TIP: How to get dancer’s legs
Amelie spent the night here last weekend with her big sister, Averi, and her cousins, Gemma and Guini. And the girl can plie like there is no tomorrow. So can Gemma. Where the rest of “us girls” dance and giggle and maybe are a bit silly, Gemma and Amelie are serious dancers and have the muscular control and beautifully proportioned legs to show it! We danced last weekend! Gemma said, “Oh Nonna, I’m so tired, but this music just keeps me dancing!”
Last night Amelie Belle stayed here all by herself for the first time ever, because, as she told me, “I’m a big kid, now.” Soon to be four and fiercely independent, yes – she is a big kid now.
For over an hour, all the way until she said, “I’m sleepy, Nonna,” she danced and twirled and plied and swooned and swished. She loves getting to go to the record player, which happened to have a Perry Como album in place, to lift the arm and set it carefully down. She finds having control over the volume of the surround-sound quite intoxicating, too.
And so she dances. And dances. And dances some more. And in between dancing, she walks about on her tip-toes and maintains her dancer’s form, a ballotté here, a cabriole there and those little, tiny 3-year old legs are stronger than strong.
Blurry, because that is how dancing is. :)
First thing this morning, after a pancake breakfast with Poppa my Tiny Dancer asked, “Can I put the music on?” And Perry crooned to his band while she, up on her twinkle-toes, stretched and swirled and penchéted about the room and her strong, little muscle-y legs lifted her in a fancy-flight of joy.
Do you want to know, now, how to have dancer’s legs? Dance, my sweets. Dance and dance. Dance before bed and the first thing upon rising. Walk on your tip-toes and pretend you are the best that ever was, because soon you will be. And with strong, beautiful dancer’s legs, too.
Oh, my goodness, sweet-pea – I have loved you like crazy for 6 whole years now! You have gotten sweeter and more lovely each year.
You are such a wonderful big sister to Amelie Belle and Bailey Sophia! Aren’t they so blessed to have you? And you are a fun cousin to the K-kids and the Powers boys and to baby Eva – how lucky are they? And I love that you are such a wonderful daughter for your mommy and daddy and look for ways to honor them. Goodness, you are a delight!
But wow, oh wow, oh wow! You are my grandbebe, my sweet six-year-old grand-girl. You were the 5th of all the ones I will ever have and I just think you are turning into one of the most amazing little women ever born.
I love you my darling, beauty queen. I love your heart and your spirit and face and those eyes. You have my heart forever.
Now I bless you ~
May you continue to grow in the grace and admonition of the Lord. May the source of your life always be Jesus, for He is your righteousness, your sanctification, and your redeemer. May you always walk in the freedom that comes from knowing Him and be full of the joy He has promised for you. And remember – His presence is where you will always find the fullness of that joy! Stay blameless and innocent no matter what the rest of your generation does, Averi Jadyn, because you were born to shine as a light in this world. So sparkle and shine, sweet girl, for Jesus all the days of your blessed, beautiful, whole and holy life! I bless you in Jesus’ Name! And I seal it with a kiss. :)
Kiss*-Kiss*, Birthday Girl! {Love, Nonna!}
NOTE: Averi had a Disney’s FROZEN party, in case you couldn’t tell. Her mommy posted a bunch more pictures and ideas on her blog, if you’d like to take a look. {CLICK HERE}
Poor little guy. Thirty or so of us suddenly plopped him into his high chair, put a 6 1/2″ high 6-layer colorful cake (purple-blue-green-yellow-orange-red) in front of him and yelled, “Eat, Malakai, eat cake!” He could not have been more perplexed. Cameras were flashing, people were clapping and laughing and the cake just sat there.
His mommy tried to help him by placing his hand in the icing and he became immediately suspicious of the whole thing. She put a little icing in his mouth and he did not like it. Not at all! He has never had sugar like that, always eaten healthy. So we were surprised. We thought maybe if we cut into the cake and he saw all the pretty colors, he’d give it a try.
Nope.
Then the worst: Tara put a little taste of cake in his mouth and he gagged. He gagged. Then he got so mad, he cried.
He will either (1) grow up to love cake more than anyone else in the world ever has and these pictures will be a hilarious in retrospect, or (2) eschew cake his lifelong, always eat healthy and probably be all the better for it!
Nonetheless, Malakai came as a fulfillment of the sweet promises of God. And like when you see a rainbow, you remember that God keeps His promises, so when we look at these pictures we’ll always remember that one year ago, in spite of all the tears and the prayer and the hopes and dreams that felt like they might never be realized, Kai was born to bring joy and joy he has brought and we are reminded: God keeps His promises. God is always faithful.
Kiss-kiss, Malakai!
Malakai’s little personal cake was baked with a 6″ pan, 6 layers (purple-blue-green-yellow-orange-red) with a cooked, whipped icing that is actually slightly less sweet because I did not want to put him in a coma. ;)
The “guest cake” was also 6 layers, same colors from the bottom up using a 10″ pan. It was way bigger than it looks!
Oh, MalaKai, or Kai-Kai, as we often call you – you just surprised our socks right off the day you came (early and anxious to be a Powers boy) and since then, you have tumbled sweetly, softly, with certainty straight into our hearts! You have been the recipient of 10,000 Nonna-hugs-and-kisses and looked me straight in the eyes when I’ve told you the profound truths of life – and you have believed every word.
You were born to be a Powers boy. You were born to be raised by your extraordinary mommy and remarkable daddy and have Hunter as your big (and totally wonderful) brother. AND you were born to be my grandbebe, my very own little grand-boy. How amazing is that? And you know what? I was born to be your Nonna – and I take that very seriously. And with all the joyousness and delight it brings, too!
Yep, he is 1…”Gimme that camera, Aunt Stephie!”
Baby-Kai – you were born and we have been doing the happy dance ever since!
Malakai, 3 days old
Everytime I think of you, I thank God for you – for real! And I pray that the LORD will bless you and keep you and that He will make His face shine right on you and that He’ll be gracious to you (giving you the Holy-Spirit-empowerment to be who He created you to be and to do what He created you to do) and I pray that He will lift up the favor of His countenance on you/over you and give you very full and sweet peace for all your days! That’s what I pray for you, I do!
