Category Archives: Stuff I Actually Think

These are the Days

2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, 4 Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, 5 Songs I am Singing, 6 Looking Back // Memories!, Stuff I Actually Think

THESE ARE THE DAYS I’LL REMEMBER

These are days you’ll remember

Never before and never since, I promise

will the whole world be warm as this

 

Guini’s birthday celebration was delayed by the Heaven Fest craziness.  So how could I refuse when she asked for a really big cake, purple and yellow, chocolate with buttercream icing and lots and lots of color and flowers…plus sparklers on the top.  Presents first, dinner and swimming, then cake and ice cream.  A lovely way to spend a summer Sunday evening.

And as you feel it, you’ll know it’s true

that you are blessed and lucky

It’s true, that you are touched by Something

that will grow and bloom in you

  

Left:  Amelie Belle is 4 and a half months now and she is good buddies her Aunt Stephanie.  Center: Guini the birthday girl loves her baby cousin.  Right:  Aunt Tara is always popular with nieces Averi and Gemma May.  

 My amazing and insightful sister-in-law, Dawn recently commented that these family times together, the little cousins playing tug-of-war over some toy or the other and whatever mischieviousness they can all find to get into will be memories they will cherish as they grow up.  I hope they’ll know that they ARE “blessed and lucky” and that the love of these days will grow and bloom in their lives, too.

These are days you’ll remember

when May is rushing over you with desire

to be part of the miracles you see in every hour

 

Here we are, Dave and I and our 6, very longsuffering grandbebes.  They pose for us, they smile and coo and endure photo ops.  They act silly and one day, when they are old enough, they will really wonder about us!  Perhaps they already do.

You’ll know it’s true, that you are blessed and lucky

It’s true, that you are touched by Something

that will grow and bloom in you

 

It was Guinivere’s birthday celebration.  She just turned 5.  Hunter is 5 and a half.  Gavin who is holding baby Amelie Belle, is 7 and baby girl is 4 1/2 months now.  Best friends and cousins Gemma May and Averi are 3 and 2  1/2 respectively.  These are the grandbebes on a summer’s evening in August.

These are the days

that you might fill with laughter

until you break

  

Left:  Jovan is such a good mommy to her girls.  My son married well.  Middle:  These are the men of the family – Dave and Tristan, 2 sons-in-law who could not be more wonderful if they tried, my husband and lover of 29 years (and a very flirtacious friend for almost 3 years before that), Dave and Rocker-Bo, the kid probably most like me in the world…only waaaaay better.  Right:  And my beautiful firstborn, Tara with her beautiful firstborn, The Little Prince.

These days you might feel a shaft of light

make its way across your face

 

Dave’s hair looks really  gray in these pictures, but not in real, up-close-and-personal life (except for the salt and pepper facial hair and a little in the temples).  Hmmm…wonder what is up with that?  I KNEW that camera was trying to make me look old against my will.  This is proof!  The little girlie-grandbebes rely on Poppa to keep them safe from the splashing boys in the water.

And when you do

you’ll know how it was meant to be

  

Left:  Averi following the grandbebe swimming ritual, which is, you get out and dry off so you can go right back in again.  Middle:  Steph loves her cake.  Right, Gemma and Averi are always in deep discussion and generally some disagreement about some topic or another.  But they are besties.

See the signs and know their meaning, it’s true

You’ll know how it was meant to be

  

The grandbebe painted, wooden stools…crazy-looking-maybe-I-should-have-planned-before-baking-but-the-brithday-girl-loves-it-anyway cakes…a zinnia that both Amelie Belle and I took a fancy to last night on our way around the yard (where new bikes for Stormie and Rocky, no less, were being assembled, a game of catch was going on, kiddies were splashing in a pool and sweet conversation floated on the summer air).  These are the signs…

Hear the signs and

know they’re speaking to you, to you*

NOTE TO SELF:  To get over myself {for the love!} and get over my ridiculous heartbreaks…See the signs, hear the signs…it’s true.  These are the days…

* LYRICS:  “These are the Days” by Natalie Merchant

Un Sospiro (a Jeanie-style mish-mash of thoughts}

5 Songs I am Singing, 9 TV & Movies/Books & Entertainment, Stuff I Actually Think, , , , , , ,

Un sospiro = A *SIGH....

“A sigh is an audible exhalation of air arising from tiredness or emotion, usually sadness, which itself could be stemming from feelings of sadness or futility. A sigh can also arise from positive emotions such as relief. Some people do it just to cool down organs or suppress emotions”. -Wikipedia

  

A recent stay at Marriott’s Springhill Suites presented something intriguing.  A card on the mirror in the sitting room asked: “Can you sigh backwards?”  And below mentioned the smoke-free policy, or some request to refrain from smoking, or something like that.  I wasn’t quite sure how they went together?  Were they asking, based on a sigh being a relief from stress or a sign of relaxation, ‘how can you be relaxed fully if you are inhaling a cigarette?'”  Perhaps.

But the way I first took it, I guess, was as the opposite of a sigh of exasperation or a sigh of frustrated resignation.  I thought they meant, of the “backward sigh,”  the thought of enjoying life by your breath being taken away, or the way you gasp in a breath with delight at a wonderful event or a sweet surprise, like Will Smith said in the movie, Hitch (2005),

“Life is not about how many breaths you take, it’s about the moments that take your breath away.”

How many ways can you sigh, anyway?

Sighing does show up during both stress and negative emotions like panic or pain and extreme fatigue (Tredessa and I have both been accused of sighing a lot).  But also during positive emotions like ralaxation or relief (*whew!).

But since you actually have to breathe in to be able to exhale a sigh, I am not quite sure how you can actually “sigh backwards,” as the Marriott sign seems to suggest (would you have to breathe out first and then in??), though, if my original thoughts were to hold (which they should, I believe, naturally), I kind of like the reminder.  Look for the “catch your breath” moments in life.  They are they ones to hold onto and cherish!

A *sigh in a song

Turns out there are quite a few songs about sighing.  Here is one I like.  It sounds like a sigh, too.  A really good, long, soft sigh.

“Must be doin’ something right

I just heard you sigh

You leaned into my kiss

And closed those deep blue, need-you-eyes…”

– Billy Currington, Must Be Doing Somthing Right (see video on Youtube, rated O-my-ZOWIE for Billy loves his muscles! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbQfE2Oi6Wo&feature=av2e )

And then sometimes you’ve just been waiting to exhale…Sighs in scripture:

Isaiah 35:8

There will be a highway called the Holy Road. No one rude or rebellious is permitted on this road. It’s for God’s people exclusively— impossible to get lost on this road…The people God has ransomed will come back on this road. They’ll sing as they make their way home to Zion, unfading halos of joy encircling their heads, Welcomed home with gifts of joy and gladness as all sorrows and sighs scurry into the night.

Romans 8:26

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans…

 

Psalm 31:6

I hate all this silly religion, but you, God, I trust. I’m leaping and singing in the circle of your love; you saw my pain, you disarmed my tormentors, You didn’t leave me in their clutches but gave me room to breathe. Be kind to me, God— I’m in deep, deep trouble again. I’ve cried my eyes out; I feel hollow inside. My life leaks away, groan by groan; my years fade out in sighs…

 

Psalm 55:16

I call to God; God will help me. At dusk, dawn, and noon I sigh deep sighs—he hears, he rescues. My life is well and whole, secure in the middle of danger…

From The Message…”I sigh deep sighs and He hears…”

HEAVEN Fest 2010 ~ It was crazy wonderful!

1 Christ is All, 5 Songs I am Singing, 9 TV & Movies/Books & Entertainment, Stuff I Actually Think

Kari Jobe (one of my all-time favorites) leading worship at main stage near the end of the night, mixed with scenes from the day.  This is just 4 minutes of over a week of cool stuff, because as soon as volunteers set foot on the property, the miracles and love started flowing!  THANKS FOR THIS VIDEO, GREG “HD” VERSPOHL!  Love ya!  Seriously!

Photos soon!

There are so many great ones I just can’t decide! 

www.heavenfest.com

Such devoted sisters~

2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, 5 Songs I am Singing, Stuff I Actually Think, , , , , ,

“I do not believe that…birth makes people sisters and brothers. It makes them siblings. Gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood are conditions people have to work at. It’s a serious matter. You compromise, you give, you take, you stand firm, and you’re relentless…And it is an investment. Sisterhood means if you happen to be in Burma and I happen to be in San Diego and I’m married to someone who is very jealous and you’re married to somebody who is very possessive, if you call me in the middle of the night, I have to come.”

–Maya Angelou

S I S T E R S ~ A song I adore!  Dedicated to Tamara Dawn Moslander Ayento!

BTW – I am definitely the Rosemary Clooney (blue eyes/Bing Crosby) of this scenario, and Tami is Vera Ellen (brown eyes/Danny Kaye). ;p

The Preacher’s Wife

My little sister (both little at barely 5 feet AND younger by 6 years), Tami Ayento, is a preacher’s wife.  They recently took a pastorate in the heart of Chicago, so the neighborhood reminds you of the movie by the same name starring Whitney Houston and Denzel Washington (The Preacher’s Wife, 1996).  I think it is cruel and unusual punishment that I got her when I was almost 6 and we shared a room for many years and then suddenly, we both marry and move thousands of miles apart.  She knows my faults, my secrets, the worst of me.  And has yet to disown me.  She is and will always be the sister of my family heritage, and the sister of my heart.

tamis wedding 8-1-87

The Moslander crew at Tami and Gerron’s 1987 wedding. I had already provided 5 of the 7 grandchildren and nieces and nephews for this family. Come on, people!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SQUAMPI-DOODLES {a.k.a. Tami Ayento}

Also – she just had an anniversary on the first. :)

tamis wedding august 1987

The True Test of Love

Stuff I Actually Think

Just a friendly reminder:

If your friend {neighbor, relative, co-worker, acquaintance, lover, brother or siser-in-Christ} gave you some of the little emerald jewels as seen on the left {baby zucchini, succulent and moist, tender and appetizing}, they love you, no question.  You don’t have to worry about whether they are truly devoted to you.  They are!

If they gave you something resembling a baseball bat like the one on the right, you MUST figure out what you did to offend them and why they would give you something that would have to be prepared/hammered/shredded/chopped into submission to be fit for even a Kansas-church-casserole dish.

Drop everything, now, before it is too late.

Go to your friend {or neighbor, relative, co-worker, acquaintance, lover, brother or siser-in-Christ}.  Seriously – leave your gift (of the gigantic zucchini) and go quickly and be reconciled with the giver and find out why you have been the recipient of this huge, tough, monstrosity.  Make things right.

For further information, CLICK HERE.

NOTE:  I picked a basketful of babies on Friday morning before heading to Longmont for the weekend.  I was shocked to find another basketful this morning upon my return, including several giants.  Tsk.  They were plotting against me.

Heaven Fest 2010 – The DAY is just hours away

9 TV & Movies/Books & Entertainment, Stuff I Actually Think,

This is HF Week.

  

It is wild, crazy fun and tiring.  In a reeeeeeeaaaalllly good way.  Volunteers start showing up to help build stages.  Tent companies start setting up.  The port-o-potties arrive by the truckfull.  The interns order mountains of food and water the workers.  Newspapers show up to take pictures and a bald eagle sat watch from a tree backstage today!  Nice people everywhere!

 

Omygoodness: THANK-YOU to everyone who helped build stages yesterday and today.  And to people in the office stuffing packets and answering hundreds of phone calls and running errands and keeping us in chocolate!

   

L O V E all over the place!

My Kingdom

4 Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, Stuff I Actually Think, ,

I venture deep into the north fence shrubs (or at least 3 or 4 feet) just before the sun breaks above the eastern horizon.  The warmth of my body and the carbon dioxide I emit arouses the mosquito, weak from the night temperatures and the lack of life in the dark. 

The alert is sounded, the village of them swells with hope. 

“Revival!” they shout. 

“We have waited for it, longed for it, prayed for it to come.  Revive us, o garden lord,” in unison the sing. 

The leader comes in close giving courage to the rest, “O, yes, we have heard of your fame – how you have fed us and revived us in the past; how you have made it possible for us to go on.  Do it again in our day, o lord of this garden.  Do it again in our day.”

Glee is apparent.  Great joy begins to swirl.  From my expansive perspective I look down as they approach.  I wait for them to land.

Smack!

You wish.

Reason 187,686 that I am not God of the universe.

The Crushing

1 Christ is All, Stuff I Actually Think

So I plopped a small flax seed plant, more as an herb addition than anything,  into a bare spot a couple of months ago.  Obviously I cannot get enough flax seed to actually harvest and use, but the blue flowers are delicate and very pretty and I wanted to see how how this mega-healthy seed grew.

I mean, come on.  This seed is high in Omega-3 Fatty Acids and helps fight cancer, diabetes, heart disease and a myriad of other things that ail us.

So, after the bloom, a very small, maybe pea-size, pod appears.  It drys and slightly browns.  I stop by and help myself to a pod or two while gardening.  I pinch and crush it open, whereupon the chaff disintegrates in my hand and amongst it I find plump, life-giving seeds.

  

As I place the little sphere in my hand, I realize it is, really, a very delicate little covering, this outer husk.  It surrounds the true fruit of the plant, but can be crushed in a second, obliterated with hardly any thought or effort at all.  And then it looks like an unusable mess in the palm of your hand – like who would ever even take the time to try to retrieve the revitalizing seed once protected and nurtured?  The crushing.  And now what?

  

Some days I am in too much of a hurry and waste it, but today, I realized, the slightest breeze, my soft breath blown on the mess of the crushed husk is all it took to reveal: 10 perfectly shiny, healthy life-giving flax seeds.  And the sheer density of the life-potential within them keeps them there during the wind-storm of my breath.  The crushing hurt the shell, but the crushing couldn’t take away the future of these tiny seeds.  The pod-destroying blow didn’t negate the purpose for which they were created and it couldn’t stop the seeds’ destiny.

“The harvest is past,
the summer has ended,
and we are not saved.”
Since my people are crushed, I am crushed;
I mourn, and horror grips me.
Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no healing
for the wound of my people?  Jeremiah 8.20-22

Two realizations on an early summer morning…

1.

Same with us.  God breathes in our direction on the most painful places, the most damaging situations, the most vanquished moment of our lives. My carefully fashioned defenses are obliterated.  And?  He breathes.  And the force of His breath reveals – all has not been lost.  The true thing remains.  All I am and all He created me to be, the legacy I have to leave…there still as the chaff floats away on the breeze of His command.

Isaiah 53.5   But he was pierced for our transgressions,  he was crushed for our iniquities;  the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,  and by his wounds we are healed.

2.

And we can do that for others.  We can be the agent of grace who looks at how the enemy has tried to hurt some one irreparably, tried to destroy the hope and the future plans God has for them and we can breathe life.  What the enemy means for harm, that thing that has cut so deep a person cannot even see the way out, we can walk in as an Ambassador for Christ and the blow away the mess, dust off the area, bind up the brokenhearted, bandage the wounds and tell them, “See?  You were born to be a beautiful planting of the Lord.  The devil may have taken some stuff, but he couldn’t take your purpose.  All is well.  You are not destroyed.  Be at peace.”

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.  Isaiah 61.1-3

Since I so need it, this cleansing breeze, I must so sow it.