Looking through a new lens

After our trusty Fuji point-and-shoot died a couple months ago, Toby and I had resorted to taking photos with our iPhone cameras. The up-side to that is that we have our phones with us most of the time, so more photos were being taken than normal. The down-side is that our phone cameras were pretty lousy. Not terrible, but not great. In a fairly dark house with lots of shadow, it was hard to get a decent shot...until now.

This is my new friend, the Panasonic Lumix FZ47. She came home to stay last week, and we've been slowly getting to know her. She has hidden depths, I think (hidden to me, anyway - I'm a slow learner on these things). We've been playing around a bit, and here are some things we've seen:

I'm not sure which is my favorite - Noah's sweet smile,

Abi's "deer-in-the-headlights" look,

or Dan's "mischief-making" expression.

 

I'm looking forward to making the most of this new gadget (shutter speed and aperture?) and capturing all kinds of exciting happenings and rascally looks.

 

Any suggestions or tips from my photographer friends?

We got a new couch!

There's nothing like a piece of new furniture to show you how beat up your old furniture looks. How did I not notice how scratched the seats are...

 

...or how saggy the cushions are?

Thankfully, we are able to enjoy scratch-free and sag-less cushions once again due to the almost-new couch Toby snagged from a moving co-worker. It's exactly the same as the old one (did ya notice?), so at least we know it matches.

Now, if we can only keep the kids off it to prolong its life. It won't be long before it starts looking as worn as the old one, though. Until then, I think we'll switch couch positions in the room so that the first thing one sees isn't the beat-up version, but the newer model. Do "first impressions" apply to couches too? Well, just in case...

Living the Melody

I sat in my favorite chair with a baby while I listened to piano practice. I wasn't sure what she was playing, but it was lovely - a soft, gentle melody played at just the right rhythm.  I closed my eyes and listened until she hit a discordant note. I opened my eyes while she backed up and tried again. A few minutes later, another false start. Normally, about this time I jump in with practice suggestions or question where in the piece she's at so that I can offer some "helpful" advice. This time, though, I kept my mouth shut and listened. At the end, I said, "Sweetheart, that was beautiful. Could you play it again?" She beamed at the praise (which can be too hard to win) and began again. As she played, I was impressed that while some of the areas she had stumbled on were now problem-free, there were other areas that needed work - a wrong note, uneven timing.
As she continued to play, I felt the Lord impress on my heart how my own desire for accomplishment and excellence can lead me to miss the joy in the simple tasks I've been given. Though her piece wasn't quite "performance ready", it was still beautiful and she was clearly enjoying playing it. Do I enjoy my work, whether I'm doing it perfectly or not? Or am I so bound up in "getting it right" that I fail to enjoy being at home with my family?
Do I freak out because the baby isn't sleeping when I'd like, or do I relish a few extra minutes to snuggle with him? Do I get wound up over the mess the kids left, or enjoy the fact that they worked together happily on a project they had fun with? And like my musicians tend to do, do I rush past the trickier, more difficult areas to the parts that I'm familiar with and do well, or do I seek to learn from my (many) mistakes, being prepared to try, try again?
Our God does not promise ease and instant success, but toil and trial. But there is beauty, too, if we have eyes to see it. A friend who had done some battle with cancer (and has since won) said, "I don't want to waste this. I don't want to miss whatever He might want to teach me in this trial." I don't want to miss it, either - I want to receive all the goodness He has for me, both high notes and low, knowing they all come together to make a beautiful melody, enjoyed by the Audience of One.

Because I love looking at his face...

...so I'm going to make you look at it too.

Praying for my kids

I'm gonna say this up front - I am a pretty terrible pray-er. I get distracted, forget what I said I'd pray for, or get stuck in a kind of rut, praying the same old thing 'cause I couldn't think of what else to pray for.
However, I've learned a few things about praying for my kids. Mind if I share?

Photo from Crossroads Church

• It's not too early or too late to start praying for them - for their salvation, for their future spouse, for their relationships with others. Whatever it is, start today, regardless of age or situation.
• Pray the Bible for them - I've been aware of certain areas in my children's lives that need a special measure of God's grace and correction, and there have been several times where I've not even been sure how to pray for these needs. I'd heard somewhere the idea that you ask the Lord for a special verse or passage to pray for certain needs. In doing that, I've got a better understanding of the issue my child is struggling with, a better understanding of how God feels about it, and a better way to pray for my child. For me, this means I pray Philippians 2:4 - Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others - for the child who struggles with selfishness, that God would help that child to see the interests of others and prefer them above their own.
• Probably my favorite way to pray, which is actually the hardest to see answered, is to pray that they would get caught when they sin. I will tell you that this is dangerous! I heard this idea on a podcast a few years ago and thought, "That's excellent! I'm gonna do that!" Thing is, God answers that prayer and you have all these sin issues to deal with! The number of times I have seen or heard something or simply walked into the room at just the right moment to see or hear something I had no business knowing about...it's staggering. It's hard work to deal with the nonsense I'd rather not know about, but it's good for them and me to remember that though we think no one else knows, He knows our sin. For the unbeliever, this is fearsome, but for the believer, we can be comforted that He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust, but He does not hold our iniquity against us (Psalm 103). It's also kind of funny to hear them say, "But how did you know?!" and be able to honestly tell them, "I prayed that God would let me catch you in sin, and He answered. God told me!"

What are you praying for your children?

Getting long in the leg

I have been sewing - really, I have. It just comes in quickly and quietly stolen moments, and the projects have been small, guaranteeing quick gratification.

These pants of Ellie's for instance...

She wore them to co-op a couple weeks ago, and walked around all morning looking like she was ready for the flood. I didn't have time to go shopping for new jeans at the weekend, so I had a go at "making do"...

 

Cutting some leftover, sort-of-coordinating fabric, giving it a hem and a gather and attaching it to the inside of her pant legs did just the trick in lengthening her pants to acceptable levels. It won't last long, but I feel I've bought some time...

...and sometimes, that's about the best I can hope for.

Obedient faith

On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ² Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. ³ When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” ⁴ And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” ⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
⁶ Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.^{[a] 7} Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸ And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. ⁹ When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom ¹⁰ and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” ¹¹ This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

John 2:1-11

So, I've read this passage many times, but as so often happens, God had something to show me here that I'd never noticed before.

We've often heard, in this passage, about how Jesus steps up to provide the needed wine, saving the host embarrassment, or how Mary has faith in her son's ability to solve this problem. What got me this time, though, was the servants.

Jesus says to fill the jars with water, and they do. They are servants, after all - they know how to obey. Then Jesus instructs them to draw some out and give it to the "party master" to try. Again they comply, but I wonder if this time, there was a certain nervousness they felt - they know they put water in those vessels, not wine, and now they have to give water to the M.C?! They could get in big trouble here! Of course, we don't know if it still looked or smelled like water as they carried it to the man in charge. What we do know is that they did as Jesus directed, knowing what had gone in those jars. And so, when the master of the feast commends the groom on his excellent vintage, the servants are among the few who really know what just happened and the only ones actively involved in seeing Jesus' first miracle up close.

Every time I've read this account, I've glossed over the servants, viewing them as unimportant (which may be what their masters did, too).Yet what faith they must have had! Perhaps as servants, their first response was not to question or doubt, as so many others do, but to obey, even when it makes no sense to them. Yet how am I likely to respond? I realize that I must be quicker to responsd to Jesus in obedience and allow Him to grow my faith, rather than waiting for more faith before I obey.

I wonder if, after the wine was approved and served to the guests, Jesus gave those servants a little smile, a wink, maybe just a nod to acknowledge their astonishment? I like to think so, but what I'm pretty sure of is that they, like everyone else who truly encounters Jesus, would never be the same.

My Crew

Our recent trip to the thrift store netted us some good finds, and some less promising options. I can't tell if they look like rock stars or something...less savory.

 

Ellie's ensemble, on the other hand, is totally innocent, and totally her. Who else would put vertical stripes with horizontal and then say with total confidence, "Don't I look pretty?"

 

 

 

 I know it's blurry, but I love baby sneezes. Somethings must be documented...

Praline-Sour Cream Coffee Cake

I love this cake. It's not particularly fancy to look at and not so good for the nut-allergic, but it's sweet and moist and yummy without all that icing malarkey. If you give it a try, let me know what you think!

Praline-Sour Cream Coffee Cake (from Mom's Best Desserts)

For the cake:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

2tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 cups sour cream

 

For the Praline:

1 cup chopped pecans

2 tbsp sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour a 9-inch Bundt pan.

2. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, beat butter until creamy. Gradually add sugar and vanilla, beating until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add sour cream and mix until smooth. Fold in flour and beat until blended, but don't over mix.

4. To make the praline, combine the pecans, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.

5. Spoon half the batter into the pan. Sprinkle the praline evenly over the batter and top with remaining batter. With a knife, cut through the batter to distribute the praline.

6. Bake for 55 to 60 min until done. Cool for 20 min before removing from pan. Serve warm, if at all possible.

"It's getting kinda chilly out there"

"It's a good thing my mom did all that knitting! Don't I look cool, dawg?

 

Apparently I look 'cute', as well.

 

 

Aw, man, they're on me again - MOM!"