Oct 25, 2011 | Baby Photos, Scotland, South Africa
Back in the days when we called the sweet streets of Edinburgh home, we had this sweet little hand-me-down toy the Bear loved to bounce in. It played happy music and lit up and provided us with a place to put our seven-month-old bundle of squirm so that we could enjoy our breakfast in peace.
Except for one morning when the neighbor from downstairs came up to ask if we were bouncing a ball or something because of the noise. Clever Clogs Hero Hubs promptly invited her in to show her the Bear bouncing in his toy, and she immediately remarked {in a sweet North of England accent, no less} “Well it’s not so bad now that I’ve seen you!”
 Â
{Doesn’t the Bear look funny in this picture? Like his head is square or something? I don’t really think it looks like him, but he’s Seven Months and Happy! SpoRadically uSing caPitaLs is fun sOmeTimes.}
When we packed our lives into boxes headed for the southern shores of SA, we passed along the delightful toy (that had been passed along to us) to our dear friends Rob and Alice, who were expecting at the time.
So a wave of old memories crashed on my heart shore when we were staying with our precious friends last month and we plopped a new baby boy down in that same toy.
{Our wee Tank — ten days shy of seven months! His head seems a little less square. Well I’ll be.}
Be still my heart! So full of lovely memories! Like the time the Hubs accidentally broke that microphone because it went Bah-ba-doo-wah! over and over and over again.
While I was hunting down that old photo of the Bear, I came across this one. Which does absolutely make me melt. I think he might have a future as a boy band member. It reminded me of that big lovely kitchen … LOVED it!
{Bear-B-Que Sauce, 8 Months and some change}
And that reminds me of the sweet laundry shots HH grabbed of the Tank just a few days ago!
Seven Monthsies!
Almost eight!
We used fresh laundry for these ones, though. ‘Course.
And that sweetness reminded me of these pictures of the Bear in a Ceres juice box. Which is confusing because we took this in Scotland but Ceres juice comes from the beautiful Ceres valley in South Africa, where they grow lots of fruit. But it was cheaper to buy in the UK (at Costco) than in SA, so we drank more of this wonderful South African juice in Scotland than we did in South Africa.
Globalization, dju confuzzle me suntines.
Six Months’ Worth of Cheeksies!
These captured moments from every day life seemed like just another moment at the time. Another moment trying to find somewhere to put the baby so that I could get something done. Seeing them now, they are precious reminders to me from seasons that feel a million miles away.
I’m so glad we paused to grab the camera, to see, to take off our shoes. There is God-breathed beauty, even in the hum-drum monotony you might feel makes up your life right now.
We just have to {re-}learn how to see.
xCC
Oct 24, 2011 | The Good Word
There are times in the life of every woman {and perhaps every man – I don’t know, I’ve never been one} where even though all seems well, the heart still feels like a stormy sea. Although you can’t really explain it, there’s peace on the outside, but inside, the waves are a-crashing.
There are times in the life of every woman and man — I’m more certain about this one — where the waves are literally a-crashing, and it seems like walls are falling down around you. You are not sure which way is up.
But there are times, too, when all of life seems a peaceful stream, the sun is shining the radio is tuning your favorite jam, and it feels like things are happening just as they should be. I like those times.
I like easy.
No matter the scenario, I think there’s a valuable thing we can continually pray for.
FOCUS.
Just this morning, I found myself, in the midst of a sun-shiny moment, asking the Lord for focus:
“…Help me to see where I need to re-focus. How I can make better use of the time You’ve given me by re-prioritizing. Help me to not be distracted by things that do not need my focus or attention, so that I can accomplish the things I was created to do with the time that I have.”
The Hubs and I recently caught up with some old friends we haven’t seen for a long time, whom we’re not likely to see again for a wee while. We just had a couple of hours together. We laughed and chatted about life and family and the typical catching-up stuff, and then we got into a long conversation, a friendly sort of debate, about a hypothetical topic, which was to do with our mutual faith.
It was never heated or unpleasant, mind you, it was just a lengthy discussion.
When we were in the car afterwards, I voiced regret about how we’d spent the time. More than a theological debate, I wished we’d made use of that time to really find out how those friends were doing. How was their faith? Were they in a healthy community? How could we pray for them or encourage them?
I was sorry to have spent so much time in a way that would’ve been okay if we saw each other every other week, mayhaps, but in this situation, some of the time seemed, well, wasted.
See this photo right here?
And this one right here?
They are very, very similar, in terms of composition — same subject, same framing, same setting, same lighting.
The only difference — which makes a big difference — is the focus. Looking back and forth from one photo to the other, you’ll realize that one simple adjustment completely changes the picture.
And what we decide to focus on completely changes our picture.
This Sunday at church, I was thankful, for yet another reason, that we were starting the time together by simply getting our focus off of ourselves. Setting aside our problems and concerns. Things we were happy about and things we were bothered about. We just put our eyes on God and His goodness, and focused on praising Him, worshiping Him. He was our focus.
When it feels like life is full of problems and we give our full attention to them, we often lose sight of the things that we should be focusing on. Like being thankful for family or health, a job, a place to live, and more than anything, the finished work of Christ on the cross. Our irrevocable redemption. The fierce and true love of an un-changing God.
Even when things are well, we can tend to lose focus and get distracted. There is a reason you and I are here on this Earth. There are good works, prepared in advance for us to do. {Eph. 2:10} And sometimes I think being comfortable makes us lazy. Short-term decisions hinder long-term goals.
We waste the only commodity we can’t buy more of.
So whether life is moonshine and roses or weeds and brussel sprouts today, ask for help finding the right focus. It will completely change the picture.
xCC
Oct 23, 2011 | South Africa
The Hubs has taken some B-E-A-UT-Tee-full photos over the past few months. In my humble opinion. But I haven’t shared too many of them here because, well, we been kinda busy and I haven’t gone fishing through his iPhoto library for a while.
These are some favorites from our last bit of time in SA.
Exhibit A. Isn’t this one great? So moody…makes me feel like I’m waiting for something.
And this one from lunch in Knysna one day. Not long before we left SA. Not necessarily beautiful, but special for a heap of other reasons. Why is HH acting crazy? He doesn’t exactly look like that in real life.
C. How can you not like this one?
D. Sigh.
E. One of my many favorites from the Kruger trip. Isn’t she beautiful?
But this last one?
This is an I-could-cry-I-love-this-one-so-much original.
Straight from the day before we left Bloemfontein…
Love it.
Gotta go find a tissue.
Later.
xCC
Oct 20, 2011 | Baby Photos
We caught up with some dear friends the other weekend.
Dear enough that we were actually willing to get in a car and drive a wee while and spend the night with them, even though I really don’t want to even catch a glimpse of a suitcase right now.
I packed some carry-all sort of sturdy open-top bags instead. No idea what to call those.
But they don’t zip, and that feels good.
We took some pictures in the backyard. Especially of one particular fella that we’re fond of.
And then we got some rather fetching shots of all the kiddos and a wheel barrow. Isn’t their daughter a cutie pie?
I like that one even better! Good luck getting three kids to look the same way at the same time.
Here’s the favorite:
Hello, pumpkin!
xCC
Oct 19, 2011 | The Good Word
Ages and ages and ages ago, {and by that I mean two years ago} I talked about how much I love the way Jesus swam upstream. He was always doing the opposite of what people expected, building up the people everyone else was tearing down, and tearing down the practices of the people who liked to build themselves up.
When Jesus met Zacchaeus, it was one of those moments. Everyone else wondered why Jesus would hang out with the guy. Jesus swam upstream and turned Z’s life upside down.
Are we supposed to do the same thing? Could we?
I’m talking about that big question in a little package over at Signposts today so click here to read on.
There’s also a pretty picture that the Hubs took in Kruger Park. Bonus!
He also took a picture of this fish, which didn’t make it upstream. Ouch!
But I think the bird ended up letting him go because he couldn’t eat a fish while it was schtuck, yes, schtuck, on the end of his beak.
Maybe you better click over to Signposts. Things are just getting silly around here.
xCC
P.S. Just making sure you didn’t miss this morning’s post — not to confuse you — Seven Shots Won’t Take Down This Bear. It’s a pretty good story. Least I think so. But it wasn’t good at the time. Well that goes without saying. Nevermind.
I create resources to help people find deeper, more meaningful relationships with God through pursuing, pondering, and prayer. The "Shop" link above will take you to the home of many of the lovely resources I’ve created to help you keep walking one day deeper with Jesus.