rest.

Find rest, oh my soul. Find rest.
In this very moment, find rest.
In accomplishment and completion of the ordinary, find rest.
In knowing there is more work than you can accomplish today, find rest.
With joyful expectation and sincere longing, find rest.
Amidst the daily wandering and aching, find rest.
In wrestling and choosing not to strive, find rest.
In Christ’s sufficiency to guide you, love you, walk with you, find rest.
In Christ alone, find rest.
Find rest, oh my soul. Find rest.

only in america

Only in America will you find giant inflatable Santas three stories tall. What in the world? Why does this happen?!
I shared this photo with a couple of my uncle's friends that are visiting from Russia who shared Christmas with us this year. We all balked at the "stupid Americans" and things that only our society would do. On our trip to Disneyland on Saturday they shared the funniest one of all: special signs and areas designated as "stroller parking". They took pictures of the hundreds of empty strollers lined up in these areas as the children blissfully enjoyed the Happiest Place On Earth. This, we all decided, was a good "only in America" moment. But Santa, was not. Too bad one American and two Russians can't deflate all of the giant inflatables of the world. (Also in my picture collection -- a giant turkey that I passed around Thanksgiving time. ) Oh, my!

more pics

Mary & I -- ready to board the ship for our first cruising adventure, a simple floating ice sculpture, and massive glacier for your viewing pleasure.

new pics from old trip

So, my sister gave me a cd full of wonderful pictures from our trip to Alaska in September. Couldn't resist but posting a few of the fun pics. Reference the story of Papaw and his three ladies mentioned in entry below. . . And one other little note: Merry Belated Christmas to all who are reading!

sushi 2

yummy!

















I'm still learning how to publish photos via this picasa program I'm using. I haven't mastered posting multiple photos on the same entry, so I just HAD to make a second entry. This was Alicia's first plate. She was our photographer that afternoon. I wish I had thought to get a picture of my first plate. .. or second. . . or third! :-)

sushi 1

These are my sweet friends David & Alicia. I met David through one of my graduate courses. We worked together on a team for our class and even enjoyed some tennis. (David is an excellent player and I am not. Enough said.) Later this semester he introduced me to his wife. It has been fun to get to know her bit by bit as the semester has continued on. David & Alicia met in Taiwan -- where they are originally from. They worked for the same company in different departments. Both of them are pursuing master's degrees at UNT. I enjoyed asking them lots of questions about the culture of dating in Taiwan. (I don't have anything profound to say at the moment about it, but I'd like to understand more how different cultures find a mate and even know the purpose for such matches.) Last month, the Wu's took me out for an all-you-can-eat sushi extravaganza. We ate a lot. And laughed a lot, enjoying ourselves immensely. I love getting to know David & Alicia and hope for a continued friendship with them in the future.

testing

So, this is a simple test before I go home for the day. I'm learning to use some program called Picasa which will let me store pictures online and them move them oh-so-easily to my blog for all to see. This is an original pic from my cell phone that has had a minor crop job. A view that captured my heart on the way to work one morning. Wonderful. Need I say more? 

alaska

The last week of September found me "cruising" for the first time. No, not on a motorcyle. (Though I am a very willing passenger!) Nor in a hot rod or automobile of any sort. Cruising, my friends, on a large ship in an even larger ocean. With my sister who we call Mary, my mother who we call Mom, and my precious grandfather who we call Papaw. The four of us boarded a ship in Vancouver, BC bound for Alaska and I will never be the same.

The whole week was restful. Mary and I learned how to play shuffleboard. (All of the laughter made it in an aerobic activity.) We played little games, went to the luxurious spa where mom treated us with fancy massages and the like. (I've never enjoyed seaweed so much in my life!) We slept in if we wanted to. Busied ourselves with activities too many to number. Dressed down every day. Dressed up every night. Most nights Papaw invited his pretty ladies to join him before dinner for cocktails. I've never met anyone for cocktails before. It was wonderful. Papaw, in his suit or tuxedo, looking debonair, would rise to meet each of us as we entered the room, always commenting on dress or jewelry or some other mark of our femininity. Motioning to the server he let it be known that we should have all of the treats in pretty glasses that we would like to consume. A couple of men had the gall - or maybe just the curiosity - to ask Papaw if I was his wife. He will be 83 in February. I will be 30 in July. We always laughed and explained our relation. In a way, I thought it silly and wonderful. I consider it a blessing to be on the arm of a gentleman no matter what his age. (Do men like Papaw still exist? Oh, how I long for my very own!)

And then there was Alaska. Better than the fancy dinners and all of the pampering was the beauty of Alaska. One morning, I awoke about 6 am, bundled up and headed outside to watch our approach into Glacier Bay. The beauty of it all led me to weep. They were not tears that I expected. But what I saw was so new and wonderful and before I knew it, the sight had hit the deepest part of my spirit and overwhelmed me in ways that my words still can not express. I spent the better part of that day by myself. Mary also had a similar experience. Mom and Papaw enjoyed the day as well, but each of us was alone to experience it. That evening, our dinner conversation centered around what we each had seen and felt during the day. Listening to the thunderous crashings and groanings of masses of ice and watching as they fell into the sea, we each marveled in a unique way. All of us stood in awe that day.

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He made the earth by His power; He founded the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heaven by His understanding. When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. (Jeremiah 51:15&16)

must blog

Pics: a lazy weekend trip to austin to visit andrew (simply one of the best men i've ever met in my life) where i stayed with sweet candice. (candice, by the way is absolutely beautiful. is she not drop dead gorgeous? you can agree. it's good to acknowledge the truth.)


I have not posted for exactly 90 days. I am in the middle of a most stressful day, but something inside of me wanted to "gush" my insides into cyberspace. This is finals week. A paper is due in 6.5 hours that has not been typed yet. One might say it has not "realized" itself yet. That one would be quite a talker. (That talker could probably convince the world that such realization can not be rushed as she has convinced her own self of this very fact.) I haven't written it. I don't want to. I want to stay up late and visit with beautiful people, live from the heart and not write on demand. But I will. And it will be good. Demand will inspire me within the next several hours to push, push, push until I have realized a paper on the legal and ethical issues facing business today. And I will enjoy the pushing and rushing and brain gymnastics to be understood by my professor-lawyer and to speak his language. And we will all realize something. And I will be glad to have finished one more course.


I feel better now.

more to come. . . and with more frequency than my recent 90 day silence.